The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • US-based Nigerian speaks on Trump’s victory

    US-based Nigerian speaks on Trump’s victory

    In as much as Mr Donald Trump is the president-elect, there’s nothing like Trump’s America. The United States is bigger than any POTUS. Regardless of the rhetoric that brought him to power, I don’t believe his actions would go against the ideals that has made America the country it is today. The strength of the country is based on the ideals of the founding fathers. And no, he dared not discard them. I certainly don’t think his presidency would spell doom for Nigerians or the African-American community. Even though one is tempted to be cynical, I’m quite optimistic that a Trump presidency would usher in an era of opportunities and economic prosperity for all. Let’s give President Trump a chance.
    Understandably, there’s palpable fear of a rise in racism. There will always be discrimination. But I think, find some solace in Trump’s victory speech where he said he would be a president for all. All we can do now is to be optimistic.

    Shola Ogbodo, a Nigerian immigrant in New York

  • Torrents of Tributes on Fallen Heroes, Signs of national rebirth

    A human rights advocacy group, Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) has said the show of emotion and barrage of tributes that greeted the death of Lt. Col Abu-Ali and six others is a testament that Nigerians recognise Boko Haram and it’s sponsors as a common enemy.

    Addressing a press conference in Abuja, Executive Director of CESJET, Joyce Adamu said such tributes and high accolades are the best tonic that every nation needs to give to her heroes.

    She, however, cautioned those she described as mischief makers who are trying to cash in on the death of the soldiers to create disunity amongst Nigeria.

    She said, “We are beginning to see that there are people manifesting their loss of humanity and see nothing wrong in attempting to cash in on these tragedies by making insinuations that have no place among right-thinking people.

    “Most of this depravity is manifested in claims that the Army suffered the casualty in the Boko Haram attacks because present conditions are worse than what obtained under former President Goodluck Jonathan. One would have expected that the Army and the Ministry of Defence would be allowed to properly investigate what went wrong to account for such casualty instead of jumping to conclusion.

    “We observed that these claims are being attributed to people who are not bold enough to reveal their identities and their so called interviews are mostly reported by cloned sites that attempt to pass off as objective, hard-working and credible news organisations. To say the least, this is the height of irresponsibility.

    She said the deaths of gallants soldiers who laid down their own lives to keep the rest of us safe should not be reduced into parodies and the subject of falsehood.

    According to her, those desperate to undermine President Buhari, and the COAS, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai should at least allow the graves of these great ones lie undisturbed by these sacrilegious act of desecrating the memory of the departed.

    She said, “in the wake of these national losses and those before them we should rather as a people be asking for who are the people that are helping Boko Haram terrorists to regroup, re-arm and launch attacks on the scales on which they have done between late September and now.

    “We should be demanding for the exposure of those that feeds the cells of the terror group with information on troops movement and deployment to the extent that they know when to attack.

    “Patriotic citizens that are genuinely interested in the wellbeing and future of the country would be giving encouragement to our troops not to lose courage but to be buoyed by the fallen soldiers in defending their fatherland.”

    Adamu called on soldiers to reinvigorate their fighting spirit and to continue to see their undertaking as service to God, nation and humanity.

  • Why We Must Allow Our Fallen Heroes Rest In Peace

    Why We Must Allow Our Fallen Heroes Rest In Peace

    The death of Lt Col. Muhammed Abu Ali and six other troops cast a pall on the nation, opening the month of November on a sad note. Those deaths were preceded in September and October by some other casualties in the war theatre. Before them other gallant soldiers had paid the supreme price in the war to rid Nigeria of Boko Haram terrorists. And before that there have been thousand others that died securing the fatherland.

    One’s thoughts are often with the bereaved families considering the state of our socio-cultural evolution and the fracture that the death of breadwinners can inflict on families – oftentimes young families with the older children barely out of primary school. The fallen soldiers could have opted for less risky and more lucrative careers – lifting crude, padding budgets, inflating contracts and other vices that have all but received national absolution, rather they opted for the noble choice of serving the nation with their lives.

    This why the raving frenzy around the death of the troops in Boko Haram ambush leaves a nauseating feeling. On the surface it appeared to be a nation united in grief as people take to the social media to share the photos of Lt Col Abu Ali – sadly that created the impression that only one officer has died in the half decade insurgency.

    The sad reality beneath the impassioned sense of national mourning is that the greater part of the population was acting out in a zombie-like manner – they hit the share button because that is the way they have become conditioned, think of a cyber crowd that click like on photos of mutilated bodies at accident scene, the mindless horde that type ‘lol’ (laugh out loud) in response to an update of someone losing their loved one or a robotic gang that share links without reading.

    The installed capacity of the crowd in question is further understood if one recalled that they are the same ones that trended the Je Suis Charlie hashtag when terrorists struck in France yet they had prior to that never declared their Nigerian patriotism. It is the assemblage of people that have changed their profile pictures to the national flags of other nations undergoing crisis but barely know what just transpired in their neighbouring such that asking them to understand what happened nationally would be an unfair task. The population represents folks who do not know the name of the chairman of their local government area council but yet are obsessed with voting against Donald Trump as US president, a country to which some of them would never get visas to visit in ten lifetimes.

    The negligible percentage – a vocal minority with agenda, found useful fodder in this mindless online mass. They simply convoluted the story of the military casualty and the automatons became readily available to amplify the distortions.

    Suddenly the story has shifted from the tragedy of human loss to that of political posturing. The mass opinion has moved from thinking of that uncertain moment of the soldiers being on the threshold of death and knowing they are dying. The focus is now using these great lives for advancing perverted political goals. No one is pondering how the loved ones left behind by these gallant troops would survive knowing that offers of extended support are drying up in a world suffering the fallouts of declining economies.

    Instead, the sacrifices of these souls is being leveraged as the entry point to reopen attacks on the military leadership, especially Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is now being pitted against President Muhammadu Buhari. The lies are rolling out faster than Boko Haram insurgents are being defeated. As would be expected the online drones are replicating the lies without the knowledge to process and appreciate that they have become unwitting fighters against the state in the new phase of the anti-terror war and that their misdirected posts in essence constitute fighting the late soldiers they thought they were revering.

    In our various national cultures and beliefs, the tenet is not to speak evil of the dead. Why then must we use the deaths of people that died in service of the nation as rags to mop up the mess of failed political louts?

