The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Re: Omatseye’s Achebe versus Soyinka

    IR: I found Sam Omatseye’s professional statement on an old subject matter of who is the greater writer – Chinua Achebe or Wole Soyinka – in The Nation of April 1, extremely enlightening, objective and seminal.

    I always thought attempting to establish this ranking was frivolous and uncalled for. For once, I can see the value of peer-review as distinct from press hypes which invariably establishes the vintage judgement and standards that create Nobel Laureates and underpin literary creativity. You successfully established for me that this is not necessarily a matter for populism or one of who is bestseller but deeply nuanced.

    I sure will keep this for reference.

    • Tunji Olaopa

    Abuja

  • Hail Ekweremadu, the 13th Apostle

    SIR: Somewhere in Udi Local Government Area in Enugu State during the last Easter, the 13th Apostle was unveiled. Ladies and Gentlemen meet the 13th Apostle, His Excellency, Deputy Senate President Distinguished Senator (Apostle) Ike Ekweremadu.

    It is the stated calling of apostles to plant churches and last week, our man fulfilled that call by building a church in his state. This was an epoch event and to show its importance, the presiding bishop of the republic, His Excellency Goodluck Jonathan was present. He had to come. Apostles have no purse, they depend on the provisions of the Lord to plant churches, they depend on the goodwill of the mission areas and to a large extent on the hospitality of the bishop of the province in which they plant the church, and to succeed they have to enlist in the good books of the bishop. Hence, Bishop Goodluck had to be present to bless the apostle’s work.

    In a nation without proper centres for skills acquisition for the youth, in a nation where health centres are death rooms, in a country where you shed tears at the penury of people living in slums, we have leaders who weekly pander to religious sentiments by going from one mosque or church to the other making donations for more and more churches and mosques. It shows they understand the effect religious sentiments have on people especially Nigerians. It is important that there is a change in the way religious issues are championed by political leaders. It is either one governor donates a mosque or the president is sourcing funds for a church or one senator is donating another church.

    Gentlemen, just for a reminder, we do not need more churches and mosques in Nigeria. We need hungry people to have access to food, youth need access to jobs, children need access to a decent life in their fatherland, pregnant women in the remotest villages from Yobe to Akwa Ibom to Osun to Ebonyi needs access to prompt and quality healthcare.

    Some have opined that there exists a conspiracy between the religious groups and the state. Politicians make reckless decisions as regards the future of the country and then call on their religious counterparts to help prepare the sick to die and meet the Lord, to offer hope where there is none; hope that paralyzes faith that numbs, to convince the helpless population that gather in multimillion naira mosques and churches that all will be well even when the hospital behind the church records several deaths per week.

    This is the calamity that has befallen us and indeed we need more apostles to show us the way to heaven. The problem is that we have apostles who bring the message of salvation and also apostles who prepare us to meet God faster by not providing security and healthcare to us but donating religious structures so that at least you can die in peace! Sincere congratulations to the 13th apostle.

    • Ojinnaka, Kelechi C.

    Port Harcourt.

  • How realistic is Minna’s motorcycle ban?

    SIR: On February 26, the self-styled the Chief Servant of Niger State, Dr Babangida Aliyu Muazu announced the ban on commercial motorcycle and gave three weeks ultimatum for its enforcement in Minna metropolis and its environs. As a result, residents of Minna were thrown into confusion, dazed, agitated, and helpless.

    Indeed, tricycles were introduced as replacements for commercial motorcycles, but at what cost? How many a commercial motorcycle operator can afford N400, 000 for a tricycle to pay in installment for 18 months?

    By design, the tricycle requires smooth terrain to operate efficiently. However, most areas in the Minna metropolis lack adequate road network. Except for the streets off the major ‘Chanchaga-Maikunkele’ expressway (that passes through the heart of Minna town), which had their roads constructed, most adjoining areas and new settlements along both western bypass and eastern bypass have no good access road, and the terrain is too rough for tricycle to have a smooth ride. Ironically, these areas are inhabited by many residents who have no cars of their own to serve their transportation need.

