The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • 50 years of paediatric training in UI

    SIR: In 1962, the department of Paediatrics began in the University of Ibadan (UI) with a special focus on teaching, research and clinical services. Having trained manpower for the national needs and practised the The department which was the birth place of the post graduate training programme in Nigeria and indeed West Africa has evidently come a long way with cornucopia of achievements and successes. The department currently has 33 residency training positions annually graduating an average of three to five paediatricians through the West African College of Physicians and the National Post graduate Medical College of Nigeria together. In fact, there is virtually no department of paediatrics in the country presently that does not have at least two paediatricians who were trained in Ibadan.

    In the area of research, the department has not only carved a niche for itself but recorded outstanding feats which today benefit humanity. For example, the now regular use of oral rehydration therapy sachets which has drastically reduced morbidity and mortality from diarrheal disease, evolved partly from the research conducted by the department. Again, the identification of resistance of malaria parasites to hitherto effective therapy and the evolution from case control trials were in part conducted in the department of paediatrics.

    It is not out of place to state that this department has paid fruitful attention to acute respiratory infections, various childhood tumors, blood diseases in childhood including sickle cell diseases, various congenital and acquired heart diseases in childhood, kidney disorders in childhood, neurological disorders as well as liver and gastrointestinal disorders of childhood.

    One is inclined to commend the department for the successes recorded so far. The department which became a warehouse of cross-fertilising minds has certainly manifested precision in the diagnosis and treatment of the child-patient. It is clear that the department still maintains its stimulating repository of knowledge profile which has greatly contributed to the meaningful development of Nigerian child.

    The achievements of this department are no doubt altruistic. Although, Michael Montaigne says no doctor takes pleasure in the health of, even his friend, for when you tell a doctor that you are ill, he will write you a bill, it is clear that the department of Paediatrics, College of Medicine has taken pleasure in the health of Nigerian child.

    • Sunday Saanu

    University of Ibadan.

  • Fatal attraction: What an oxymoron!

    SIR: “Fatal attraction” is an oxymoron par excellence as used in The Nation editorial of September 7. Usually the headline of a piece of writing should suggest the main gist. But in this case, the headline had no semantic bearing with the object of the editorial opinion. However, I got attracted to the headline and I wasted no time to read the piece. I there and then decided to write this rejoinder.

    I was flabbergasted that The Nation could editorialise a phantom analogy! The Nation wrote:”a British study has revealed that nearly one million crashes happen every year because of drivers’ attitude of ogling pedestrians while behind the wheels. … According to the study which polled 2,142 drivers, 60 per cent of men admitted being distracted by attractive women while 12 per cent of women said they lost concentration while leering at good-looking men.”

    The Nation submitted: “If we have about a million people crashing their vehicles in Britain because they are attracted (distracted) by the opposite sex as they drive, we are likely to have as many in Nigeria, if not more.” In justifying the analogy, the paper quipped: “This is because human psychological conditions are basically the same; the differences would be that they have better road facilities, they are more methodical in studying the phenomenon and they would be less inhibited in discussing the matter.

    I agree in toto with the latter part of this justification but the former position is an extraneous fallacy of the crux of the analogy. Of course, it’s a truism that “human psychological conditions are basically the same” but no condition exist in vacuum. The usage of “condition” in this context, as Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary, New 8th Edition puts it, is a necessary “situation that must exist in order for something else to happen”. The study, according to the editorial, “shows drivers smash their cars into the vehicle in front of them or into lamp posts more in the summer when men and women wear less clothing”.

    One germane question here is whether the study actually shows the percentage of such ogling-cum-leering induced road crashes during the summer. That would have been revealing! Be that as it may, there are no analogies between motoring culture in the United Kingdom and what’s obtainable here in Nigeria. As a road safety pundit of over a decade who has first-hand familiarity with the driving cultures in both countries, I stand to be corrected that the controlled sanity that exists on the UK roads be it in the summer, spring or autumn, is in absolute contrast to the habitual sheer insanity on the Nigerian roads either in the rainy or dry season. Britain, needless to say, has one of the best road safety records in the world.

