The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • The leader we need in 2015

    The leader we need in 2015

    SIR: Nigeria is one of the most blessed countries in the world, with enough resources to develop its citizens and take them to the Promised Land. But our failure today has been from the corrupt and dishonest politicians we have.

    Can Nigeria have honest and upright leaders in 2015? That is a question that’s worth a million naira. With the present crop of politicians, it will be difficult.

    The president we need must be a person who has the experience, is principled and of course who will listen to the people without creating much gap between the high class and the working class. We cannot afford to go for a lucky man but rather a hardworking man. Our leader must know Nigeria; possibly speak another Nigerian language apart from his native tongue; one with literate and working knowledge of Nigeria.

    Our next president must have carriage and charisma, charm and finesse, bold and courageous and above all, he must have confidence and passion. He must be willing to fire any minister who is incompetent and corrupt, deal with economic issues and oil subsidy thieves.

    We need a leader that in 2015 that will supervise projects and not commissioning.

    How can we identify the honest leader who will take us to the Promised Land? Surely, we can find sincere and upright politicians in the lower echelons of government service. There are also non-politicians who do not have the means or people to prepare them for the 2015 elections, especially when it comes to campaign funding.

    We need to pray and seek for a God-fearing individual who will consider our needs and provide good education, employment, infrastructural development as well as good health for the people.

    •Abdulkadir Zainab

    IBB University, Lapai, Niger State

  • Running Abakaliki varsity by remote control

    Running Abakaliki varsity by remote control

    SIR: When I heard that the Federal Government would establish a new Federal University in Abakaliki (FUNAI), I was overjoyed because there is little federal presence in Ebonyi State. With the exception of the massive military barracks in the outskirts of Abakaliki and the federal roads linking Enugu State with Cross River State, there is little to show of any largesse from our federal government.

    Since the university was established, I have visited the temporary site of the university nearly 30 times. I have watched the slow pace of development of the site, the delayed admission of students, and a general sense of apathy in the place.

    By contrast, I have also visited the Federal University at Otuoke (FUO) not less than 20 times and seen the hectic pace with which physical structures have sprung up, staff, students and visitors mill around and a general sense of excitement and optimism in that university in spite of problems caused by floods and other natural events.

    I kept pondering why FUNAI is progressing slowly while FUO is bubbling until the reason occurred to me. FUO has a full-time, on-the-premises, hands-on vice chancellor while FUNAI has an absentee, part-time vice chancellor who prefers the comfort of Lagos to the parched earth and dry heat of Abakaliki.

    It occurred to me that each time I was at FUNAI and asked if the vice chancellor or registrar was in, the answer was always that the registrar was in but the vice chancellor was away. In all occasions when I asked the question, I got the same answer. On the other hand, any time I asked that question in Otuoke, I was told that the VC was in, or on very few occasions had gone to Abuja.

    You may ask what business of mine is it. As a science graduate by training and a contractor by trade, I am eminently qualified to make a living through providing necessary supplies and equipment to universities and other institutions of higher learning in our dear country. All of these must ultimately be approved by the Office of the Vice Chancellor and any supplies made must also be paid following approval from the Office of the Vice Chancellor.

    But more importantly, as a Nigerian citizen and Ebonyi indigene, I am and should be concerned about how a new federal university in my state is progressing. When the registrar is always there and working, but the captain of the ship the vice chancellor is always away, how can a new university thrive? How can the relevant culture of scholarship and integrity be transmitted to students, staff and lecturers? How can the essence of university training be imparted to new students and new lecturers? How can Deans and Heads of Department buy into the vision of the university when the leader is not there to ensure buy-in? Can a ship or airplane carrying hundreds of young impressionable and pliable Nigerians be piloted by remote control?

    I have the greatest respect for the esteemed erstwhile vice chancellor of University of Lagos (UNILAG) who is the current vice chancellor at FUNAI. Perhaps, being vice chancellor at UNILAG sapped all his administrative strength. However, is a tired Vice Chancellor what FUNAI needs at this primordial stage of its development?