    It is a known fact that majority of the unemployed youth in Niger State take to motorcycle business to earn a leaving and cater for their families. Personally, I don’t see how snatching bread from a hungry man could solve any problems in the society.

    Of course such ban was enforced in a few conflict-torn states in North-west and North-east Nigeria as a measure to curtail insecurity and brutal murder of innocent lives, many of which were perpetrated using motorcycles. For crying out loud, Minna town is relatively peaceful. If commercial motorcycles still operate in states facing more serious security challenges, the ban in Niger State is simply uncalled for.

    Frankly speaking, running from a problem is no way to solving it.

    Transportation is a great necessity in every modern society. It is a driving force as well as linking machinery that propels a nation’s economy forward. Just a few hour of the expiration of the three weeks ultimatum, business activities and movements were nearly disrupted in the state capital but for the suspension on the ban. Although commercial motorcycles still operate in Minna metropolis for the time being, this has not allayed the fears of Nigerlites of imminent enforcement.

    • Fatima Abdulkadir Gana

    IBBU, Lapai, Niger State.

  • Re: Self from self

    Re: Self from self

    Sir: I think the real shame, of Wole Soyinka’s and Chinua Achebe’s counter-criticism of each other’s achievements lies in their failures. Neither of them had attempted, to date, to maintain the necessary call for the critical development of any and all of our grossly inadequate local or indigenous ‘languages’ into full and proper ones.

    A language does not become one, truly, until it may be able to depict the vast majority of the things and concepts existing in the Universe, with its vocabulary. How would we improve the efficacy with which indigenous electronic technology would be developed if we do not have

    words, for “infra-red” or “ultra-violet”, nor be able to distinguish between the colours red, yellow, orange, and pink, with which the rural man may be able to internalise the concept of the naturally occurring and universal spectrum of light that underpins that technology?

    Isn’t this one of the major reasons behind the fear and trepidation with which our children perceive these concepts when, at first, they come across them? An awe, quite far beyond their ‘inability’ to understand the concept, borne, purely, out of the lack of the depiction of the word in our “mother” tongues?

    How do we internalise the reality of construction technology if we do not have a word to describe the concept of “trigonometry” or “algebra”, or “mechanics”, nor are able to distinguish between an “isosceles” and an “equilateral” triangle, as well as the myriad other realities that underpin the complete understanding of same, in a local language?

    Chinua Achebe, once upon a time, gave a lame excuse for writing in English alone and not in Igbo. I can’t ever remember Wole Soyinka giving any excuse for this similar career characteristic.

    I don’t begrudge either of them their literary career choice of language. It is a prerogative they have exercised to great personal successes. No doubt! And I celebrate and remain thankful, with, and for, them, even as a Nigerian!

    I do question the lack of a clamour, from either of them, for the deliberate development, by State Government setup committees, of erudite linguists and traditionalists, saddled with the critical development-economic task of turning any and all of our local creoles into proper languages.

    They might not have ever traded these criticisms should they had shared the vision of the great roles and impetus they may have occupied and given this burning national crisis of

    language as a crucially neglected development-economic tool!

    In fact, I ‘see’ them having collaborated comfortably as ‘Professor Booker’ and ‘Professor Nobel’, to give a double-colossal national and Diaspora impetus to the fundamental Cause!

    • Tajin Olusegun Taire

    Tinapa, Calabar.

  • Kudos to Globacom

    Kudos to Globacom

    SIR: Permit me a space in your widely read news I wish to commend Globacom for complying with the Nigerian Communications Commission’s directive to reduce the tariff for sms across all the networks.

    It gladdens my heart to note that NCC can take such a bold step to save Nigerians from the exploitative tendencies of some of the service providers by intervening in the increasing cost of sending sms. I have done my calculation and I am particularly delighted to note that Globacom did not only comply with the directive, but it have gone a step further. Instead of charging the recommended N4 per sms, it charges N3.81 per sms. This is a good demonstration of nationalism. Please keep it up.

    This singular act goes to show that beyond profitability, which in any case is the essence of any business concern, Globacom cares more about the people as a truly indigenous company. We cannot forget teh fact that it is the same Globacom that started the lowest tariff and the issue of per second billing in this country.

