The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Prisons off federal exclusive list?

    SIR: The Senate has said that state governments can now build and operate prisons, which hitherto have been an exclusive preserve of the federal government. Media reports quoted the chairman of Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, and Legal Matters, Senator Umaru Dahiru as saying: “under the new arrangement, states can now build, fund, and maintain prisons in their domains,” without seeking any approval from federal government.

    This development, we want to believe, means that prison service has been removed from the old-fashioned federal exclusive list, even though this was not explicitly stated in the reports.

    There is a sense in which Dahiru’s statement makes a patriotic Nigerian want to cry because it is a tacit confession that Nigeria’s foremost democratic institution knows that Nigeria needs a new arrangement, which it should have spearheaded by allowing the Constituent Assembly produce a new constitution for the country through a Sovereign National Conference.

    While we would love to commend the Senate for this development, we dare ask why it is finding it difficult to muster the courage needed for total rearrangement.

    We hope our Senators know that building prisons involve funding, which many states may not have. Many of them are still struggling to pay the minimum wage because the near-scandalous revenue allocation formula is still preferred. We live in a country where federating states are not allowed to control their own resources and Value Added Taxes generated in the states are hauled off to Abuja.

    Removing prison service from the federal exclusive list is a bitter-sweet indication. The sweet sense is the gratification that the senate knows that our call for restructuring of Nigeria’s political governance is essential to the country’s survival. The bitter sense, which lingers more, is the fact that liberalising prison service is actually a trifling portion of the heavy burden weighing down the country.

    It is said that a leader takes the people where they want to be, but a great leader takes the people where they ought to be. We charge the Nigerian senate to be great leaders of our people. They should take the bull by the horns by facilitating the convocation of a SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE (SNC), to solve Nigeria’s problems once and for all.

     

    • Kunle Famoriyo

    Afenifere Renewal Group

    Lagos

  • Who says Nigeria isn’t a failed state?

    SIR: An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propaganda, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it – Mahatma Gandhi.

    In response to Prof Nwabueze’s comment on Nigeria as a failed state, former Special Assistant to PDP Chairman Osaro Onaiwu cited Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment {FDI} of $9b as indication that Nigeria is not a failed state. He claimed that foreigners see better communication, better transportation, and improvement in power, security; they see a pool of educated youth amongst others.

    One wonders which country Onaiwu is referring to. The economic hardship in the country negates whatever claims the government may be having. Venezuela is investing $100b of its oil money on infrastructure and planning the construction of a 1,000km railway line, while Nigeria’s leaders see no need to urgently repair our roads and construct modern rail lines.

    Nigeria has been poorly rated in all world economics indices such as Ease of Doing Business, where it is ranked 133 out of 134 countries and Global Competitiveness, 127 out of 132. The 25% interest on loans is inimical to economic growth of the nation.

    Also infrastructural deficiency has gotten many big industries and factories to close — up and relocated to other economic focused nations like Ghana. It is difficult for business to thrive under these unfavourable conditions.

    It is a mark of collective failure of Nigerian governments at different levels that after 52years of independence, water supply service coverage in the country is around 58%; in other words, about 70 million people lack potable water supply. Maternal mortality is 630 per 100,000. Infant mortality rate is 143 per 1,000 life births. Our status as oil rich nation notwithstanding, we continue to import refined petroleum products.

    Qatar, with a population of 1.7m people generates 8,750mw of electricity; Los Angelis, a city in the U.S. with four million population generates 7,500mw while Nigeria with a population of 170m is struggling with 3,100mw after wasting billions of dollars on power generation. Saudi Arabia plans to spend about $100b to add 30,000mw to its 40,000mw generated already for a population of 28m people, while China has been producing 6,000mw yearly in the last five years which is over 360,000mw. But in Nigeria the looting class is envisaging of increasing the electricity tariff again that will allow the poor masses to pay more for the darkness being experience everyday instead of light, while Nigeria is known to be the highest importer of generators in the world.

    Our health delivery system is shambolic. Our hospitals and teaching hospitals are glorified clinics compared to where our political leaders and policy makers run to when they have ailments. The nation’s Criminal Justice Delivery System is perfunctory and amateurish.