    •Cassandra Ogbonna

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State

  • There’s no killing APC

    There’s no killing APC

    SIR: The revelation that other political parties had indicated interest to bear the acronym APC before the All Progressive Congress came to progressive Nigerians as a rude shock. It was as startling as it was disturbing, more like a deadly blow, well-rehearsed and cruelly-delivered with seeming utmost precision.

    The blow must have been meant for the jaws of the facilitators of All Progressive Congress (APC) to wit, chieftains of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) who toiled day and night to put together this awesome ‘toddler’ scheduled to enter the political firmament with a bang. But nay, the rank of forward- looking, progressive Nigerians that had fervently prayed for an intervention that would deliver the country from the crippling grip of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and that had looked forward with infectious enthusiasm and welcoming relief at the coming of All Progressive Congress had felt the blow more. Ultimately, democracy has been hit by something in the form of a ballistic missile!

    The fact of the matter is that there exists an urgent need for an alternative to the monster called Peoples Democratic Party. Not a few Nigerians are of the opinion that the PDP needs be dislodged from power before a greater damage is done to the psyche of Nigerians and the country goes deeper into the abyss of economic quagmire.

    Not only have Nigerians been totally disappointed that the government of Goodluck Jonathan has not been able to significantly address the problems of power failure, infrastructural rot, rising unemployment, excruciatingly high cost of living, closure of local industries and re-location of their foreign counterparts, issues confronting the education sector, the present serious security challenge facing the country looks set to exterminate all Nigerians. In the face of this hullabaloo, Nigerians saw the move by the facilitators of All Progressive Party to throw up another large party that could dislodge the ruling party in coming elections as a great relief and positive development.

    We have heard that a lawyer submitted African Peoples Congress’s application to INEC on behalf of somebody; we have also heared that another party All Patriotic Citizens also with the acronym of APC has submitted its application to INEC, bringing to three parties interested in bearing APC. The big question is “How on earth can one person package and sign an application on behalf of a political party? Where are INEC’s rules and regulations concerning party registration? Where were these parties on February 6 when the All Progressive Congress was formed?

    The promoters of African Peoples’ Congress and any other party struggling with All Progressives Congress and their sponsors definitely have a motive: to whittle down the enthusiasm of Nigerians, frustrate the emergence of a credible alternative and perpetuate ineffectual governance. The National Publicity Secretary of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Osita Okechukwu spoke the minds of many Nigerians when he called on INEC to “investigate the allegation that the proposed APC is being floated by the PDP to foist a one-party system on the country”. Some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have allegedly owned up to a conspiracy deal.

    The steely resolve of leaders of All Progressive Congress on this ‘copyright theft’ is note-worthy and heart-warming. All right-thinking Nigerians should prevail on INEC to register the All Progressive Congress with immediate effect. This great political party must not die.

     

    s• Laitan Akinwunmi

    Ifako-Ijaiye, Lagos

  • NGF should resist intimidation

    SIR: If the PDP governors are true believers of democracy, they should take the so-called presidency and its fixers head-on and vow not to be intimidated by their threats to impose President Jonathan on PDP members. Those calling themselves leaders and friends of the president have no right, whatsoever, to tell PDP members who to elect. If they so believe in President Jonathan, the party’s National Convention is there to test his popularity, instead of trying to intimidate PDP governors into supporting a cause they do not believe in. Besides, apart from a few opportunists among the PDP governors, Jonathan has not earned their support.

    One can’t help but be amazed at Chief Edwin Clark’s comments, when he claimed that the NGF should be dissolved. The NGF should know that if they ignore or run away from their bullies, they will keep coming after them. Like with dogs, turning tail in flight is a signal for pursuit. And if they yield to their threats, the threats will keep aiming higher as they will become victims, and find it increasingly harder to overcome the bullies. There is only one proper response to leaders-turned-backyard bullies. Stare them down, stay the course and stand up to them.

