The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Estate residents spend N1m to fix roads

    GOWON Estate Community Development Association, Lagos on Friday said that it had spent about one million naira to fix roads in the estate. The estate is located at Ipaja, near Lagos.

    The Chairman of the association, Mr Nathaniel Okoro, told journalists in Lagos that the amount was expended in the first quarter of this year.

    He noted that the deplorable condition of roads in the estate, prompted residents to put resources together to repair the roads.

    Okoro said that the roads had become an eye-sore and death-trap for residents.

    “All the roads in the Gowon Estate have collapsed.

    There is hardly any motorable road in the estate.

    “The situation is getting worse every raining season; it gets worse than the year before and the problem of the residents increase every year.

    “We buy gravel, laterite and do manual labour by ourselves to fix the roads and that is the only reason why we can go out and come in.

    “We have raised about one million naira in June to fix some roads and that is the trend over the years.’’

    According to him, the estate, built during FESTAC 77, has not witnessed any maintenance.

    He said that if government should delay further, it would take a caterpillar to drive through the roads because of erosion on the roads.

    The chairman lamented that efforts made annually to seek help from the Mosan Okunola Local Council Development Area and the Lagos State Government had yielded no result.

    He said that the council and the government had been dodging the maintenance of the estate on the ground that the estate was a Federal Government property.

    Okoro, however, argued that both the local and State Governments had no excuse for not fixing the roads because civil servants in the estate paid taxes to the state.

    According to him, the situation has been affecting the socio-economic activities of residents.

    He said that the deplorable state of the roads had also been increasing maintenance cost of vehicles.

    Also speaking, Mr Abayomi Abaniwonda, a bar owner in the estate, said that half of the entire road network in the estate had been washed away by flood.

    Abaniwonda said that the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) had failed in its duties.

    “ The estate’s roads are of serious concern to taxpaying residents, when it rains you can’t move unless with a-four-wheel vehicle,’’ Mr Nicholas Ohabuenyi, a spare parts dealer added.

    Meanwhile, the Chairman of Mosan Okunola Council, Mr Abiodun Mafe, said that the council did not neglect the estate deliberately.

    He said that most residents of the estate were paying tenement rates to the FHA, instead of paying to the Lagos State Government.

    “There are perceptions in the mind of the people that the fund in the Local Government is too enormous, they have the mindset that we deliberately abandon them, which is not true.

    “The estate is being controlled by FHA which collects rates, the only rate that we collect in the estate is trade permit and we maintain their entire environment and keep it tidy.

    “We have not shied away from our responsibility we are doing what the laws permit us to do with available

    “We do not have enough resources to maintain entire roads and FHA is the architect of the dilapidation of the estate because all revenues go to them,’’ the chairman said.

    Mafe appealed to the residents to pay tenement rates to the state by virtue of the Land Use Act, which he said, gave the state the custodian of the land.

    The LG boss also urged the FHA to release revenues generated from the estate to maintain infrastructure and make it habitable for people.

    “The trade permit rate payable to the council is used to maintain some roads, clean the environment and cart away refuse.

  • 7,318 Nigerian students studying in U.S. —Official

    THE United States Embassy in Abuja says 7,318 Nigerian students are studying in more than 700 universities and colleges in that country.

    Mrs Jennifer Onyeukwu, Head, Education USA Advising Centre (EAC), said this in Abuja on yesterday during the pre-departure ceremony for those leaving for studies in the U.S.

    Onyeukwu said no fewer than 150 students were preparing to leave for studies in the U.S by August.

    She added that 80 per cent of them were given full or partial scholarships by the schools.

    “The total, right now, of Nigerian students studying in the U.S is 7,318 at undergraduate and graduate programmes.

    “This fall, which is Aug. 2014, we are sending more than a hundred students to study in the U.S., over 80 per cent had some form of scholarship or financial aid from schools in the U.S.”

    The official also said there were 22 scholarships under U.S Achievers’ Programme, “which recognises academically stellar students who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

    “We give them the opportunity to compete for the few slots available.

    “With the USAP programme, we help the students identify U.S colleges and universities that would offer them admission with full funding.

    “Fifteen of them have got admission with full funding”, she said. Onyeukwu added that six students out of those given full scholarship funds had scholarships from the MasterCard Foundation.

    “MasterCard Scholarship is a separate kind of scholarship that is given by the MasterCard Foundation in partnership with U.S colleges and some of the universities around the world.

    “The six students under the MasterCard Scholarship received 311,140 dollars annually for four years.”

    She said the foundation had earmarked 500 million dollars for “economically disadvantaged young people” in sub-Sahara Africa desiring to further their studies.

    She said the scholarship was for a 10-year period and targeted students with academic talent, commitment to giving back and leadership potentials.

    Onyeukwu also said the EAC, the education advisory arm of the embassy, sought to use its platforms to appropriately advice Nigerian students who desired to study in the U.S.

