The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Amaechi and desperate politicians

    Amaechi and desperate politicians

    Politicians live a life of noisy desperation. It is all about how to outsmart, outwit and oust any contrary opposition. Sometimes, what they term as opposition is not opposition in the real sense of the word. They mistake critics or divergent opinions for opposition. This is glaringly what the presidency has taken Governor Chibuike Amaechi for, because of his unequivocal and unrelenting approach in the business of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), which he heads as Chairman. Down home, because President Goodluck Jonathan is Ijaw, and Amaechi is Ikwerre, many uninformed opinions and politicians from the Ijaw extraction have taken Amaechi to be in a war of slow-destruction against the Ijaw, because he addresses the views of the NGF, many times, challenging the stance of the federal government on any national issue. Some have likened Amaechi as a University Union President who is always challenging the authority. To this set of people, they have ignorantly mistaken the presidency as the authority that Amaechi has been challenging, but this is a biased viewpoint. So, for now, it should be taken that Amaechi has not challenged and is not challenging any authority no matter the quarter that has been hatching this propaganda war against Amaechi.

    It was Amaechi that made the NGF the formidable force it has become today, not to scuttle the presidency, but for the aspirations and objectives of the NGF. Happily, Amaechi and A majority of the governors that consist the NGF are members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). If Amaechi were in the opposition it can be brought home the speculation making the rounds that he is against Jonathan. How can he be against Jonathan when virtually 85% of the NGF’s members are PDP? It will not be out of contest to say that it is not Amaechi or the NGF that is desperate in the on-going politics, but the presidency. The unfolding reports between Amaechi and the risky-in-nature plot by the presidency to oust him as the chairman of NGF are clear indications that the presidency does not want any challenge from any quarters, but loyalists.

    It cannot be said that this is democracy, if Amaechi’s opinions representing that of the NGF are termed the enemy’s, because of certain interest group for the 2015 elections. Does anybody think that Amaechi has anything to lose if his purported quest to be re-elected as the NGF’s chair fails?

    The fight against Amaechi started when the news from the rumour mills started to circulate that he was nursing the ambition for the presidency in 2015, as a possible running-mate to Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State, which he has rebuffed several times. Somebody might say that before the news started circulating it had been mirrored through the presidency’s intelligence mirror, but why still tag that on his neck when he has declared in public that there was nothing of that kind in his political career, at least, for now?

    What Nigerians expect from Jonathan is to be meeting the yearnings of the populace, and not the meetings with the PDP on how to oust Amaechi; hence a splinter group named PDP Governors Forum emerged. Would they also throw Amaechi out of this splinter group since he is a member of the PDP? If the presidency is blunt to Amaechi, it should know that it is also blunt to the people of Rivers State that Amaechi governs; no strategy that was meant to dampen any opinion that is not tyrannical!

    As far as the NGF is concerned, any of its members that is seeking loyalty for the presidency can be regarded as a traitor. The loyalty of any member of any group should be for the group and not the other. In this case, there is no gainsaying the fact that the presidency is also a strong opposition to the NGF, without the later knowing it. What was expected of the NGF’s members to do was to question the right the presidency had in interfering in its matter. If Amaechi will go, it has to be done by the members of the NGF, and not by any wandering aggressor. Anybody viewing the NGF as an arm of the ruling PDP, therefore, the presidency has the right to interfere, is not just being truthful. If this is not true, why have there been speculations that the Czar of the NGF might come from an opposition party if by tomorrow Amaechi did not emerge chairman the second time? Though, as it stands, Amaechi has proved that he also knows how to fight, and not only how to talk.

    In this stance, it was expected that the objective of Jonathan when he wanted to be elected as president was good governance and not to wrestle power or anybody. Though, the constitution of men, they say, is not written on their faces. What did Amaechi do? The presidency should stop creating fictitious stories against him before the public. The attempt to fool Nigerians that Amaechi was doing this and that against the presidency should stop. This government should know that it is becoming irritating every day, while using the media as cover, for its noisy desperation for power.

    Odimegwu Onwumere,

    Port Harcourt.