    It is unfortunate that our society continues to manifest what Lord Lugard thought about Nigerians in his book “Dual Mandate In British Tropical African” written over 80years ago: “In character and temperament, the typical African of this race-type is a happy, thriftless, excitable person. Lacking in self control, discipline and foresight. Naturally courageous and polite, full of personal vanity”.

    • Pastor Mark Debo Taiwo (JP)

    Lagos

     

  • Foreigners and arms smuggling

    SIR: The rate at which the foreigners are smuggling arms into the country is alarming and calls for serious concern for all and sundry. With the kind of security challenges Nigeria as a nation is facing, we are supposed to be cautious of who brings what into the country, but it is unfortunate that some bad politicians, greedy custom officers and some disgruntled elements among other law enforcement officers are encouraging and supporting these criminals from different parts of the of the world to import all sorts of arms into Nigeria.

    On July 17, 2010 one Iranian, Azin Aghajani accompanied by one unpatriotic Nigerian named Ali Jega illegally imported 13-by-20 feet container load of fire-arms and explosives into Nigeria from Iran by falsely declaring on the Bill of Lading that the consignment contained construction materials.

    Also, 15 Russians were also arrested in Lagos by Naval officers on Oct. 18, 2012 over allegations of unlawful importation of arms into Nigeria. They were alleged to have entered the Nigerian territorial waters, without due clearance from the Nigerian Custom Service.

    While I commend Justice Okechukwu Okeke of Federal High Court in Lagos for sentencing Aghajani, the Iranian and his Nigerian accomplice Ali Jega to 17 years imprisonment each for illegal importation of fire arms into country, I would have preferred a harsher sentence. I will also appeal to Federal Ministries of Justice and Interior not to allow Ali Jega to serve his jail term in his home country (Iran) as requested by his counsel; rather, he should be allowed to serve his jail term in Nigerian prison so that it will serve as a lesson for other foreigners who think they can do whatever they like in Nigeria and go Scot free.

    The minister of Interior whose ministry is overseeing Customs must be up and doing. Corruption in Nigeria Custom Service must be checkmated and officers found aiding and abetting the smuggling of arms into the country must be sacked and prosecuted. The chiefs of Air and Naval Staff must also caution their officers from supporting the foreigners from smuggling arms into the country via our air and waterways.

    Lastly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru must also address the members of Diplomatic Corps to warn their citizens from causing troubles in Nigeria either directly or indirectly, and should any foreigner be arrested for any offence in Nigeria, he/she must be allowed to face the full wrath of the law as it is done in other foreign countries.

    Iran, Saudi Arabia, China and other countries have one time or the other executed Nigerians while thousands are languishing in their jail for carrying cocaine and other hard drugs into their countries; the same policy should be implemented for citizens of these countries who smuggle hard drugs or arms into Nigeria, after all, “all animals are equal”.

    Nigeria has enough problems and no foreigners should be allowed to add to our problems.

     

    • John Tosin Ajiboye

    Osogbo Osun State

  • Hitler’s Nazism and Shekau’s Boko Haram

    SIR: Following the emergence of Adolf Hitler as the Fuehrer of the Nazi Germany or the Third Reich, he quickly conjured support through his gift of oratory to blame the Jews for the the German loss of the First World War. By the able hand of his Secret Service General Heinrich Hilmmer, he launched the operation Final Solution to the Jewish Question. This operation saw the extermination of six million Jews, including the blacks, Jehovah Witnesses, gypsies, the disabled and others he considered racially inferior, as they were taken to various death camps scattered across Poland, Austria and Germany.

    In the end, the Allied Forces closed-in on him in his Berlin bunker where he committed suicide in May 1945 affirming that evil cannot continue to prevail over good; and that those who perpetrate attrocity will never end well by the sacred blood of the innocent crying daily for justice.

    The case of Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram after the death of Mohammed Yusuf, bears the same similitude of the Hitler’s Nazi gang. The same way Hitler would have been arrested for crime against humanity is the same way Shekau will be held responsible for the death of over 4,000 innocent Nigerians who lost their lives in the wake of this heinous crimes of genocide against humanity for the past three years. The same way Hitler had no reason for the blood letting that rocked Europe, even so the Boko Haram has no reason for killing of thousands of innocent Nigerians.

