The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • All set for Adadevoh’s celebration at Okotie’s church

    All roads will lead to the Household of God Church’s annual God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense (GRACE) charity programme tomorrow as the church is set to announce the late Dr. (Mrs) Ameyo Stella Adadevoh as this year’s winner of the prestigious Karis Award.

    For the church and its members, the occasion is a twin celebration of the 25th anniversary of GRACE and the 19th of Karis, but more importantly a celebration of the late medical doctor whose courageous fight against the deadly Ebola virus disease prevented it from spreading into a pandemic that would have claimed many lives like it did in Liberia, Sierra Leone and other West African countries.

    The deceased medical doctor demonstrated the uncommon service to the nation last year by physically preventing Mr. Patrick Sawyer, a diplomat and Ebola virus disease carrier from Liberia, from leaving the hospital, losing her own life in the process. The sacrifice earned her global acclaim but the nation has not deemed her fit for honour.

    The opportunity to publicly recognise and reward her came with Rev. Chris Okotie’s decision to bestow on her Karis Award for 2015. The award carries a cash prize of N1 million. The post-humors award will be received by her relations.

    Christmas celebrations are already in full swing at the Oregun, Lagos-based church as the trees around the church premises are already festooned with bright and whistling Christmas lights while chiming classic hymns bring back the nostalgia of the celebration of the unique festival of Christ.

    It has been the tradition for more than a decade that as the night falls in December, millions of twinkling and colorful lights adorn the quiet, dark street that leads to the church, which is nestled off the popular Oregun Road in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State. This extravagant display has come to be known nationally as one of the church’s ways of joining the Christian faithful and indeed the rest of world in celebrating the birth of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

    It is this ambience that usually heralds the annual GRACE programme of the Household of God Church; a charity outreach at which the church donates millions of naira to selected charity organisations and also recognise a distinguished but uncelebrated Nigerian achiever with the prestigious Karis Award.

    GRACE, which marks its 25th anniversary this year, started in 1990 as a vision through which the church can reach out to the needy in the spirit of Christmas. It is organised in response to the needs of the poor, the underprivileged and the economically disadvantaged. It conducts these ministrations twice a month throughout the year. The department, now under the leadership of Barrister Mike Igbokwe, SAN, hands out food and clothing to hundreds of families who throng the church premises in droves.

    At the annual GRACE event, which holds before Christmas, the church, which also supports the Gideon’s Bible Ministry annually, blesses four notable charity organizations, namely the Pacelli School for the Blind and Partially Sighted, the Sunshine Foundation, the Spinal Cord Injuries Association of Nigeria (SCIAN) and the Strong Tower Mission, with N1 million each.

    The inaugural GRACE programme was held at the National Stadium in 1990. The Karis Award, which marks its 19th anniversary this year, was later introduced in 1996 to honour and recognise a Nigerian who has distinguished his or herself in service to the nation but has not been given due recognition by the larger Nigerian society.

    The award is not limited to any sex, age or religion as the long list of past recipients shows. In 2014, late Mrs. Beatrice Ibeneme, the first female to enlist in the Nigeria Police, received the award post-humorsly. She came on the heels of another woman, Air Commordore Habiba Ruth Garba (rtd), the first female one-star general in the Nigerian Air Force who incidentally is also involved in a  charity outreach for disadvantaged children in the northern part of the country. Other female recipients before her are female political activists and politicians, including Chief (Mrs) Margaret Ekpo (2001) and Hajia Sawaba Gambo (2002).

    Other past winners of the award include Mr. Taiwo Akinkunmi, the designer of

    Nigeria’s national flag; the late politician and statesman, Mallam Aminu Kano; the late Oba Funsho Adeolu;  and former Head of State, the late Gen. Murtala Ramat Muhammed,  among others.

    According to Ladi Ayodeji, the church’s Media and Communications Director, the colourful ceremony will kick off at 5 pm on Sunday, December 13, at the church’s main auditorium, popularly called the Villa. The prestigious bible costume beauty pageant, Queen Esther, which celebrates Esther, the young Jewish girl who rose to become the Queen of Persia, and which has been conducted annually over the last decade, is one of the highlights of the event. But this year, there will be no pageant. A parade of past queens and their runners-up has however been set up to mark the 25th anniversary of GRACE.

  • Abia APGA and framing of Catholic Church

    The reports came in quick succession, announcing that the revered Catholic Church may have abdicated its role of spiritual guidance to make a hurried foray into the landmine of politics. Not as an impartial arbiter but as a biased player and partisan ally, openly aligning with and firing from the frontlines for the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State. It was a very well packaged dummy and sold very brilliantly that even the very elect and the very intelligent were almost deceived.

    Sample these reports:

    “A group, Catholic Network of Nigeria (CNN) staged a protest weekend in Bende, Bende Local Govt Area of Abia State, calling for the change of the Justices of the Court of Appeal, Owerri, Imo State. According to the group which is sympathetic to the opposition All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), it has no confidence in Owerri Appeal Court Judges. The placards-carrying group comprising mainly of youths and women alleged that some judges at the Owerri Appeal Court are very close to the tribunal Judges that handled cases from Abia,” – Vanguard, Mon, November 30, page 16.

    And another:  “A group known as Catholic Network of Nigeria has passed a vote of no confidence on the yet-to-be inaugurated Court of Appeal panel in Owerri that would handle the appeal by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Dr. Alex Otti against Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s victory. The group who staged a protest yesterday in Bende also called on the Chief Justice of the Federation, National Judicial Council and President Muhammadu Buhari to redeploy the appeal court judges at the Owerri Judicial Division. The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as, “Catholics are Against Injustice; The Church is Our Hope, etc”, Authority Newspaper, Fri, Nov. 27, page 10.

    And now the rebuttal: “ press release from the Catholic Diocese of Umuahia – Church and Society: The attention of Catholic Diocese of Umuahia has been drawn to the publication in the Vanguard newspaper of 30th November, 2015, page 16, on the purported protest in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State calling for change of the Appeal Court Judges in Owerri. For purposes of keeping records straight, we state as follows:

    1. The Catholic Network of Nigeria does not exist in the Catholic Diocese of Umuahia.
    2. The Catholic Diocese of Umuahia is not partisan and does not involve herself in any partisan political activity.
    3. The purported protest as published in the Vanguard of 30th November Nov, 2015 page 16 did not take place in Corpus Christi Parish Bende and we do not know any catechist by name Ambrose Udensi.
    4. Finally, we state categorically that the Catholic Diocese of Umuahia dissociates herself from the Catholic Network of Nigeria (CNN) and the purported group protest in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State calling for a change of Appeal Court Judges in Owerri.Signed: Rev. Fr. Dr. Paschal Okey Opara, Coordinator JDPC (Church and Society Department)”

    For all intent and purposes, the aim of APGA in this latest plot is to incite the Catholic Church against the Abia State Government and destroy the existing cordial relationship between the church and the state. This is a dangerous trend that must be checkmated. But, before then, the questions arise: why would the men of APGA in Abia State get so desperate to the point of exchanging their souls and conscience to frame the church of God? Why would they treat God and the things of God with such disdain? Why framing and blackmailing no other group but the Catholic Church, the Mother of all churches and the leader of Christendom?