    She added that the embassy and its consulate in Lagos organised free orientation sessions in their communities and outreaches in schools and universities in the country to sensitise students on available study opportunities.

    A few students who were granted full scholarships to the U.S spoke to reporters .

    Hannatu Sadiq, who participated in the USAP, was one of the beneficiaries of the MasterCard Scholarship.

    “The ECA officials came to our school n 2010 and I picked the courage from there to work hard and give them what they required and I got into USAP in 2013.

    “I’m on MasterCard Scholarship to Michigan State University to study Chemical Engineering and I’m grateful for this opportunity because now my parents don’t have to pay anything for my tertiary education.”

    Also, Moses Onyeabor, another MasterCard Scholarship beneficiary going to study biochemistry, expressed his gratitude in an interview .

    “I got to know about the USAP while I was in the School for the Gifted and I decided to give it a try.

    “I applied to seven schools and finally got admission into three universities but Arizona State University gave me a MasterCard Scholarship which covers everything including a living stipend.”

    Nigeria is the largest sender of students to the U.S from sub-Sahara Africa and students in 2013 received 2.9 million dollars’ worth of scholarship funds from top notch institutions.

  • Malala and a President’s hypocrisy

    Of all the celebrities and notable figures, who identify with Nigerian people on the abduction of 276 girls by Boko Haram fighters in Chibok, a hitherto sleepy neighbourhood in Borno State, last April, only Malala Yousafzai – the celebrated victim of Taliban’s anti-education aggression in Pakistan – has given some practical sympathy by visiting Nigeria.

    The girl-child education rights activist flew into the country, last weekend, to identify with the abducted Chibok girls and their parents. She met with the escapees privately, perhaps to get first-hand information on how the abduction was executed by the criminals.

    Malala’s visit is understandably conceived in good faith, having shared similar fate with the abducted girls. Although on her own case, she almost kissed death after several bullets were fired at her by Taliban militants.

    However, Malala’s mission to Nigeria has its intended and unintended messages. First, it taught us some lessons on why we need to promote education despite untenable opinions of misguided zealots, who believe education should only be restricted to the four walls of madrasah (Arabic schools).

    Malala, a teen who hails from a predominantly Muslim society, has become a role model for children for holding the belief that, education must not be restricted to Arabic schools alone. This is the intended message of Malala’s visit and we must strive to ensure the message is not lost.

    The unintended message is its exposure of the hypocrisy of President Goodluck Jonathan and his coven of political jobbers camouflaging as Ministers and also, the overzealousness of the security agencies.

    Had the Pakistani teen visited Nigeria before the committee set up by the President to investigate whether or not the Chibok girls were truly abducted by the Boko Haram, what would have been the discourse at the meeting between Jonathan and the Pakistani girl? Would the president have denied there was abduction Chibok schoolgirls and perhaps respectfully told the young girl to go back to wherever she came from?

    It is instructive to note that, months after the schoolgirls were herded into Sambisa Forest by the terrorists, President Jonathan lived in denial of the incident. Sycophants around him made efforts to make us believe that the abduction was the creation of government’s opponents, hence, existing in figment of their imagination.

    Despite the moving stories of the girls’ parents, and their cries, the president maintained a stone-walled countenance and dismissed the abduction, thereby insulting the emotion and psychology of the hapless parents.

    Even the gripping clip released by Boko Haram showing the girls in groups, clad in Hijab (Muslim veil) never convinced Jonathan that Boko Haram terrorists are in possession of the schoolgirls. The presidency, we were told, was studying the clip to “identify” if the teenagers in the video were actually Chibok girls.

    Rather than spreading intelligence to ascertain the whereabouts of the girls, President Jonathan and his coterie of advisers launched a cold-blooded offensive against patriotic citizens protesting the girls’ abduction. The presidency released a false security reports, claiming the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners were being sponsored by opposition politicians to discredit the Jonathan government and bring it down.

    The protesters would come under police attack for speaking for the helpless girls in Boko Haram’s den and for carrying placards with the inscription: #BringBackOurGirls.

    Enter Mbu Joseph Mbu. Remember him? The hyperactive and highly partisan cop, who almost turned Rivers State to Siberia, was the ‘capable’ Rottweiler deployed by the federal government to hound the patriotic citizens that left their home to speak for the girls. The #BringBackOurGirls protesters were arrested and hurled to police cells for peaceful demonstration – the most civilised fashion of venting anger in a participatory democracy.

    There have been several attempts to discredit the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners, which resulted in court cases on whether the protesters have rights to hold sitting at a public place and demand certain things from the government.

    On twice or thrice occasions within 90 days since the girls were taken away, the #BringBackOurGirls protesters have marched on the Presidential Villa to seek audience with President Jonathan. They were never allowed to the president’s office or residence on each occasion; in fact, battle ready gendarmes were deployed to ‘repel’ the civilised demonstrators whose only weapon remains #BringBackOurGirls placards.