    Jonathan and his praise-singers should be smart enough to know that no amount of threats, intimidation and blackmail will make the governors change their position on the candidate that they want to elect. Determined governors must be ready to take battering, tumbles and bruises, no matter how grievous they seem, because truth and right are on their side.

    Spin doctors in the presidency, it seems, have misled the President that they really know the country called Nigeria. Do they even feel the pulse of PDP members, let alone that of Nigerians? This ignorance, which some people misconstrued as arrogance, has led them scurrying to re-install sacked National Working Committee members from the South West PDP, a move akin to eating their vomit, all in a bid to pacify already perceived enemies to support the President’s re-election project. This is just the beginning of a series of dog fights in the party as 2015 approaches.

    Interestingly, President Jonathan has put so much faith in the troika of Bamanga Tukur, Tony Anenih and Godswill Akpabio, and his mouth piece, Edwin Clark; men that talk from both sides of their mouth. One writer even noted that Anenih was appointed BoT Chairman to reposition PDP. Excuse me; is it PDP Edo or PDP Nigeria? Has Anenih been able to reposition PDP in Edo State? Here is a man that has since been demystified and sent to the cleaners by Governor Adams Oshiomhole. Twice.

    In one breath, Clark says Jonathan is PDP’s sole candidate, in another, he says nobody should be stopped from contesting as “the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guaranteed equality of all Nigerians to seek elected offices, when and where necessary”. So anybody can contest on the platform of an opposition party but no PDP member has the constitutional right to contest because of Jonathan?

    Akpabio said the PDP Governor’s Forum will try to identify Judases amongst them; the same Judases Anenih is demanding total loyalty from, and the same Judases that, according to Tukur, have been giving Jonathan sleepless nights?

    On what moral ground can these men stand on to lecture other people on politics and democracy when their own party is collapsing? Everything is in black and white now, and Nigerians expect the Presidency to respect the democratic will of the various states governors and their people.

    • Lloyd Robinson

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State

  • Ogun NYSC’s conscientious objector

    SIR: I refer to the case of Tolu Ekundayo, a youth corper posted to Ogun State said to have disregarded the dress code of NYSC. Nigeria’s constitution guarantees our fundamental human rights of which freedom of religion and expressions are there. The lady is free to obey the commandment of her God. We do not need the aid of dictionary to understand this divine command: “A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for all that do so are abomination unto the lord their God (Deuteronomy 22:5).

    Only she who believes is obedient, only she who obedient believes.

    In the 80s, the women that wear trousers were classified as prostitutes but today 80% of women are deliberately violating the law of God. Is that not the reason why there are many problems around us? She who refuses to obey God is an unbeliever. There is no way one can be happy in despising divine law.

    NYSC Ogun State left leprosy to treat ringworm. There is a sect that its faithful will not sing our national anthem. There are corpers that will not go to work but bargain with officials to collect monthly allowances. Nigeria is a country where corruption is being institutionalised and attempt is being made to constitutionalise it.

    The highest form of evil you can do to a man is to force him to sin against his God. We underrate God and His law in Nigeria that is why righteousness is despised.

    A lady who says “yes” to everyone and everything, every time is not a lady. Nearly all our career ladies today wear trousers and there are lots of problems all over the place.

    I salute the courage and audacity of this lady as she sounded it loud and clear that “others may, she cannot”. She has experimented divine truth with apparatus of confidence and boldness to let those who compromise know that she is not just God’s fan but His fanatic.

    It is not who is right but what is right. Let us value virtue than social vices, it is then we can have new Nigerians for a new Nigeria.

    • Ezekiel Oluwole Kolawole

    Ikotun Lagos.

