The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • What does Obasanjo want again?

    SIR: Of a truth, we all need somebody in life to help us realise our dream and vision. Therefore the only thing President Goodluck Jonathan owes the Ota farmer is to tell him thanks if he thinks the man was instrumental to his present political status. Nothing more and nothing less. The Ota Farmer must be in deep and irredeemable slumber if he thinks his assistance to the President gives him ever-lasting political licence to always ‘remote-control’ him at any given time.

    I do not know whether the President intends to vie again in the next general election, but I do know that he has the unquestionable constitutional right to do so. Consequently, I urge him not to worry about the venomous ranting of the Ota farmer because it is on record, that the man can be defeated anytime, any day. Ask Chief Bola Tinubu who has since shown the world that the man is not immune to defeat. I urge Nigerians to resist any attempt for him to resurrect from the political sarcophagus Tinubu sent him to since 2011.

    President does not need the Ota farmer to win any election in the South West; rather he needs men like Tinubu, the great political leader of the Oduduwa nation.

    Wonders, they say, will never end. How can a man who could not conduct a free, fair, credible and accepted election in Nigeria during his days at Aso Rock suddenly became fit to participate in Ghana’s electoral process as a monitor? His electoral legacies includes the transmogrification of ballot boxes into magic boxes with clear capacity to disappear from polling unit and only to re-appear at collation centres. God-fathers announced election result instead of INEC from their bedrooms. Hired species of ‘gallow birds’ invade polling units distributing death certificates to prospective voters with materials of war on election day. This was the same man who was in Ghana as election monitor. Poor Ghanaians!

    Those who know the Ota farmer should please advise him to proceed on compulsory retirement from politics because he belongs to the generation of men who have failed us. I think the youth should be allowed to sail the ship of leadership. Those who have ears let them hear.

    • Onehimare G. O.

    Benin city, Edo State.

  • What exactly does Ubah want?

    SIR: The hearing that the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions scheduled for Thursday, December 6, could not hold. The absence of two very relevant parties in the petition filed by Chief Ifeanyi Ubah, chairman and chief executive officer of Capital Oil and Gas Limited, which necessitated the public hearing – Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, minister of finance and Mr. Aig-Imokhuede, managing director of Access – forced the House committee to reschedule the hearing for Thursday, December 13.

    Ubah wants the National Assembly to determine if it is morally right for the Access Bank chief to head the presidential panel on the oil subsidy probe, when his bank is an interested party in the exercise. He says the bank is also an interested party because it funded the fuel importation business that his company and the Coscharis Group jointly executed, which has now become a subject of litigation.

    From what transpired at the botched public hearing last week, it was obvious that the House committee was not properly briefed on what the Capital Oil chairman wants. For, it was clear that the lawmakers were trying to discuss a matter that is already in court, a point that lawyers representing Maduka, made clear. The law makers have asked for all the relevant papers on the tripartite transactions involving Capital Oil, Coscharis and Assess Bank, apparently to guide them in their deliberations. The same papers are currently with the courts.

    If indeed Ubah wants the legislative arm of government to determine the appropriateness or otherwise of having Aig-Imokhuede preside on a panel that handles and assignment in which he is an interested party, the question arises as to what business Maduka has with the House committee, as far as his petition is concerned?

    The Coscharis chairman did not set up the presidential panel, nor did he appoint the Access Bank managing director into the panel. If Ubah has any issues with Aig-Imokhuede’s membership and headship of the panel, is it not proper he makes the cause of his grouse very clear?

    At the hearing last week, Ubah repeated his orchestrated allegation of a gang-up for the purpose of taking over his business. So, what is the House committee expected to deliberate on – the inappropriateness of having Aig-Imokhuede on the panel?

    Is it the supposed attempt to take over his business? Is it the freezing of his company’s assets ordered by courts of competent jurisdiction or the fuel shortages being experienced in the country, which he claims the continued closure of his company’s premises has engendered? (On-the-spot assessment of Capital Oil facilities by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria [AMCON] showed that the company is capable of supplying Lagos for only one day).