    The specific twin issues of ogling and leering as dual causative agents of road traffic accidents (RTAs) while driving especiallyduring the summer are neither here nor there as a basis for the editorial analogy because most UK summer dresses are almost impossible to be worn by any sane person in Nigerian streets. I suppose what the UK report, according to the editorial, referred to as “less clothing” is a reality of the Britain’s clime which even a Briton is most unlikely to wear publicly in Nigeria. Most “less clothing” worn especially by the women in the summer in the UK barely cover the privates.

    The Nation editorial was right to assert that “Hardly any day passes since the beginning of this year without fatal accidents happening on our roads. We are well aware that our road infrastructure is in derelict state”.

    Obviously, the first chief cause of RTAs in Nigeria is the “Nigerian factor” that simply makes our systems unable to deliver the goods! The second chief cause is poor understanding of the ABC of road safety by the motoring public including the educated elite. The third chief cause is the lethal combination of bad drivers driving old vehicles on poor roads! If you want me to blame the FRSC for the high road fatality and mortality rates in Nigeria, then I rest my case.

    • Yomi Akinola,

    President of Road Accident and Transport Management Centre, Ibadan

  • Osun deserves more from N17.6 billion flood package

    Osun deserves more from N17.6 billion flood package

    SIR: In the past few weeks, millions of Nigerians in about 25 states in this country have suffered from the deluge that destroyed their property and washed away their means of livelihood like farms. While there is still nothing serious to cheer in our response ability to emergency situation of such magnitude, the Federal Government has slightly roused itself from its accustomed lethargy and characteristic hesitation and has availed the affected states some succour in monetary terms.

    But even at that, this latest gesture has some question marks clearly hanging over it. I make bold to say that the FG is quite unfair to my state, Osun, in the paltry amount it gives to it. Considering the huge amount the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola committed to fighting flood in the state between 2011 and this year, I am of the opinion that Osun deserves special consideration.

    In his nationwide broadcast sometime ago, President Goodluck Jonathan announced the release of N17.6 billion as direct financial assistance to the affected states and some Federal Government agencies responsible for disaster management. The states were grouped into four categories: Oyo, Kogi, Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Delta, Bayelsa and Anambra come under category A; Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa, Taraba, Cross River, Edo, Lagos and Imo States fall under Category B; Kwara, Katsina, Gombe, Ogun, Ondo, Ebonyi, Abia and Rivers make the Category C; and Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Yobe, Enugu, Ekiti, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Borno and Federal Capital Territory are grouped into Category D. According to the President, N500 million goes to each of the states in Category A, N400 million to each of those in B; N300 million each for states in Category C, and each of those in the last group receives N250 million.

    This classification is based on the level of damage wrought in the states –Categories A and B are regarded as the worst hit, while those of the remaining two categories are considered as less affected.

    The seeming defect in the FG’s intervention has to do with the inclusion of Osun State into the last group. It is on record that prior to the assumption of office of Aregbesola, many towns in Osun were known to be terribly affected by floods. In fact, the government of Olagunsoye Oyinlola unbelievably saw the disaster as insoluble and so asked the affected people to learn to live with it. But not so with Aregbesola’s government. This government saw the plight of the people and got cracking without hanging fire. In the state capital for example, the government deployed both money and men in ensuring that the inhabitants were free from the nightmare of floods. Blocked canals, rivulets, drainages, rivers, and streams were thoroughly cleared for water to flow freely. The exercise was repeated a number of times. It was this effort that saved the state from being affected by the latest flood calamity.

    Therefore, if the FG wants to help states affected by flood, I think states like Osun that have shown seriousness in the use of resources to check disaster should have been considered for the biggest package. This is important when the facts that the state is not among the states whose allocations and internally generated revenues are on the high side. The FG would have successfully given the state a great encouragement if it had grouped it among the states with the fat package. I don’t think the government has demonstrated any serious sense of fairness to Osun. What it has done is to handsomely reward indolence and chastise industry. Encouraging states which are proactive in their response to issues bordering on the wellbeing of citizens has its way of inspiring healthy relationship between the centre and the federating units. Sincerely, I think Osun should have got more than it is given.

