The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Before the misadventure in Mali

    Before the misadventure in Mali

    SIR: There is no doubt, that it is in Nigeria’s strategic interest, as the most populous black nation, to continue to be a key player in the West African sub-region particularly in helping to ensure that peace and stability continues to prevail. However, the decision of the Nigerian government at this point in time, to participate in the regional force packaged by ECOWAS to dislodge the Islamists in northern Mali is a step in the wrong direction.

    The first rule of war is that one must know the enemy and understand his strategy and tactics, and the second is that one must adopt strategy and tactics suited to the circumstances of the war. The Islamists, having occupied northern Mali now will definitely be consolidating and solidifying their hold on the terrain of operation. This is clearly an advantage. And because of their knowledge of the terrain, the Islamists may supplement normal conventional military operation with guerilla tactics by infiltrating small units behind the invasion force to disrupt communications, lines of supplies and continually harass their opponents thereby weakening and demoralizing them.

    Northern Mali presently occupied by the Islamists is an expansive landscape and is mostly desert. And in a desert military operation that is usually characterized by a high rate of mobility, a force of 3500 as proposed by ECOWAS military planners will be so thinly spread on the expansive landscape of the north. Such a situation will definitely allow the Islamists a lot of flexibility and freedom of manoeuvre. Sooner than later the ECOWAS military force would start requesting for reinforcement from their home countries.

    Members of the Nigerian Armed Forces are currently engaged in internal security operations in almost three quarters of the states of the federation. With such a high degree of commitment at home, the Nigerian Army should have been excused from the war in Mali.

    Also of interest is a report in the media that Nigeria is planning to send 200 members of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to Mali as part of the ECOWAS Intervention Force. This idea, if true should be totally discarded. Apart from the legal implication of sending non-combatant paramilitary men to a war front, in a foreign land, serious operational problems are also likely to araise on the mode of operations of the civil defenders vis-à-vis the military. Their presence in Mali would also create a logistic nightmare for the Nigerian contingent.

    Every solider worth his salt knows the importance of the element of surprise in war. Surprise apart from being a major principle of war, more often than not emanates from deception. Surprise is the psychological blow which if the deception is real, unbalances the enemy. It is however doubtiful if surprise can be achieved in Mali by the ECOWAS Force due to the likely infiltration of the force by the Islamists during the preparatory and training stage in Bamako.

     

    • Lt. Col. Oluwole Bright (rtd),

    Victoria Island, Lagos.

     

  • What was the President angry about?

    What was the President angry about?

    SIR: The Police College Ikeja is a mirror of our 52 years of absentee leadership and 13 years of the Fourth Republic democratic shenanigans. What is more to say?

    With utmost respect, I submit that the rot and decay the Police College evidences, is nothing compared to that which lie frighteningly in several other sectors, erected copiously as the stark reality of our national story in this time and age. Thus, we refuse to be carried away by the President’s reported anger; rather we assert that the President should have been angry a long time ago particularly since he came to power.

    If the President is just angry now after spending more than 13 years in the corridors of power, after about two years as President, then ours is a much more dangerous state of affairs.

    So now that the President has visited the Police College, shall we still not wonder if his reported anger will survive the period after the President sufficiently regains his composure and returns to the air-conditioning comfort and staggering opulence of the Presidential Villa?

    Time to ask the President the following questions, questions that must certainly evoke a wave of sadness, a burden perhaps too easily faraway from those in power: How will the Police College not be in decay, when about 70% of the country’s annual budget goes into furnishing the belly and attending to the needs and luxuries of those in government in an unpatriotic spending styled “Recurrent Expenditure”?

    How will the Police College not be in total rot when the annual budgetary allocation to the Nigeria Police, a body charged with the core responsibility of securing the country, is a lot less than that continuously wasted on unnecessary foreign travels by government officials that adds no value to the prosperity of the country? How will the Police College not be on its knees crying for help, when about N16 Billion is being budgeted to build the Vice-President’s official residence at the moment?

    That is why the question again lingers, what is it that the President was angry about? Is it that as President, he has led by example in pruning down government’s bogus transformation team, thereby checking hundreds of pipelines of wastages in government, and channelling the rescued funds to critical Institutions of the state? Is it that as President he has relentlessly fought for increased allocation to the Nigeria Police and several other very sensitive sectors of the country, so as to help turn around their infrastructural facilities, but all to no avail?