    After this event, where will Abubakar shekau live in this country? Where will his children live on the face of the earth? Will they all run away when this carnival finally closes on him?

    As for those who refused to condemn this crime against humanity, especially those who also sympathize with boko haram, and are secretly enjoying the mayhem, be ready for natural justice, for your support in this mass murder going on, which has robbed many families of their bread winners, and orphaned many children to an uncertain future of suffering and lost dreams. Nigerians will never vote for any man who has been perceived to have sympathised with Boko Haram come 2015. Nigerians and indeed the whole world are watching Shekau and his rag-tag army of insurgents. Nigeria will outlive all of you and your selfish interests.

    • Sunday Akpelu

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State

  • Jonathan’s 2013 promises

    Jonathan’s 2013 promises

    SIR: It seems that President Goodluck Jonathan has forgotten that he made promises to Nigerians to improve on security and well-beings of the people. Nigerians are still being killed everyday. His response to the incessant criticism by the opposition parties shortly after he came to power was his promise to surprise them in 2013.

    We are now in the fifth month of 2013. We do not know when precisely the surprises will begin to manifest or is it that the president is still working on it or perhaps that the calendar in Aso Rock still reads 2012?

    Nigerians were not moved by the promise neither did it sound strange because since the advent of democracy, Nigerians had been victims of continuous lies and manipulations by the PDP led administrations.

    The fact is that, Jonathan’s, regime like the ones we have had before him, has been overwhelmed by development challenges. Because the leaders put their personal interests first, they put minimal efforts to finding lasting solutions to the challenges facing the nation hence they project false hopes.

    Today, nothing is working in Nigeria. There are rampant poverty, security challenges, incessant power outage, bad roads, bad leadership and poor education. All these were bred by corruption.

    No government can achieve anything meaningful when it is surrounded by crooks and mediocres. If the president really wants to get it right, he should step on toes and not to grant undue pardon to thieves.

    Nigeria is blessed with enormous resources yet majority of its population live in abject poverty. The current security challenges in some northern parts of the country have shown that this administration is weak and therefore, Nigerians need to rise and come together with a view to salvaging the country from imminent collapse.

    • Waziri Mohammed

    Mokola, Ibadan.

     

     

  • Afenifere’s strange bedfellows

    Afenifere’s strange bedfellows

    SIR: I was alarmed but later bemused when I read about Afenifere’s press conference in the media recently. Seated with Afenifere’s chieftains were Senator Iyiola Omisore and Yinka Odumakin. Odumakin was the spokesperson of the group of the group that broke away from Afenifere. What then has happened to honour?

    Afenifere was established in 1951 by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and his associates. Since then, it remained the rallying point for the progressives in the South-west. Since 1999 when the current democratic dispensation took its root, things took a new dimension with real disciples of Awolowo trying to align themselves together to pursue the authentic Awo’s vision in governance.

    It was during this process that Senator Omisore came to the fold, especially when the Alliance for Democracy (AD) was being formed and he became deputy governor of Osun State.

    Due to obvious differences and discordant tune of the political music at that time, it was clear to all that Omisore did not belong to the fold. Things began to fall apart in the party and in the leadership of the Osun State government leading to his impeachment as Deputy Governor. Since then, Omisore has left the AD to pitch his tent with the PDP. His party deployed all resources at its disposal to fight Awo’s once united political family with intent of total annihilation. This culminated in the gruesome murder of Chief Bola Ige and the annihilation of the AD in the South-west with Bola Tinubu of Lagos State the only man standing.

    Afenifere has since unravelled and the various leaders have joined different political parties. While some are still in the ACN, some have joined PDP while many of them are with Labour Party. It is curious therefore to see Omisore nesting comfortably with Afenifere. Has Afenifere become Afenifere-PDP? Let them tell us so that we can know where they stand. What they are up to and what scheme they may be plotting is yet to be known but Omisore has his eyes on Osun State governorship election next year. Are they Omisore’s friends and part of his campaign group? Time will tell.

    Omisore had surreptitiously crept into the rank of the Afenifere group again the way he did in 1999. One wonders why the group allowed its ranks to be broken and became so vulnerable to open its doors to another era of political terrorism that characterized Omisore‘s earlier romance with the group in 1999. We know that the group has suffered very serious infiltration from the opposition which has led to its being factionalised.