  • The alleged Yoruba marginalisation

    The alleged Yoruba marginalisation

    The issue of Yoruba marginalisation is “much ado about nothing”. Yoruba are lucky not to be involved in the present administration. The administration is nothing to write home about. It has not done anything remarkable, and moreover why are Yoruba clamouring for inclusion when those already in it have nothing to show for it?

    Dr. Doyin Okupe wouldn’t be happy to contest for visibility with any Yoruba man. He enjoys the exclusion of other persons from South-west. Apart from this, what has he done to justify his presence in the administration?

    Yoruba do not enjoy going cap in hand begging for positions in the past, and why now? Are we missing anything? No! We are not. The political party in the South-west are doing their best.

    The Yoruba are highly favoured by God that they do not belong to the ruling party at the federal level. What is best is for the ruling party in the South-west is to win more states in the next election. The added states won will learn the art of good governance from them.

    Excuse me, what did the South-west enjoy even when a Yoruba man was at the helm of affairs at the federal level? Virtually nothing. What the Yoruba need is not seeking for inclusion in government but unity with other like-minded people in the country to defeat the kleptomaniac government at the federal level. It is the best opportunity to demonstrate how to operate all inclusive governance.

    Therefore, leave Jonathan and his lackeys alone and let the Yoruba strategise for the next election.

    Thanks.

    By Rev. Christopher Lekan Alawode

    chrisalawode84@gmail.com

  • Trading on the Onitsha Bridge-head gateway

    SIR: I recall that sometime in 2010, the UN declared Onitsha alongside Morocco, China, Malaysia, and Brazil among the five fastest growing cities in the world. The choice of Onitsha, going by the report, was because of its peculiar significance and attributes. This significance and attributes, I am sure, derives from everything but the squalid markets that dot that town’s border with the Midwest.

    Governor Peter Obi, who at the outset of his administration brought the town in focus, has since worked hard to enthrone order. But the disorder at the bridge head still blights the effort. With the decay of the portion of federal road, traffic in this area is also frustrating. Though the Obi government, after years of pressuring the federal authority has been able to get it to repair it. Clearly, without relocating the markets, including the livestock sellers, the effort will come in vain. Besides the fact that wastes from the stalls spill over the express, blocking the drains, they also suffuse the environment with thick stench.

    Unfortunately this effort by the Obi government to correct the ugly development has spawned reactions from marginal elements in the state. Writing in a letter column of Sunday Vanguard of February 17, one Cletus Okereke, said the planned relocation will have adverse effect on the traders. He thinks it will neither humour the Hausa livestock sellers nor augur well for the existing entente cordiale between the traders and the state. He believes the planned relocation to Nkwelle Ezunaka, after nearly 50 years on the bridge head, “would not only affect their volume of sale but their children who attend schools within and around bridge head market”. Beautifying the gateway, he said, can be achieved “but not at the huge cost to a community that has stationed there as a trading post”. He has an advice for the government. “The market could be made to look better than King’s Cross Station London if the government has the wherewithal to make it very glamorous”. Lastly, he asked what the government is doing about Zik’s / Borromeo round about which he said has become an eye sore.

    Governor Fashola of Lagos State is today acclaimed as one of the best governors in Nigeria on grounds of sanitizing Lagos, including, as it were, relocation of traders in the state. For example, Berger motor dealers have been relocated to a portion of land on the Lagos – Badagary expressway. Balogun and Idumota markets hitherto on Lagos Island were long relocated to trade fair complex on the same Badagary expressway. Nobody made any fuss, nobody raised a whimper. Lagos on its part did not, for fear of losing friendly relationship with the traders who are in the main Igbo, refrain from carrying out the act. Some markets which could not be relocated because of space constraints, the traders were asked to get absorbed in any of the markets or go elsewhere to ply their trade. Fashola has since received plaudits rather than condemnation.

    It is not known anywhere that the proximity or otherwise of the schools attended by the children of those traders was part of the considerations. Nor was the effect on volume of sale.