    We were never told Oby Ezekwesili, a former Minister of Education, or Maryam Uwais, a lawyer, or Dino Melaye, a former member of the House of Representatives or Hadiza Bala Usman, or even Japheth Omojuwa, a celebrated young entrepreneur and blogger, hung riffles around on their shoulders while they led the #BringBackOurGirls campaign to Aso Rock. Yet, these are respected Nigerians who should have had the privilege of president’s welcome to air their grievances.

    Alas, Malala – a 17-year-old Pakistani girl – with the same #BringBackOurGirls campaign the Ezekwesilis, Melayes and Uwais of this country have been pushing was in Nigeria for three days and President Jonathan threw his doors ajar for her. The next thing: ministers, presidential aides and security officers, who attacked Nigerian protesters, started falling over themselves in photo ops with the Pakistani teenager. This is hypocrisy at its best and the presidency insulted the sensibility of every rational Nigerian, who had expected Jonathan would give audience to the aggrieved citizens clamouring for the release of the abducted teens.

    The most insulting of Malala affairs is the promise Jonathan made to the teenager. “I promise to meet with the girls’ parents,” the president reportedly told Malala. But anyone who understands Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima’s grievance with the president would, by now, know that the Jonathan’s promise to the teenager indicated a sheer presidential contempt for people of different political standpoint.

    Governor Shettima’s pleas to the president to visit Chibok and meet with parents of the abducted girls met a brick wall. Rather, the governor was turned the object of tirade by the presidential aides, who threw vitriolic innuendos at Shettima and his political party. Why didn’t the president or his aides upbraid Malala for lending her voice to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign?

    We must praise this Pakistani teen for lending the Nigerian presidency some wisdom, which can be succinctly put this way: “If you can’t pick wisdom from your people, we will not hesitate to come from outside to deliver the wise message.”

    We know the president is only concerned about his re-election in 2015 and nothing more. This is what he lives for, not minding whether people were abducted or killed by terrorists on daily basis. Whether it is Malala or Obama that visits, we don’t care. What we demand from Jonathan is to strip his presidency of hypocrisy and summon courage to free the girls from their captors and re-unite them alive (not in body bags) with their parents.

    • Ajetunmobi is a reporter with The Nation

  • Doctors and health sector crisis

    Recently the media has been awash with comments and write ups by some doctors who in a bid to justify the current strike of the Nigeria Medical Association are putting forward arguments that are capable of misinforming the public about the Nigerian health sector. Part of such arguments is that doctors are all in all and that they can effectively do the work of other health professionals while others cannot do the doctor’s work. They claim that the physician of old merely delegated some of his duties to people who are now called pharmacists, physiotherapists, nurses, laboratory technologists etc. just for convenience and he can take it back any time he so wishes.

    Some doctors also claim that other health workers having been trained by them to merely assist them do their work, should not now start to demand to hold any leadership position in the health sector because it should naturally be the birthright of the doctor. So, doctors see absolutely no reason for other health workers to seek to attain the post of consultants in their own field or directors in the hospitals, as according to them, it will just create crisis in the hospitals and other health facilities. Another claim is that most of the other health professionals found themselves in their respective fields because they were either unable to meet up with the requirements for medicine or were withdrawn from medical schools because they could not cope with the rigours. Thus many of these ‘failures’ now begrudge doctors and strive to become one through the back door.

    I believe that if things are not put in proper perspective, these comments may successfully create an impression in the general public that other health workers are begrudging doctors or seeking to become doctors through the backdoor when it is indeed the doctors that are illegally encroaching into the constitutionally recognised roles of non- doctors.

    While it is true in ages past, that physicians were a Jack of all trades as far as treatment of the patient was concerned, the practice in the wisdom of practitioners was later broken down into different disciplines for better efficiency and specialisation. It was not to make any health worker a servant or slave to the other. Every discipline is important and all are expected to work together and collaborate to achieve a better patient outcome. Therefore, the claim that the doctor can do the work of every member of the health team is therefore a very big fallacy because he was never trained to do so.

    The multidisciplinary approach to treating patients which many Nigerian doctors are trying so hard to downplay today is firmly established, promoted and appreciated in developed countries like the United Kingdom, United States and Canada. There, no one feels superior to another. No one brandishes irrelevant ego. All that matter is the patient’s well-being and everyone will go to any extent to put their heads together in order to achieve the best outcome for the patient.

    Nigerian doctors when they travel abroad to practice follow these laid down principles and do their utmost to collaborate with other health professionals in the interest of the patient. However, in Nigeria, doctors have thrown global best practices to the wind and see other health professionals as servants who should receive orders rather than collaborate with them. They would rather have a less than desirable patient outcome than having to ‘descend so low’ as to seek the opinion of other health workers in the management of the patient. Even though some of them do, majority who do not, view them with derision and would want them blacklisted if they had their way.