    With utmost respect I submit, and again ask that profound question, what exactly is it that the President was angry about?

    • Olusola Adegbite, Esq.

    Abuja.

     

  • Amosun’s many firsts in Ogun

    Amosun’s many firsts in Ogun

    SIR: What should I say about my governor at this important moment? I do not know how to praise-sing. Amosun does not like praise singers. That is why he has refused to take any chieftaincy title. “If I deserve one, let me be given after I leave office,” he says.

    But I should throw these questions to the public, especially the good people of Ogun State.

    What would have been the state of our state today if Amosun is not the one in power at this time?

    Why is it the government of Amosun that has built the first ever overhead bridge by any state government since the creation of Ogun in 1976?

    Why is it Senator Ibikunle Amosun (SIA) that introduced functional free education to school pupils after the era of Chief Olabisi Onabanjo in the Second Republic?

    Why is it Amosun that has constructed the first ever international standard road – complete with modern features such as drains, median, greenbelt, walkway, street light, pedestrian bridge with an air-conditioner and CCTV (the only component yet to be installed)?Why is it Amosun that distributed 500 transformers to bring back to life comatose Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Ogun in one, single iconic gesture? Has that ever happened anywhere in Nigeria?

    Why is it Governor Amosun that introduced for the very first time in Ogun modern luxury buses, under the Bus Mass Transit scheme (BMT)?

    Why is Ogun, under Amosun, the first state government in Nigeria to purchase the very latest technology of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and make the “maximum donation” of security equipment in at one fell swoop that the Inspector General of Police said he had never witnessed “since I have been serving as a Police officer”?

    Why is it under the roof of Amosun that the idea of taking the 2012 Best WAEC students from the 20 Local Governments in the state on “merit excursion” to the United Kingdom was conceived – and all the 20 pupils are from public schools? Said the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, “This is a laudable initiative that is worthy of emulation by other states in Nigeria. Let me state categorically that this is the first time ever that students are being brought to the United Kingdom on educational merits.”

    As Senator Ibikunle Amosun (FCA) attains the age of 55 tomorrow, January 25, I believe he can look back and thank God for a good life, robust health and for being associated with many firsts in the history of Ogun State.

    I wish him happy birthday in advance and all the pleasant returns of the day.

     

    • Soyombo Opeyemi

    Abeokuta

     

  • Bongos Ikwue, Sanusi right on religion, ethnicity

    Bongos Ikwue, Sanusi right on religion, ethnicity

    SIR: Twice in the New Year, Nigerians woke up only to be confronted with the dangling of two controversial issues required as panacea if Nigeria is to move forward as a nation in all ramifications. Music maestro, Bongos Ikwue fired the first salvo when he called for the banning of religion in Nigeria if the country is to make any progress.

    He bemoaned the situation where Nigerians often insult God when they ask for “daily bread” from Him. To him, he argued that God had already offered everyone daily bread by giving them the intellect to create ideas and work but that the people believe in “too much talking instead of working” and opined that this kind of mindset would get Nigeria nowhere. While suggesting that the first pronouncement of any serious government should be to ban religion, he further said that “I believe in God. But, I totally disbelieve in religion. I will like to play down religion. If I had my way, I would ban religion completely from Africa for the continent to make progress.”

    Bongos Ikwue added that “the banning of religion will not take God out of existence but it will take distractive people out of our lives. Can you imagine how many times people go to places of worship in a week? They go to listen and contribute nothing. They don’t even raise their hands to ask questions; it is a university you never graduate from for the rest of your life. The amount of waste in terms of human power is a lot, if you quantify it”.

    In the same vein, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Malam Lamido Sanusi Lamido, in his appraisal of ethno-religion groups in the country vis-à-vis insecurity in the country, called for the ban of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Jamatul Nasril Islam (JNI), Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Afenifere and other ethnic groups.

    He accused the elite of fanning embers of insecurity through the use of religion just as he attributed the current insecurity in the northern parts of the country to the power struggle among the elite who use religion as a recourse in pursuant of their selfish interests.

    There is no doubt that religion and ethnicity in Nigeria have not been helping matters as far as the people’s reasoning and judgment on corruption-relation issues is concerned and it is in the in the light of this that due attention should be paid to the views of Bongos Ikwue and the Central Bank Governor on the nation’s progress and insecurity respectively. A bitter bill in form of a question that we also need to swallow is: Is our religion and ethnic groups doing much in ensuring that that the greatest legacy we leave for generations after us is the legacy of Truth, Integrity and Security in a country where the rich continues to get richer and the poor getting poorer and poorer?