    Retaining the bridge head market, and making it look better than Kings Cross London is a welcome idea but it is doubtful if this writer and others like him will give support. How many of these people who are wont to criticize every effort of the government are willing to abide by their responsibility to the state? Surprisingly the writer appears the only one yet to notice that the reconstruction of the Bridge head – Upper Iweka express way, which necessitated the relocation in the first place, will take care of the Borromeo Roundabout.

    • Ejike Anyaduba

    Abatete, Anambra State

  • Kudos to Ajimobi on Ikoyi-Ogbomoso road project

    SIR: The commencement of work on the dualisation of Ikoyi road-Ogbomoso Grammar School end of Ogbomoso-Igbeti highway has shown that urban renewal programme of the Senator Abiola Ajimobi-led government in Oyo State is fully on course. From Ogbomoso Grammar School end through Takie to Ikoyi road, construction equipments are working to the chagrin of sceptics who had the notion that the proposed dualisation of that road is a hoax and mere ‘politics’.

    With the little work that has been done, there is evidence that the road when completed, would change the face of the city for good. Also, Senator Ajimobi’s name would be engrained in the consciousness of appreciative Ogbomoso people, just like the pioneering road developers and past leaders like Late Chief SLA Akintola, Late Chief J.O. Adigun, Late Chief Areegbe, Chief Ayantayo Ayandele, Late Eng. Adigun and Hon. Peter Oluremi Odetomi.

    In addition, the construction company handling the work and security agents attached to them equally deserve accolade for their comportment and maturity thus far. People were allowed to remove all movable items and properties from the structure being cleared to give way to the expanded road. They were respectful, accommodating and friendly, no harassment, no molestation. Equally, Ogbomoso people affected by the demolition exercise also deserve commendation for their disposition to the exercise. There was no opposition from the people as previously expected because of the fear that government may not compensate the owners of the demolished structures.

    Although, the exercise is painful but, the equanimity that the people took the exercise shows their support for Senator Ajimobi-led government in Oyo State and their yearning for development of their city.

    Oyo State government should replicate the support by paying commensurate compensation to those affected by the demolition exercise. As a matter of fact, many of the houses that are being demolished are ancient families compounds dated 1900 or earlier, which have no survey plans or certificate of occupancy. Government is implored not to use this as an excuse to deny them compensation for the lost properties. The people affected have been disorganised already and it may take long time to put their acts together again. One hopes the compensation paid by government would go a long way to ameliorate their sufferings.

    • Adewuyi Adegbite

    Apake, Ogbomoso.

  • Bayelsa govt. should tackle job creation

    SIR: On February 14, the Bayelsa State government celebrated its one year anniversary. So much was promised to unemployed people, hundreds of thousands of who sacrificed to vote the Restoration Government into power.

    We have waited, albeit indefinitely, for government intervention in the plight of unemployed persons of Bayelsa State who struggle daily with economic hardship, emotional and psychological anguish. We are not fortunate to live in a society that operates a welfare state were unemployed persons are assured of their social security and receive a token unemployment benefit from government.

    Government’s placing of embargo on employment is a totally condemnable and retrogressive policy in any progressive society. As articulated by US President Barack Obama: “the state of the economy calls for actions, bold and swift, and we will act- not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.” If the Americans with all their level of advancement and constant threats of economic recession still have reasons to create “new jobs”, then nothing on this earth, we repeat, absolutely nothing on this earth must stop our various tiers of governments from doing so. The blatant refusal of government to create opportunities for the large army of unemployed persons is a gross violation of Human Rights as enshrined in Article 23 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.”

    According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Bayelsa State tops the unemployment chart by having the highest composite rate of unemployed skilled and unskilled workers in Nigeria; and this phenomenon is still increasing in an alarming geometric progression. This situation is unacceptable to progressive thinking youths of Bayelsa State.

    For one thing, the claim that the Nigerian Economy as a whole is growing without a corresponding increase in job creation is a badly cooked economic deception aimed at blindfolding the defenseless masses to the country’s precarious economic situation.