    Is it the payment of his subsidy claims?

    Does he want the committee to ask AMCON, which bought over his toxic loans, to forget about the matter?

    What, really, is Maduka’s interest in all this? Or, put it the other way round, who is the aggrieved party in what has come to be known as the Maduka/Ubah feud, for which the latter wants the intervention of the lawmakers?

    I thought that if there was one person who should cry blue murder, that person is Maduka. He, it was, who took a loan to finance a fuel importation business that sailed into troubled waters. He, it is, who is currently fighting to extricate himself from a debt burden that sees him cough out almost 400 million naira as interest every month, with the debt profile now in the region of 21 billion naira. It is an issue that courts in Nigeria and the UK are trying to resolve. This makes one wonder how far the House committee can go in the task that Ubah has saddled it with.

    • Lilian Onajide

    Abuja.

  • The leadership the nation needs

    SIR: There is no gainsaying that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is facing difficult times, ditto the states governors. The truth however must be told, that Nigerians are expecting no less than purposeful, resourceful, Godly, leadership. One is deeply surprised that since May 29, Nigeria’s development continues to be hampered by bad leadership, moral decadence, hunger, poverty, insecurity and corruption. Our leaders tell lies under oath, mouth deceitful words, make promises and break them.

    What Nigerians need now is a good and God-fearing leader who will work hard in raising the standard of living of the people, transform the society, enact policies that will give Nigerians a sense of oneness.

    Some of the challenges of national integration and development in Nigeria include the economic crisis and poverty, unequal development, crisis of governance and poor political leadership.

    Nigeria has very big potentials to become one of the most powerful countries in the world, and for it to occupy such position, it must transform its system, integrate the people, grow the economy and fight poverty and hunger.

    Nigerians and the leaders should also allow God to direct the affairs of their governance. Nigerians and the rulers should be full of prayers to empower President Goodluck Jonathan to tackle the raging socio-economic and political problems facing the nation.

    The President needs to urgently tackle energy problem, revive industries, encourage entrepreneurs, create mass emoployment for the youth; he needs to pay closer attention to the security situation, tackle corruption seriously, adhere to the tenets of the rule of law, improve infrastructural facilities. He may need to convoke prayer summits at all levels of government.

    Nigerians must together create the atmosphere of trust, transparency, honesty and accountability otherwise she will remain where she is. We have to harness the God-given gifts of nature around us to make the country great. Our leaders have to learn and start taking decisions on what is best for the country rather than their self-serving interests. Unless and until we address the challenge of leadership, the country can never move forward.

    Religious leaders in the country should not feel shy to address issue of bad leadership and also make their voices heard.

    • Prophet Oladipupo Funmilade-Joel (Sekunderin),

    Lagos.

  • There are forces against Nigeria’s reform

    There are forces against Nigeria’s reform

    SIR: The nation’s budget for year 2012 is largely oil-dependent to the tune of about N5 trillion despite the fact that India is expecting, for the same period, $70 billion (N10.5 trillion) from software exports alone.

    Perhaps we need to remind ourselves of where both India and Nigeria are coming from. In the 1980s, when the Delta Steel Company (DSC) was being built by a consortium of foreign companies, Mecon of India was serving as consultants to DSC. Mecon seconded many of its experienced engineers to DSC, who were helping to groom their Nigerian counterparts.

    While these highly experienced expatriate Indians were chauffeur-driven in brand new air-conditioned, official Peugeot cars, people in DSC were usually surprised to hear of how some of them were receiving letters from their home office, informing them of the approval of their motorcycle loans!

    This was at a time fresh Nigerian graduates looked forward to buying new cars after just a few years of working. This was before our present addiction for“tokunbo” products.

    India has since transformed into one of the sensational economies including Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) while Nigeria is retrogressing deeper into poverty, which according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has worsened from 54.7 in2004 to 61.9 in2011. Our state governors are busy bickering over statutory allocation, while their counterparts across the world are aggressively harvesting the infinite opportunities created by globalisation. While we remain on revenue allocation, the world is moving in the direction of technological creativity.