    I also wish to ask that other GSM operators in the country should as a matter of urgency, further review their sms charges as Globacom did; reason being that if Globacom can do this, others can equally follow; after all, they all face the same infrastructural challenges in their operations.

     

    • Adewale Omolere,

    Ijegun str., Alapere,

    Ketu, Lagos.

  • Lingering crises at Nigercem

    Lingering crises at Nigercem

    SIR: Well meaning Igbos have watched with sadness and dismay at what is going on at Nigercem Nkalagu. Nigercem is one of the earliest cement companies to be built in Nigeria, but while those built around the time it was established and the ones built much later are still waxing strong, generating employment in thousands, developing the economy of the areas they are domiciled and contributing significantly to the internally generated revenue of the host states, Nigercem has become moribund and cannibalized.

    During the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the federal government formulated a policy of gradual ly phasing out of cement importation. Consequent upon this, licenses were granted for greenfield plants while moribund cement plants were sold to investors that would redevelop them. In this vein, Bua Cement bought over Edo Cement Company Okpila, Eastern Bulkcem took over Nigercem Nkalagu while while Dangote group bought Benue Cement Company Gboko. Regrettably, while Bua and Dangote group where able to turn around Edo Cement and BCC Gboko respectively, the same could not be said of Eastern Bulkcem. It later became apparent that Eastern Bulkcem does not have the resources and capacity to revitalise Nigercem. Dangote went ahead to develop two other green field plants at Obajana in Kogi State and Ibeshe in Ogun State as well as in other African countries like Zambia, Senegal etc. Curiously, Dangote avoided the South-east in the siting of his plants.

    As a geologist, I know that limestone is a major raw material in the production of cement and most major plants are situated close to limestone deposits to facilitate production and save cost. Based on this, well meaning Igbos were disappointed that no investor would deem it fit to establish cement plant in the South-east, despite the preponderance of huge limestone deposits located in the region, especially at Nkalagu in Ebonyi State and Arochukwu in Abia State among others. So it came as a welcome development when Ibeto group bought over the shares of Eastern Bulkcem with intent on revitalising Nigercem, but the ovation had hardly died down when discordant tunes began to emanate from Ebonyi State between the core investor and the state government. Surprisingly, it became obvious that Ebonyi State government led by Governor Martin Elechi was not excited about Ibeto Group’s take over of Nigercem and appears bent on frustrating them. This is shocking because multitudes of Igbo youths are moving out en mass to other regions in search of jobs and worse still, majority of Ebonyi youths in particular are all over the major cities of the federation engaging in all sorts of strenuous and demeaning jobs.

    A well functioning Nigercem has the potential to provide thousands of direct and indirect jobs, boost the state’s internally generated revenue, improve the economy and lead to the establishment of other allied industries and services.

    It is worrisome and appalling that while all other regions of Nigeria has at least one cement factory, it is only the South-east that has none.It is enough cause for concern that a move to change this appalling situation is being frustrated by those that ought to encourage it. From what can be gleaned in the ongoing media war involving the Ebonyi State government and Ibeto Group, it seems that the debacle is becoming intractable with each passing day, considering the politicization of the issue and polarization of the state’s federal lawmakers as well as the dethronement of traditional rulers in the host communities.

    One hopes that the Ohanaeze ndi Igbo, South-east governors and other stakeholders will wade in with a view to resolving this crises and for the governor, Chief Martin Elechi, as an elder statesman to see the bigger picture and encourage Ibeto Group for posterity and overall interest of his state and its people.

    • Nwankwo Tochukwu,

    Aba, Abia State.

     

  • A lesson in religious tolerance

    A lesson in religious tolerance

    SIR: As Christians celebrated Easter, commemorating the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, I will like to call the attention of different religion bodies all over the world to the Scottish church which showed love to their Muslim counterparts.

    According to the Daily Mail of London, a Scottish church became the first in the UK to share its premises with Muslim worshipers. Last month, St John’s Episcopal Church, Aberdeen welcomed hundreds of Muslims to pray five times a day in their building as the nearby mosque was so small that they were forced to worship outside.