    We are not prepared to become graduate armed robbers, vandals, kidnappers, sea pirates or a brand new set of militants, which we are sure are more grievous problems with greater social, political and economic implications. The penalty for kidnapping here is death. Does the government want to hang all of us before the state feels our pain?

    We call on all unemployed people to stand up and embrace the struggle for their rights and say no this blatant act of social oppression. It is a struggle to reclaim our human dignity and social identity in the universal brotherhood of mankind.

    • Comrade Binaebi Oyeghe

    (Ag. State Coordinator)

    Bayelsa Unemployed Graduates Forum and The Unemployed Youths of Nigeria, Yenagoa

  • Foreign reserve brouhaha: Let’s thank Okonjo-Iweala

    SIR: It is heart-warming to see some influential Nigerians coming out of their gilded cage to demand accountability from the present government. It shows that we are now waking up to our civic rights by taking the government to task on the expenditure of our collective wealth, and alerting them that it won’t be business as usual anymore. After all, we are in a democratic dispensation where freedom of speech is a given.

    Worthy of note is the recent harangue by former Vice President (Africa) of the World Bank and former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, and her demand for the account of how the $67billion left in the foreign reserve by the administration of her erstwhile boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, was spent.

    I think Nigerians should start asking questions instead of allowing anyone or a group of individuals to manipulate their public sentiment. We need to analyze the questions raised by the opposition to determine their merits and, at the same time, examine the motives behind their clamour.

    Year 2015 is fast approaching and politicians are deploying all tricks in the book to get into the proverbial corridor of power, or to regain what they lost in previous elections. And those in power are also busy strategising how to extend their stay in government. Therefore, we have definitely not heard the last of allegations and counter-allegations from different political quarters. The accusation flying around now is the management of Nigeria’s reserve. While Madam due process claims that the $67 billion (about N11 trillion) left behind by President Obasanjo has been squandered by the incumbent government; the government, in its own response, is claiming that it has added $2.17bn to the foreign reserves since former President Olusegun Obasanjo left office in 2007.

    Surprisingly, Dr. Ezekwesili lent credence to this government’s claim on Twitter while responding to the query of one of her followers. The follower had asked why she didn’t consult the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, before making her allegations. And in her response, she said the only reason the crashed foreign reserve and Excess Crude Account are once again creeping up is because of the awesome effort of the Minister of Finance, “so you must thank her.”

    That means, even while the debate is going on, we need to pause and thank Mrs Okonjo-Iweala for ensuring that Nigeria’s economy is run with prudence. Since she returned in 2011 to manage the nation’s economy, all of us can see the several battles she has had to fight those within and outside the system in her bid to ensure that Nigeria’s finances are in good shape. But for her, the present situation would have been dismal and the narrative would have been totally different. Who knows how many more trillions we would have continued to lose to greedy fuel marketers and their allies in NNPC? Who knows how many trillions of naira the country would have continued to pay hundreds of thousands of ghost workers in monthly salaries? Who knows how many trillions we would have continued to lose in unaccounted for budgetary allocations on a yearly basis? Who knows how many more trillions we will continue to lose to the various holes in the Nigerian system that this woman is blocking with such ingenuity? How much more?

    While demanding more from our leaders, the least we can do is to appreciate this woman who has brought sanity into our national expenditure.

    • Oluwaseun Joseph

    Lagos

  • Death of Nasarawa varsity four

    SIR: The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) received the shocking news of the brutal killing of four students of Nasarawa State University by armed soldiers invited by the university management to quell the protest of students against water scarcity and power outage. We condemn in strong terms this shocking killing and arrest of the unarmed students. No official explanation or excuse can erase the guilt of the army as this is brutal murder of unarmed protesters demanding improved and decent welfare conditions. We place the responsibility on the university management who invited soldiers to quell a legitimate protest and the state government whose neo-liberal capitalist policy of education underfunding is the root cause of this killing.

    We offer our condolence and most importantly our solidarity to students of the university as well as parents and families of the slain students. This killing has again thrown to the fore the ruthlessness of the capitalist ruling elite in preventing every effort by students to organise to fight for improved conditions on campuses and in the education sector.