    The real tragedy is that even with the pitiable state of our nation, our entrenched interests are still fighting viciously to ensure that nothing changed. More tragic is the fact that they are using the rest of us, to bring down anybody that tries to change things! We are helping our entrenched interests to ensure that nothing changes, and to deal with each officeholder that refuses to toe their line.

    The Goldman Sachs’ research report for 2007 listed Nigeria among its ‘Next 11’group of countries expected to catch up to the fastest developing BRIC economies.

    That reform might even have been most providential, considering what could have become of the Nigerian economy if the global meltdown that soon followed had met us with a financial sector driven by fragile, under-capitalised banks!

    Similarly, the all-important Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which had clearly forgotten the destination of the 12-year journey it started since 2000 with President Obasanjo’s Oil & Gas Reform Implementation Committee (OGIC), is now suddenly contemplating reality! This means that all those years of regulatory uncertainty, blocking billions of dollars of oil-sector investments, are coming to an end. Again, for the first time in our petroleum history, we now have a “Nigerian Content Development Act”, which has transformed the capacity for local participation in the sector.

    • Gabriel Zowam,

    Reform & Process Improvement Expert.

  • Re: Okada and Fashola-phenomenon

    Re: Okada and Fashola-phenomenon

    SIR: The above entitled article by Mobolaji Sanusi published in The Nation of November 16, 2012 captures my mind on this subject matter. How on earth will Lagos be turned into the dumping ground of inexperienced, stubborn, criminal-minded set of people from all over the place under the guise of okada riding as a business? Fashola has done well with this restriction. Is it sensible for okadas to be contesting the right of way with cars, lorries/trucks on the third mainland bridge for example? This was the scenario before the law, and it will be wrong for the government of Eko to fold its arms watching the ugly trend.

    Without mentioning names, total ban/restriction had taken places in some other states without the “political noise” being heaped on Fashola. Why is the Lagos case different? To draw the attention of the state government to the fact that some unrepentant Okada riders are still waiting at Ikeja-along in the evenings in total disregard of the law to ply their nefarious trade shows that they must be tackled without further delay. Okadas/Tricycles operators must go to the street corners and other unrestricted routes to ply their trade and show respect for the laws of the land. To PDP and other anti-progress elements in Lagos, the downfall and campaign of calumny against Fashola on this move will never succeed. Order is the first law in heaven, and it must be, here on earth.

    The only constant thing in life is CHANGE. The change has come and it must be embraced. The mission to reclaim Lagos and bring back its old glory is a task that must be imbibed by all. On Okada restriction, I stand!

    • Tunde Awe,

    Maersk Line, Lagos.

  • Legal practitioners must emulate Justice Eso

    Legal practitioners must emulate Justice Eso

    SIR: The exit of Justice Kayode Eso will certainly remain indelible in our annals for many years to come. The legal profession will continue to miss the erudite jurist, extremely intelligent arbiter of uncommon order and frontline apostle of judicial activism in Nigeria.

    Justice Eso, no doubt, is one of the few, who are destined to right societal wrongs and look oppressors in the face. The fearless Judge was highly revered, not only for his uprightness or Solomonic wisdom, but for his uncompromising stance when it comes to issues of truth and declaration of verdict without any fear or favour.

    Kayode Eso’s name is incontrovertibly synonymous with an incorruptible and courageous judiciary. The man Eso is undoubtedly a blessing to the nation’s Judiciary. He was one of the few judges, Nigeria is lucky to have produced, that held tenaciously to the principles of “Nemini Negada est” (Justice should be denied to no man). As a judge the late Eso believed not in the judgments, but in justice, not only for both parties but also for the society. Eso, as a Judge, right from the lower court to apex court, was like fire that respects its lighter. To him, it is “fiat justitia enruant coelium” (let justice be done even though the heavens fall).

