The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Nigerians and the war on terror

    Nigerians and the war on terror

    SIR: Since President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, some Nigerians, especially politicians and simpletons have continued to kick against it. But are these not the same people who cried blue murder when terrorists struck at the UN building in Abuja, who were united in grief when people were killed in a Catholic Church on a Christmas day, who think that the president has been too soft on the perpetrators and who expect that their president should do his constitutional duty of protecting them?

    Nigerians can’t have their cake and eat it. Even now the terrorists are unrelenting and unrepentant for according to AFP; the leader of the insurgents in a recent video claimed that they are dealing blows on the Nigerian soldiers and that they the insurgents had sustained little damage. He even called on foreign Islamists in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq to join the fight. Just recently in Maiduguri, Borno, it was reported that the insurgents hid their Kalashnikov guns inside a coffin while driving through military checkpoints to avoid being searched and launched an attack with them against a group of vigilantes, killing 13 of the youths. All efforts must be made to stop this madness. And while this is so, it is imperative too that neighbouring countries cooperate with the Nigerian government to help apprehend, and hand over their nationals who are terrorists operating on their soil as a token on the war on terror. The US and the UN’s support have been encouraging.

    Nigerians must now help themselves. They must shut up and take the good with the bad. The president is doing the right thing. The terrorists have been given a long rope, enough to hang themselves. Some people make us sick to the stomach when they use every opportunity to politicize everything, even something as serious as national security. Even June 12 has not been spared. There’s really no winning with them.

    Dr Cosmas Odoemena,

    Lagos.

     

  • S.O.S. to LASG on noise pollution

    SIR: An appeal is hereby made to the Lagos state Governor, Babatunde Fashola and Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Bola Ikuforiji, to come to the rescue of the people residing around 13, Agbado Road, Iju Ishaga from going deaf owing to the unceasing noise that usually emanate both day and night from the loudspeakers of the Kingdom Force Assembly – a religious house.

    The attention of the overseer of the church has been drawn times without number in the past to the inconvenience, danger and health hazard to which the people living around the church were being subjected to through the thunderous noise from the church’s loudspeakers. All appeals have continued to fall on deaf ears. To worsen the matter, on one occasion, the Pastor used his connection with the Divisional Police Officer at the Red House, Iju to harass the complaining residents all in an attempt to silence them and to force them to resign to their fate.

    Without mincing words, noise pollution emanating from the activities of record sellers and places of worship across the length and breadth of Lagos State has continued to be a hard nut to crack more so when there is no law put in place to check menace as is done in civilized and other democratic nations of the world. In a recent report, Nigeria was ranked as the second noisiest nation in the world and this damning report might have informed a recent a phone-in progamme aired on Radio Faji FM in Alausa during which listeners subjected to any form of inconvenience through noise pollution in Lagos State were advised, at the close of the programme, to make protest to Lagos State Ministry of Environment.

    Now is the time for the Lagos State House of Assembly to enact a law that would regulate and save Lagosians from going deaf owing to the impunity of users of loud speakers that cause untold hardship to the people of Lagos State. There is no doubt that when the relevant law is enacted by the State Assembly, the state governor would not hesitate in giving his assent to it.

    • Bamidele Odet

    Iju-Ishaga, Lagos

  • Why national conference is overdue

    SIR: The Nigerian situation often defies any explanation and sometimes calls our rationality to question. It confirms the notion that in the midst of mad people, a lone sane man becomes the insane. Or how else do we explain why a simple call for a conference becomes such an uphill task?

    While we prefer to hold dialogues with sectional groups, we neglect to hold a conference that embraces everyone. For so long, particularly since the military incursion/ (mis)adventure into our body politic, there has been a lot of agitation for a National conference to resolve the various contradictions of the Nigerian state. Yet in 2013, a year before the centenary, and despite the fact that the Nigerian state has been wobbling and tottering from pillar to post without making headway, we are yet to sit down together and holistically find solutions to our problems. We prefer ad hoc and sectional solutions that have no mileage.