    The question continues:  Is it the necessity of a situation where all is fair, as in war and love? Are they driving the Machiavellian thesis of the end justifying the means? Must APGA apply all tactics, whether fair or foul, to win the war? Must they win this war against natural providence – against the cosmic order of cause and effect? Must Alex Otti be governor of Abia State by blackmailing the Catholic Church? Why pass a vote of no confidence on a body that is not yet constituted? Why denigrate the judiciary and purporting same to be the will of the holy Catholic Church? Why such blasphemy all in the name of power struggle?

    These questions, precisely, have bordered all men of goodwill in the last couple of days. Since  after the Umuahia Catholic Diocese addressed the press last Wednesday and openly disowned the group  and absolved the church of any complicity, it has become obvious  that the group is  a contraption by desperate politicians whose intentions is to use the revered name of the Catholic Church to settle political scores. The rebuttal by the Catholic Church clarified that the quoted reports in the two national dailies were certainly not the voice of the church, that somebody was on a mission of mischief to drag the name of the church to the mud.

    But, by playing such a ruse, Abia APGA has taken ambition too far. Their aim is to pull the wool over the eyes of the discerning public. But, they could not have succeeded because the world knows the Catholic Church to be a non-partisan organization that stands only for social justice, good governance and the progress of society. The Catholic Church respects the rule of law and as a responsible institution it cannot be instigated into denigrating the sanctity of the judiciary.

    The church has an age-old and time-honoured reputation that desperate politicians of APGA in Abia State couldn’t have smeared.

    Indeed, the entire scenario calls from some emphasis. We must re-emphasize that the Catholic Church is a non-partisan organization that has interest only in ensuring an effective democratic government through prayers, admonition, counseling and voting for the right candidates during election period. The issue of politicians challenging election results in the courts has nothing to do with the church as it is unlawful for the church to try to determine what the courts do. The Catholic Church as a responsible entity respects the sanctity of the judiciary.  In the Catholic Church, the authority to pronounce the will of the church lies on the Bishop within a given Diocese of the church. It is clear that these faceless group are working on their own and outside of the authority of the Catholic Church.

    Truthfully, those who are involved in this campaign of calumny have not represented the Catholic Church. They are working for their own selfish interest. But, we must warn that the name of the revered Catholic Church or any other religious body for that matter should not be used as an instrument of political propaganda. This could be very disastrous for the country.  The church in Nigeria and all well-meaning Catholics all over the world must condemn this devilish act in its entirety and defend the sacred institution of God. We must also urge the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Appeal Court and the entire judiciary to ignore the ranting of this faceless group.

     

    • Adindu is Chief Press Secretary to the Abia Governor.

     

  • Employed, empowered not engaged

    What is the value of a Nigerian to Nigeria? Are we really engaged with the Nigerian Economic Train (NET) or are we misguided by our biggest economy in Africa syndrome?

    The major sectors touted as having been significantly transformed over the past few decades are banking, aviation, telecommunications and entertainment.

    While the banking sector employs a lot of people, empowering them to earn bonuses and commissions with dividends to shareholders while busy declaring profits, their Letters of Credit for imports, rather than support our own export trade are simply contributing to the 92 percent import and eight percent export ratio that we are currently running.

    Repeating this template is the aviation sector where most of our cargo planes come laden with imported goods but leave almost empty.  These same planes go to Cameroon and Ghana to pick up cargo but nothing from Nigeria.  But we have a population more than the whole of West Africa combined.  All the aviation sector contributes to Nigeria is to transport us to Abuja to get contracts, move to Lagos to clear imported items to transport to the rest of Nigeria and hop over to Port Harcourt in ancillary support to the oil and gas sector. Apart from the support it renders to workers in Port Harcourt and its environs who are employed and empowered, hardly much is engagingly added to the value of Nigerian citizens.

    Completing this tripod is the telecommunications sector which basically provides the network connectivity cable for all the ATM and online connections to make efficient connections to move funds around both locally and abroad to Mr Chen in China, Mr Singh in India and Mr Kim in South Korea. The difference between now and 25 years ago, is that the foreigners are now happy for connecting to us better and receiving their payments faster –making us excellently connected and disengaged ‘killers’ of ourselves economically.

    Nollywood on the other hand does add to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Product (GNP) with the actors/actresses in the movie industry, artists in the music industry, comedians, etc.  These are Nigerians earning for Nigeria through their direct sweat both at home and abroad while employed, empowered and engaged with the Nigerian Economic Train.

    While banking, aviation and telecoms are playing out their non-productive private sector roles, this is simply replicated by the public sector in Lagos – aiding our import consumption through the outposts of the Lagos Ports of Tin Can and Apapa; Abuja – controlling and distributing the proceeds from petroleum via the civil servants to the state and local governments with all their attendant emoluments; and Port Harcourt – the goose laying the golden eggs for the nation.

    Our economic and financial policies revolving around monetary interest rates, money supply or inflationary control measures, fiscal/taxation policies, currency valuations or devaluations, buying or selling of treasury bonds or other financial directives are only of relevance to Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt and hardly touch the other 34 states of the federation.

    In all these employment activities and empowerment initiatives, nothing of economic value is added to Nigerians engagement with their nation and underpins the low productivity of the GNP of our nationals.

    The government has duly identified mining and agriculture as our options where our nationals can be usefully engaged. The challenge is that these sectors need finance, technical expertise of the populace, connection with the education sector, transport infrastructure and power availability.  Power alone needs billions of dollars in investment.  Overcoming these obstacles might take about a decade but the earlier we start the better.

    Ditto with agriculture where we need to identify the products/produce with competitive advantage, setting up of cooperatives locally and regionally, keying in the public sector civil servants proactively.

    Overcoming these can only be done by directly engaging the human capacity potential of the Nigerian people.  This cannot be done without the entrepreneurial role of the governors, reorientation of the civil servants up to the local government level and bringing in the traditional and religious leaders who play about the most directly relevant role with the rural populace. Nigeria’s fate lies in the rural sector of the rest 34 states of the federation and not in Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt nor in the state capitals all waiting to be bailed out without having contributed that much value-added activities to the economic train.