    He was one of the few judges who believed and displayed it obviously to all and sundry, the lordship and independence of judiciary over the two arms of the government, by refusing to bend for pressure or pacification from any quarters or anybody, no matter his rank or fortune. He was a die-hard student in the school of legal thought that “judex habere debet dous sales salem sapientiae, nesit inspidus est salem conscietiae no sit diabolus,” which means that a judge should have two salts; the salt of wisdom, lest he becomes insipid and the salt of conscience, lest he be devilish. And no wonder, he passionately displayed this in many cases that were before him, To mention a few: Fawehinmi V Akilu and ors; Awolowo V Shagari; Omoboriowo V A.G Federation, Ajasin V Omoboriowo; Nwodo V Onoh; State v Wole Soyinka etc.

    As a matter of fact, Eso, a born mediator and a reputably stainless Judge, will be difficult to replace, especially in this era of charlatanisms and favouritisms, when some men in gown, have turned Judiciary to an appendage of executive arm and annex of legislature; when cowards are now seen dominating the positions meant for the courageous. Our longing to have the likes of Eso is a must.

    The passage of Justice Kayode Eso to the great beyond is not only a call for eulogies and encomium, and is not only a call for celebration or adulation, but it’s a call for us to live worthy lives and examine our lives. What do we want people to say after we have stopped breathing? We must think deeply, whether we want praises like the ones being showered on Eso or people’s reactions to the demise of Sani Abacha.

    To the men of the bench who are Eso’s colleagues, the greatest sympathy you can show is to literally put on his gown and his wigs, for in there lay honour, courage and praises. And as corruption is daily eating deeper into Nigerian fabric and escalating in an unprecedented proportion, the nation’s judiciary is highly in need of upright, godly and lion-hearted judges, like Kayode Eso.

    I can hear the voice of this departed man of honour and value, urging and warning our judges to strive for excellence in their acts of adjudication or mediation; that the judiciary should not look as executive arm is looking; that the judiciary should not reason as legislature is reason. Oh, I heard him loud and clear, urging Nigerian judiciary to stand firm and be courageous.

    Justice Kayode Eso, in his message, prefers to be emulated rather than to be celebrated. He wants his principles and ideals cherished and not himself and he wants the judiciary to shelve encomiums and instead to stand for what he stood for. May he rest in perfect peace.

     

    • Bello Destiny Paul,

    Ondo State.

  • On Sanusi, government and job creation

    On Sanusi, government and job creation

    SIR:The recent call by the Central Bank governor Lamido Sanusi on the Federal government to lay off 50 percent of workers is thoughtless, callous, and perfidious. After he was rained curses by Nigerians and further upbraided by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), he now claims he was quoted out of context. But the fact remains he was quoted verbatim. And the harm is already done. This is not the first time Sanusi has stirred up a hornet’s nest. Not long ago, Sanusi with his characteristic knack for fantasy suddenly dreamt of making our highest money denomination N5, 000. It took President Jonathan’s intervention to stop him.

    Sanusi’s excesses are getting too much. He may have voiced his personal opinion, but he must remember that his position is a sensitive one, and that he embarrasses President Jonathan and what ever his government stands for, when ever he makes unguarded statements especially with regards to the president’s social contract with the people. The President should caution him.

    One is sure many Nigerian government workers must have had their blood pressure hitting the top on hearing Sanusi’s comment. And that is why it is soothing to know that the government through the Labour Minister Chukwuemeka Wogu, has immediately spurned Sanusi’s statement,

    Re-assuring Nigerians that instead of sacking, government will even create more job opportunities.

    The Labour Minister, in dispelling Sanusi’s statement said “Government owes the society an enabling environment to create job opportunities and the president’s desire is to create more jobs and not retrenchment.”

    One of the things often said when it comes to jobs is that government does not create jobs, but only lays the enabling environment for jobs to be created. If workers are sacked, what happens to their dependents? Sanusi should answer this question. It is easier to destroy than to build.

    Government jobs are very critical to education, health and many other areas the private organizations cannot provide. Government jobs also help boost the private sector because when those who are employed by government have money to spend on goods and services provided by the private sector, it keeps the private sector in business, and helps boost the economy.