    The minister of the church, Rev Isaac Poobalan, handed over part of the church hall to Chief Imam Ahmed Megharbi who led prayers in the main chapel. Rev Poobalan said that he would not be true to his faith if he did not offer to help.

    He said: “Praying is never wrong. My job is to encourage people to pray. The mosque was so full at times, there would be people outside in the wind and rain praying. I knew I couldn’t let this happen – because I would be abandoning what the Bible teaches us about how we should treat our neighbors… It’s a big building and it remains empty on a Friday lunchtime which is when they need the place most as that’s when they are at their busiest”.

    Rev. Poobalan said he wanted the move to help build bridges between Christians and Muslims after some initial resistance from his congregation.

    It’s also worthy of mention that the mosque received the help the church offered in good spirit. Sheikh Ahmed Megharbi reportedly said: “what happens here is special and there should be no problem repeating this across the country. The relationship is friendly and respected.”

    I urge different religious bodies all over the world to learn from this. We must learn to live together in harmony and in love and try to even help another in time of need. I believe there is no religion that preaches violence, therefore the religious leaders must preach peace, tolerance and friendliness among their members so that there can be peace in our world.

    Religious leaders must learn from Pope John Paul ll who was the first Pontiff to visit the Ummayad Mosque in Damascus in may 2001, when he embarked on a pilgrimage that took him from Greece to Syria to the island of Malta. I believe it is the same God who created all of us in different religions; therefore we must love our neighbor as ourselves regardless of our religion differences because our God is love.

     

    • John Tosin Ajiboye

    Osogbo, Osun State

  • The real trouble with Nigeria

    The real trouble with Nigeria

    SIR: Nigeria is burdened with multiple socio-political­ problems that have left many disenchanted. The systemic decay, apart from nauseating, leaves many gasping for fresh air. In the effort to situate the problem, many self-righteous folks trade blames as to where the problem of Nigeria lies. To some, it is our leaders while others hold colonialism responsible. Such naïve conclusion especially the one that holds the hugely corrupt PDP responsible for our woes merely distracts our attention from successfully situating the problem.

    Nigerian problem can aptly be summed up as “frail institutional set-up that thrives on ignoble culture of impunity and corruption”. It is caused by Nigerians, not the PDP.

    Except we want to feign ignorance, we all know that the root of our problem is dearth of morals. Decayed moral fabrics make it possible for us all to break rules of engagement in and out of government.

    While elected/­imposed officials can afford to steal, sycophancy and greed make us hail the criminals. We have all refrained from doing what is right to build our nation. We can and should thus blame ourselves for our socio-political­ woes and not lay it at the door step of the PDP when we have all failed the nation.

    A careful analysis of our problem, shows a collective failure of all to do the needful.

    How is the PDP our problem when we have all failed in our bit of nation building?

    Strong institutions need resolute people to succeed. We are people that want convenient laws…laws we obey when it favours us? Show me the nation that is built up that way and I will congratulate Nigerians for building Nigeria.

    Our estate will nose-dive as long as our collective docility in the face of nation building continues.

    I personally don’t support corruption that the PDP and indeed political life of the nation has come to be known for, but that will not make me situate our problem where it doesn’t belong. Nigerians are the problem of Nigeria. Our ignoble sense of entitlement with zero percent sense of responsibility to nation building is our problem.

    Way out? We must stop finding help where there’s none because such would amount to an exercise in futility. We must see beyond the PDP and be willing to selflessly build the Nigeria of our individual dreams. Fixing our socio-political­ woes in Nigeria must go beyond political groupings. Until we experience mental shift that will birth to attitudinal change in us all as Nigerians, the circus of ineptitude in governance and impunity in the society will continue.

    For if we gather under any guise with same mind-set that has led us to this sorry state of affairs, we are of all men most miserable. Political grouping not people oriented, can at best, bring about cosmetic changes that will mock essence of the real change we all yearn in our polity.