    Tapping into the role of the various rural entrepreneurs in the agro-industrial sectors is more than enough to boost rural employment and rural development, increase internally generated revenue, reduce dependence on Abuja, stem rural-urban migration and promote intra and inter-regional trade to culminate in export of our products/produce.  Ambassadors and those in the Diaspora should be our national salespersons while at the same time drumming up investment opportunities to foreigners to come to the country.  In this regard, the encouraging roles of the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEXIM Bank, Customs and Excise being more supportive of export than import policies as Colonel All (Rtd), the Customs boss recently alluded to, cannot all be over emphasized.

    The education curriculum, one of the major – if not the major – root cause of our dysfunctional and disjointed economy should be directed primarily towards the agro-entrepreneurs and rural industrialists rather than the multitude of ‘pentrapreneur’ professions that adorn the education sector right from the primary to the secondary and tertiary institutions.

    As we have seen all too often, those lucky enough among the letter would be chasing the immigration recruitment exercise annually or the best of them would ‘Andrew’ out to seek employment outside the country but disengaged from ‘Naija Inc’ and of no employment or empowerment value to Nigeria.

    Well executed and implemented rural development policies would ensure that the income generated and any development that takes place would be from the engaged sweat of the people.  At this level, we would have a higher GDP based on the GNP of the employed and empowered nationals rather than on a GDP which is propped up by foreigners’ activities which we manage to distribute to our economy.

    Gainfully, the nation should reduce imports, increase exports and earn foreign exchange, improve foreign reserves, command a better currency value which will grant us access to international finance at favourable rates once our credit-worthiness is rated better. It is at this juncture that we can have better access to finance for our mining and agricultural long-term projects.  Countries would be begging to come in rather than our propensity to seduce them with incentives.  All our ambassadors would have to do is advise which areas to invest in instead of having to go a-bowl-a-begging with a wish-list about our potentials for them to come and dictate where to invest in. We would be employed, empowered and engaged as the lynchpins for attracting foreign investment with improved access to international finance at favourable rates – thereafter, our banks can offer lower interest rates…and not before.

    • Owolowo can be contacted on owolowo.dele@gmail.com

     

  • Ambode, PPP model and yuletide season

    The Christmas/ New Year season is celebrated all over the world in a variety of ways. Various people view the season from diverse perspectives. While some see it as time to take stock and strategise for the coming year, others see it as the ideal time for vacation, socialization, merry making and partying.

    In most major cities of the world, socio-economic activities take place around the time at a heightened tempo. This is especially true of cities that operate a 24-hour socio-economic system. New trends noticeable in major cosmopolitan cities across the world point to a shift in the revival of night life as a strategy to tapping the socio-economic potentials of the Yuletide season. The hospitality and entertainment industries, in particular, thrive during the period.

    In Lagos State, the season has often been celebrated in a unique style. Some of the basic features of the festivity include special Christmas decorations across selected locations in the metropolis as well as the annual Lagos Countdown. The beauty and sheer razzmatazz of the Christmas decorations, in some way, add colour and grandeur to the whole season as the locations inadvertently become tourists’ centres of sort. As for the Lagos Countdown, the annual ritual with which the state government ushers in the New Year, the exhilarating setting is better seen than imagined. The economy of the state, during the period, receives tremendous boost as demands for all manners of services and products are often at an all time high.

    It is, therefore, in a bid to continue and improve on this laudable tradition that the Ambode administration has stepped up plans to make the celebration of this year’s Yuletide season an unforgettable experience for Lagosians. Top on the bill is ‘Operation Light up Lagos’ which is a comprehensive programme aimed at ensuring the illumination of major roads in the state before the end of the year. The light up exercise covers the five divisions in the state. Some of the areas being lit up include Martins Street/Ereko, Brook Street, Lagos Island, Olowookere Street, Alimosho, Old Ota road, Alimosho,  Cemetery road, Badagry, Ligali Ayorinde, Victoria island, Babatunde Anjous, Eti-Osa, Itire road, Surulere, Bode Thomas, Surulere, Coker street, Ilupeju, Apapa- Oshodi expressway,  Gbagada by Charly Boy Bus Stop, Lagos-Ibadan expressway by Berger bus stop to Third Mainland Bridge among others. The long term plan is to light up major highways/roads in the state. The ultimate target is to have a safe and secured Lagos that operates a 24/7 economy.

    Similarly, the scope of the Lagos Countdown has been expanded from a single location event at Bar Beach to hold concurrently in the five major divisions of the state. This will see Lagosians gather in Ikeja, Badagry, Epe, Ikorodu and the Lagos Island for the annual countdown which will be beamed live to a global audience. The idea is to ensure that no part of the state is excluded from this year’s celebration. It is in fulfillment of Governor Ambode’s pledge to run an all inclusive government in which every segment of the society is not left out in the scheme of things.

    Improved security is also an integral part of the Ambode administration’s Yuletide deal for Lagosians. The recent donation of security equipment worth billions of naira to the state Police Command by the administration is part of a holistic plan to keep the state safe and secured. Lagos residents could, therefore, make big plans for the season and beyond as the state government has empowered men and officers of the Police Command to secure lives and properties in the state.

    Considering the prevailing economic situation across the country, the administration has sought and gotten the sponsorship of some notable banks and corporate firms to decorate prominent locations across the state throughout the season. Hence, more money could now be devoted to infrastructure development and other key programmes of the government Thus, locations such as Falomo roundabout, Ikoyi, Alfred Rewane Road, Ikoyi, Outer and inner Marina, Mobolaji Johnson Way, Alausa, Ikeja Eric Moore Surulere, among others, would be decorated with the assistance of organisations such as Fidelity Bank, Access Bank, Messrs Kiosque Vegetal and Grand Square pads among others. This would be done at no cost, whatsoever, to the state government.

    This is in furtherance of one of one the policies of the administration to partner with the private sector and other stakeholders to sustain the state’s environmental regeneration and greenery programme.  It will be recalled that at a recently organized Greening Stakeholders Forum for the private sector at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, the governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, sought the support of the private sector to partner with the state government in sustaining its greenery programmes. This support and collaboration of private sectors is seen as significant in view of the fact that only 73 out of over 300 parks and gardens, representing 23%, are being maintained by private companies.

    It is, therefore, heartwarming to see that the dividend of the forum is already being manifested through the support and collaborative effort evidenced in the private sector support that has, thus far, been received for the Christmas streets decoration project. It is the conviction of the Ambode administration that the responsibility to restore the glory and beauty of the Lagos environment is a collective one as it is apparent that the government cannot do it alone. Consequently, more corporate bodies need to take environmental projects as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes.

    It has been realised by governments world-wide that funding of all government programmes and projects can no longer be sustained by the government alone as evidenced in the global economic recession and decline in oil revenue. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is a contractual relationship between the private and public interest as a systematic collaboration geared towards ensuring communal, state or national socio-economic development that is comprehensive and self-sustaining. It is an arrangement with clear direction and defined roles and responsibilities of all the actors in the plan. PPP is a financial module designed to attract private investors to engage in infrastructural projects with short and long term benefits to the people.