    Those who are truly touched by the sacrifices of these soldiers would at this point be interested in using crowd-funding for setting up a foundation that will cater to the needs of the vulnerable persons soldiers leave behind when they die in the line of duty – aged parents, wives and children. This will be a more productive approach than moaning in cyberspace while ignorantly spreading the propaganda of those that have sustained the terrorists for their own selfish reasons.

    By all means there should be outrage over the deaths and a good suggestion for expressing that outrage is to make contributions and suggestions on how to continue the fight against terrorism at a time when the economic situation is making the funding of anything possible. Since Boko Haram constitute a greater threat to the collective, the suggestion will include asking the handlers of the Niger Delta militants to call their boys to order while the threat of extremism is dealt with since the government is looking into their 16 points demand.

    Those backing the Boko Haram terror group must not be spared a dose of the national outrage. For as long as they are there to sponsor, recruit, radicalise and deploy more youths as terrorists it is becoming apparent that the insurgents will continue to get regenerated after every wave of defeat. The military will take out the terrorists but only the stakeholders in the north east and clamping down on the sponsors would turn off the tap at the source in this instance.

    Pending when any of these happens, Nigerians must take lesson. Social media sites are shutting down accounts connected with terrorism but the everyday user is dumbly becoming the channel for spreading the message and propaganda of the terrorists with each like, share and comments that further terrorism in the most innocent form conceivable. This kind of behaviour is nothing short of dancing on the graves of hour fallen heroes and could not have been what we have in mind when we prayed that they continue to rest in piece.

    So before joining the bandwagon in sharing stories concerning troops in the Boko Haram theatre of war it is prudent to ask “when I share this story, on whose side am I?”.

    Ola writes from CotBus, Germany.

  • On Eko Bridge, The Man Died

    I was devastated when I received the news of Uchechukwu Okeke’s death on the 1st of June 2016. Ginger, as I fondly called him, was a bosom friend and a budding diplomat with the Nigerian Foreign Service. He died along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, shortly after returning from New York. At the risk of suggesting that Uche would probably have been alive today if he had stayed back in New York, there are indications that accidents, leading to property damage, injury or death occur mostly in Africa. Yet, the citizens and their governments have not paid attention to this problem.

    According to a report by the World Health Organization in 2013, accident death rates in Africa are the highest among the continents of the world, accounting for 24.1 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, whereas Europe at 20.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants has the lowest rate in the world. One way of looking at this data disparity is to find out what each society does about the problems. It is plausible that the average African is directly or indirectly responsible for the outcome of frequent road mishaps, especially when they choose to do nothing about it!

    Sometimes, the accidents are not as a result of vehicular collision per se but about what society (both the government and the governed) decides to do about factors that predispose people to death by accidents. One of such factors is the ‘holes’ that appear on portions of the Eko Bridge at intervals over its entire length. As a frequent commuter on the Eko Bridge, I am fully aware of accident predisposing factors on that bridge and I am certain that just like the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, there is a real danger of accidents that can lead to death occurring on a bridge with holes across its length. Today, I have decided to think the matter through and ask myself what I have done and what I can do in this circumstance.

    In “The Man Died: Prison Notes,” Soyinka argues that the man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny. Now, if we take tyranny to mean grave danger, then the man dies in me when I keep silent each time I use the Eko Bridge. The man dies in the government that chooses to do nothing about a bridge that has become a threat to public safety. The man dies in the Nigerian Institute of Structural Engineers who commute frequently on that bridge but fail to point out that lack of standard routine maintenance of a bridge opened since 1975 is an open invitation to catastrophe.

    Besides the need for general repair and renovation of the bridge, there is the urgent need to replace the “missing” iron coverings, designed for structural ‘holes’ on the bridge. Whether they are access holes or a corollary to the structural gaps on the expansion joints is not clear to the uninitiated like me but what is evident is that uncovered holes on the bridge expose commuters to the risk of fatal road mishaps. In our context, the man dies in all who see the potential for an accident that can result in injuries, permanent disability or even death but fails to ensure that the relevant authorities take immediate action to prevent it. The man died in you and I, who kept silent on a cause because we felt that we were not directly affected.

    When Uche died while travelling along a road that my friend Obumneme Enemuoh refers to as a “death trap,” I felt that those of us who should have brought this unacceptable state of affairs to the agenda of the government had died too. For this reason, I have decided to share this opinion piece, lest a man dies on the Eko Bridge. We all have a moral obligation to use any platform available to us to call for maintenance of the Eko Bridge and restore its safety, lest we all die!

     

    David Ogbeidi is a Research Associate at the Centre for Public Policy Alternatives, Lagos and a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the University of KwaZulu–Natal, Durban, South Africa.

    He can be contacted through david.ogbeidi@cpparesearch.org

     

  • Nigerian Army and its deliberate persecution

    Nigerian Army and its deliberate persecution

    The Nigerian Army (NA) is facing one of its worse moments in the history of its existence in the country.It is confronted with the difficult and unenviable duty of quelling internal insurrections across the country. Those conversant with the core mandate of the army would agree that such domestic assignments are outside the gamut of its original responsibility of protecting the sovereign territorial boundaries of Nigeria.

    It is confronted with the difficult and unenviable duty of quelling internal insurrections across the country. Those that are conversant with the core mandate of the army would agree that such domestic assignments are outside the gamut of its original responsibility of protecting the sovereign territorial boundaries of Nigeria.

    And despite its milestones in the enthronement of internal security and peace to troubled communities, soldiers are being daily persecuted in public eye by a bunch of cabal, which has vowed never to see anything good in the NA. They endlessly search for the fortuitous missteps of soldiers to amplify the faults and where none exists, they invent their own fiery tales to trumpet.

    In pursuit of this mindset, various publications have continued to be churned out against the Nigerian army, alleging unsubstantiated professional misconducts, human rights violations, nepotism and so forth. Both some traditional and social media platforms have become veritable platforms for these bile campaigns on Nigerian soldiers by veiled antagonists.

    A recent publication by a news Magazine, captioned, “The Nigeria Army: New Era of Impunity,” is the latest of such publications. It crucified the NA for imaginary offences, craftily ensconced in the jaundiced arguments of the proclivity of soldiers to unprofessionalism; descent into the “dark days” of tribalism and a partiality in the army.