    We must thus soberly come to that point where we will say, enough of the mess we have plunged our dear nation Nigeria. Until we are ready to come to the table of nation building with patriotism in our wings, can we actually get to the promise land when we ply the wrong route? Attitudinal change is the way out!

    • Oyejide Victor,

    University of Ibadan

  • Chinua Achebe, a tribute

    Chinua Achebe, a tribute

    SIR: I first encountered Professor Chinua Achebe in the Literature class handled by Basorun Seinde Arogbofa at the African Church Grammar School, Oka-Akoko via Things Fall Apart, which, with Julius Caesar, Mayor of Casterbridge and West African Verse, were the compulsory texts for the 1974 May/June examination. But I met the man himself at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he had just returned from the United States as a Professor of English with a new Mercury Monarch that was the cynosure of all eyes on campus.

    Achebe defined my world as a youngster, especially as a literary scholar, though I studied and taught History all my post-secondary life. He defined for virtually all non-Igbo, the Igbo personality, precolonial Igbo agricultural/rural life and the parameters of social mobility, definition of wealth, influence and power in that society. His role in inaugurating and sustaining the Heinemann African Writers Series, which is now defunct, made him the Father of Modern African Literature. That feat made literature by Africans accessible to young readers of my generation and sustained the reading culture that is practically missing among the youth today.

    He cemented his place in history as one of the two all-time leading literary figures out of Africa, the other being the Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka. Even in death, Achebe will continue to define the African literary landscape, being (I presume) the most widely read novelist from Africa. He was far less successful as a politician or pan-Nigerian social critic, but he won respect and praise, and empowered the dwindling number of academics with a social conscience, by spurning the poisoned chalice of tainted national honours presented by successive bankrupt Nigerian governments. His place in history is secure as there cannot be another Chinua Achebe.

     

    • Professor Ayodeji Olukoju, FNAL,

    Vice-Chancellor

    Caleb University

    Imota, Lagos State

  • Let’s put an end to these senseless killings

    SIR: Life no get duplicate’ is a popular saying here. Yet our land is literally soaked with blood, mostly of innocent citizens. Since independence we have staggered from one bloodletting to another. Our history is one litany of butchery. Countless lives have been violently extinguished through mob attack, extrajudicial killing, assassination, ethno-religious violence and now terrorism. How do we react to these deaths?

    After every terror attack, the police and other agencies swing into action but never come up with the accurate number of casualties let alone their identities. One can now almost quote in advance, government’s press release after an attack. It usually condemns the dastardly act while vowing to bring the perpetrators to book– I’m still waiting for anyone to be tried let alone convicted. After government’s condemnation come those of prominent citizens. Then ordinary folks wish that the souls of the departed rest in peace and again pray God to intervene. Thereafter life goes on as usual until the next incident.

    As expected the recent attack on a motor park in Sabon Gari, Kano, elicited a barrage of condemnation. But that is where it ended. Till date no one is sure of the number of casualty or their identity. Besides those personally affected, I doubt how many of us still spare a thought for that very tragic incident.

    How many still remember the gruesome murder of the ‘Uniport Four’ at Aluu, how many are interested in, or wonder what has become of their murderers? How many have been tried for the atrocities perpetrated in Plateau State, or for the riots in other parts of the North? Besides the condemnations what practical measures have been taken to forestall a recurrence of these tragedies?

    I can’t help but decry our, to a large extent, indifference towards the murder or suffering of our compatriots. Is it that by nature we accept tragedies with philosophical calm or that we have become rather insensitive from repeated experience of violence? I think the latter is the case. We are becoming used to violent deaths that news of it only catches our attention briefly after which we shrug and move on. This is dangerous, in fact a sign of a failing society.

    It’s time we reclaimed our humanity. The senseless sacrifice of humans on the altar of religion or tribalism must be utterly rejected; it must never be tolerated as is presently the case. There should be an immediate stop to mob ‘justice’, extrajudicial killings and unresolved assassinations. No death must be left unexplained and on no account must anyone get away with murder. This is the only way to demonstrate that really we consider life precious.

    •Nnoli Chidiebere

    Aba, Abia State.