    It is nevertheless a suicide mission for these factions to allow further balkanization by allowing Omisore into its fold. This romance obviously is like a political cancer that should not be allowed to fester. Anything to the contrary can only constitute a death sentence to the peace and tranquility being enjoyed in the region.

    • Kunle Omideyi,

    Surulere, Lagos

     

  • The Igbo leadership question

    SIR: It took resistance from Rosa Parker, a 42 year old tailor’s assistant, for African Americans led by Martin Luther King Jnr. and Ralph Abernathy to rise against the“separate but equal” discriminatory law of segregate America. It took the Sharpeville shooting of 67 Black South Africans by the White minority government in South Africa for Nelson Mandela to lead the Umkhonto we Sizwe resistant movement in the Apartheid enclave among others.

    The Igbo nation is in dire need of a leadership that is both responsive and decisive. Leadership vacuum among the people, especially in a country that has scant regard for equity and justice, is beginning to take its toll on the race. It is becoming increasingly difficult for Ndigbo to survive the rat race that has come to define the country’s approach to political and economic power. The political gust unleashed by better organized groups in the country buffets Ndigbo and leaves them groping for direction. The void exposes them to all manner of denials and gratuitous violence. The number of deaths recorded by Ndigbo via sectarian crisis in the country is enough to compel serious introspection. Sadly enough those involved in the humiliation of the race are arrogant and brazen in manners. They don’t care a hoot and are in no hurry to mitigate the effects of their actions.

    The situation deteriorates with successive governments in Nigeria. It will be trite to chronicle afresh all the denials and cheap deaths the people are subjected to. It equally sucks to think the end of the humiliating experiences may not be in sight yet. The descent to political irrelevance appears hard and fast. Besides manifest disparity in the distribution of political and economic favour, the latest treason trial of the leadership of MASSOB bespeaks of Ndigbo as a people whose political fortunes have reached the nadir. Though I do not subscribe to the group and its style of agitation, it does not make sense that more violent groups elsewhere in the country are wooed with amnesty while MASSOB leadership is arraigned on treason charge.

    I recall that in 2005, as a result of upsurge in violent eruptions among ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, the Obasanjo administration ordered the arrest of the leaders of OPC, NDPVF, and MASSOB. Consequently Fredrick Fasheun, Ganiyu Adam, Asari Dokubo and Uwazurike were all thrown into detention. Curiously, of the lot, only Uwazurike, the peaceful agitator, is yet to regain full freedom years after. The grim reality of his current treason trial, alongside some of his unfortunate colleagues, is that he risks long jail term and or death sentence should the trial be allowed to run its course. It rings a note of blatant discrimination, if not barefaced humiliation, to arraign MASSOB for trial while Boko Haram, NDPVF, MEND, OPC, etc are courted with contract offers.

    What Ndigbo lack is decisive and responsive leadership that will rouse the people from political inertia, and refocus them in the fiercely competitive political environment. For as long as the leadership of the Igbo nation is peopled by relevance-seeking, profit – oriented political office holders so long will the people continue to play second fiddle to their neighbours. For a people set on survival now is the time for a bold and courageous leadership to emerge and point the way forward in a country that is already mired in violent ethnic eruptions.

    • Ejike Anyaduba

    Abatete, Anambra State.

     

  • That planned demolition in Uyo

    SIR: It sounds unbelievable that about 10,000 buildings will be demolished in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital. I believe the chairman of Uyo Capital City Development Authority (UCCDA) has done a survey to understand the infrastructural problems of the state capital and thereby concluded that those structures should be pulled down after seven days warning to the occupants.

    I want to ask the chairman, if he has also considered the fate of the occupants who are indigent and helpless? What steps has the government of Akwa Ibom State taken to replace 10,000 buildings that will soon go down? Where will the occupants of the buildings relocated to?

    Uyo is a developing city and the population is increasing every day. The government, unfortunately has not built and allotted up to 2,000 houses to citizens from 2007 till date. Presently, the shops and commercial buildings for business activities in Uyo are inadequate. The people are seen in Uyo daily struggling to do petty businesses under umbrellas and kiosks around Ibom Plaza and major streets just to keep”body and soul” and their families together.