    The fears of people who do not want a conference is that such a conference will lead to the dissolution of Nigeria, even though everything points to the contrary view- that it is in fact the absence of such a conference that will spell the doom of Nigeria.

    As powerful as the USSR was when the time came for it to break apart it did. Would it not be better to break apart than be kept together by force of arms against our will? Since we are supposed to be in a democracy, the option should always be available. Be that as it may, who says that a conference will lead to disintegration anyway? There some people who are adept at using this prospect as a scare tactic to have their way, particularly those who are benefitting from this warped and convoluted Nigerian federalism.

    A national conference is being advocated because it is the ultimate solution to conflicting interests. Even if there is a war, the only way to end it ultimately is through a conference between conflicting parties. We can already see some warmongers among us- those advocating that the ’North’ must get the presidency or that Jonathan must get a second term. Both parties are promising that hell will be let loose should their wish fail to materialize.

    Where does that leave the rest of us? Sending the current ruling party- PDP out of governance and replacing it with opposition such as APC or such other party will not offer a lasting solution to our problem. The resolution of the structural deficiency of Nigeria should take precedence over politics, particularly the politics of 2015 elections. There is humongous danger ahead if we pay scant attention to this but invest most of our time and resources in fighting for the control of federal government in 2015.

    Even though a lot of people mouth the need for a conference, and some polls have actually recorded that the preponderance of Nigerians want a conference. Four out of the six zones of the federation at one time or the other agreed to have a conference but as usual in Nigeria’s brand of democracy, the wish of two zones prevailed over four.

    It is disheartening that Nigeria that boasts of some of the most educated, widely read and sophisticated people in the world cannot fashion a successful system of governance for itself but let the morons lead it by the nose to war instead of dialogue. Where and what then is the essence of its ‘greatness’? The thought of the catastrophe that lies ahead if we continue the way we are going should be enough to make us shudder enough to amend our ways as soon as possible- even right now.

    • Tokunbo Ajasin

    tokunbo.ajasin@atayese.org

  • Plight of Imo’s primary school teachers’ pensioners

    SIR: One constituency that got the least mention in the manifestos of political parties that struggled fervently for votes of the electorate in Imo State during the April 2011 polls was the pensioners. Among the pensioners, the retired primary school teachers have been most hit by the seeming insensitivity of successive administrations to them. None in this category of pensioners has received their federal pensions since 2002. The result is that many of them are left with the pittance that they call state pension, some as little as N1,000 a month.

    This is because the state government has failed to harmonize the pensions of those who retired many years back with that of those who retired later on same salary scale but earned bigger amounts of money due to salary adjustments over the years. Harmonization is an exercise which statutorily should be carried out yearly.

    The federal government had carried out this harmonization at a point hence the part of the pensions which it usually contributes to the funds for the retirees increased, giving hope and comfort of the pensioners until the state government threw a spanner in the works. Their trouble began when state governments won a suit against the Obasanjo-led federal government which, at a stage, had decided to pay the retired teachers directly through their banks instead of the state or local governments. The decision was predicated on the fact that state governments diverted the funds, leaving the poor retirees to suffer. Apparently, they had capitalized on their access to the local government funds through their joint accounts.

    The governments might have been unmindful of the atrocity meted out to these frail members of the society who had expended their blood at youth in the service of the nation only to be denied their due by the same children they had nurtured to adulthood as teachers.

    A nation that treats its once productive elderly with scorn and ignominy is only comparable to George Orwell’s Animal Farm which ought to be consigned only to the imaginary world of satire. It is a violation of the tenets of equity and natural justice and the cry of the victims, most certainly, reaches the high heavens.

    The simple demand of these pensioners is that their federal pensions be restored immediately so that they would enjoy their old age and pass on happily.

    One of the pensioners in this class sat down one day and calculated how much the government owed him as federal pensions and the figures he saw stunned him. He simply muttered a prayer, wishing that God may touch the heart of the authorities to, at least, resume payment of the federal pensions to them in no distant time.