    • Bidemi Adegbite,

    Osogbo, Osun State

  • Bring Obahiagbon back to the House!

    Bring Obahiagbon back to the House!

    SIR: My constituency, Oredo Federal Constituency once enjoyed public visibility and conspicuous admiration in the sixth assembly, but today, one can hardly tell whether it has a member representing her in the house. I was represented by Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon, the Anglo-Latin lexical cognoscenti in the sixth assembly.

    Igodomigodo, as he is popularly referred, to rose from unus inter pares to primus inter pares in the House of Representatives of 360 members in a short time. Sincerely, it takes only a man of uncommon profundity to attain such enviable feat. No wonder the growing army of Nigerian youths sees him as a role model.

    I have been an ardent fan of live proceeding of the house broadcast in the media but have since resigned my “fanship” because the house has metamorphosed into a cocoon of rubber-chicken-circuit. I want to suggest that those who must vie for the office of a legislator should first consult vocational experts before venturing into it.

    To excel, a legislator ought to process a well lubricated mental engine with sound erudition and uncommon parliamentary diction. Nigerians must not forget how Obahiagbon went on a one-man-riot against the constitutional hugger-mugger that erupted at the terminus ad quem of late President Yar’Adua’s administration. He stood in the defence of constitutionality.

    Igodomigodo belongs to the class of men Francis Frangipane wrote of, when he said “some men have the future already in their spirit. They are the leaders who will guide us into the realities of tomorrow”.

    Ipso facto, I call on President Goodluck Jonathan to honour the Great Igodomigodo with a national merit award in view of his ineffable and conspicuous legislative delivery in the sixth National Assembly.

     

    • Ehimare Godfery

    Benin City

  • Ensuring compliance with Lagos Traffic Law

    Ensuring compliance with Lagos Traffic Law

    SIR: The decision of the Lagos State government to ban the operation of commercial motorcyclists on major roads in the state has generated a lot of misgivings. The restrictions of okada on the routes and the worsening fuel scarcity have made many Lagosians stranded as they were forced to trek to their destinations.

    No doubt, every attempt to sanitize and restore order to the chaotic roads should be embraced, especially, going by the traffic situation in Lagos. That is what any responsible government should do.

    But in doing this, the necessary environment should be put in place to ensure that the introduction of the new law is not an attempt at paying Peter to rob Paul.

    Presently, the available modes of transportation infrastructure are inadequate for a city of about 20 million people. The existing road is seriously under pressure as the Bus Rapid Transit services passengers often cramped onto the buses while many would-be commuters are always held-down in long queues awaiting the BRT buses for the next turn that may never come.

    The Keke-NAPEP is just a bigger okada and does not offer much.It has only succeeded in increasing the average cost of transportation and traffic congestions within the city. They are equally operated by the same people of the same brains behind the operation of okadas, in terms of traffic law compliance. Hence, in the absence of sufficient cars and buses, commercial motorcycles remain the most practical and easily accessible means of transportation which a large percentage of the populace rely on.

    Banning them at the moment portends grave social and psychological consequences. As a way forward, there should be concerted efforts by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Lagos State Traffic Management Agency and the Nigeria Police to ensure high compliance with traffic regulations. Over the years, what have bred lawlessness in Nigeria are simply impunity and endemic official corruption and bribery. Some law enforcement agents are themselves law-brakers and clogs in the wheel of sanity. They flout the law of the land with impunity. LASTMA officials are not an exception and so,there is the dire need for a shake-up in LASTMA.

    The role of media and public enlightenment should be fully engaged in conjunction with the commercial motorcyclist unions and relevant stakeholders to bring about the necessary sensitization. The government should play its part by putting in place, the necessary infrastructure – good roads, clear street markings, functional traffic lights, road signs, safety and emergency measures as well as educational and instructional materials prepared in English and major Nigerian languages –to make the people respecters of law not law breakers.