    Now, the government wants throw them out into the streets. If the state government is very sincere and committed to alleviating the hardship faced by these homeless people, they are supposed to build more than 10,000 housing units, relocate them and then embark on the demolition exercise.

    This same government that promised 31 industries to improve the living standard of the people during the last electioneering campaign has suddenly forgotten the implementation of the promises; instead it wants to subject the people to more hardship in the name of infrastructural development. I wonder what use are the good roads, flyovers and other government infrastructural edifice to the hopeless and poverty-stricken people struggling to survive.

    Every government has areas of focus and I believe the present government in its wisdom has its visions; and is gradually executing them at its best. But my desire is to plead for these defenceless citizens who are the major residents of Uyo but have socio-economic challenges. Government should consider their welfare while taking major decisions on infrastructural development.

    If not, there will come a time when the poor, the homeless and the unemployed citizens of Nigeria will come together as a great and determined force to fight and gain freedom from the corrupt, selfish and unpatriotic colonial masters who take pleasure in enslaving the people.

    •Mark Isong,

    Uyo, Akwa Ibom.

  • Still on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

    SIR: Last year, when the Federal Government terminated the May 2009, concessionary agreement it entered with Bi-Courtney Limited for the redevelopment and modernisation of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, the general consensus across the land was that it was a welcome development in view of the concessionaire’s foot dragging on the project.

    The Federal government subsequently went ahead to appoint two reputable construction firms namely Julius Berger plc and RCC to do some palliative works on the road in order to reduce the stress of motorists along the road.

    The palliative works did to a large extent, lessen the trauma of motorists along the road, especially during the December 2012 festive period. However, the understanding then was that by 2013, real work geared towards the commencement of the redevelopment and upgrading of the road would begin in earnest. However, till date, there is nothing concrete on ground to suggest that government is about to start work on the road. The result is that the road is gradually returning to its hitherto distressing and frustrating state. In particular, the portion of the road from Sagamu intersection to Lagos is worst hit. This is quite understandable as this is the busiest section of the expressway consisting of a vast business and residential hub made up of emerging communities such as Mowe, Arepo, Magboro, Ibafo, Asese, Olowotedo, Pakuro among others.

    For all our efforts at attracting foreign investments into the country, if we cannot take care of minute details such as improving a major highway that could enhance such investments, then we had better forget it. Being the main expressway, providing the primary link between Lagos and other parts of Nigeria and hence, a road of primary economic and social importance to the nation, it is imperative that the Federal Government take urgent steps to ensure that the situation of the road improves.

    To put the Nigerian economy on the lane to speedy recovery and growth, Federal Government would have to immediately commit itself to a result-driven programme that would make the road a driver’s delight. There must be a time-frame known and acceptable to Nigerians for the completion of this road. While the federal government is fine tuning efforts to redevelop and modernize the road, one would like to implore the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, to as a matter of necessity mobilise its men and resources to address the failed portions of the road in order to avert imminent disaster, reduce travelling time as well as lessen every trouble associated with travelling on the road.

    • Tayo Ogunbiyi

    Alausa, Ikeja.

  • Clearing drainages in Delta

    With the effects of the flooding last year still fresh in our minds, most governments and individuals have started taking steps to mitigate further problems with the predictions that there will more rains this year as compared to last year. It has been discovered that blocking of drainages and channels in our cities and towns that were supposed to allow free flow of water and indiscriminate disposal of refuse are major causes of flooding. I believe it is this awareness that has prompted the Delta state government at all levels and individuals to rigorous clearing of channels and drainage as can be noticed in Warri and Effurun in particular. I must say that these efforts are highly commendable most especially as individuals are now taking it up to clear the channels around their shops, offices and homes. Quite commendable as these efforts are, it may not achieve its ultimate result because poor implementation. When dirt and garbage are packed from these channels they are simply left at the sides without disposing them immediately sometimes for weeks. Only for one single rain to fall and everything is washed back into the drainages. For me, this is what the scriptures call the labour of the foolish. At the end no work done, energy is dissipated and no results achieved. This should not be the case. Clearing of drains and channels should be immediately followed with the disposal of the refuse to the appropriate dump sites and not allowing them to stay there. Most times, residents are helpless in disposing these heavy dumps hence government collaboration is highly needed in this regards.

    Alexander Ighoro

    Warri, Delta State