    Rather than putting their heads together to discuss ways of tackling the problems bedeviling the Nigerian health sector, the Nigerian doctors have preoccupied themselves with means of continuing the culture of suppression and intimidation of other health care professionals in the health sector.

    For instance, why will the doctors go on strike because another health professional will be appointed a consultant in his own field having acquired the required knowledge and qualification?

    Why will the doctor negotiate for and accept to be paid 160% of his basic salary as call duty allowance but would insist that the radiologist must settle for less than 80% rather than the 100% he is clamouring for?

    Why will Nigerian doctors threaten to go on strike if anyone but them is made the health minister knowing full well that the post is purely administrative and is not an exclusive preserve of health experts in most nations of the world? Why does the doctor have a phobia for a non-doctor becoming a permanent secretary in the ministry of health? Why are doctors being imposed on laboratory technologists and scientists to become Heads of Department in many hospital laboratories? Several other acts of repression are perpetrated by doctors in the health sector.

    I expect some of the commentators in the media to mention specific instances where other health care providers have encroached into the practice of doctors in the hospitals, which could have warranted such a high level of mistrust. Rather, all they did was base their arguments solely on vague assumptions.

    The law does not permit the doctor to be in charge of drug procurement as is being practiced in many Nigerian hospitals today. The law forbids a non-pharmacist to dispense ethical drugs even in private hospitals but today quacks and auxiliary nurses are recruited by doctors in private practice to dispense steroids and the most delicate of controlled drugs.

    Framers of the laws regulating pharmacy practice discourage the setting up of privately owned pharmacies in government hospitals. Today, many Chief Medical Directors have either unilaterally or in connivance with commissioners or minister of health (who are doctors) established private pharmacies in government hospitals. Most of them enjoy controlling shares in these profit maximizing outlets through their fronts and cronies. Who then is trying to become what through the backdoor?

    The law permits a first degree holder to rise up to Grade Level  17 in the civil service as long as he passes the required examinations and meets every other requirement, but doctors, through Chief Medical Directors in the federal government hospitals do everything within their means to frustrate promotion of non-doctors above Grade Level  15. In fact, doctors do not disguise their phobia for seeing non- doctors in the directorate cadre.

    When some of these illegalities are successfully contested in competent courts of law and judgments obtained, ‘the powers that be’ have devised means of circumventing such judgments, just like they are doing with the current contemptuous strike.

    That most doctors speak about the military era with nostalgia cannot surprise anyone that has been following events in the health sector in the last three decades. It was during the Babangida regime that the leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association used their closeness to the military to get Decree 10 promulgated which essentially amended the laws that prescribe fairness and harmony in the health sector to ones that make the doctor a demigod, and accords to him salaries and emoluments that were skies above his other contemporaries in the health sector. It was indeed during this era that doctors were able to corner every position that matters in the health sector. Administrative posts that were hitherto held by professional administrators and social scientists were hijacked by medical doctors. In any gathering of decision makers in the health ministry today, more than 75% of the roll call will be medical doctors.

    It is advisable that Nigerian doctors accept the team work approach to medical practice as is the norm in civilized societies. The current scenario that makes the doctor sees himself as god and other health workers as lesser beings can only portend doom for medical practice in Nigeria. The current practice that assigns the doctor to almost all administrative posts in the health sector and makes him feed fat while others settle for crumbs is no longer sustainable and will only make the health sector crisis a recurring decimal.

    • Adekunle, a pharmacist, writes from Matogun, Ogun State

     

  • Letter to Oby Ezekwesili

    Dear Oby, Please permit the easy familiarity and by way of introduction suffice it to say that I am older in natural age than your illustrious self and hence my sense of entitlement. This letter has been prompted in part by online posts I stumbled upon wherein one of the numerous anonymous online regime supporters labelled you as ‘ewu Hausa’ and yet another wondered why you were carrying the Chibok ‘abduction thing’, ‘on your head’ as if you were Hausa. I also get a feeling that this sentiment is gaining some currency in Nigeria’s increasingly polarized atmosphere.

    Ordinarily these kinds of comments, being so inane ought not to elicit any other reaction but disgust, indignation and pity for the authors’ small minded inhumanity. However we live in strange but by no means uncharted times. Times where reason appears to be taking flight from the souls of otherwise presumed reasonable people and where those who take directions from them have shut their eyes and rely only on their ears to follow a direction, which if only they opened their eyes, will discover is headed to an approaching cliff edge.

    Unknown to the small minded lot, by highlighting your involvement in an endeavour you could have easily ‘siddon look’, they are ensuring your place in the hallowed chamber reserved for those whose world view and consequent actions are guided by an understanding of the true essence of humanity. A hallowed chamber where greatness is a prerequisite- the greatness that is measured not in figures or plaques but in the enduring and sincere appreciation of humanity and including those not present at the time of your actions; in short, character and actions that will stand the test of time.