    The primary role of public sector workers is to provide service to all for the public good, and profit is certainly not its motive. It is through the public sector that the dividends of democracy can be provided, nothing more, nothing less.

    The public sector and the private sector should exist side by side as they both have their unique roles to play in the society. Government must also spend money to make sure certain jobs remain with it to keep them from being taken over by profit seekers who only serve the benefit of the owners and investors. Those against big government must also know that they may be inadvertently helping Sanusi beat his drum of misery. Government should instead provide a level playing field for all Nigerians.

    Sanusi has a government job, and so do President Jonathan, the governors, and lawmakers; and they may still be looking forward to keep these jobs beyond 2015. Other Nigerians should be allowed to keep theirs.

    • Dr Odoemena, Medical

    Practitioner, Lagos

  • Did Babangida lie against Saraki?

    Did Babangida lie against Saraki?

    SIR: I commiserate with the family of Senator Olusola Saraki, and the numerous beneficiaries of his political generousity. The Yoruba say that once dead, a person becomes an idol (a faultless person). Since his demise on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, Saraki has been variously eulogized for his political sagacity and philanthropy. I both agree and disagree, because every human being is both good and bad. Sometimes, human beings rob poor Peter to pay rich Paul; some other times, they do good and later regret.

    The praise-singer who caught my fancy more than any other person was General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), who said he learnt a lot about politics from the late Pa Saraki. I could not help asking myself whether the notes IBB took from Pa Saraki informed the political dribbling (deception) that earned him the appellation, “Maradona”.

    As Nigeria’s military “President”, IBB raised and dashed the hopes of many politicians with his numerous transition agenda, which he would start and truncate mid-way. Incalculable number of politicians died of frustration, and many others became impoverished from indebtedness and loss of jobs. Finally, IBB annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential election, and was forced by national and international pressures to quit the seat of power by all means.

    For eight years, IBB ruled Nigeria, full of tension and financial crimes called”419″. He undid General Muhammadu Buhari’s War Against Indiscipline (WAI), and return the country to the Shehu Shagari’s corrupt era. His (IBB’s) own regime specifically marked the emergence of numerous fake banks which drained too many Nigerians of their hard-earned monies. Today, fake banks hardly exist, but the same imperialists are still holding the country to ransom. Hence drastic drop in electricity coupled with fuel scarcity deepen the nation’s mass misery. Unfortunately, we still have Nigerians who keep praising President Goodluck Jonathan. Farouk Lawan is back in the House of Representatives, as if bribery and corruption were virtues. Children of the rulers front for their fathers in the petroleum misappropriation business, etc.

    Ghana is better run today because of Jerry Rawlings’ revolutionary initiative. All misappropriators of public funds should be decapitated as in the French Revolution, and as obtains in China currently. The living and the dead imperialist-paternalists are responsible for Nigeria’s under-development and mass poverty.

    • Pius Oyeniran Abioje, Ph. D, University of Ilorin.

     

  • Working in partnership to combat corruption

    Working in partnership to combat corruption

    SIR: When 140 countries convened on December 9, 2003, to sign the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), this event underscored international abhorrence of the detrimental effects of corruption and global recognition that governments can only combat and prevent corruption through cooperative efforts. Since then, more nations joined the convention so that today 164 signatory countries make it one of the United Nations’ most highly subscribed treaties, creating a global mandate to combat corruption and the harm it brings to society.

    One of the great strengths of the convention is recognition that corruption involves a two-way street; while it is important to address the bribe payers who attempt to do business through dishonest means, it is equally important to hold accountable the bribe takers, who use their official positions for personal enrichment instead of the public good. The convention also includes stipulations on “kleptocrats,” who line their pockets and steal from their nations’ treasuries and their own people, preventing the provision of necessary public services, including medicines and health care for the sick and elderly, education for children, and nourishment and housing for families. Such activities weaken affected countries and their potential for economic growth.