     

    • Odunayo Joseph

    Lagos

     

  • We don’t need new varsities now

    We don’t need new varsities now

    SIR: The recent approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) of the establishment of three new federal universities clearly shows how “creative” and “articulate” the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration can be when it comes to tackling the gross inadequacies in the number of admission spaces in higher institutions in the country. The universities are to be sited in Birnin Kebbi in Kebbi State, Gusau in Zamfara State and that of Yobe State in Gashua.

    Justifying the establishment of the universities, Minister of Education Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai told newsmen that only 10 percent of applicants get admission into universities- an indication that the number of universities is not sufficient. But the minister later revealed the main motive of the approval. She said with the approval of the new universities, the federal government had succeeded in establishing a federal university in every state of the federation.

    In 2011, the federal government also approved the establishment of nine universities across the country. These new universities couldn’t take off at the anticipated time because of funds. Admission into the universities in Nigeria has become a big battle. Yearly, many admission-seekers struggle to get spaces. Out of over 1.5 million candidates seeking admission, only about 200,000 are admitted.

    Just like many have suggested, methinks there may not be need to establish more universities now. The government’s focus should be on expanding access through expanding facilities and other requirements in the existing universities. It is on record that no university in the country admits more than 6,500 candidates in a year. Truth is that almost all these universities can be made to admit more candidates if their facilities are expanded and more academics engaged.

    The government’s intervention in expanding access to university education is commendable but it must be done in such a way that the outcome will be felt the more and in record time too. Besides, expanding admission spaces in the existing universities will also help place the universities in good standings as facilities would have improved considerably which in turn will show in the products of the universities.

    The government’s approach to solving our challenges must be well articulated. It ought to look beyond federalism or balance in this regard, at least for now.

    • Stanley Ibeku

    University of Ibadan

     

  • Memo to Interior Minister

    Memo to Interior Minister

    SIR: I thank The Nation for permitting me the use of its medium to air my views in respect of some national issues especially the Immigration service. The recent sacking of the Comptroller of Immigration Service (CGIS) on Tuesday, January 15 and the subsequent setting up of a committee of inquiry to probe the activities of the erstwhile CGIS as carried by some national dailies including this paper on Saturday, January 20, is a vindication of my earlier write up of January 7, in The Nation. The said article was a tip of the iceberg of the horrendous happenings in the service. I have tried to exercise some restraints so as not to expose the service to public odium and ridicule. My intervention therefore is to help the service, the committee set up to probe to ministry and the minister himself.

    Even without the probe committee, the minister knows everything that is happening in the service. The minister himself has his own blames and weakness. It’s not his place to supervise the day to day running and activities of the service. Postings and deployments of officers from certain ranks should not be his concern either. Certainly, the CGIS is the accounting officer of the service and not the minister. This is the only way to obviate areas of conflict between the CGIS and the minister. Of course, the minister’s undue interference in the daily routine matters of the service did not start from the present one; it began from the time of his immediate predecessor in office. Because the former was her kinsman, the erstwhile CGIS didn’t raise an eyebrow then. It was therefore difficult for her now to wean the present minister away from the honey pot, so to say.

    The Federal Government should not stop at the sack of the CGIS; her activities in the past two years she held sway must be probed. There is the need to know how many young Nigerians were recruited into the service; it should uncover what she dubbed recruitment through “replacement “. Not only this, we should know the placements of those recruited on the basis of federal character and quota. It won’t be a bad thing if a searchlight is beamed on how the recruitment exercise of 2011 was carried out too.

    The veil on foreign postings must be removed so as to know those who are benefiting. Also related to this is the need to know how foreign postings on ad hoc duties are being carried out and how many officers have benefitted so far on federal character basis. The immigration board itself doesn’t live above board!

    As for the so called promotion exercise that was done last year, the less said about it the better. It was a big sham and a fraud. It was done without due regard for seniority and merit. The minister knows this and he did confirm that his office had been inundated with petitions from aggrieved officers who were affected. He should expect more. In many instances, the promotions were bought. It was learnt that the original promotion instrument approved by the board of immigration was jettisoned by the sacked CGIS and replaced with a doctored one. All the minister need do is to call for the promotion list as approved by the board. It’s as simple as that. Fortunately, the minister is the chairman of the board. I wish to counsel that this is done before rushing to conduct another phantom promotion interview for fairness, equity and justice to reign supreme.