    In these times especially given the atmosphere of orchestrated dehumanization, it is tempting to feel discouraged for many reasons. Like me, you must sometimes wonder, how it is that it is so easy to fool people. At times you may even in confusion self-debate whether you are the one fooling yourself because how can so many people be so foolish, so myopic and hence so easy to beguile with self-serving and insincere partisan rhetoric. All sorts of inanities and yet there are willing ears to listen but sadly there is little appetite to allow the brain in between to process the plethora of ‘information’ and perhaps worst of all, the seemingly easy ability of people to subdue their conscience on the altar of foisted partisan sentiments.

    Please do not be discouraged and I will go into history to furnish examples that will hopefully hearten you in these trying times. You will of course know that in the heyday of racial segregation in America, some white folks stood with the blacks in condemning segregation and fighting for its abolition. Other whites sneeringly and malevolently derided them as ‘blacks lovers’ and other ‘abuse’ names. In the meantime there were several blacks who did not see the need to confront the system, especially those who felt well adjusted or those not living in the American south and indeed many saw segregation as a southern problem which did not really affect them directly ‘unbearably’. In the long run though, good will always be good and even the white people today are thankful that some of their number actually fought against what everybody now agrees as evil. They are thankful because you cannot, on account of racial segregation of the past, classify white people generally as evil since some white people also opposed that evil at that time. So tomorrow, the lot castigating you today will thank you for saving them from a general classification as condoners of evil because you are fighting evil on their behalf! I say condoners of evil because I also take the view that failure to recognize evil as evil and fight it with every might and conviction is tantamount to condoning same which only emboldens evil.

    If you were a white woman in that bus with Rosa Parks, you would have risen to her support and protested against your fellow whites who sought to oppress her. If there was a white woman like that in that bus what do you think humanity in general will make of her today? Will we have known her name? YES and for the right reasons. The others in that bus have since been consigned to the dustbin of history, a fate that undoubtedly awaits your persecutors.

    The struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa was not only fought by blacks. Neither was the apartheid system sustained by whites only. The bitter truth is that blacks participated actively in enforcing apartheid. Today we acknowledge the whites who fought the apartheid system as superior human beings. Superior in the sense that many of us know that whilst we abhor apartheid because we are black, we are thankful that we were not put to that test of exhibiting superior humanity if roles were reversed. Paradoxically, we recognize that those who support or fight causes on objective moral basis are cut from a different cloth. A cloth we all can have but which the promoters of divisiveness use every trick available to muddy its colour and make it unappealing to the weak in mind to adorn. The seeming ‘success’ of the promoters of hate, division and evil is however a pyrrhic one because when tomorrow comes, the truth will subdue propaganda. That tomorrow cannot be impeached or chased away – it must and will come and it is irrespective of whether you or myself or indeed the ‘other guys’ will be there.

    My comrade, when tomorrow comes, by which time all the propaganda and abuse will have faded, humanity will recognize that putting pressure on a government to do it’s job or pointing out the many failings of that government in other areas has nothing to do with religion, section or seeking to tarnish a regime’s image, it is about answering NO to that famous question posed by Ursula K LeGuin – ‘if you know that the beautiful manner of living you yourself enjoy is built on the foundation of misery deliberately imposed on innocents, can you in conscience do nothing? Those who persecute and harass you for following your conscience only do so today and unknowingly or not caring demean their humanity for tomorrow. When ‘they’ accuse you of all sorts of ulterior motives, ‘we’ know it is only a reflection of their world view and disposition. So please remain steadfast, we are not all fooled! And long may you live!

     

    • Ukpong is a legal practitioner

  • Aregbesola: Social contract vs. stomach infrastructure

    Suddenly, the Ekiti governorship election has formally endorsed, so to speak, a strange and damning concept into our lexicon, especially for those in the South West, as the guaranteed alley way to electoral victory.The intriguing concept is ‘stomach infrastructure’, hitherto an alien term to this part of the world.

    It is at once a concept which will make Chief Obafemi Awolowo turn in the grave; for the apostles of mainstream politics and winning power by any means, the era of come and chop politics is finally reaching out to the only remaining bastion of egalitarian comportment in the country. Predictably, it has emboldened congenital and pathological lying politicians to purvey the dubious notion that the strange outcome of the Ekiti election is set to be repeated in Osun. In other words, a social pact between a government and citizens has become anarchronistic; what is now needful is a carefully contrived gimmick of exploiting hapless citizens’ soft under-belly to foist a crude and uncultured parasitic reign.

    Mercifully, this will turn out a pipe-dream after all, at least not in this part of the country. Even for the Ekiti fiasco, it is only a matter of time before the bubble bursts and Osun in three weeks, will keep hope alive for the South-west. But let’s examine this strange concept a little deeply and why it will meet its waterloo in Osun.

    In what manner do we accommodate what ought to be the backbone of democracy, the ‘social contract’ in the age of what is now known as “infrastructure of the stomach”? The question is crucial now. The concept of a social contract should be the engine room of a democratic process. The social contract lays out the obligations of those who command the executive to those who elected them into office in the first place.