    In adopting this strategy, government is not abdicating its responsibilities but essentially releasing scarce resources for other equally important projects thus creating a win-win situation for the government and the private enterprise as well. The major advantage of the involvement of the private sector in governance is the efficiency it brings to project management. The issue of wastes, delayed delivery and abandonment that is usually associated with public projects is highly minimized. This is as a result of the optimization of the returns on huge investment of the private sector.

    Meanwhile, Lagosians are encouraged to take advantage of the various platforms that the state government has put in place to make the season a pleasant and joyous one. They are, however, advised to be moderate in all they do and pay critical attention to all routine safety and security measures especially with regards to harmattan haze, storing of petroleum products at home and careless use of fireworks. To have a memorable Yuletide season, we must avoid everything that could trigger avoidable fire outbreaks or threaten public peace.

    • Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • OAU: When dissent is punishable

    Although our country prides itself to be practicing democracy, in reality, the practices and activities of most institutions of the Nigerian state are far from democratic.

    The recent development in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (OAU, Ile-Ife), paints a graphic picture of hostility of education administrators to dissenting views and questions over general administration of the university. The Students’ Union of O.A.U, Ile-Ife, had embarked on a day-warning lecture boycott on Monday, November 30. The boycott was declared to draw the attention of authorities to the poor living and learning conditions of students, and declared by a Congress held on November 27 – three days after the campus has been plunged into complete blackout and inadequate supply of water. It is instructive to note that by declaring the boycott, Congress was not doing anything untoward – because three whole days without electricity and water have rendered class attendance virtually impossible.

    For those that participated at the Congress, the anger of students over the nonchalance of the authorities towards their plight was observable and indeed understandable. Only last year, the university authority imposed a 300% increment on both fresh and returning students. It is common knowledge that the federal government paid a sum of N2.8 billion as NEEDS assessment intervention fund into the account of the university – a fund meant for developing and maintenance of old and new hostels.

    It was therefore correct for the body of students to have resolved that calls should be placed on the Presidency, EFCC and ICPC to investigate the principal officers of the university on their utilisation of university funds. By that, facts will be separated from fictions, and all will be certain that all public officials, including intellectuals, are indeed committed to the vision of a disciplined, corrupt-free Nigeria in President Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign. For if Nigeria must be free of social malaise such as corruption and official ineptitude, then there are many reasons why the campaign of President Buhari against corruption must not leave out the education institutions like OAU.

    The response of OAU management to the agitation and demands of students was unprecedentedly repressive. On the evening of Tuesday, December 1, a day after the warning lecture boycott, the authority shut down the university and directed students to proceed on a mid-semester break. The directive was followed by a food blockade, with the university security unit forcing all butteries and markets to shut down their services on campus. The school had only resumed for her Rain semester on November 1, and the idea of a mid-semester break commencing on the first day of December – a month after resumption – was unfathomable. But there was a precedent. In July, the university authority had, in the middle of a faceoff with the OAU-Branch members of Non Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), directed students to embark on a mid-semester break. What followed the absence of students from campus was the deployment of armed policemen from the Osogbo headquarters of the force, with order to disperse the protesters and staff of the university. Please note that NASU members were protesting the obstinate refusal of the authority to pay 64-month arrears of their various allowances. The university authority succeeded in preventing students from joining forces with the workers in a show of solidarity, crushed the protest with crude force, and is yet to pay these university staff their hard-earned allowances.

    Whether the OAU management was repeating the same strategy or not, an aura of panic was certainly evident in their reaction to the demands of the students. Barely a day after students were directed to proceed on a mid-semester break, they issued a proclamation that “the activities of the Students’ Union are hereby suspended”. There was no reason in the circular to back the purported suspension of Students’ Union activities other than a purported “defiance” of the directive of Senate that students leave campus. The argument was too flimsy as a defense for contravention of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution for the rights of every Nigerian to associate, which is described by the Constitution as fundamental and inviolable.

    There are still questions over the drastic measures of the authority; whether they are appropriate as response to students demanding for improved living and learning conditions, and probity and accountability in the administration of university finances. It is not impossible that the university authority took this step to divert attention from the loud calls made by students on EFCC and ICPC to probe the principal officers of the university. In a country weighed down by monumental corruption of embarrassing magnitude, the fear of Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign should be the beginning of wisdom in public offices. But great care must be taken to ensure that patriotic youths are protected from vindictive authorities, who are quick to employ all means to avoid getting caught.

    On July 30, 2014, the Director of Audit of OAU, in a letter to the Bursar of the University, revealed that “Obafemi Awolowo University operates a total of forty one (41) bank accounts and we (the Audit Unit) find it interesting that none of these bank accounts have been reconciled up to date”. In the same letter, the Director of Audit warned against “unauthorised bank withdrawals, frauds and errors”. A year after this warning, in a publication dated October 27, a group of university staff known as “Concerned Staff Members, Obafemi Awolowo University” warned members of the University community about “ploy of the OAU management to sabotage the operation of Treasury Single Account” as directed by President Buhari. These are weighty allegations that call for concern of all. If the repressive measures employed by the OAU authority are meant to distract students from continuing with their agitation for the probing and investigation of the principal officers of the university, it is morally wrong, condemnable and not expected from university instructors.

    In clear terms, we should all condemn and reject the suspension of Great Ife Students’ Union activities. Aside being an unconstitutional act, suspending a Students’ Union – a pressure group, which should have independence of thoughts – is tantamount to suspending dissenting opinions, especially at a time when the union is demanding for prudence from the management. Our country should encourage youths who are opposed to injustice, corruption and depravity; democracy cannot thrive with people who believe that silence in the face of tyranny is smartness. There is no doubt that events in OAU as well as other institutions of learning have again brought to the fore the idea that education institution be democratically managed by elected representatives of lecturers, non-academic staff, students and parents. ASUU espoused this principle during its struggle in 2013, and there is a need for practical step in this direction to entrench sanity in the education sector.

     

    • Olubanji is a final year student of Department of Philosophy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

  • Senate and our freedom

    On October 1, the intrepid governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, uninvited, announced to the nation that the previous Jonathan government spent some N64 billion on Independence Day celebrations.  It turned out that El-Rufai was wildly off the mark; the mallam had greatly massaged the figures.

    Jonathan administration actually spent N333, 600, 000 over four years on Independence Day festivities.  This correct figure was confirmed by the Office of the Secretary General of the Federation (OSGF).  How did the truth emerge?  A group called BudgIT Nigeria applied to the OSGF under the Freedom of Information Act.

    Well, the Freedom of Information Act is in trouble.  So also is the Cyber Law.  Just a couple of weeks ago in the Senate, the Senate Leader, one Ali Ndume got up and opined that the Freedom of Information Act as well as freedom of speech “must be looked into.”