  • Sponsorship of pilgrimage a misplaced priority

    SIR: The Federal Government delegation to last year’s Christian pilgrimage, headed by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, reportedly listed seven northern states among those who refused to sponsor Christian pilgrims. Their displeasure was the bias that has been institutionalized in the policy of the states mentioned. However, President Jonathan had a wise word that gladdened me to some extent. His assertion was that it was left to the states whether or not to sponsor pilgrims, but whatever their decision, they must remember that what applies to Christians must apply to Muslims and vice versa.

    My concern, however, is the religious and economic implication of federal and states continuing sponsorship of Christian and Muslim pilgrimage to the holy land. In the first place, neither the Islamic nor Christian religion suggests that the common wealth of the people could be used to pay for the pilgrimage of a privileged few even where they are state religions. That some countries of the world practice this policy does not absolve us from considering how different our circumstance is.

    I certainly encourage pilgrimage. However, individuals should not be deprived of the spiritual benefit that accrues from the process involved in preparing and actual performance of the pilgrimage. However, when the government decides to pay for all expenses, that process, in my opinion, is interrupted and the full benefit of the pilgrimage is not achieved. On the contrary, the pilgrim’s spiritual riches are, so to say, switched for whatever is received as sponsorship. .

    Economically, what we do every time we sponsor pilgrims to either Saudi Arabia, Israel or Italy, is transfer our meagre resources to help enrich countries that are already far richer than us through tourism spending, the fastest growing economic venture in the world.

    If the same amount used in sponsoring individuals for pilgrimage was given to poor but industrious citizens, Nigeria would have been better for it. The idea of sponsoring pilgrims may be aimed at helping the citizens to grow holy but the reverse, in my opinion, seem to be happening. In a country of 160 million people, even if 10,000 citizens are sponsored every year, that will make up only 0.0062% of the total population and in a 100 years only 1,000,000 or 0.62% would have been sponsored, not even 1%. How long do we expect the other 99% to wait for their turn supposing it is a right? What this later group is seeing is the misappropriation of the common treasury to favour a very minor class of citizens based on their political or family affiliation to the detriment of the majority. The scenario would have been different if the one percent that will be sponsored will return to radically change the moral and socio-economic situation of the remaining ninety-nine for the better; then it would have be a worthy investment. Unfortunately, the security and economic situation in the country today is pregnant with so many questions that demands answers from all responsible citizens.

     

    • Patrick Kanang Nyam

    Department of Development Control,

    Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, Wuse, Abuja.

  • On Jonathan’s untold one-term pact

    The Nation on Sunday’s story on President Jonathan’s one-term pact published on March 19, 2013 is no idle talk. But the crucial question is what has President Jonathan got to show as his credential for wanting to go for another term? To me, and many Nigerians, he has got nothing to show.

    Another issue is PDP’s assumption that it can win the next general election with or without Jonathan. The truth is that the people of Nigeria at home and abroad are fed up with the rate at which the coffer of the nation is being looted with impunity at the federal level. Billions of naira is spent with nothing to show for it.

    President Jonathan merely believes in parading names in his cabinet and most of them are expired both in performance and credibility.

    Nigerians are being ridiculed at the international borders because of the lack of performance of our government at the federal level. Nothing works here; electricity is replaced with generators, roads are crying for repairs, hospitals are not functioning, education system are in shamble. What shall we say about security? It does not exist anywhere.

    The truth must be said, it is not only President Jonathan that Nigerians are fed up with; his party PDP has overstayed its usefulness. Nigerians know who they want. At this juncture, credit needs to be given to Prof. Atahiru Jega for conducting the last election with tolerable errors and mistakes. The fear most people now have is if he will be able to perform better. And is it possible “for he who plays the piper not to dictate the tune?” This is why we need to use the biometric register and to prevent Kenya’s experience. And if Kenya did it with some little errors what excuse shall we have for not using it better? We will have no excuse, and it is biometric register that can prevent the avoidable fracas that would want to rear its head. Not only that it would also prevent fracas of unimaginable dimension, but it is the only way to keep the country together.