    • Ogidi Martin,

    Asokoro, Abuja.

     

  • Gov Obi: What could be wrong with borrowing?

    Gov Obi: What could be wrong with borrowing?

    SIR: That is the question for Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State. As a student of Finance and

    Investment, I can remember the principle of Investment Analysis. Basically, a corporation borrows money from a bank or other financial institution to undertake a business transaction. When the operation is duly effected, the corporation pays back the money to the bank or the institution with the revenue collected from the satisfied customers. The bank is happy, the investor is happy and the consumers are happy.

    This approach seems to be a win-win situation and one can see the brilliant applications of it in public administration by Gov. Raji Fashola of Lagos State and Gov. Rotimi Amaechi of River State. Gov. Obi, on the other hand, prides himself as the only governor in Nigeria who has not borrowed money to run his administration. One wonders if this aversion for borrowing makes fiscal policy sense or if it is a consequence of small-mindedness. Anambra State is underdeveloped and needs a serious injection of fund to stimulate its economy. The governor’s choice of not borrowing to boast development is a leadership shortcoming that is bearing down on the progress of Anambra State.

    One is not disputing that the governor has done some work in Anambra State by applying a tight string on the state’s purse. One questions the wisdom of one sitting on top of the ocean and watching one’s hand with spittle. The governor, like other state governors in Nigeria, has access to development loans. He declines to utilize such an opportunity that stands to better the life of the people of Anambra State. Frugality may have its place in one’s personal business but broader vision is required to institute the right programs for the growth of the society. Anambra State is highly commercialized and therefore has the propensity to tolerate risk. It is baffling to understand why the governor is shy to borrow money for development. This is not to say that stories do not abound of governors who abused such privileges but Gov. Obi seems to intend well for Anambra State. The governor must have a better explanation why he should be proud of this business anomaly.

     

    Pius Okaneme

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

     

  • S/East governors, Second Niger Bridge and Security

    S/East governors, Second Niger Bridge and Security

    SIR: For the past 15 years, commuters passing through the famous Niger Bridge, one of the longest bridges in Nigeria especially during the festive periods have suffered untold hardships and excruciating pains. In these painful 15 years, it has been difficult if not impossible to quantify the losses in both human and material resources. Many of our people see it as a deliberate punishment to the South-east for losing Nigeria/Biafra war simply because the victors are still celebrating and you cannot blame the victims. My friends tell me that if after 43 years the victors of the infamous Nigerian civil war are still celebrating then it would mean that we are running a nation without conscience.

    What the commuters suffered in 15 years put together cannot be equal to what we saw from mid-December 2012 to mid-January 2013. Those coming from Lagos were stuck in Asaba and those coming from Aba, Owerri, Enugu, etc were held in Onitsha. My children who left Nnewi for Lagos on Jan 7, by 6:00 am could not access the Niger Bridge until about 11 am. Nnewi to Onitsha is about 15 kilometres.

    Assurances and pronouncements have been made by the powers that be in the past 10 years and all to no avail. It has been all noise and no substance. Nigerian leaders especially at the federal level have no conscience. I suggest that the South-east governors take their destinies in their hands. South-east governors have the capacity and the resources to build the second Nigeria Bridge federal or no federal government intervention or support.

    Political, economic and social activities in the South-east cannot be complete without the second Niger Bridge. Historians used to say that Egypt cannot exist without River Nile. In the same vein, no second Niger Bridge, no economy in the South-east.

    Another very big problem facing the South-east is security. From December 20, 2012 to January 15, 2013 when I left Nnewi for Lagos, I noticed that every prominent person goes about with three or four policemen. Judging from number of security personnel I saw in the South-east I kept on wondering if we still have policemen left to protect other sections of the country.

    Again, let it be known that the South-east governments can effectively handle all security issues in their domain to save the economy from collapsing. The governors must reverse this frightening trend of prominent Igbos travelling to other lands during festivities instead of returning home. Travelling home during Christmas, Easter and New Yam festival is a culture in Igbo land and the governors must know this. Good governance demands that the governors know this and consequently create an enabling environment for their citizens. Anything short of this is a failure of leadership. Let the South-east governors organize a summit on security. Let the governors pull resources together to protect their citizens. Securing lives and properties should be the number one priority if they must succeed.