     

    • Adewale Kupoluyi,

    Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

  • Our kids and the internet

    Our kids and the internet

    SIR: We live in a world that is a global village- thanks to information technology and its user friendly facilities that offer its users links with the world and people in all nooks and crannies literally at our finger tips. Daily we try to keep up with the innovations and counter innovations thrown at us promising to keep us connected in “real time.” Thus, we find that we hardly get to analyze these technologies and the implications its use could and would have on our lives.

    Nigerians being lovers of modern gadgets and the latest fads have caught on to this trend thanks to the introduction of the mobile phone technology and ICT in the late 1990s. Being constantly on the move trying to eke a living its becoming the new normal to find parents handing their kids and teens mobile phones, iPods, I pads, laptops and other communication gadgets to stay connected with them or even as a tool for spending “quality time” with their kids.

    As you hand over that communication gadget to your child, please pause and think through the implication this gift of love could have on your child’s growth and development. No doubt, the internet is a great place to hang out. It’s not only fun, but it lets you keep in touch with friends and family and provides an enormous amount of information. Cyberspace is like a big city. There are libraries, universities, museums, places to have fun and plenty of opportunities to meet wonderful people from all walks of life. But like any community there are also some people and areas that you ought to avoid and others that you should approach with caution. By knowing the dangers and how to avoid them, you can take advantage of all the positive aspects of the internet, while avoiding most of its pitfalls.

    The recent gruesome murder of Miss Cynthia Osukogu reveals that even adults are vulnerable to the dangers posed by criminals on the social web. It is a wakeup call for all parents, men and women of goodwill, government information dissemination agencies, schools, NGOs and other stakeholders to rise up to the challenge of educating our kids and teens on safe internet use. The government regulatory agencies such as the National Communications Commission (NCC) need to wake up to its role of regulation and putting in place systems of checks and balances to protect internet users. Countries such as China recognized from the outset the dangers of unrestricted, unregulated internet use and thus put in place measures to protect and monitor it users.

    There is no doubt that the social web has come to stay, so all stakeholders adults and children alike need to get educated on surfing the net suavely and safely too. Apart from safety education, monitoring internet use both in content and time spent on these technologies is also a way to go. Isolating our kids from these technologies is certainly not the solution, for these technologies are the new normal of our lifetimes.

     

    • Angela Odah,

    Centre for Gender Education Abuja.

     

  • Many puzzles on Aluu Four killings

    Many puzzles on Aluu Four killings

    SIR: I scribble feebly with a heavy heart and with a sense of shame. Shame for the country I find myself in; shame on the people we live with. Shame on the faces I am familiar with; and on the breed of humans we are gradually turning into. I write to a generation I do not know- neither am I certain of their awakening. I write even if history shoves this journal in her archives. I write even if these pages may be blown up in a timeless memory hole.

    I never realised the magnitude of the killings of the Aluu Four till I went online.

    I could not even bring myself to watch the video: the pictures were real enough to make me sick. I mean it could be anybody; anybody’s child; anybody’s friend, lover, neighbour, brother, uncle, or nephew.

    I saw four naked bodies – stripped of all sense of dignity, hope, and confidence. Bare and vulnerable under the watch of the whole community. Helpless to an inevitable end that was before them.

    I don’t care what they -supposedly-did. That is not how to treat a fellow human. There have been rumours, insinuations and speculations. There have also been whispers, silent arguments, and even loud protests that provide a foundation of excuses and defenses – blowing a cover of “jungle justice.” That sure is ‘jungle’ behaviour, but “justice?” No!

    That is not justice – that is brutal, hasty, anti-society, and selfish. It is murder.

    Let’s take a closer look at this incident -or event- because the whole thing seems pre-empted, premeditated, and calculated. There were willing parties involved; the whole community of Aluu seems to me a group of people observing a familiar ritual. Nobody seemed disturbed, rather it looks like an event where every party had defined roles, and played those roles efficiently. All factors in Aluu collectively ensured the killing of four young men in broad daylight – undisturbed!