    Nigeria is greater than anybody’s ambition. Therefore, let personal interest be shelved for the unity of Nigeria.

    By Rev. Christopher Lekan Alawode

  • Auctioneers and buyers of Igbo Presidency

    Auctioneers and buyers of Igbo Presidency

    Political debates are hitting for the 2015 presidential elections. Opinions are divided among regions, political divides and individuals in the country. Ndigbo are the most affected in these un-organised debates. Bystanders are watching some Ndigbo make a mess of their people in a disgusted manner. Many of them, who are in the employ of the present government, want continuity, whereas others in and out of the government want the president to come from the Igbo extraction, in the next election.

    To a former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, it would be unfair if the president of the country does not come from Igbo in 2015.

    Kalu buys into the debate that Igbo must produce the president of this country in 2015; he has floated an organisation called Njiko Igbo in that regard. Njiko Igbo is his project aimed at uniting Ndigbo for this task. His insight into this project speaks positively as a politician, influential businessman and founding member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). His love for Ndigbo and the unity of Nigeria is unquestionable; he is incessantly travelling out of the country to seek for Igbo unity and attract investors into Nigeria.

    As a country that is rated in the comity of nations as developing, Kalu believes that Ndigbo should not relax on their oars and watch the political events of the country being handled by people from other regions of the country as from time to time; Ndigbo should be able to identify political opportunities for their engagement and growth. He believes that politics has become a key focus of Nigerians.

    This is already 2013 and what Nigerians continue to read in the newspapers and listen to on the Radio and TV are cases of official monumental fraud among the ruling class instead of records of breakthroughs in developmental strides that need urgent attention. Any group or person from Igbo can say what he or she likes but one thing remains open: Kalu works with his conscience. He has often said it that Njiko Igbo is not going to fight any opposing agenda of this grand move to actualise an Igbo Presidency. Kalu would say, “We are only negotiating and begging to see that justice is done.”

    Ndigbo cannot be fulfilled in Nigeria once the continuous relegation of them is orchestrated as their fate not to clinch the exalted office of the president of the country. In an interview, one of the auctioneers of Igbo presidency to other regions in Nigeria come 2015, a woman from the South-East, said that what she knew was that 2015 is a mirage for the Igbo, because Nigeria has an incumbent (president) and that he may run for a second term. “Even if the president says he will not go for second term, I’m not sure that northerners will agree that an Igbo should go. Let’s plan for 2019, which is more realistic,” she said.

    It is very unfortunate that someone who is known as a politician from the South-East can condescend that low, by becoming an apologist of northerners. She forgot that the northerners had held power for uninterrupted 35yrs! This is against the grains; those persons from other ethnic groups who have ruled Nigeria for years do not have two heads.

    We should believe in the possibility of an Igbo presidency in 2015, and start building bridges of dialogue and form strong partnerships across any warring opinions. Many are of the opinion that this Njiko Igbo project is feasible. Many dignitaries from other tribes are also aligning with this vision, a fact that has buttressed that Njiko Igbo is breaking any cultural and political barriers that had held Ndigbo down for ages, and is making sure that other regions see reason why there should be an Igbo presidency in 2015.

    It is, however, imperative to say that no matter all the auctioneers that have surrounded this Igbo presidency project because of their personal political lucre in this present government, Kalu who has bought the idea of Igbo presidency should continue to put in his best forward, and should not mind those voices begging for the Igbo presidency beyond 2015. Ndigbo should not beg for the presidency because they do not signify weakness both spiritually and otherwise.

    Odimegwu Onwumere,

    Aba, Abia State.