    But on the contrary, the NA of today is quite different from the Army of yesterday, which Nigerians came to identify as a burden on the nation.  The army has been repositioned in a manner which clearly publicises its dedication to ethics and professionalism.

    From the outset, the Commander-In-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, President Mohammadu Buhari and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai were equivocal about their agenda to reposition the Nigerian army back to its professional path. As the largest arm of the Nigerian military, concerns were raised over its deep and destructive involvement into partisan politics and other extraneous trappings which erode public confidence in soldiers and encumber their acceptance in the communities they are deployed to serve.

    Just recently, at the 2016 Nigerian Army Day Celebration (NADCEL) 2016, Gen. Buratai again, reiterated his resolve to have a NA that would be the pride of all as   “a professionally responsive Nigerian Army in the discharge of its constitutional roles.” The army has also been structured to keep an eagle eye in the observance of human rights and other related international principles on the matter in the discharge of its constitutional duties.

    This is elaborately evident in Buratai’s establishment of the Army Human Right Desk at the Army Headquarters with a firm pledge to members of the public to investigate all reports of human rights abuses. Added to it, the Army Chief has revived the Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) office, which midwife’s soldiers for improved services.

    Maj.-Gen. Adamu Abubakar who represented the COAS, eloquently averred that “We are going back to regimentation and professionalisation of Army. “ Therefore, an institution which has taken such internal steps for sanity, would not willingly abuse the same values it holds sacrosanct, as portrayed in the publication.

    Furthermore, under Buratai the soldiers on special assignments are compelled to integrate themselves in the communities to clear the aura of intimidation associated with the army. This has rewarded hence members of communities’ now see soldiers as protectors, rather than aggressors. Soldiers also often offer free medical services to communities in the Niger Delta, much as the Northeast and indeed, everywhere they are deployed to serve.

    These are the conscious efforts to improve military-civil relations, which has paid off in the strings of successes the Nigerian Army has recorded in the terror war, cattle rustling and banditry as well as militancy in the Niger Delta.

    But in spite of these alluring accomplishments of soldiers, there appears to be concerted efforts to demonise, discredit and malign the integrity of soldiers and its leadership by unscrupulous individuals. And the dragnet seems to be wide, with some army officers within suspected to be part of this scheme.

    Nigerians must first appreciate that it is not within professional jurisdiction of soldiers to get involved in suppressing crimes like militancy, kidnappings/abductions and cultism.  It is the conventional duty of the Nigerian Police, the Civil Defence Corps and other such similar security agencies. The drafting of Nigerian soldiers to such internal security duties by the government is apt indication of the sophistry of the crimes, which have not only become violent, but have gone beyond the capacity and strength of designated and convention security outfits.

    The said publication endorsed the excellent performance of Nigerian Army over Boko Haram Terrorists. But it left soldiers on the cliffhanger for promoting ethnicity, nepotism, partiality and abuse of the rule of law in their field operations and its handling of Service administrative procedures in dealing with perceived erring officers of the Army.

    While the issues raised can be discussed on their merits, based on what anybody feels or how he has been wronged, the unnecessary infusion of the elements of ethnicity, nepotism, partiality and the likes, has questioned the genuineness of the issues by those claiming to have been wrongly treated by the army.

    Nigerians have a penchant to easily resort to the ethnic garb for protection, each time they are made to face the consequences of their transgressions or misdemeanours.

    No Nigerian is in doubt about the menace of cultists across the country. They are not only daring in their exploits against victims, but extremely violent. Sometimes, cultists in action overpower the police, with the sophistry of their weapons and strike recklessly.

    While not attempting to disparage, the South, cultism has become a blossoming trade in this part of the country, fed from the retinue of political thugs, usually armed to the teeth.  Reports indicated that the violence that marred the 2015 governorship elections in Rivers state was amplified by a combination of cultists and political thugs of rival camps. This is the experience in many states of the region.

    For instance, mid this year, at Oboburu  in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers State,  members of the community lodged a report with soldiers at the  2 Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt of the camping of suspected  cult members in their midst, who were harassing and intimidating indigenes.

    When soldiers were deployed to the area, the cultists engaged the soldiers in a shootout lasting for several hours. Panicked community members had to flee for their lives.  This scenario does not suggest that cultists are armed with bows and arrows and therefore, only   reasonable force should be applied by soldiers.

    Therefore, NA’s confrontation with suspected cultists is not and cannot be a storm in a tea cup, as some people may expect. It has the tendency to result in casualties on both sides. The publication under scrutiny,   could not find justification for the overtly accidental alleged shooting of  Izu Joseph,  a footballer with the  Ibadan-based Shooting Stars Sports Club,( 3SC),  in Okarki, Bayelsa State and three others in what was  apparently a cultists clash with soldiers of military Joint Task Force on the Niger Delta in the vicinity.

    These are misfortunes normal with such engagements, but to give it an ethnic colouration, the report claimed a soldier on the squad ignored the deceased footballer’s identity upon sighting his identity card and exclaimed, “Danburuba,” an Hausa expression. This mindset runs through the publication and the report further insinuated that only officers from the North are posted to head the juicy commands in the South and even among the 38 officers sacked for alleged refusal to support APC in 2015 general elections, in the warped reasoning of authors of the report, 80 percent of them are from the South.

    It is difficult to believe that everyone who speaks Hausa language fluently is a Northerner and which command of the Nigerian army are less juicy and meant for slaves in the profession is another funny angle to this vile propaganda. But it is unreasonable for Nigerians to begin to pick-bones with internal routine postings or deployments of officers or the rank and file of the NA citing regional affinity. It demonstrates an irritating emptiness and desperation to make a mountain out of a molehill.

    The publication was steeped in anger about the impunity of NA for allegedly annexing 400-plots at the Maitama Extension and ignored all entreaties to relinquish the plots.

    “The National Assembly, whose principal officers’ houses are being built in the district, other plot owners and the general public have condemned the illegal act and wondered if Nigeria is being run by the rule of the jungle or the rule of law.”

    But the rule of law is not only meant to be observed by the government or its institutions. Individuals whose rights and liberties are trampled upon should be more encouraged to seek legal redress in law courts. What has stopped those who claimed their plots have been annexed from approaching the courts for litigation to reclaim them?