    No country remains immune from corruption. To lessen the effects of corruption on a country’s economy and security, authorities must enforce anti-corruption laws, so those engaging in corrupt acts understand they cannot do so with impunity. The United States takes criminal enforcement of anti-corruption laws very seriously. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted and won convictions against 1,107 public officials from all levels of government for engaging in acts of corruption, such as soliciting and/or accepting bribes, embezzling public funds, or trading in influence. Similarly, the U.S. became the first country to prohibit its nationals from paying bribes to foreign public officials, when it enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977. Under the FCPA, each year the U.S. completes dozens of enforcement actions, penalizing companies who engage in corruption abroad, sending the message that engaging in corruption abroad is just as offensive as engaging in corruption at home.

    For any country, this two-pronged approach remains necessary to protect society from the ill effects of corruption. While it is important to penalize bribe payers to dissuade them from corrupting the system, it is equally important to prosecute public officials who betray the public trust by taking bribes or embezzling public funds. Corrupt officials who have stolen government funds or who demand bribes to award government contracts cannot be allowed to enjoy the proceeds of their corruption. Through criminal prosecution, Nigeria can end the culture of impunity and return stolen assets to productive use. This will not only help build Nigeria’s economy, it will also send the message to criminals who might believe Nigeria’s national resources or security are for sale, by closing down avenues for promoting crime and violent extremism.

    To foster the stability, security, and prosperity of its citizens, Nigeria must effectively address both sides of the corruption equation. The United States stands ready to work with Nigeria’s anti-corruption institutions to bring corrupt individuals to justice, whether through technical assistance and training, or working cooperatively to find evidence or stolen assets held abroad. Working together and with other international partners, we can combat corruption effectively and make impunity a thing of the past.

     

    • Ambassador Terence McCulley is US envoy to Nigeria

     

  • Sanusi Lamido’s hypocrisy

    Sanusi Lamido’s hypocrisy

    SIR: Why is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi so controversial? Why must this Central Bank Governor (CBN) be stirring up the hornet’s nest every now and then? Is it in his gene or star or both? Does he revel in it? His tenure has been marred by controversies.

    If he is not quarrelling with members of the National Assembly over their pay package, he’s busy supporting fuel hike price. If he’s not donating towards an opaque cause, he’s planning to introduce 5000 Naira new notes. Now his new fancy is in advising the Federal Government to reduce the civil service work force by about fifty percent as part of measures to reflate the economy. Is he idle as suggested by Peter Isele, President of the Trade Union Congress (UTC)? Who will save this man from himself? Obviously, not even the President can probably do that.

    The National Assembly may be right after all in its attempt to amend the CBN laws apparently to curb the excesses of the Governor. If Saint Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is bold and sincere enough, let him go ahead and show the whole world the pay structure of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) staff. Nigerians would be scandalized and alarmed to know the hefty nature of their salaries and other perquisites especially those at the Director cadre.

    A friend of mine recently and perhaps out of excitement called to tell me about his promotion as a Director in the CBN. After the usual exchange of pleasantries, he disclosed that his new status would fetch him 130000 Naira as Newspapers/Magazines allowance and 200000 Naira as Generator allowance. These are just two categories of the many other allowances not stated here. And they are on monthly basis! He would

    be given about 4million Naira vehicle loan etc. I must confess that at a point, I switched off the phone because the figures he was reeling out were incredible and mind boggling.

    After a day or two, my friend called back again to know why I did what I did the last time we interacted on the phone. My response was that I would have fainted if I had allowed him to state all the full packages and entitlements. I further told him that my salary per month is not even as big as his generator allowance even though I’m a senior civil servant on salary

    Grade Level 16!

    The intriguing thing is that these allowances are exclusive of their actual monthly salaries. Your guess therefore is as good as mine. However, it is not certain if my friend is truthful because there is no documentary evidence to back this up; he could be pulling my legs or trying to impress. It’s now left for the CBN Governor to tell us that this is true or not true. And if it is true, then will Sanusi be justified to demand for a 50 percent cut in the workforce? Why would the sacrifice not start from the CBN under his watch before asking the helpless civil servants to be taken to Golgotha?

    • Ogidiolu Ajayi,

    Asokoro, Abuja.