    There ought to be no contradiction in complimenting infrastructure of the stomach (the immediate quick-fix) with the long term duties and commitments inherent in a social contract. In just a few weeks down the road, the issue of “stomach infrastructure” as opposed to or in relation to the obligation of a social contract could be a determining factor in the governorship election in the state of Osun. Could be? Time will tell.

    Since infrastructure of the stomach is now in the lexicon, what should be the response of those who feel obliged to lay the foundations for long – term development? In the case of Osun, the jury is no longer out. The verdict is clear that the incumbent governor has spent the past three and a half years laying the foundation for sustainable development.

    There ought to be no conflict about defining this as the real reason, the raison d’etre for being in office. In Aregbesola’s case, he kick-started the process of a social contract in Osun State from a very low base. He continues to implement the development effort at a time when the fiscal climate is very much against the required cash-flow of the state governments.

    Nigeria’s quasi-federalism means that the states cannot exploit, process their own resources and use it to develop their states. It is also a difficult time to operate a development process when the almighty allocation from the centre is dwindling all the time. This represents a multi-dimensional dilemma. Forwithout a sound structure, even the hope of increasing internally generated revenue (IGR) as a counter-balancing force becomes forlorn.

    Nevertheless, in a dicey situation Aregbesola has punched above his weight. He has in a very tight fiscal environment, recreated the development framework associated with a progressive, social democratic government. At every stage, the development thrust under Aregbesola has been innovatively integrative. There is a clear focus of achieving a multiplier effect with each policy thrust.

    A good example is the school feeding programme. This involves feeding 300, 000 pupils every school day at the cost of N3.6 billion per annum. It is a transparent programme since it can be verified simply by going to the schools themselves. The programme has led to an exponential increase in enrolment figures. The socio-economic benefit here is seminal.

    In addition, a multiplier effect is triggered off. Food production has consequently gone up in geometric proportion. There is a clear gain as a result in terms of the purchasing power of the farmers. This is a clear case of financial employment and poverty alleviation mixed up in line with a policy of thrust to construct the foundations for self-sustaining economic development.

    The fiscal injection into the economy of the state is far more than can be achieved by any immediate “infrastructure of the stomach.” The students consume 15, 000 whole chickens every week and it is served twice. They consume 400 tons of fish every week. 35 herds of cattle are also consumed every week.

    The financial empowerment to poultry and fish farmers is important. It means that the rural economy is receiving a boost. In addition, 3,007 women cook the meals for the students. They are paid directly through the banks and were given seed capital to start-up. In no way is this initiative any different from the model associated which the founder of modern micro-finance Muhammed Yunus used and which won him the NobelPrize.

    The school feeding programme also has a link with the health sector. Hundreds of thousands are now receiving proper, healthy, and nutritious meals for the first time. The long term gains in terms of a healthy mind in a healthy body will be profound. For a start, there will be less pressure and stress on the health infrastructure. This is the policy thrust that the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the late highly esteemed professor Olikoye Ransome Kuti amongst many others has, been advocating for decades.

    In fulfillment of the need to cement the social contract, the thrust of the Aregbesola programme has been to lay the foundations for self-sustaining development. On the widely copied O’Yes scheme alone, over 40,000 cadets have been empowered with entrepreneurial skills.

    As with all things Aregbesola, there is always the synergy lurking there somewhere. The 200 kilometres of roads constructed under his watch translates into opening up the rural economy. This means that farm production will go up, as the farmer can now evacuate his or her produce for onward sales in the urban markets. Again, this is a gain for the farmers, as well as for their individual and collective purchasing power. There has also been a profound gain for the rural economy of Osun State by opening up roads and linking it with farm gate purchases for the O’Meal programmme.

    The social contract is well and alive in Osun State. From a tight economic base, all the stakeholders have benefitted across the board. This spans critical sectors such as teachers, civil servants, those in the transportation sector as well as those in the agrarian economy. Students for example, have seen their bursary go up in adjustment to inflation. The bursary has been raised to N10,000 fiat while medical and law students receive N20 000. Osun State indigenes in the law school get N100,000.

    Osun has become a hub for progress. This means that by carrying out his obligations to all sectors, Aregbesola has protected and then enhanced the living standards of those who gave him a mandate. We may care to recall that when he was seeking re-election, Bill Clinton boldly asked the voters “are you better off today than you were four years ago?”

    Aregbesola can and should confidently do the same. By providing the infrastructure for self-sustaining development across all sectors in the state, he has actually tendered to the issue of the infrastructure of the stomach. The infrastructure of the stomach is best nourished not just by the provision of today’s meal, but by the execution of well thought out policies to insure the provision of a meal everyday.