    Each of the two chambers of the National Assembly has Standing Committees on the Army, but none has bothered to summon the army hierarchy to explain the “illegal” acquisition of plots?”  And the FCT administration itself is not concerned?

    Soldiers are humans prone to mistakes or even mischief in some instances, but since the law is no respecter of persons, the FCT and Nigerians whom the NA has infringed on their rights to own property should have approached the court and the failure to execute this action, says nothing  more than blackmail of the NA.

    Nevertheless, it is open secret that in the last two political dispensations in Nigeria, security agencies, not just the army drafted for election duty have been found to have compromised the electoral process. The FGN and military authorities have always been inundated with petitions from the public against senior military officers involved in the conduct of elections at various times.

    But the matter came to the fore, during the Ekiti state governorship election, which enthroned, the incumbent Ayo Fayose as governor.

    A junior officer, Captain Sagir  Koli who was on the team of soldiers for the 2014 Ekiti state guber polls exposed the conspiracy of top army officers with politicians to rig the polls in favour of the winner. His discreetly recorded video tape showed  his commanding officer, General Aliyu Momoh, a former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, a former Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, and two chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senators Andy Uba and Iyiola Omisore caught in the act.

    This was the disposition of soldiers in Ekiti, Osun, Edo states and in many other locations across the country where they were deployed to secure a free ballot. Edo state governor Adams Oshiomhole  had lamented the illegal use of soldiers by those who wield power. He petitioned the Commander of the 4 Brigade Headquarters of the Nigerian Army in Benin City, Brig-Gen. Olajide Laleye, alleging the illegal deployment of three trucks of soldiers to the Owan  Federal Constituency and other parts of Edo North Senatorial District by Lt. Col Abiodun Uwadia (rtd), the then  Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, during the  2015 National Assembly and Presidential elections in Edo state, who ordered them to shoot at sight any APC member who resisted his instructions.

    It was based on the pressure mounted by these complaints that the NA under Buratai set up a Board of inquiry, chaired by Major-General Adeniyi Oyebade, to review the conduct of its officer deployed for election duty.

    And like the publication itself admitted, the board of inquiry found the dismissed army officers culpable of offences ranging from corruption, partisanship and disciplinary ground. Army Spokesperson, Col. Sani Usman also explained that the sacked officers were found wanting on arms procurement fraud and professional misconduct.

    Over 100 army officers appeared before the panel and 42 of them were sent to the Army council for a final verdict based on recommendations of the panel, as the report also admitted. The four names dropped were from various parts of the South, yet the Army council had the liberty to slam a blanket punishment on all the 42 officers recommended to it , assuming the intention was to haunt Southern officers.

    Interestingly, those attacking the NA  for the sack of the 38 officers for the offences they have been found culpable should not forget that they were either  partisan or corrupt by engaging in fishy deals in the defence contract scandals. The argument that the sacked soldiers have been punished for not supporting the APC win elections in 2015 is immaterial.

    That they supported PDP means they were partisan in outright abuse of their professional integrity and deserves to be punished.  The bottom-line remains that the officers were partisan, against their code of conduct and whether it was PDP, APC or SDP   they backed does not obviate the guilt.

    The assertion that officers who were accused of partisanship were only those who served in states like Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa  Ibom, Delta, where  the APC lost during the 2015 presidential elections is ghoulish.  Every Nigerian knows, elections in the aforementioned states were like a theatre of war and soldiers who were supposed to be neutral arbiters, played partial roles as confirmed by the army panel.

    President Buhari as a candidate of his party never asked or even  implied by body language that he wanted power desperately, so soldiers should assist rig elections for him. The said officers could not be said to be punished based on such spurious assumptions.

    According to the publication “A panel does not have the power  to make recommendations’; rather it should only return a verdict of guilty or not guilty  of the offence.” In the Army, discipline of personnel is not subject to the adjudication by regular courts, but by military panels or special courts, which was done in this instance and headed by Gen. Gen. Oyebode, which the report described as “proper and competent panel of inquiry”.

    The accused officers appeared and were cross-examined, before the recommendations made. What other fair hearing is being advocated and why would some of the sacked officers claim they do not know the disciplinary grounds they were retired from service when they appeared before the panel?

    Nonetheless, why would the magazine want a response from the Nigerian Army headquarters over the issue, when they stated explicitly, that the authorities have filed documents in court in defence of the actions they have taken in respect of the penalized officers?

    The retirement of Brig.Gen. Olajide Olaleye is most appropriate, at least in public morality. Why would he declare the NA was not in possession of Buhari’s certificates, but reversed himself after the declaration of Buhari as President –elect. Why would such unprincipled officers be allowed to keep polluting the army?  Officers with such inclination can mortgage their country to an enemy.

    The publication says 30 out of the 38 officers have petitioned President Buhari for a review of their cases, which it admitted the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari has been directed to work on it . But the veiled attackers’ are not patient enough to wait for the outcome of the president’s reaction, but have chosen to go to town with the news that President Buhari is victimizing soldiers who never worked for his success at the polls in 2015.

    And betraying the motive of the sponsors of this vile propaganda against the army, in spite of knowledge of the action of the 30 officers to annul their dismissal or retirement which is still pending before Buhari, the president is still maliciously queried by the same magazine for directing the reinstatement of Gen. Ahmed Mohammed, compulsorily retired by former President Goodluck Jonathan for “dereliction of responsibility in the war against Boko Haram.”

    What has happened to the 38 officers is just caution to other army officers who may nurse such thoughts. It is part of the cleansing of the system, which President Buhari has vowed to accomplish to make Nigeria a better nation.

    Agbese is a Uniter Kingdom based human rights activist and writes from Middlesex University, London.

  • MMM: My greatest fear

    MMM: My greatest fear

    “That my circumstances will not, one day, change to erode or compromise either my Principle, Integrity or Belief.”

     

    Bae spoke to me about a scheme a few months back, and without listening for too long, I got the gist and swiftly killed her presentation.

    I know those schemes – PONZI. But this one is called, MMM

    Without realizing how much fire this movement had caught on, I got to the office today and heard many testimonies. But the two most striking ones…

    1) This is the most TRANSPARENT PONZI Scheme ever – (How PONZI and Transparent happen to find its way into the same sentence is very confusing.)