    It got worse.

    Ndume had been contributing to a debate in the Senate to introduce a bill to restrict and punish social media use in Nigeria!  I kid you not.  Even Afghanistan and Iran have got it better in that regard.

    The current government and its various majority representatives rode into office on the back of a change mantra a lot of which was driven home by (mostly young people on) social media.  All of a sudden, now in office, the same people that used and profited handsomely from the social media now find that these tools are abhorrent and negative.  It has to be done away with or severely curtailed with associated heavy punishment for infringements as defined by our senators.  How’s that for irony?

    Six months in office, I can only remember the Senate for three things: a long and unsavoury leadership tussle; protection of their various allowances and entitlements – including something they called wardrobe allowance; and a very slap-dash ministerial screening exercise.  The rest of the time, the distinguished people took prolonged recesses.

    Now they are back, their first job is to restrict social media use.  An All Progressives Congress-led Senate!  It is beyond mind-boggling.  The anti-people bill is being sponsored by Senator Ibn Na’Allah of Kebbi State.  The most noteworthy thing about Na’Allah, a lawyer and a former car dealer, is that he reportedly bought a plane in 2009 and claimed that it was cheaper for him to maintain his aircraft than to maintain some cars in his garage.  Ali Ndume’s grouse was that a while ago, he was accused of providing Boko Haram with some golf buggies.  Senator Dino Melaye was particularly bitter about Saharareporters.  Also, there was a picture of a champagne bottle adorned with the senator’s face flanked by the Senate’s mace that recently made the rounds on social media.  Dino didn’t like that.

    Keeping the details of their bill from some of the more serious-minded senators, this group presented their Anti-Social Media Bill on the floor of the Senate.  Amazingly, in just 14 days, their bill got its second reading.  Of course Senator Melaye led the debate.  Dino used to be an activist of sorts in this Nigeria.  He was promptly supported by various others; most notably Ali Ndume and one elderly looking People Democratic Party female Senator from Ekiti State.  Ekiti is supposed to be the home of well learned folks.  Anyway, after their very negatively-charged debate, their self-induced hysteria and contrived indignation, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, referred the whole matter to a Senate Committee to work out the fine details.

    This is what the sponsors of the Bill want:

    • Up to two years in prison or N2 million fine or both for anyone disseminating via Text message, Twitter, WhatsApp, or any other form of social media an “abusive” statement
    • A sentence of up to seven years in prison or N4 million fine for anyone who intentionally propagates false information through electronic message intending to “set the public against any person and group of persons, an institution of government or such other bodies established by law”
    • Imprisonment for six months without an option of fine for any person who unlawfully uses, publishes or cause to be published any petition or complaint not supported by a duly sworn affidavit.

    In other words, do not criticise any government official or institution.

    The whole thing beggars belief.  Of all the challenges presently confronting Nigeria, our senators are more concerned about the intrusion of, and how they are portrayed on social media.

    Happily, President Buhari has disowned the Senate and their perfidious bill, and rightly so.  The last thing he wants to be reminded of is Decree 4.  Personally, I do not know anyone that is not alarmed and disgusted by what the Senate is doing.  Already, a group in America has begun to lobby their senators in the US Congress to place our anti-social senators on a No-Fly list – you know, the way such lists are routinely imposed on tyrants and other jump-up dictators across the globe.

    So where does all of this leave us?  We have to fight for our right, that’s where.  Already, there’s a feeling that the country is being dragged backwards anyway.  When you try to articulate this, you are called a wailer.  But that shouldn’t stop us from getting in touch with our legislative representatives to register our disapproval of the Anti-Social Media Bill.  Similarly, we should be pressing whatever is left of the Civil Liberty society to organise us and themselves into a cohesive opposition to what is looking like a major encroachment on free speech and our collective freedom.  We must all stand up and challenge the tyranny of the privileged.

    We should never submit ourselves to thought-control.  We would never allow our voices to be muzzled because some folks don’t want to be challenged in this 21st century.  If this is how they feel, they should have steered well clear of public office.  There are sufficient provisions in our statutes to counter libel and slander.  Let aggrieved senators use that.  North Koreans, we are not!

  • OOU and fiction of 16-month unpaid salaries

    I was one of the few voices of dissent on the perennial industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities  (ASUU) before I left the system over a decade ago. I have no problem with employees declaring an industrial dispute with their employers. But when lecturers of state universities leave their employers in their various state capitals and go to Abuja to negotiate with the Federal Government salary enhancement under different guises including the recent “Earned Academic Allowances”, and thereafter return to make their campuses ungovernable on account of such agreement, then this calls for sober reflection.

    Another gripe I have always raised with my colleagues has to do with the deliberate conflation of issues during any industrial crisis. I have read on the pages of newspapers well-informed commentaries accusing ASUU of deceiving the public during their regular strikes. One of the grounds of the accusation that is branded on my memory is that for every strike declared by ASUU, the union usually pushes to the front burner “poor funding, infrastructural decay, empty laboratories and libraries”, (the exact words used by my protesting colleagues at OOU) in order to court cheap popularity among the generality of Nigerians, but lurking in the dark among the union’s demands is salary increase, which is usually cloaked as allowances, and that once that pay component is fulfilled by the government, the lecturers return to the classrooms, until one or two years later when they will declare another industrial crisis with the same reasons and the issue of remuneration coming under different headings or titles.

    When I saw the various headlines in the papers a few days ago accusing Ogun State government of owing Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) teachers 16 months of salaries, I roared into laughter: “My colleagues are at it again!” Sixteen months without salaries! Can any ASUU chapter in Nigeria live without salary for 16 months? Certainly, this cannot be true. Members of ASUU won’t work without pay for three consecutive months without a strike in Nigeria. Even those national strikes that lasted for many months, in which we were not paid, we all knew from the very outset of the industrial crisis, that we would receive our pay once the strikes were over!

    The accusations of the union, directed against the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, would seem to be against the grain. If it is true, and indeed, it is true, that OOU, which we all knew was not much reckoned with in Nigeria some years ago, recently emerged the best state university in Nigeria according to the ranking conducted in conjunction with the regulatory body, the National Universities Commissions (NUC), then I think the governor should have been praised for his efforts while the union makes more demands.