    From the person who had the nerve to capture the whole killings on video: the anonymous and silent eye that made the whole world know about the injustice that took place in Aluu. Heroic you might think, but what were his/her intentions? What did he intend to achieve? What emotions was he/she trying to provoke? Did he have underlying motives? There is something definitely missing here – a big hole that needs to be filled. Why did he not use the same power – the media- to source for help? Why did he wait till the whole thing ended- only to replay those horrors on the internet?

    Certainly someone stripped them naked- and just like Saul in the Bible-their belongings were laid at his feet. Someone brought the fuel; someone beat them up; someone in that community was well prepared to kill!

    Ready hands ignited the flames that engulfed the hope of a generation. What about the owner of the local store they patronised? The compound cleaner? Their landlord? The flatmates? For goodness’ sake where was everybody? I could imagine the feeling of betrayal as they pored into those familiar eyes for a clue or hint for their hopeless defeat. Where were their friends? Why didn’t word go out before their brutal end? Where were the students of UNIPORT? They sure could not have killed over 5,000 students? I can feel what seem close to their heartbeat. Inside felt lonely, betrayed and defeated.

    Would this just be another closed chapter buried in our archives of injustice? Would we talk for a while, then say to ourselves “What’s my own?” or “Na dem sabi?”

     

    Oyindamola Adegboye

    Lagos

     

  • Tribute to Sheila Solarin

    Tribute to Sheila Solarin

    SIR: On Sunday, October 21, the co-founder of Mayflower School, Sheila Solarin passed away. Sheila like the late husband, Tai Solarin, was an educationist. She devoted her entire life to working and campaigning to improve the quality of education in Nigeria. And through her Mayflower Schools, she provided that high quality education to Nigerian children. I encountered Sheila not so much in her capacity as an educationist but more in her role as the matron of the Nigerian Humanist Movement(NHM). Very few Nigerians know about Sheila’s humanist credentials especially that she continued the tradition left behind by Tai of supporting secular education and also promoting the humanist outlook.

    In 1998 I travelled to Ikenne to see Sheila and to inform her of the formation of the Nigerian Humanist Movement. I invited her to be the matron of the organisation which she readily accepted. I can still recall vividly my joy and excitement on getting Sheila’s endorsement of the Nigerian humanist project. Sheila was visibly worried by the damaged caused by superstitions especially the way religious fanaticism was hampering the growth and development of the nation.

    She was not anti-religion or antitheism. She was of the view that organized religion fulfilled some social good and that with more knowledge, the god-of-the -gaps would fade away.

    Sheila was unequivocal in her support for an alternative to dogmatic religions and superstitious beliefs and for the promotion of reason, science and critical thinking. She bemoaned the collosal waste of lives by violent extremists and the way Nigeria had been turned to a religious supermarket at the expense of human development.

    Mrs Solarin was a pillar of humanism not only in principle but also in practice.

    When she was asked, at one of her last outings at the Tai Solarin memorial lecture in Lagos, to deliver a short message to the Nigerian youths. She simply said “Think ahead”.

    Sheila was so many things to so many people. She will be missed by both humanists and religious folks alike. Sheila. like her late husband Tai, lived and died in service of humanity.

    Leo Igwe

    Lagos

     

  • Women and Nigerian music videos

    Women and Nigerian music videos

    SIR: To say Nigerian Hip Pop or Afro Pop or whatever, has grabbed the attention of millions across the globe is to put it mildly. This is no doubt our time to shine. Our musical artists both male and female have raised the stakes notches higher and achieved recognition and acclaim within Africa and beyond.

    However, our musical artists need to be strategic on how they translate this global attention to positive use. They have an opportunity to literally change Nigeria and the world at large for good. Music is a powerful tool for change; see the impact of American music on music lovers across the globe.

    Growing up in the 80s, teens and youths in Nigeria were more American than even the Americans in our love for their music. From Earth Wind and Fire, Kool and the Gang, New Edition, Boys to Men, The Jacksons, Michael Jackson, Barry White Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, Paula Abdul, Natalie Cole, Shalamar, Whispers etc. We knew and loved them all. Nigerian music came second place in our hearts except for maybe Fela.