    Notwithstanding this, the fight for improved welfare conditions on campuses, against fee hike and the criminal anti-poor policy of education underfunding must continue. Rather than a deterrent, this killing has to be a lightning rod for a more determined resistance of students on all campuses against anti-poor education policies.

    To prosecute this struggle, it is very crucial that local unions are rebuilt with leaders capable of fighting. Equally vital is the need to build a democratic and radical national student leadership that can unite all students in a common struggle against neo-liberal attacks on public education, and in the demand for the provision of free and quality education at all levels.

    We urge all student unions, student groups and activists to offer solidarity to Nasarawa state students through actions like parliamentary and/or congressional resolutions and public statements condemning the killing as well as to organise immediate protests and demonstrations to lend support to their struggle. This is essential to ensure that this brutal killing is not swept under the carpet like numerous others in the past.

    We also call on all the academic and non-academic unions in the university to condemn this vicious action of the armed soldiers and the university management and give solidarity to students in their demand for justice and improved welfare conditions.

    The ERC demands justice for the four murdered students. We demand the immediate removal of the Vice Chancellor and dissolution of the management of Nasarrawa State University for inviting soldiers into the campus to kill protesting students; the immediate and unconditional release of the arrested students; the re-constitution of a new management through a democratic electoral process in which members of staff and students of the institution can have a say in who become principal officers and members of Senate of the University

    Furthermore, we demand the immediate arrest and trial of the soldiers and/or their commanding officers responsible for the shooting of unarmed protesting students; the setting up of a democratic panel of inquiry composed of elected representatives of staff unions, the trade unions in the state, students union, and civil societies to investigate the immediate and remote circumstances surrounding the killing, identify members of management responsible for the invitation of soldiers, recommend punishment as well as recommendations to forestall future occurrence; the immediate granting of the demands of students for adequate water supply and improved welfare condition which led to the protest in the first place; and the immediate reopening of the University.

    • Hassan Taiwo Soweto National Coordinator Education Right Campaign, Lagos

  • Kudos to Aregbesola

    SIR: Kindly permit me to commend Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on the report of his recent trip to the United States where he, among other things, delivered the guest lecture at the prestigious Whetherhead Center at Harvard University. The lecture wherein he discussed the problems in the way of Nigeria’s development was widely reported in the dailies. According to him, ethnicity, poverty, unemployment, lopsided federalism, neo-colonialism and other other factors have hampered the country’s development and fuelled the spate of violent ethno- religious strife in the country and unless these are well addressed, the problems will continue and escalate.

    I am very proud of the governor when I watched him deliver the lecture live on the internet. He has distinguished himself and he is indeed a great leader. Many governors travel outside the country to attend to their harem and engage in capital flight and have left their states ruined. But our governor was consumed by state service and his itinerary was published everyday and has promptly returned to the country.

    It was also reported that he was able to connect with the diaspora and is mobilising them for massive investment at home. I am happy for this. He was also able to showcase his IT invention, the computer tablet for use by secondary school called Opon Imo. We were told that the chief executive of the city of Pittsburgh has bought into this and has expressed his readiness to purchase for all the schools in his county. This is an unprecedented development in Nigeria that a white man will emulate any state governor in innovation.

    Thank you very much sir for upholding the glory of our state and portraying us as true Omoluabi, the virtuous.

    • Francis Bamidele,

    Osogbo, Osun State

  • SOS to Governor Mimiko

    SOS to Governor Mimiko

    SIR: I wish to draw the attention of Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko to the deplorable condition of living on Agunbiade Avenue Street, opposite St. James’ Grammar School, Lipakala Junction, Rainbow, Ondo in Ondo West LGA. The condition of the road is very bad.

    For almost 30 years now, there have been recurrent problemsof flooding on this street due to the inability of easy flow of water whenever it rains – through the water channels, or drainages and also due to the narrow nature of the bridge through where this water flows especially, the one at the main road beside Lipakala’s House on the main road along Adeyemi College Road, near St. James’ Grammar School, Ondo.