    I knew I read about the degree of the decay at OOU, which the Amosun government inherited. A couple of searches are quite revealing. There was a publication credited to Alex Onanbanjo, Pro-chancellor and chairman of the governing council of the institution in 2009. He was quoted in The Punch of June 10, 2009 as saying that, “It is in OOU that one finds a situation where examination scripts were not marked and graded for three years. It is there that you find graduates of four years without transcripts not to talk of certificates. Mark boosting is the order of the day. In a particular department, marks of more than 300 out of 500 students that sat for the examination of a particular course were discovered to have been boosted beyond the original marks legitimately earned. In another department, a lecturer gave the whole score sheets of his course to a female student who served as go-between in the ‘business’ transaction of mark boosting. So bad was the situation that it is trite knowledge that the eventual marks of many students of OOU are functions of the financial and sexual power of those concerned. It was also discovered that very many lecturers were involved in the extortion of students through the sales of hand-outs. Discretionary admission (that is, admissions not based on merit but on ‘connections’) became the order of the day, sometimes adding up to 50% of total admissions. The university management could not even keep a tab on the number of its students at any given time. Very many of the revenue-generating centres of the university (such as the Centre for Sandwich Programmes) were taken out of the purview of the Bursar. With that arrangement, financial malpractices became the order of the day. The University continues to pay drivers even when senior staff members entitled to them do receive allowance for drivers as part of their salaries in line with the monetisation policy. Perhaps the most embarrassing of this pattern of irresponsible employment is the case of the University Guest House which has only four rooms but with 32 workers! Quite a number of academic staff also benefited from promotions either without requisite number of publications or following due process…”

    We understand that when the current governor was sworn in, there were petitions urging him to carry out a surgical operation at OOU, which would have resulted in mass sack in order to sanitize the system. What we read later was that a visitation panel was set up, the report of which resulted in the change of the management and operations of the institution. This much was indirectly reflected in the protest march by ASUU-OOU last Monday when they recognised the contributions of the new management, but castigated the government that brought in the new hands! What an upended logic! From news available, the government of Amosun offset about N2.5 billion of salaries and allowances of the lecturers and other staff, which it inherited from the previous government in 2011 and graduated about 40,000 students in one ceremony in 2012, graduation ceremony having not been conducted for eight previous academic sessions, underscoring the magnitude of the rot inherited!

    Of course, everyone is aware that the Amosun government is one of the fewest in Nigeria that consistently devotes the highest percentage of its yearly budget to education. It even won a Babs Fafunwa Award recently, coming first among the 36 states on budget to education.

    The commendation of OOU by the National Assembly is still green in our memories. The national legislature took cognisance of the fact that graduating students of OOU now get their certificates on the day of convocation. What a transformation! What a turn-around in such a short space of time! A lot of innovations, especially against academic corruption, have taken place at OOU under the current management, which should be emulated by other higher institutions of learning in Nigeria. I do not know how OOU-ASUU will divorce the outstanding successes recorded by the new management of the institution from the government that owns the school.

    And lest we are accused of being pro-establishment, a tool often used to blackmail into silence views outside the blinkered position of majority of my colleagues in ASUU, let me say that OOU still has a long way to go. But as we say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. In spite of my reservations as regards OOU-ASUU leaving its employer in Abeokuta and going to Abuja to negotiate remuneration for its members, government needs to negotiate the issue in the interest of all stakeholders, especially the students. Hardworking lecturers and non academic staff deserve very good package.

    My colleagues have to be reasonable as well considering the financial challenges facing the nation at present. What is in dispute is not salary, let no one be deceived, but a contraption called “Earned Academic Allowances”, negotiated in Abuja under the cloud of strikes.

    As someone suggested in an online reaction to the protest, the state government could take the court option because it is not bound by any agreement reached with the Federal Government by its own workers. This may take years to resolve judging by the delay in our justice system. There is need to allow common sense to dictate the choices of OOU-ASUU at this juncture and on this issue of “Earned Academic Allowances.”

     

    • Dr Odion, a management consultant, sent in this piece from Lagos.

  • An eye on 2016

    It is that season of time when an old year limps, bloodied and bowed, towards a tardy close as humanity strains with impatience for the breaking forth of a new year. In this country – speaking minimally, that is, so that we are careful not to universalise unduly – the general mood at a time like this usually is a cocktail of frustration over many failed expectations during the outgoing year and a groundswell of hope that the incoming year holds better promises of bliss and fulfillment. But experience shows that it is a vicious cycle of mood swings from New Year to year-end: from excited hope and keen expectation of bliss, through disconcertment that things do not seem to be working out as expected, to feeling betrayed and downright disenchanted over dashed hopes, and back to renewed hope that another incoming year may well mark the long-expected turning point. Year upon year, the better part – if not all – of humanity goes through this vicious cycle; but then, life would mean too little if not lived on recrudescent optimism.

    Nigerians have had their very hope of bliss at New Year dawn brutally assailed before, for instance when former President Goodluck Jonathan chose the twilight of 2012 to announce some 120 per cent increase in the pumphead price of petrol. That was one chaotic New Year crossover like none other, as citizens disregarded the fact that it was a festive season and hit the streets in fury to resist the price increase. The ex-President eventually conceded ground and reviewed the price increase downwards, and the rest is now history. Meanwhile, Nigerians have since then gone back to the yearly cadences of hope and frustration.

    Truth be told, there is some frustration in the land now because of the lingering scarcity in fuel supply.Fuel supply shortages have been one bitter experience that Nigerians had to contend with repeatedly in the course of the outgoing year – under the old political dispensation as well as the new. This latest round of shortages has persisted for some time, with attendant hardship on the populace, that many can’t wait for the present administration to come up with fresh ideas on ways to ensure sustainable supply of the essential product. Of course, we mustn’t lose sight that the administration had explained that it was limited in the outgoing year because it inherited the fiscal framework, and would only be having the first shot at stamping its imprint on governance as well as fulfilling electioneering promises with the 2016 budget. This explanation, in my view, stands to reason, but it also fuels the expectation to see if its own fiscal designs and policies would rapidly translate in 2016 to retooling the economy, which is all but prostrate now. See that we’re back to hope? By the way, what has happened to some of our local refineries about which there was so much talk of resuscitation early in the life of this administration? With more than N400billion just appropriated for petrol subsidy claims from January to December 2015 alone, it would be nice to know what has become of those refineries, and if we would need to yet depend so heavily on fuel importation in the coming year. But that, really, is an aside.

    On the electoral landscape, there are significant elections slated for the incoming year across the world. Locally, we should be looking forward to some governorship elections: for instance, in Edo and Ondo states. It will have to be seen if the political class makes any improvement in the political culture to aid the work of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in electoral administration.

    Meanwhile, in the sub-region, Ghanaians will be heading to the poll in 2016 for their general election. I find the Ghanaian election significant because, on the strength of our own general election in 2015, that country seems to regard Nigeria as a sub-regional role model in election administration.Consequently, the former Chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, has been invited to Ghana this December to meet with a broad range of stakeholders ahead of the country’s general election. During a five-day visit, Professor Jega will meet with the Ghanaian leader, President John Dramani Mahama, who will be seeking re-election, as well as two former leaders namely ex-President Jerry Rawlings and ex-President John Kufour. Besides delivering a couple of public lectures, Professor Jega is also scheduled to meet with the leadership of Ghana’s political parties and other key stakeholders including government officials, the civil society and the clergy, the leadership of Ghana’s National Electoral Commission (NEC), as well as development partners and the donor community.