    With our appreciation for Nigerian music currently at an all time high, this in my view is a great opportunity for positive change. This positive change might not be a reality going by the growing trend in the contents of the lyrics been produced by our artists, especially in 2012. The sex, degradation, objectification, commoditization of the Nigerian female in some of these lyrics and their videos is alarming and worrisome.

    What I find most worrisome is that in these scandalously vulgar videos some beautiful intelligent looking girls are rigorously dancing their hearts out virtually nude. While the male leader singer (s) is/are fully clad in his/their designer clothing and accessories. Wait a minute must dancers strip to their bare necessities to aid our appreciation of the lyrics of a song. Besides, if these videos are blue films, shouldn’t the male singers also bare it all? No they are the super stars, they are well dressed but the female dancers are literally nude. For how much if I may ask. Even if it’s a million naira or dollars is it really worth trampling on the dignity of those dancers?

    A lot of our male artists are sadly guilty of promoting this vulgar trend in their lyrics and music videos, which will only lead to further violence against girls and women. But I would use the singer Timaya to buttress my point. I am a fan of Timaya’s earlier songs but the songs and videos he recently released are horrifying for the peaceful existence of girls and women in Nigeria and the world at large. His song “sexy ladies” would only inspire boys and men to assault and even rape girls and women. It promotes sex without consent of the female. Please listen to the lyrics and you will see what I mean.

    For the female dancers, please think through these questions before you bear it all in your next music video. Is money everything? What good would this music video inspire in its viewers? Will it advance respect for girls and women in our communities and country at large or will it further the view of girls and women as objects of pleasure and abuse? Will you be proud to show this video to your parents and in future your children and grand children? Is this really a comprehensive expression of your talents and contribution to the development of the Nigerian music industry and the world at large?

    For Nigerian musicians keep up the good work but please keep it positive and inspiring. Please sing songs that would inspire our kids and youths for positive change, Songs on love faith and hope. Songs promoting protection of the environment, respect for human rights, prolife, anti corruption, politics, creativity, economic empowerment etc. Songs that can change the world for good!

    •Angela Odah,

    Centre for Gender Education Abuja.

  • Local government, not state police

    Local government, not state police

    SIR: President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) and some nothern governors have as for now, said “No” to the establishment of state police.

    While the argument for or against rages on, my question is, what does the Inspector general of Police say seeing the nation is worried about the inadequacies of his establishment?

    I support the establishment of state police but with a proviso for adequate preparation and provision within a given time frame. The onus of state polcie creation is on the readiness of the polcie themselves to uphold the rule of law and imbibe democratic changes and principles.

    In my opinion the debates for and against are off-target as they fail to identify the police as the actors in the drama of national theatre in which the people are mere audience.

    A few examples will suffice to show where the police failed the nation in her quest for growth and greatness.

    It is on record that for political reasons, a Police Commissioner in one of the eastern states denied one of the nation’s founding fathers-Zik of Africa-accesss to use a hotel built by Zik himself to hold a political rally.

    It is also on record that a third of the police force serve only the powerful and rich of the society. Above all, Nigerians lose faith in elections because the police until recently, aided and helped in rigging thereby denying the people the legitimate changes they deserve for growth.

    Hope is not however lost as stakeholders can help in evolving policies and strategies that will give us a fair and firm police force at the local government areaas where patrol vhicles can be provided and 50 units of houses can be built to house local government police personnels as welll as police doctrine centres where all cadres of the force can have retreats and be trianed and retrained at all times under a unified and not discrete systems to take effect in the year 2017 (i.e) five years from now.

    My advocacy is the desirability of local government police under the control of the nation’s Inspector General of Police.

    To sweep the matter under the carpet is to live in a perpectual state of insecurity and corruption that will engulf the nation on the long run.

    •Albert Nkeruwem Udoh,

    Uyo Akwa Ibom State.