    About two years ago, the Mimiko-led administration made deliberate efforts to widen the channels through where the water flows. Unfortunately, this has not solved any of the perennial problems.

    This reason for this was that, when this water channel was done, it was abandoned without adequate plan for it to be made into a proper water channels with walls and access roads for inhabitants of the streets where residents live. This has forced many residents and home owners to flee the area, which now look like ghost streets.

    The incessant flooding has made people to abandon these houses, and made the street look so much in despair with overgrown fields on the streets.

    The remaining residents on Agunbiade Avenue as well as the adjoining streets are now pleading with the state government to urgently come to their aid. As stated earlier, the case has been on for a long time without any solution. In actual fact, an 80-year-old woman died inside her house a couple of years ago at night, due to flooding that caught her unawares in the middle of the night.

    The residents are now pleading with the government to come and finish the abandoned work they started and find a lasting solution to flooding in this area, before the whole street is wiped off.

    • Akinyele Akinkuolie,

    Ondo

  • Planning for natural disasters

    Planning for natural disasters

    SIR: Nigeria experienced one of the world’s deadliest weather induced natural disasters in year 2012. The devastations of the flood was so much in areas along the river Niger banks that people were beginning to wonder if the Biblical time of Noah where flood was used to destroyed the earth was here again. In all, 27 states in the country were affected by the flood.

    There is no doubt that this singular occurrence had put to test our perceived physical planning initiatives, environmental management and planning policies, our prompt adherences to adverse weather warnings from relevant agencies as well as our collective readiness for natural disasters since they are ways the earth seems to bounce back when pushed to the walls by our day-to-day activities without any regard for replenishment. It is a reminder to all and sundry that climate change is surely here with us and urgent steps needed to be taken to mitigate its effects. Most importantly it is sort of wake-up call for us that we need to be on our toes anytime the rainy season begins to knock at the door.

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), a Federal government agency saddled with the mandate of forecasting weather, advising the government and informing the populace about weather issues deemed it fit to organise a pre –rainy season conference on weather issues where several issues bothering on the roles of meteorological information in risk and disaster management and its utilization for national development planning was discussed. Indeed all speakers at the conference were of the unanimous opinion that, timely weather information is required for planning in all sectors, most especially agriculture, water resources, construction and transportation sectors, with an admonition for NIMET to make extra efforts to ensure the accuracy of their predictions. They advocated for a government policy that will make it mandatory for every sector to make weather framework an integral part of their policies. It was also submitted that NIMET should make concerted efforts to take the information to the real people that needed the information, that is, the common man on the street, farmers, transporters, traders and other important stakeholders rather than the government

    Perhaps, the most important question is what are the implications of the NIMET’s 2013 seasonal rainfall predictions? One, the prediction that most parts of the country will have normal rainfall amount indicates that, barring any abnormal rainfall in the Cameroon leading to the opening of their dams, states at the Niger banks would experience normal experiences they’ve been experiencing when there are normal rainfall. It should be expected that, aside the opening of the Cameroon Dam, every river, including the Niger, Benue and the Atlantic Ocean is likely to over-flow their banks during the raining season, this is assumed to be a normal situation known to the natives of these regions. Lagos and parts of Ogun state and other state capitals should also expect normal floods arising from improper physical planning, blocked drainages and environmental demeanours.

    Two, to the farmers, early onset of rainfall in parts of Niger, Anambra, Delta, Northern Cross River, parts of Ogun and Ondo states means that the planting season is expected to commence earlier than usual while the cessation of rainfall earlier than usual in parts of Ondo, Delta and Cross River states means the farmers have to plant early enough to avoid shortage of rainfall. However, it should be remembered that these states are located along the coasts and the rain forests zones and thus receives high rainfall most times in excess of requirements for annual crops; early cessation of rainfall may therefore be a good omen for maize farmers in these zones.

    Disasters will definitely be averted while food security would be guaranteed if the right attitudes are adopted towards the weather information provided by NIMET.

    • Zannu Ajibola Emmanuel

    Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Abuja.