    Governor Rochas Okorocha showed some promise in 2011 when he summoned the senior citizens to the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri, where he gave them a treat and actually served them rice and coke. He hugged them and fraternized with them. The camaraderie that existed on that day set them thinking that their days of anguish were over. He pledged to clear the arrears which the Ohakim administration could not pay them.

    Indeed, since he became governor, he has struggled hard to pay the pensioners in good time and is everyday cracking his brain on how best to alleviate the sufferings of these grannies. Part of his plan is to pay them through the newly created community government councils to ease off traveling long distances and avoid racketeering as well. He still needs to find out why these retired primary school teachers are being denied the federal pension and promptly reinstate it. That way, the cycle of his glory in that aspect will be complete and forever he would bask in the blessings of the senior citizens for ending their 11 years of anguish.

    • Richard Dirim Odu

    Owerri, Imo State

  • On indivisibility of Nigeria

    While presenting the midterm report on the performance of his government on Democracy Day, May 29, 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan averred: “Nigeria is indivisible.” Since the assertion was not supported by proof, it could be taken in good faith as mere wishful thinking, especially in the light of its outright negation of the odious reality on the ground. Centrifugal forces tearing at the heart of the country are so many that they overwhelm efforts by government to contain and control them.

    The mantra of Nigeria’s indivisibility has been recited by virtually all our military heads of state and civilian presidents since the end of the Civil War in 1970. By sheer force of reiteration, it seems to assume a semblance of truth. Yet, it is at best a grand delusion with which Nigerians can live as long as crude continues to flow in the oil pipes in the Niger Delta and the booty blinds us to the truth of our collective impotence. Let oil cease flowing tomorrow and the sliver of hope and optimism with which the mantra is hung will snap and the cold reality of disunity and ethnic hatred will stare every one of its believers in the face. But then, the crust of deception will fall off and the necessity to be properly organised as a society and be productive as sane human beings will take its place.

    For Nigeria to remain as one indivisible country, the irrefragable fact that the modern nation-state is a secular construct must be recognised and inscribed boldly in its Constitution. No instrument of state, however exiguous, must be used to advance interests of any religion, which in saner societies is severely kept at bay as a private affair between every individual and their Divinity. Whatever church or mosque currently stands on the grounds of Aso Rock should be converted into some other function. Nigeria reeks of religion, but it is one of the most corrupt countries under the heavens. Neither God nor the world is deceived!

    To insist that Nigeria is not a secular state, as former President Olusegun Obasanjo does, is to acknowledge the right of Boko Haram people to demand that an Islamic state be carved out of the country as currently constituted for them, for it is a legitimate right of a people to ask to be governed under the laws established by their faith. It is morally binding on a non-secular state to honour and grant such a holy and innocuous request. Indeed, it is a sacred duty that should not require a plebiscite.

    Democracy or theocracy? Perhaps, to remove any confusion or dilemma that might be thrown up by the poser in the minds of doubters, a national referendum on the issue is helpful, if not needful. It would definitely reduce the amount of intellectual energies and human and material resources wasted in the land. It would also clear away a great cloud of obfuscation that confounds us and hobbles the development of our polity. I have a sneaky suspicion that the virulence of culture war that grips the contemporary world is a resurgence of the great unfinished struggle between democracy and theocracy that started in Europe in the wake of the Enlightenment. Let the intellectual debate and the war rage on. Some stubborn defenders of theocracy might even end up in the Devil’s Party, in spite of their avowed hatred for its relentless quest for power and shameless asseveration of pride, for freedom is a fundamental human need. Indispensable like food, it is its own justification. Conversely, some fervent fighters for democracy – Western capitalist or Eastern socialist – might ultimately get disappointed that the alluring, old dame promises more than she can actually give, and so they will turn away in disgust from a mad pursuit of beguiling but elusive liberty and seek a better balm for their wounded souls in Paradise that is not built by hungry human hands.