  • The menace of ghost workers

    SIR: The discovery of 45,000 ghost workers by the federal government following the personnel audit carried out shows the level at which corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation. The phenomenon of ghost workers is not new in Nigeria. The syndicates operate at all levels of government. In the present circumstance, the 45,000 ghost workers detected through the personnel audit did not enter the pay roll by mistake but a deliberate effort to defraud the nation using administrative and bureaucratic instruments.

    It sounds incredible that out of 153,019 workers in the government pay roll, 45,000 of them were found to be ghost workers. The figure cut across 215 Ministries, Departments and Agencies, according to the audit report. It shows the desperation of some top government officials to amass wealth at public detriment. Indeed, a nation beset by nest of fraudsters is bound to face a lot of economic challenges as the current situation suggests in Nigeria.

    The inability of the government to identify the sponsors or find out the details of the detected ghost workers gives an impression of official compromises and elite conspiracy to exploit unjustly the wealth of the nation.

    There are bases to direct criticism at Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance, for telling the whole world during a media briefing on the 2013 budget in Abuja that Nigeria cannot trace any of its officials responsible for introducing 45,000 ghost workers into the government’s pay roll. The excuse of non-availability of biometrics given by the government to justify its failure to find the culprits is also not acceptable. It is equally amazing that the government is requesting the Nigerians to come up with ideas on how to fish out the ghost workers on its pay roll.

    If Nigerian leaders are honest, there shouldn’t be problem identifying and prosecuting the culprits. In my view, since salaries are paid through the banks, it shouldn’t be difficult to track down the culprits. For each person operating an account with the bank ought to have passport, finger prints, signature and reference letter to properly identify him/her. In essence, the bank is deeply involved in the scam. Obviously, the salaries of the non-existent workers form part of the monthly salary schedules that go to bank and get cleared by human beings who are themselves workers. The distressing incident is made possible by connivance of the personnel department, salary section and bank officials and the racketeering is sustained by a chain of syndicates whose parasitic tendencies are causing the nation billions of naira annually.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has responsibility to monitor and investigate the syndicates who exploit the lapses in the nation’s personnel data base to defraud the nation. So far, the EFCC seems helpless in uncovering the fraudsters. Even if the conspiracy is veiled in secrecy, I think there are enough civil service rules, control measures and regulatory alternatives to uncover the brains behind the ghost workers’ malady.

    The issue of ghost workers is not a new challenge to the nation and stories relating to it are fanciful headlines in the dailies. Yet, no drastic step has ever been taken to trace, apprehend, and prosecute the racketeers and their collaborators. It is high time the government took decisive action on the perpetrators of the financial crime by thorough investigation and prosecution.

    • Onike Rahaman,

    Oyo State College of Agriculture, Igboora

  • APC is a call to save Nigeria’s democracy

    SIR: Is democracy a blessing to Nigerians or a bane? Democracy as we all know is “the government of the people by the people and for the people”. But the reverse is the case in Nigeria. The dispensation in Nigeria has been bastardised and it has failed in portraying the core values and qualities that democracy is intend to represent from inception.

    Now I’m quite sure that the emergence of the APC will mark the birth of saviour of Nigeria’s democracy. Nigeria will be free from all mischiefs or misfortunes that democracy has caused it all these wasted years. APC is a progressive and selfless party which has emerged purposely to bring out the good and glad tidings of democracy into reality for Nigerians to witness and enjoy.

    PDP has ruled Nigeria for over 12 years without considerable development and they have vowed to rule Nigeria for another 50 years when we have not seen the dividend of democracy in the years they have ruled the country. Though they became scared by the emergence of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), they are much more scared now by the emergence of All Progressives Congress (APC).

    As for the furore over the registration of APC by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), leading figures of APC should stand firm until the party is registered.

    APC is the hope of Nigeria’s deliverance. Nigeria is today in dire need of good leadership, tolerance and people who can get things done correctly. Nigerians are counting on APC for deliverance now that our democracy totters towards collapse.

    • Adama Abraham

    Ibrahim Babangida Badamasi University, Lapai