    As a matter of fact, it is disingenuous. For, the transparency outlook makes the scheme appear reliable and accommodating

    2) Someone ‘they’ know somewhere just bought a car after his “Provide Help/Get Help click click” matured – MMM Web App terminologies. An encouraging testimony.

    Apparently, my office has been a MMM branch office for a while now. Testimonies only just started coming out. One need to see the motivated presentation and pep talk I was given, just to gain my buy-in.

    I confess, it was convincing.You do not need to be a marketer to give a good sales pitch. People do know how to sell a product or any type of service, most especially when given the right motivation. My office team, were not any different. They were animated, trying to sell me MMM.

    I was impressed. Attention to details; full product (MMM) knowledge; live presentation and question and answer.

    Should I still be in doubt – case studies were highlighted, plus personal testimonies – clients, families and friends. The list was extensive.

    So how does MMM work?

    Sincerely speaking, understanding MMM’s business module is very vague on detail. But I will try – You see, you have a spare N100,000 you don’t mind throwing away (MMM clearly warns you on its website, not to use money you cannot lose – disingenuous, yes?).

    You register your personal details on the MMM website and click on provide help to start ‘investment’. You then should wait for about 2 weeks to be paired with someone who needs a N100,000. All the while, the N100,000 you have committed to MMM still resides in your own personal account, so you have this safe feeling that your money is still with you and not lost. In addition, while this committed money is in your possession, you can log in to MMM website to see your virtual N100,000 accruing interest at 1% per day – remember about 14 days have gone, so you should expect to see something like N114,000 in your virtual MMM account

    Soon as you are paired, you transfer the N100, 000 directly to the person you are paired with. Both of you, by now, have direct contact with each other and can relate on phone or any preferred means of communication. MMM is not involved in anyway.

    Then you wait out the remaining days of the 30 days, to cash out. While waiting, you can always log into your MMM account to watch your interest continue to grow daily! At the end, you will be credit N130, 000 by someone (probably another maga) you are paired with.

    Simple!

    On the surface, this is how MMM works. No interaction with MMM providers. No service charge, aside penalties, if you default on your commitment.

    Pastors now advertise MMM in churches – I think you should avoid these kinds of Pastors and Churches.

    Workplaces now turned to MMM recruitment agencies. Businessmen and women now invest in MMM since the ROI is 30% in a month (why do I need to bother with buying goods from China, when there’s no guarantee I will have my goods shipped and cleared through customs in 30 days).

    “MMM promises me N300k for my N1 million in ONE MONTH!”

    I would be a fool not to partake after the whole impromptu session, which lasted less than an hour!

    But you know.  .. it is still a PONZI scheme!

    Conspiracy

    Why and what exactly is money exchanging hands for, in this scheme?
    It is not a stock neither does it possess its characteristics, nor it has no physical material or composition.

    How does Sergie Madrovi, or the MMM franchize in Nigeria make money?

    I cannot claim to know the answers to these questions, but basic common sense would tell us, there is nothing free in Freetown.

    MMM could be your ultimate Trojan! All its operation is on a website. Through the website, you enter all your personal details including bank information. Opening the website on your private PC could also install rogue bots that will capture every other data you have on your PC outside just visiting the MMM’s website, and that includes your key strokes! This is very insidious.

    Data mining is the future. And you may just be providing MMM every single information you possess without signing a contract. This is besides intending this, for Google’s ad sense and general advertising purpose.

    RED LIGHT!

    My Advice

    – Just be aware MMM is a PONZI scheme. This kind of scheme, always wearing a new look and new name each time, often show up when a nation is in misery or in recession. Guess which countries its featuring on in Africa at the moment… Zimbabwe & Nigeria

    – It has a lifespan. Probably 1 year, if really good and the machinery is well perfected by its organizers. I see this one dead, by mid next year. If this helps, do note that it has gone bad in South Africa & Russia

    – However, if you are going to go for a risky venture (remember, risk is neither good nor bad), GO BIG & ONCE. Do not attempt to be cautious or claim smartness about this, saying:

    “I’ll do N20k, if it comes back, I’ll increase to N50k, then N100k”.

    Trust me, you would have played yourself by the time you want to invest the N100k. That is what these schemes aim for – PROGRESSIVE GREED! ?.

    What you do if, and when, convinced is, take a reasonable sum (say N100k or N200k), close your eyes and JUST DO IT!
    If you win – Cash out and say bye bye
    If you lose – Your bad

    Like I have communicated earlier, Do Not Be Greedy!

    But you can always make an attempt to take an advantage of a scheme that is scheming to scheme you

    One thing for sure, MMM, even though having a dangerous curve, is lifting the mood of Nigerians off the gloomy cloud of recession – for now

    This is my opinion on MMM. And please, do not forget to read on the founder – Sergei Mavrodi

     

    Oyinloye is an IT consultant and social commentator

  • Kidnapping: My Story

    Kidnapping: My Story

    There is a harrow moment of my life, one that leaves an indelible print of trauma in my heart. It is one of those moments in one’s life sojourn that are better forgotten. Unlike the usual experiences that are either centred on regrets or shame, mine came with blood, occultic brash and near death!

    Nigeria has become enslaved to the menace called kidnapping ever since the act grew prominence in the Niger Delta region, few years ago. It has since then established foothold in the South East, North (predominantly amongst terrorist groups like Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen) and South West regions of the country.

    According to NYA International, a United Kingdom-based global risk and crisis management consultancy, Nigeria sits comfortably at the fourth position in global index of countries in the world with the highest number of kidnapping cases in 2016, accounting for a quarter of all reported kidnapping cases across the world. The report indicated that with the increasing level of poverty, unemployment and current belt-tightening economic posture of the country, kidnapping in Nigeria is expected to further increase if the government does not map out effective and creative security strategy to curb it.

    Most Analysts often calibrate kidnapping vertically around two clauses: family complicity and victims’ lack of self-security consciousness. While these postulations capture clearly the dichotomy of the acts, it creates a lacuna for victims with experiences like mine.

    I left my friend’s mum house in Ijebu-Ode around 6:30pm to get something across the street. It was my second year in the University and my friends and I had decided to spend the weekend in town with the family of one of us who happens to be from my school town and resides there. As most people who attended public institutions will tell you, school life is not always filled with fun and fanfare and for some of us who were born without a silver spoon (apologies to Eddie Iroh) the task of surviving becomes primarily our business.