    Segun Adekoya

    Department of English

    Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

  • Black out of Super Eagle’s matches

    The political situation in the country has for some time taken over some aspects of this country and other notable socio-cultural development meant to advance the course which brings glory and satisfaction to douse the tension facing the country’s teeming problems.

    The sport activities which bring relief and thus unite this country have faced some neglect for some time now, allowing political quagmire to dominate various front burners in the country at present.

    The crises bedevilling the broadcasting right of transmitting Nigerian Super Eagles matches have given the sport-loving Nigerians cause for concern and by depriving them the enjoyment of Super Eagles’ matches in the comfort of their homes for some time now.

    Since Nigeria won the last Africa Cup of Nations’ tournament in South Africa, there appears to be a board room war between the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), whose responsibility it is to bring matches to the comfort of Nigerians, the inability of the organisation to transmit to all the sport-loving people of this country remains a huge disappointment, which needs to be avoided in all its entirety.

    It’s embarrassing that the Nigerian government would not intervene to stem this ugly trend of not allowing Nigerians to view most of the matches involving the country’s national team.

    During the last Nations’ Cup in South Africa, many Nigerians looked forward to watching the national team matches being relayed live by the local station, but only to be disappointed due to the meagre amount of money which could be written off by the Nigerian government.

    Nigerians both within the country and outside have to rely on foreign television stations to view the matches either in their homes, or poor Nigerian had to resort to visiting viewing centres across the country to enable them watch their darling team play, which made the viewing centres to smile to the banks due to huge profits they made at the detriment of local stations in the country.

    Also commendation should go to some corporate organisations who mounted big screens outside some spots across the country to enable Nigerians watch such matches.

    The organs responsible for entering into partnership with some of these broadcasting stations that CAF and FIFA gave broadcasting rights should start early negotiation with them to have an understanding on the fees to be paid, not at last minutes before starting rushing into a hasty, failed negotiation. Also the broadcasting station that accrues the broadcasting right should take into cognisance the economic reality of such country by not demanding higher fees. They should understand the responsibility that rests on them for allowing the teeming fans of countries’ national teams view their teams play and equally enjoy it in the comfort of their homes.

    We hope Nigerians would be given the opportunity of watching matches involving the country’s national team, whether competitive or friendly, in order not to only monitor them but also assess them for positive contribution on the way forward for the country’s team.

    Bala Nayashi

    Lokoja.

  • Re: Tofa and the ghost of June 12

    SIR: I refer to The Nation’s Hardball of Wednesday June 12 where-in, Bashir Usman Tofa, the failed presidential candidate of N.R.C. was reported to have described June 12 as fiction and dismissed those still celebrating the dead issue as ‘idle’. Certainly, only men with dead conscience and expired mental engine can make such reckless remark. The man who lost in his own state in an election adjudged to be the only free, fair and credible election in Nigeria is yet to accept defeat 20 years later. Oh what a pity!

    It is not my intent to join issue with Tofa, but I want to place on indelible record that he is just too little to be-little the ideas and symbol of June 12. Tofa by his comment epitomize the real challenge of our electoral democracy. His type only believes that elections are fair and free only when they win. I think loser’s like Tofa who lacks the intellectual capacity to understand what June 12 represents need to go back to school to strengthen their weak academic medulla oblongata with democratic studies. While the rest of us who know what June 12 stood for, should continue to spread the gospel of free, fair and credible election in Nigeria.

    We must not forget to tell Tofa that June 12 reminds us of how Nigerians, for the first and only time, refused to be influenced by ethnicity, culture, religion, north and south dichotomy and other social divides to cast their votes for their preferred candidate. The day also accentuates the unity and oneness of Nigerians in our history. Tofa can’t understand and he will never understand just because he was the loser. I wish to join the army of responsible Nigerians to call for the recognition of June 12. As I urge the National Assembly and Presidency to act accordingly, least the likes of Tofa stop at nothing to desecrate the day which reminds us of the fact that the things that binds us together is much greater than what can drive us apart.