    The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Ghana, at whose instance is the visit, said it invited Professor Jega because “we have no doubt that (his) rich experience and knowledge on elections and electoral systems, which ensured successful conduct of the recent election in Nigeria, will impact positively on our nation as we go to the elections in 2016.” The issue here, for me, is this:There was a time in not too distant past when Nigeria was globally derided for disreputable conduct of her elections. If other countries, like Ghana, now look to us as a role model in the conduct of elections, there is a collective and urgent onus on INEC, the political class as well as other members of the Nigerian public to ensure that the standard is, indeed, stepped up.

  • The armsgate in perspective

    As the dragnet that seeks to catch all the fiends who bled the military of the vital funds required to buy equipment to fight Boko Haram expands wider to catch more big fish in this seamlessly wide ocean of corruption, one can’t help but sit back in bewilderment at the audacity and culpability of the principal actors in this slapstick comedy.

    But alas the signs were always there of the gross impunity being perpetuated by the criminal enterprise that chose greed over the lives of the nation’s gallant soldiers.

    This is neither a sudden flash in the pan but is a slow rumble of a volcano that has been coughing intermittently as the inferno clears its throat in preparation for the final eruption. Hence anyone who cries vendetta and political persecution is not true to oneself and is denying a chronicle of events that has led us to this disgraceful point in our history.

    It all started with a protest by Army wives on August 11, 2014 in which these women

    flooded the streets of Maiduguri lamenting the apparent policy of the military sending their husband’s to the battlefront with virtually their bare hands to fight a band of insurgents armed to the teeth.

    This was the first sign that something untoward was amidst, for the whole nation was awash with news that the administration of Goodluck Jonathan had spent billions of dollars equipping the military amidst propaganda machine that proclaimed that this was the first major arms procurement Since the Nigerian civil war that ended in 1970.

    Army wives are the most docile and understanding women in the land for the regimented lifestyle of their husbands restricts their public adventures hence this protest caught ones eye and proved that something sinister was amidst.

    But alas instead of the Army bigwigs, the Senate and the Presidency to embrace these women and investigate their claims, the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Kenneth Minimah, was mandated to mount the podium and make these infamous comments on August 20. 2014: “This is not a civil service organisation. This is not a Boys Scout organisation. Any repeat of such act, I will tell soldiers to use koboko (whip) on the wives and bundle them out of the barracks. This is even akin to mutiny which is punishable by death”.

    Alas the threat of a vicious flogging to death of these unarmed defenceless women was a ploy to silence the internal rumblings in the military and dim the searchlight on the mammoth corruption being perpetuated behind the scenes.

    But alas the smoke emanating from the smouldering embers refused to go away.

    Then barely a month later, the proverbial excrement finally hit the fan. On September 16, 2014, men of the 7th Division, the nation’s so-called premier division turned their weapons on their commanding officer in open revolt as the demand for better weapons to fight Boko Haram took a diabolical turn. And as if to buttress how ineffective their weapons were, their General Officer Commanding (GOC) escaped without a scratch running to the top brass in disarray.

    This was one act of mutiny the military could neither conceal nor tolerate, hence the Military Police was dispatched with extreme prejudice to round up the perpetrators of this dastardly act and bundle them off to face the stern faces of a General Court martial, destined to face the consequences of their insubordination.

    And in no time at all the death sentences and summary dismissals were dished out with aplomb. Meanwhile the criminals who stole the money to equip the military were shipping off their illicitly acquired wealth to foreign lands.

    On the same day Nigerian troops were turning their weapons on their COs, September 16, 2014, the news broke of $10 Million discovered in the private jet belonging to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of Christian Association of Nigeria,  in far-away South Africa. It proved to be an illegal gun running operation cum money laundering enterprise whose money trail led to the heart of the Presidency with the then National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, pulling the apron strings.

    This was indeed a snapshot of the rot going on but once again the regime of transformation swept this pile of dirt under the carpet.

    November 10, 2014 began the final capitulation of the Nigerian military which had been stripped to the bare bones as the word “tactical withdrawal” became the new mantra of the military, a glorified name for retreat in disarray from the marauding Boko Haram. Hundreds of troops ran away from the theatre of war, fleeing into Cameroon, preferring to preserve precious limb than risk certain death. Never before had such disgrace befallen the Nigerian military that had proved it’s mettle times without number in various regional conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

    The giant of Africa was reduced to a helpless ant as the gravy train bleeding the military continued unabated.

    Major General Minimah was once again charged with the inevitable task of painting over the glaring cracks as he mounted the podium once more on December 15, 2014: “The Nigerian Army is not what it used to be. Soldiers run away from the battle front because they joined the military as the last option after years of unemployment or were hand picked by politicians to satisfy their obligations to their constituencies. These people have no zeal to fight hence run at the first sight of Boko Haram”.

    Meanwhile the court martial continued as the military deserters were rewarded with death sentences and summary dismissal. Three thousand soldiers were victims of the first mass court martial since the rise of the Fourth Republic. One was left wondering if Nigeria was back in the era of military rule when such was the norm.

    Later, Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, would make a very revealing comment at his pulling out parade on July 10: “I headed an ill-equipped and poorly funded military. We were neglected hence we’re incapable of winning the fight against Boko Haram.”

    One was left flabbergasted. For the chief soldier in the land to make this confession was akin to a tsunami for on this same premise he had made Minimah the prophet of doom who prophesied lashings for soldiers wives and death to their husbands.

    The proverbial excrement was piling up, approaching the fan. August 6, Major General Minimah, like Saul on the road to Damascus, finally saw the light and repented of his sins for at his pulling out ceremony by singing the tune sang by Badeh: “It is true. The military was ill-equipped. Despite all the money spent we never got any new equipment”.

    This was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

    How could this be possible? What about the billions spent to procure weaponry? This didn’t make sense at all.

    And immediately, on the same day, August 6, Dasuki, sought to douse the tension generated by Minimah and Badeh: “We bought equipment but alas it is still on the high seas”.

    The faux pas of Dasuki had become too glaring, sticking out like a sore thumb.

    Now, with the final unveiling of his alleged crimes by the panel set up to investigate his dealings, the clock may be ticking for Dasuki. The dragnet has started spreading its

    tentacles ensnaring a former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa and Raymond Dokpesi the media mogul.

    The million dollar question is what part did President Goodluck Jonathan play in this sleaze? Can he claim to be unaware of the dealings of Dasuki?

    There is no witch-hunt anywhere; the events that has led us to this point is as clear as crystal as painstakingly outlined above. Justice must be served to all the principal actors of this absurd movie.

    No matter how high up the chain the trail leads, every goat in this food chain must be captured and made to vomit every last morsel of yam illegally swallowed.