    After series of days surviving on cassava flakes with groundnut, 30 naira bread and 20 naira beans, concoction rice often taken with just a mixture of oil, grounded pepper and maggi amongst other self-conceived survival models, of which my friends may ‘lynch’ me should I ever let out, we departed Ijagun for Ijebu-Ode.

    My friend’s mum is one of the most wonderful women I have ever come across. She showed us great care and more than often feeds us beyond satisfaction without any clause of duty attached. When it was time to go back to school, I stayed back to attend the weekly choir practice (yes, I used to be a chorister) while others left for school, the next day lecture was for an elective course I do not take. As I crossed the road to the next street, a strange man walked towards me to ask what says the time. Politely I responded after checking my phone but alas, that was the last I remembered.

    Have you ever been in a situation where you are watching a Nollywood movie and it seems the producer collected the script of your life to act on?

    The next time I gained flimsy consciousness, I was in a dark room with red candles lightening it up. There were men surrounding me with red wrappers round their waist and another directly in front of me. I was on my knees and while I made a great effort to scream for help neither my lips nor my tongue answered me. I was not only dumb but practically immobile. After few minutes or hours (I still cannot say precisely) I was rounded up and dragged out. When I opened my eyes I was in the hospital, it was there I was informed that I came back home around 6:00am the next day with clothes wore inside out and laying face flat on the doorway. How I got there I still cannot fathom till date but one thing I am forever sure of is that my survival on that day had nothing to do with any mortal man.

    Today I am alive, hale and hearty but same cannot be said of thousands whose lives have been cut short by these men of evil. While many may attribute my survival to divine intervention or as my late grandmother puts it: ‘Madarikan’ – an inborn metaphysical bulletproof against forces of darkness and harm, I will forever live with the memories that comes with that moment.

    The menace called kidnapping has continued to escalate across the country unabated despite continuous assurances from security agencies. In most cases officers of law have been arrested as either having taken part in the operations or act as consultant to the kidnappers. Beyond the media hype and photo ops nothing comes up from the investigation as it often treated in the cult of esprit de corps.

    Elected and appointed public office holders have also fallen short of their oaths of office which includes inter alia the protection of lives and properties. Huge security votes are rather spent on procurement of choice properties for concubines and Paris shopping for families rather than equip the security agencies to be more effective. Politicians now prefer to pay ransoms to kidnappers than have the news of such act expose the inefficiency of the security under their watch.

    While crime in its entire form cannot be whipped away, it is important the vices encouraging it are reduced drastically. Ask families who have had their loved ones kidnapped; nothing kills hope more than when the police discreetly encourage them to pay the ransom.

    By Adekoya Boladale

    On Twitter as @adekoyabee

  • APC and its bout with hipocrisy, fraud

    It was Frederick William Robertson who said, “There are three things in the world that deserve no mercy, hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny” and I completely agree.

    Unfortunately, these three vices, not one or two, are exactly what define the All Progressives Congress (APC) and emphasise the need to not show mercy to its  characterised intransigence in spite of its avowed rhetoric of change. Talk about hypocrisy, duplicity and tyranny and APC pops up at your very before.

    So much has been said lately by the APC, through its Rivers adjunct, about the nominations of two Rivers sons into the Ethics Committee of the National Judicial Council, a constitutional body surreptitiously being primed for imminent destruction by the hands of tyrannical governmental establishments in a bid to completely compromise the substructure of constitutional democracy in Nigeria and superimpose what can best be described as a democratic diarchy by military fiat.

    The concerned gentlemen are Hon. Justice Iche Ndu (Rtd) and Okey Wali  (SAN). The basis for the aggravated angst against their inclusion as members of the committee is simply that they are Rivers people and said to be ‘friends’ of the Governor of Rivers State. In fact, APC is even more infuriated by the membership Okey Wali (SAN) of the recently inaugurated Rivers State 50th Anniversary celebration Committee, populated by distinguished sons and daughters of Rivers State including Agbani Darego and others, that they readily point to as evidence of his affinity to Governor Wike; including his being Governor Wike’s lawyer, and on the basis of that should stand disqualified from being members of the Ethics Committee of the NJC.

    As for His Lordship, the Honourable Justice Iche Ndu, not much is said of him except that the entire trouble that the judiciary in Rivers State was bedevilled by, which prompted the closure of courts for over a year, was placed squarely on his shoulders and not at the doorsteps of the former Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, whose refusal to accept the nominee of the NJC as provided by law, was the Genesis and Revelation of the judicial imbroglio in Rivers State. Who would forget that in a hurry?

    What the APC is not saying, is that neither Okey Wali, SAN, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association and accomplished lawyer of repute nor Justice Ndu, a former Chief Judge of Rivers State, now meritoriously retired, have been compromised by acts carried under their hands in the entirety of their individual careers.

    What the APC is not saying is that the NJC Ethics Committee is a 27 member committee, of which 2 members are not just insignificant to derail the outcomes of the committee’s assignments but also makes the promoters of the logic of that possibility, mischief makers.

    But APC’s protest smacks of inordinate hypocrisy. This is the same Party, whose leader, the current President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has violated every piece of legislation providing for Federal character in the appointment of Nigerians to political offices. A Party that produces a President who justifies his lopsided appointments in favour of his kinsfolk on the basis of not wishing to work with unknown and untrusted hands; who sets out to appoint his family relatives into the Federal Cabinet and populates other related appointments with men of his tribe, now turns around to oppose the inclusion of distinguished Rivers Sons into a committee that exemplifies the diversity of the Nigerian nation and charged with duties they are competent to discharge? What defines hypocrisy and duplicity better than this? What speaks of tyranny better than this effort and the grand agenda to emasculate the judiciary and her internal bodies in a bid to loosen the restraints on the pervading lawlessness and give free course to illegalities?

    INEC, EFCC and the entirety of the Security structure of the Nigerian federation are controlled by Northern Nigerians, from where President Buhari hails, against the norm and provisions of extant laws governing appointments into such offices. The APC, a Political Party that has devalued the rule of law in Nigeria’s democracy, made mockery of the essence of the diversity of our nation and promoted nepotism to the status of State policy is the same organisation that is querying the inclusion of men of impeccable character and unblemished reputation into a committee on the basis of their affinity to Governor Wike. It’s almost stupefying. What does the APC aim to achieve if not to further compromise our democracy?