  • Kawu vs Saraki: limits of hubris

    Among the literary creatures of Ilorin emirate, my brother, Ishaq Moddibo Kawu stands tall in the contemporary generation and he has never hidden that fact and the privileges it attracts. One of such privileges was the opportunity he had to speak to some members of the PDP as he recalled in his most recent literary production in The Vanguard. Of course as one of the leaders in the media industry he has a veritable platform to process his thoughts for consumption sometimes, and very unfortunate, without giving due consideration to the quality of such products.

    That is why reading through that piece, like many others in the recent past, on rebranding Kwara according to his dream and that of some leaders of the PDP, one is left with no other conclusion other than that he allowed what is now very clear as personal hatred or what a colleague referred to as pathological vendetta, for an individual to blot the edge of his pen.

    But upon all the literary assault unleashed upon the person of Senator Bukola Saraki and the incumbent administration in Kwara State which the PDP has enlisted his support to unseat, it is clear that Modibo has failed the test of a true critic. A sincere critic will look at issues dispassionately, not allowing personal biases becloud his sense of judgment because he knows that many would use his conclusions as basis for further judgment and might be unwittingly misled if the critic had thrown away the garb of the impassionate observer and don the cap of I-am-one-of-them participant.

    I was bewildered when I read from Moddibo Kawu that allowing private investors to undertake businesses in the state where public ownership had proved unfruitful is misgovernance or illegal. In basic economics, I was taught  that government has no business in business, or has Kawu forgotten that elementary principle of economics? Or was that not the basis for setting up the Bureau of Public Enterprise by the federal government, to transfer moribund and unprofitable public enterprises to private investors who can then manage them and bring profit to government? This is why I believe the government rightly transfered the management of the state diagnostic centre for proper social and professional management while retaining ownership. It is easy for Kawu to dismiss the relevance of the Harmony Advanced Medical Diagnostic Centre since he can afford the luxury of traveling abroad for medical examination, but not the likes of Abdullah Abdulganiyu whose detection of stones saved him from early death. Abdullah had suffered all weekend from what he assumed to be food poisoning. A timely scan at the Diagnostic Centre revealed he had kidney stones which were flushed out during a procedure at the centre. When a visiting foreign radiologist saw the films produced at the centre, his astonished response said it all: “These are beautiful pictures. They must have used the most current CTs”.

    It is of course easy for a critic of Kawu’s acknowledged political bias to see nothing good in the establishment of the International Aviation College. But then, the impact of having the aviation college, solely owned by the state government (to correct the deliberate distortion that it belongs to private investor) in Ilorin cannot be overestimated.  Apart from providing jobs for some indigenes of the state, it has added to the social and economic influence of the state. Khadijat Adigun who got her life time ambition fulfilled as the first female pilot from the state will definitely not agree with any skewed position on the college. Other trained pilots from the state now in the fleets of both local and international airlines will spit at any jaundiced and hatred-laden opinion from the likes of Kawu.  Just like the Shonga Farms, jointly owed by the state government, the farmers and the consortium of banks, which Kawu continue to disparage.

    No doubt, Kawu would earn approbation in the midst of men and women whose only goal now is to bring Bukola Saraki down. And the latter’s offences are very well known: he has refused to side with those who believe they should be the only ones he would, to borrow from Kawu,  “cycle, recycle, rehabilitated” etc. But Saraki has made local government chairmen, honourable members of state and national assemblies, senators and governors, of children of those who hitherto were followers and watchers of those who had the privilege of coming from “renowned” and “well-to-do” families. To Kawu and his new comrades, we should continue to be second class citizens. God forbid.

    If anyone had grievances with the way Saraki ran the state in eight years, there are legal avenues to tackle him which, I am aware, people opposed to him have tried severally. And if they have not succeeded in almost 12 years, that should tell us there is something wrong with them or their approach.

    As an observer, I don’t think the problem is with their approach; rather I think the problem has to do with their persons; their inner beings and what is actually pushing them to seek a Bukola downfall. I think they actually want to be like Bukola; they want to be called Leader, even if they have not done anything to justify that appellation. It is an inner dream being covered with the cloak of criticism against the man Bukola. And seeing that they could not achieve that aim after the demise of his father, the reverred Olusola Saraki, the next most convenient thing is to descend on the son and seek to destroy him.

    If not, why would anyone claim Bukola Saraki has done nothing, first for Ilorin and then for Kwara State? Kwara State University is nothing? Ilesha-Kosubosu Road, which the then federal government promised to do when Bukola was a toddler but refused to do until the then toddler came to the throne and did is nothing?  Putting Professor Shuaib Oba in the Federal Character Commission is nothing?

    Was it wrong of him to have insisted in 2011 that fielding another candidate from his family to succeed him was unreasonable; that it would expose the state and the family name to ridicule? Would a social critic have applauded that choice? So it was wrong when in 1999 Nigerian political leaders agreed to allow the South-west produce the then president to assuage the feeling of alienation the region had suffered over the years?