    All involved must be made to feel the full weight of the law and any judge who wishes to facilitate an escape route for these criminals should be unmasked and made to join his benefactors in the gulag.

    This is a test case for the anticorruption war of this administration and if they fail in this, then they will fail elsewhere as well.

    • Usman writes from Lapai, Niger State.

     

  • Loyola College 60: We will always remember them

    Loyola College 60: We will always remember them

    On Thursday (December 10) this week, it will be exactly 10 years since the Loyola Jesuit College community was struck by a tragedy of immense proportions. 60 of our students perished in Nigeria’s worst air crash. Some of the students were in year 7(JS1) while some others were in their last year of high school. Naturally, they were all happy to go home to celebrate Christmas. And their families were waiting to receive them with joy. But everything turned into a long, debilitating grief with the plane crash. Some of the students had siblings in the same plane–some had two siblings; some had one. The tragedy was colossal as some families were totally wiped out.

    Traumatic as it was for the families that lost their children in the flight, the tragedy also exposed the ineptitude, the poor state of the emergency response strategies and the lack of care for Nigerian lives. First, there was no water to put out the fire of the burning plane and then there was no quick emergency response. Even Kechi Okwuchi who survived the horror needed to be flown to South Africa because the Nigerian hospital she was taken to was not equipped enough to deal with her injuries. Even the air-ambulance that flew her to Johannesburg was brought into Port Harcourt from South Africa!

    It was a monumental tragedy for the college not only because the 60 students represented about ten percent of the total student population but also because those students were some of the best brains and the most talented in the country. From whatever sphere you looked at it, it was devastating. The crash caused despair in many hearts. But there was also a determination to ensure that evil did not triumph; that something good came out of a dreadful event.

    At the height of the staggering shock, gruesome sorrow and immense losses, there was also an outpouring of commiseration and support. The whole world stood still, identifying with us in our moment of sorrow and pain. Nigerians from all walks of life came out in solidarity with the grieving families, Loyola Jesuit College and the nation. There were solidarity and condolence visits. President Olusegun Obasanjo, accompanied by the Education Minister, Mrs. Chinwe Obaji, Aviation Minister, Prof. Babalola Borishade as well as Prof. Jerry Gana, visited the college to condole with the school authority.

    Mothers, including many parents of LJC students, protested in Lagos and Abuja, demanding changes in aviation, education and health care systems.  Perhaps, the most powerful demonstration of solidarity came from the bereaved parents themselves who visited one another and participated actively in the funerals of the children. Amazingly, they showed unimaginable depth of faith and strength in a most depressing moment for any parent.

    President Obasanjo called a meeting of the stakeholders in the Aviation Industry. Everyone and every agency involved in aviation and responsible for safety of lives were summoned to the meeting. This meeting and several others by stake-holders in the industry produced several assurances and promises. One of the promises was in line with J’amais Encore!–Never again! Both in public and in private, promises that this crash must not happen again were palpable. There were calls for urgent reforms not only in the aviation industry but also in the Fire Service and Emergency and Rescue Services.

    The assurances and promises gave everyone a sense of relief and hope; relief because the problems were identified so that necessary steps could be taken to address the causes of the crash and poor emergency services and hope that such carnage would not happen again. There were still other promises. The college, its students, the bereaved parents (who had formed a support group called “1012 Parents”) and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of the college promised to always remember the 60 students and to work towards realizing their dreams to make Nigeria better. Solidarity, commiseration and promises helped mourners to assuage the despair.

    However, as the plans for the tenth memorial anniversary of the 60 students got underway recently, one of my students sought to ascertain if the promises made after the crash to ensure safer skies have been fulfilled. He asked, “Father, has anything changed in the aviation industry and emergency agencies after ten years?” Well, I asked him to go and find out for himself. Through the Concerned Students Club of the college (a club that was formed by students following the crash to reflect on the issues that affect the nation), he along with his peers visited the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (F.A.A.N.) and the Fire Service as well as other related agencies. They interviewed the officials of those agencies. What did they find out ten years after the crash?

    Whatever they discovered as an answer to the question, the bereaved parents (the “1012 Parents”), the college community and well-meaning Nigerians have decided that whether or not things changed in those agencies, the 60 students “shall not have died in vain.” These groups continue to work to actualize that dream. Given their innocence, and to help us remember them always, we call them our angels-Our 60 Angels.

    It is noteworthy that the then Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili donated some money and land on behalf of the state to the North-West Africa Province of the Society of Jesus, the owners of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja, to establish a similar school in Port Harcourt. Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who took over from Dr. Odili, also continued the immense support from Rivers State. After moving to the third piece of property as a result of staggering problems, buildings for Jesuit Memorial College (JMC) and a non-fee paying primary school for the villagers started on a 21 hectare of land in Mbodo and Elikpokwu-Odu, Aluu.

    Despite a long period of struggles and problems-paucity of funds, confounding community issues–associated with establishing a college that would not compromise on the standards of excellence for which Loyola Jesuit College is globally renown, Jesuit Memorial College opened its gates to its pioneer students on October 17, 2013. The Loyola Academy, the primary school section, opened its gates a year later. The message is simple: While the crash brought despair to many hearts, the establishment of Jesuit Memorial College has brought hope that our students “shall not have died in vain”–that something good will come out of a horrible experience.

    Appropriately, therefore, the motto for the new college is “Hope Reborn.” Hope that those who go through the Jesuit education offered by JMC will make Nigeria a better country, the dream of our 60 Angels. Fittingly, too, the mythical phoenix bird, the mascot of the new college, symbolically depicts hope rising from despair and immortality rising from mortality, as it is in “the Parable of the Phoenix”.

    Before October 17, 2013 however, the college has always remembered its 60 Angels. In Loyola Jesuit College itself, through the generosity of some parents and benefactors, a Memorial Hall was built. The same desire to ensure that the students “shall not have died in vain,” spurred the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), led by Mrs. Ochuko Momoh, to go on a fund-raising drive to build five blocks of 60 flats for the staff of Loyola Jesuit College. On November 29, 2015, one block out of the five blocks was commissioned. Hopefully, the effort of Mrs. Momoh, her team and generous donors will help to complete the other four blocks of flats.

    However, we also know that immortalizing the 60 Angels should not only be on brick and mortar. It is also by remembering their virtues. Memorial events in their honour have held since 2005. Memorial Masses in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, candle-light procession in Abuja and advocacy for safer skies in Lagos have held every year.

    Come December 10, 2015, we will as always remember our 60 Angels on this tenth anniversary of their death. We will again have our candle-light procession. But this time it will be at the Port Harcourt International Airport where the accident happened. We will unveil the monument in Jesuit Memorial College in their honour and lay the foundation stone for the boys’ hostel. We will be celebrating her miraculous survival and resilience.