    The APC also says Governor Wike wields so much influence in the NJC that allowing people linked to him and from his State will completely compromise the NJC. As laughable as that is, one must say, its logic also falls flat on its face. Beyond mere propaganda, the stock-in-trade of the APC, what substantiates the influence of Governor Wike in the NJC? Does it now mean that because Rivers State is governed by a lawyer, lawyers in the State are forbidden from participating in the affairs of their profession? Does it make sense? Does the mere fact that judicial decisions are against the reigning impunity and that the lawyers themselves now lead protests against the lawlessness of this government not impinge on its avowed integrity and so-called credibility? Is that Governor Wike’s fault?

    Why is the APC fear-stricken by Governor Wike? Is there proof of anything he has done that undermines Nigeria’s democracy, integrity and solidarity? Does Governor Wike not model a true Democrat and nation-builder who is focused on developing the lives of the people of his State? Is this not essence of governance? Why is his name being used as the pretext to further decimate the judiciary beyond the injury already inflicted on it by the Department of State Services  (DSS) without any known and justified cause? Does Nigeria no longer practice democracy? Is that why Democrats are being taken a hostage, slammed with charges and detained in flagrant disregard for the rule of law and the decisions of courts?

    If the APC feels so pained about the inclusion of ‘friends of Governor Wike’, as they describe them, in spite of the credibility of their respective individual standing and in concomitance with the diversity of our nation, can they kindly begin the change process by prevailing on their leader to take out all personal relatives of his from both the cabinet and other government parastatals and spread the appointments to reflect the diversity of our nation? Won’t that be a good starting point and exemplify exemplary leadership?

    Do they really have the right to query justified actions, when they themselves ridicule every provision of our laws if not that their aim is to unleash an era of impunity, and are they to go unchallenged?

    Finally, the APC through its Rivers Chapter has said it would make Nigeria ungovernable if the nominees are not dropped. Both the Police and the Department of State Services have done nothing known to the public about this. One is hoping that they won’t surprisingly spring to action against nationalists that will rise to oppose the suppression of democracy and the rule of law because as Frederick William Robertson opines, which makes perfect sense: hypocrisy, fraud and tyranny do not deserve any mercy, whatsoever.

    By Oraye St. Franklyn

  • Osun develops prototype for solving gender inequality

    Osun develops prototype for solving gender inequality

    • As well as girl child empowerment

    From a global perspective, the girl child is considered vulnerable to several societal ills. This perception is more pronounced in developing countries, where the belief is that there is the need for effective policies to safeguard the girl child from violence, limited access to education, neglect, abuse, gender disparities and other negative trends.

    There is a growing concern around the world that urgent actions need to be taken to address these challenges and education and empowerment initiatives have been identified as the needed tools.

    In celebrating this year’s International Day of the Girl Child on October 11, the attention of stakeholders from around the world was focused on issues surrounding the girl child. The theme of this year’s celebration was “Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress: A Global Girl Data Movement”. This special day was set aside to raise public awareness on girls’ right and highlight gender inequalities that are widespread worldwide.

    The latest UN statistics show that there are 1.1 billion girls in the world today. These girls represent an opportunity to shape a sustainable world that’s better for everyone. However, their dreams and potentials are often thwarted by lack of opportunities and discrimination.

    Like other developing countries, the girl child in Nigeria is not immune to these challenges. A peculiar case is that of the 276 girls kidnapped in a school in Chibok, Bornu State. The negative experiences of these girls have become a rallying point for the challenges faced by the girl child worldwide.

    The day also helped reveal the efforts made by governments at various levels to educate and empower the girl child. Worthy of note are those undertaken by Osun state.

    Before Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola assumed office on November 27, 2010, the public education system was in a bad state such that only students whose parent couldn’t afford private schools were left in public schools.

    Facilities of these public schools were not only dilapidated, students’ performance in both internal and external exams were at an all-time low with tuition fees in the state-owned tertiary institution outrageous.

    The situation has however taken a positive turn since the advent of his administration. The government has also placed priority on girl child education. Presently in the state, there are 622,726 students between the elementary, middle and high school. Of these number, 309,488 are females and 313,238 are males.  This is a laudable achievement that dwarfs the average expectation for developing nations.

    infographics
    Infographic showing the distribution of male and female students In Osun State.

    The governor restructured the education system into elementary, middle and high school structure. He also constructed 100 Elementary, 50 Middle, and 20 High Schools during his first term through the O’School programme.

    He also focused on improving the nutrition of students in public schools by introducing the school feeding programme, O’Meals in line with the UN recommendation. The government believes a well-fed pupil will be more attentive in class compared to a hungry pupil.

    It’s no surprise that the programme has recorded success stories with the school enrollment increasing by 25% spread over 38,000 pupils within four weeks of its introduction.

    Graph showing the increase in school enrolment from May to June, 2012.
    Graph showing the increase in school enrolment from May to June, 2012.

     

    Apart from education, O’Meals programme has also helped economically, improving the production capacities of farmers and empowering 3,007 women appointed as food vendors to serve pupils on school days. It is noteworthy that the Aregbesola-led administration spends N3billion naira per annum to feed primary 1 – 4 pupils in all the public primary schools in the State of Osun.

    Graph showing the monthly increase in allocation for the O’Meals Programme in Osun State.
    Graph showing the monthly increase in allocation for the O’Meals Programme in Osun State.

     

    Of the 13 states that started the feeding programme, only the State of Osun is still implementing the School Feeding Programme.

    Osun State recorded an outstanding feat in its quest to promote education by sponsoring 5 outstanding female students in an exchange program in the United States. The program is in partnership with an NGO AWOW International Girls Leadership Initiative, which empowers and offers skills and professional mentorship to young women.

    The 5 girls will attend the annual AWOW Summit & College Tour Leadership Forum for young women, scheduled to hold at the Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, United State, with the theme ” Leading the Future.”

    Not only will the summit enable the girls to share experiences and knowledge through the cultural exchange, the girls would also have the opportunity of scholarship for University Education in the USA.

    Statistics show that when 10% more girls go to school, a country’s GDP increases by 3% on the average and a child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5.