    May the ghost of June 12 haunt the likes of Tofa and killers of June 12 till death.

    • Godfrey Ehi .O.,

    Benin City, Edo State.

  • Nigeria and the rise of impunity

    SIR: Recently, I received a report from Legal Defence and Assistance Project, LEDAP, an organisation committed to monitoring and documenting unlawful killings in Nigeria. The report says that between 2010 and 2011, six people were unlawfully killed every day and most of them were under 35 years of age. This is horrifying!

     In 2010 alone, a total of 371 incidents resulting in 1,536 deaths were recorded with a breakdown of 379 extra-judicial executions and 1,157 summary killings.  The report says that 106 cases were investigated and that only four prosecuted to conclusion, a situation that shows an impunity level of 96 per cent. 2011 is even worse but let us leave it for another day.

     As a people, I think we should be seriously worried about this damning verdict from LEDAP’s investigation. Extra-judicial executions and summary killings of this scale should trouble us because it says a lot about us and the value we place on life.

    The truth is that Impunity in Nigeria 2010 and 2011 is a depressing chapter in the life of our nation. Last year, four undergraduate students of University of Port Harcourt were murdered under circumstances that smacks of first grade impunity. What is happening today with human rights issues in Nigeria is therefore terrifying and condemnable. No nation can afford to watch while her people are decimated in such a large number and I think there is need for a collective action.

    Regrettably, these extra-judicial executions and summary killings are resonating outside our shores and the signs are disturbing. This is what 2012 Annual State of the World Human Rights Report of Amnesty International says about Nigeria: “Police operations (in Nigeria) remained characterised by human rights violations. Hundreds of people were unlawfully killed, often before or during arrests on the street. Others were tortured to death in police detention……Many people disappeared from police custody. Few police officers were held accountable, leaving relatives of those killed or disappeared without justice. Police increasingly wore plain clothes or uniforms without identification, making it much harder for people to complain about individual officers”.   For too long, the debate on the value of the life of an average Nigerian has raged without any definitive verdict. Often, we return to this long issue anytime there is a global event that draws our attention to how citizens of other countries are treated by their law enforcement agencies.  It is appalling at this age and time that our nation still records avoidable and needless deaths. But the truth is that many of our country men and women are unaware of this monumental impunity which is an ill-wind.

    On May 16, the federal government flagged off “Stop Impunity Nigeria Campaign”, but many people are of the opinion that government is the biggest threat to the war against impunity.  For instance, there are all kinds of abuses evident around government circles and its agencies, the most recent being the abuse of constitutional role by the police as exemplified by developments in Rivers State.

    As a people, we can save our country from this drift and reverse this ugly trend. LEDAP’s report has already set the agenda. And it has also tasked the federal government, police authorities, the National Assembly, state governments, the National Human Rights Commission, the National Committee Against Torture, civil society organisations and the international community on what needs to be done. This is our chance and I think it is proper to take it.

    •  Dakuku Peterside

     Member, House of Representatives

    National Assembly, Abuja

  • Toast to Prophet T.B. Joshua at 50

    SIR: If there is one man whose life and ministry has impacted spiritually, morally, materially on the lives of millions of people around the world, it is the founder and leader of the Synagogue Church of all Nations, Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua popularly called Prophet T.B. Joshua. From a very humble beginning in the late 1990s, Prophet T.B. Joshua against all odd have continue to soar in his mission of changing lives, changing nations and changing the world.

    One astonishing feature that distinguishes Prophet T.B. Joshua from other men of God is his maturity in preaching and teaching the Word of God with power and the practical demonstration of God’s love for mankind through provision of assistance and succor to millions of people irrespective of nationality, tribe, religion or denomination.