    The primitive idea of going to Abuja for every single problem must cease.

    South-east governors can build the Second Niger Bridge and make investment in security to secure the economy of their zone.

    • Joe Igbokwe

    Lagos

  • Jonathan needs a new team

    Jonathan needs a new team

    SIR: Nigeria is a very populous country, and one out of every five black person is a Nigerian. Beneath its large landmass lie such natural resources as limestone, tin-ore, columbite, crude oil and others. It has equable climatic conditions and fertile soil: these are incentives that boost agriculture and food production in the country. More so, Nigeria has big rivers, which can play prime role in the generation and distribution of electricity in the country. Steady supply of electricity is critical to the national development and industrialization of a country. But, sadly, for all our human and material resources, Nigeria is at the rear on the global ladder of development. Our country is rated as one of the worst places to be born on earth. This is an indictment on the current and past political leaderships in the country.

    We are not unconscious of the stark fact that inept and corrupt leadership is at the root of our national problems. Imposition of national leaders, which is a feature of our political system, had always thrown up people who failed to tackle effectively our national problems. Right from 1960, and till now, Nigeria hasn’t been led by its best citizens, who possess integrity and leadership qualities. Now, our freedom fighters may have become poltergeists owing to the parlous state of Nigeria.

    President Goodluck Jonathan owes his ascendency to power to divine intervention. His success story bears the imprints of God and fate. His name is Goodluck, and there are ample instances of manifestation of good luck in his life. From being an obscure and nondescript lecturer in one of the universities in the marshy creek of the Niger-Delta, he became the President of Nigeria after serving as the governor of Bayelsa State.

    But, does President Goodluck Jonathan still remember his difficult past when he was toiling and praying for success in his endeavours? If he is a people-oriented President, he ought to be initiating policies that will reduce poverty and high rate of unemployment in the country. Sadly, since his assumption of power, things have not looked up in the country. As a result, millions of Nigerians have became disillusioned and disenchanted with the leaders.

    President Goodluck Jonathan may have good intentions for the country, but some members of his cabinet constitute stumbling block to his achieving his leadership objectives. These people are just square pegs in round holes.

    President Jonathan’s executive cabinet is long overdue for re-jigging. He should remove the incompetent ministers, and infuse new blood and experienced technocrats into his team. What Nigeria needs now is a winning team that consists of patriotic technocrats and politicians without moral blemish.

    We can’t realize our potentials as a nation if we continue to run our country with our third eleven while leaving the best people suitable for the ministerial jobs out of the power loop and equation.

     

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Uruowulu – Obosi,

    Anambra State.

    __._,_.___

  • Education now on the path of progress in Ekiti State

    Education now on the path of progress in Ekiti State

    SIR: I wish to commend the progressive effort being made by the Ekiti State government to restore education to its pride of place in the state.

    In the days of yore it was a pride to all Ekiti indigenes that education was the number one industry. But that is not the case today as the rate of failure in public examinations show that decline and rot have taken over the sector.

    The statistics is appalling: in the last two years in Christ’s School Ado Ekiti, the flagship secondary school in the state, it has been a harvest of failure in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC). It recorded 9% and 20% pass respectively in English and Mathematics. Similarly, in Christ School in the state capital, it was 0% pass as none of the students had credit pass in both English and Mathematics in the same examination last academic session.

    Following this the state government took the bull by the horn and organized an education summit in which teachers, pupils, parents, academicians and other stakeholders participated. The forum was chaired by the late Professor Sam Aluko and far reaching decisions were taken with a view to finding lasting solution to the lingering problems of education in the state.

    It is heartwarming that the recommendations of the forum are now being implemented. For instance, efforts are now geared towards improving educational standards in the state as generous funds have been allocated to upgrading infrastructure and service conditions of personnel in the sector.

    Bursary and scholarship schemes have been resuscitated such that indigent students in the state are not denied of education because of their circumstances.

    Similarly, teachers in the state are now being motivated more than ever before to be proud of their profession and increase their productivity.

    In the area of infrastructure, schools that have not been given any facelift since they were built several years ago are now being rehabilitated in all the 16 local government areas of the state.

    With these concerted efforts on the part of the Dr. Kayode Fayemi’s administration, it is hoped that within a not too distant future education will climb back to the position of pride in Ekiti State.

    • Wale Akanbi,

    Ado-Ekiti