    Governor Aregbesola while speaking on government’s commitment to education development, said: “This is the continuation of our commitment to standard education. To us, education remains our priority and as a matter of fact, this government has invested hugely on this.”

    He also stressed the importance of bridging the gap between public and private schools as a means of preparing the nation for good leadership in the future.

    The UN explained that girls’ education is both an intrinsic right and critical in reaching other development objectives. Educating girls can help break the cycle of poverty.

    Girls’ education is essential in achieving quality learning relevant to the 21st century, including girls’ transition to and performance in secondary school and beyond. Adolescent girls that attend school delay marriage and childbearing, are less vulnerable to disease including HIV and AIDS, and acquire information and skills that lead to increased earning power. Evidence shows that the return to a year of secondary education for girls correlates to a 25 percent increase in wages later in life, the UN said.

    Adetola Ige who writes from Oshogbo,

    Osun State capital

  • Selfish excitement for foreign trips by Nigerian Govs

    Selfish excitement for foreign trips by Nigerian Govs

    Those in search of irrational and disgraceful justification of misconduct from Nigeria’s public officials should turn to Ekiti state Governor, Ayodele  Fayose. His vocabulary is always drenched in classic idiocy and lunatic ecstasy in support of an unpopular cause.

    Mid this year, Fayose would have wrestled to the ground President Muhammedu Buhari, had he sighted him physically for having the effrontery to place foreign travel restrictions on some Governors in Nigeria. They were required to clear with the Department of Department Security Service (DSS) before embarking on foreign trips.

    The directive incensed Fayose who uttered all manner of horrendous condemnations of Buhari. He insisted by faulting such restrictions as gross violations of the freedom of movement of Nigerians as guaranteed in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria and referenced other laws Buhari has contravened with the “obnoxious” directive.  He dared the President to apply such travel restrictions on him, as states were not appendages of the Federal Government.

    State Governors in Nigeria delight in global-trotting. Since 1999, the trend has been ridiculously etched in the psyche of state governors and their hordes of political appointees.

    They feel incomplete without junketing to foreign lands as soon as they assume office. In the last political dispensation, some Governors, joined by a retinue of government appointees, acquire foreign exchange and travel out to import specie of swine (pigs) or some kind of grasses for animals in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” (states).

    That was when the economy was good and bubbling with free money from the mini-oil boom. So, such extravagance, though painful, but attracted less opposing noise. But Nigeria today is in dire economic crunch which is causing sleepless nights to President Buhari.

    But some state governors, including those indebted to their workers over salary and furiously borrowing loans have refused to discard this damaging idea. It has kept gulping FOREX and draining the economy of their respective states.

    The decent ones among them officially claim the foreign trips are meant to source for foreign investors in sectors like power energy, roads and water plants construction and acquire modern agricultural techniques and equipment. But the world is in an age of ICT, where business transactions involving billions of US Dollars can be sealed online within hours, at no noticeable cost.

    But  also, some advance flimsy reasons for the trips such as medical tourism, sight-seeing of Western countries when on annual vacations; personal visits to family members  and friends or attending international conferences, but  on themes which have no bearing whatsoever on any development platform in their states.

    It is this proclivity to baseless foreign trips that compelled Plateau state Governor Simon Lalong to mutate into a pastor to spend two-weeks  in Brazil  to pray for Nigeria.

    Presently, at least 13 incumbent Governors in Nigeria have been identified as obsessed with global-trotting. And in some cases, the Governors themselves fail to do as much as feigning an official or unofficial reason for the foreign  trips, which are  hugely funded with tax payers money.

    Governors Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state; the Owelle of Onitsha Rochas Okorocha of Imo state; the unassuming    Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state; Ogun state’s Ibikunle Amosun; Benue’s Samuel Ortom; Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa state; Mallam  Nasiru el-Rufai  of Kaduna; Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara; Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina ; Solomon Lalong of Plateau; Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe; and  Nyesom Wike of Rivers have  leading  irresistible attraction to foreign trips.

    Although they are chief executives of different states, the reasons often bandied to the public for such trips sometimes, rhyme suspiciously and rarely do the reasons differ.

    Peculiarly, almost all the Governors claim the foreign trips are to woo or source for foreign investors. The unconvincing tales also laughably speak of direct foreign investments   in areas like Agro-business, automobiles, industrial partnership, irrigation technology and farm equipment.

    These Nigerian State Governors have favourite destinations in Europe, Asia and African continents constantly on their menu of countries to visit. Uppermost is the United States, China, Australia, United Kingdom, South Africa, India, France, Israel, Canada, Lebanon,  Singapore, Malaysia,  Italy,  United Arab Emirate and  Saudi Arabia among others.

    What is intriguing about the foreign trips is their failure in virtually all the states, the Governors have refused to let go their flair for global-trotting. Its nearly two years in the tenure of governors who came on board in 2015 and despite their multiple foreign trips, none can pinpoint to any foreign investor or any advantage the state has received from such trips, outside lining their pockets with estacode allowances, catching fun in foreign lands and shopping abroad.

    When opponents in their states demand the dividends of such trips, they only reply with words like “expecting it soon” and the shamefaced ones simply prefer silence.

    But these Governors cannot deceive Nigerians for long.  Anti-money laundering laws have made it extremely difficult to launder stolen wealth, especially with the agreements the Nigerian government has signed with foreign nations in the area of co-operation. These trips provide them with diplomatic cover to ferry sleaze money abroad, under the guise of sourcing for foreign investors and it is the sole reason no public benefits have been derived from the visits.

    But the state governors should not forget that the spirit of their impoverished people, poorly developed states and rural communities, coupled with the undeserved penury imposed on them would continue to chokingly haunt them. Very many of the foreign expertise or technology they claim to seek outside the shores of Nigeria can be obtained locally. What irrigation scheme Governor Ibrahim Gaidam sought to create jobs for 40,000 youths that Agricultural Research Institutes in Nigeria cannot offer to him at a modest cost that he went to acquire in China?

    Nigerians cannot be taken for granted for a long time and the level of consciousness of the people nowadays should induce caution in leaders, rather than such reckless indulgence into official profligacy. The time to have a re-think is now before they are crushed by the might of popular rejection by the masses.

    Raheem writes from Kaduna.