    Prophet T.B. Joshua and the Emmanuel TV partners’ scholarship scheme stand out today as one of its kind in Nigeria. What marvels is the kind heart with which these assistance are given devoid of the usual showmanship and grandstanding exhibited by most people when they give to the needy. Recently, the prophet paid about N26 million to enable one Ms. Yinka Oduwale undertake a PhD study at the prestigious Oxford University in England. The gesture particularly challenged me. Thousands of families today are being restored through Prophet T.B. Joshua ministry. On more than one occasion, I have watched him donate millions of dollars in aids to people affected by natural disaster elsewhere in the world and at same extending similar gesture to charities organization and rehabilitation homes in Europe and America. Hence, Aljazeera once reported this unusual gesture as the flow of aids form Africa to America.

    Apart from students, athletes and people with disabilities are very dear to the heart of the Prophet. Every year, he and Emmanuel TV partners spend millions of dollars to train and develop talented athletes especially those living with disabilities.

    The life of Prophet T.B. Joshua has something to teach all of us, his very humble beginning is a testament to the fact that anybody can be chosen by God irrespective of his/her background. Prophet T.B. Joshua has taught the rich not to glory in their riches; that we must jettison the thoughts self alone.

    The simplicity and humility of Prophet T.B. Joshua is particularly a challenge to our billionaire flamboyant bishops and pastors whose ministries of prosperity, riches, gold, diamond and private jets have turned Christianity upside down in Nigeria and the world over. As this humble God’s servant mark the age of 50, I join millions of people across the world to appreciate God for the gift of a prophet for my generation.

    • Ijie Ben Asuelimen,

    Benin City, Edo State

  • Celebrating Bayero’s 50th coronation anniversary

    Celebrating Bayero’s 50th coronation anniversary

    SIR: When he was being installed 50 years ago as the Emir of Kano, Alhaji (Dr.) Ado Abdullahi Bayero promised to dedicate himself to the service of his people, the emirate, the state and the country in general. In retrospect, there is no doubting the fact that the 1963 pledge of the former Nigerian Ambassador to Senegal has not only been redeemed, but fulfilled with a stoical forbearance.

    Bayero, one of the longest serving emirs in the emirate’s history today stands out distinguishably among his peers as a patron of Islamic Scholarship who as well, embraces western education as a means to succeed in a modern Nigeria. His broadmindedness as well as his passion for the betterment of humanity has placed him in a vantage position to render selfless service, thus, validating Paul Harris’ postulation that “a true spirit of service is capable of working world’s redemption”. As a way of working for the redemption of his people, Bayero had served (before becoming Emir) as the Chief of the Kano Police – a position equivalent to a Commissioner of Police today.

    At the national level, the emir has served in various capacities. He was first chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) in 1966, and currently serving as two-time chancellor of Nigeria’s premier university – University of Ibadan (UI). He was first inducted on April 24, 1976 and served till 1984. He was again re-appointed in 2001. Cumulatively, Bayero has served the university for close to 28 years, thus, contributing in no small way to the stability, progress and development of the university.

    It is against his background that UI has decided to honour its one of the longest serving chancellors with a day of royal tributes and N12billion fundraising for the Ado Bayero Complex of the University of Ibadan School of Business” on June 20.

    Bayero’s long time friendship with the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade is an indication that the emir is a bridge-builder across the length and breadth of the country-a kind of attribute that the nation earnestly desires.

    Born 25 July, 1930, Bayero ascended the throne in October 22, 1963 becoming the 13th Fulani Emir of Kano and the 56th ruler of the ancient kingdom. A man of his words, his consistency in ruling by the tenets of his promise makes him a true royal father to look up to by both the young and old. Again, his commitment to the unity in the country and his advocacy for the education of both males and females earn him enormous respect as he is seen as a clairvoyant leader.

    He is not known for radicalism neither is he noted for religious dogmatism. His mien is as peaceful as his personality, cultivating the friendship of others without treachery. As he marks his 50th coronation anniversary, one can only wish him more peaceful reign and more years of service to humanity.

    • Sunday Saanu

    University of Ibadan