    If Bukola Saraki is leader today, was it his making? His father had many notable contemporaries in the field of politics but who among them could do what he did and did for Kwara until his death? Is this the first time to have a political hegemony? Has vendetta beclouded Moddibo Kawu’s sense of history? One expected a well read Kawu to always review his speeches before going viral with them. No doubt, a piece like the one in reference has done great damage to his reputation among some of us who used to look up to him.

    People now say that he vowed to bring Bukola Saraki down because he has offended him and hence would never forgive him. Haba! What about the teaching of the holy Qur’an? Even in this holy month of Ramadan? If the path Moddibo has chosen is vengeance, let it be separated from the business of Kwara State’s liberation.

     

    Abdulkadir writes from Ilorin.

  • Oshiomhole’s Olive branch

    I never gave a thought to the idea that I could be a teacher. But teach I did when I could not secure a job several years after completing my national service. For five years, I did the little I could in preparing young minds for post tertiary institution examinations. Until journalism took me away from the classroom, I derived great pleasure in seeing those young faces look up to me almost in awe as I imparted knowledge into them. Years later, I got a joyful surprise when a young lady ran up and gave me a bear hug in, of all places, Oshodi, Lagos. She turned out to be one of the many young people who went through my tutelage. To put it mildly, I felt like a king for the rest of that day convinced that I played my part in a profession that can has all the hallmark of the divine given its contribution to the relevance of every generation or civilisation.

    Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that given the teachers’ noble efforts, there ought to be no debate on the need for them to get the best in terms of societal reverence, remuneration and or perks of duty. Sadly, whereas this is the case in civilised climes, the situation in Nigeria has tended to run along the opposite direction, advertised mainly by the regularity of the ding-dong battle between them and governments, both at the state and federal levels. The result is that Nigerians are now more familiar with teacher’s strike than they are with power supply.

    But efforts to right the ugly trend have not been in short supply given that all levels governments appear committed to the search for both a lasting solution and the need to turn education sector around for the better.  In this, Edo State government has demonstrated remarkable determination. For instance, as part of its quest for a lasting solution, the Oshiomhole administration initiated the teachers’ competency test intended to ensure that the sectoral reform heralded by the construction of new school buildings and provision of other relevant infrastructure across the state, also took into account the very vital issue of individual teacher’s readiness to function professionally. The initiative became imperative following the discovery that a number of those claiming to be teachers were neither qualified nor in possession the requisite professional qualification to function as such. Unfortunately, instead of embracing the proposal, the teachers, prompted by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, hauled bricks at it, the same way they attack even the noblest policy decision of the state government. In the end, they reduced the proposal to a design deliberately orchestrated by the administration to witch-hunt or retrench them. No explanation to the contrary would ease their opposition, hence amicable solution became virtually impossible.

    However, while negotiations remained ongoing, stakeholders mounted pressure on the administration that reversing the proposal will be of more benefit to all. To demonstrate that the administration has not reneged on its let-the-people-lead mantra, the state governor, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, did the needful and cancelled the decision on Thursday, July 3.

    As part of the design to end the long drawn battle with the teachers, the governor also announced that the 936 teachers whose names were deleted from payroll over certificate forgeries and age falsifications would not only have their names restored but also be paid outstanding salaries. Thirdly, he declared that public school teachers will now benefit from the state’s relativity pay. For members of the state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, and Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, who were at the meeting, the largely unexpected offer was an “Olive Branch” worthy of commendation.

    Long before the coming of the Oshiomhole administration, education in the state was in a mess. Undoubtedly, there was the need to bring dignity to the sector. It took no time before the administration began to initiate deliberate policies to standardise the quality of the sector’s physical infrastructure as well as its human capacity. Thus, having built schools for which it received plaudits, the administration moved to the next stage of auditing the quality of teachers manning its classrooms. Not unexpectedly, the move unearthed an endemic rot that required urgent surgical cleansing hence the decision to conduct the now rested competency test. Unfortunately, the move resulted in an unusually illogical and politicised resistance orchestrated, as earlier pointed out, by the opposition.

    In taking the step of cancelling the test, the administration also announced the adoption of a corresponding policy which emphasises training and re-training for both teachers and the state’s other workforce with the hope it will provide the impetus needed to ginger them into reciprocating the gesture. One can only hope that calm will return to the sector soon, after all, to whom much is given, much more is expected.

    But while waiting for calm to return, it must be noted there is a tinge of hypocrisy in some of the teachers’ demands that snowballed into the deadlock that has just been broken by the cancellation announced by the governor. Part of their demand is that they also must be paid the relativity pay. The disparity came into force when the federal government introduced the Teachers Special Allowance, TSA. With it, the salary of a teacher in, for instance, grade level 8, step 2, became bigger by 25 per cent than that of a fellow public servant of the same category in another branch of the state’s public service.

    In an attempt to bridge the differential, the state government introduced the relativity pay to bridge the gap between the allowances earned by the teachers and their other public service counterparts. The allowance reduced by 10 per cent the 25 per cent disparity between the wage earned by teachers and other workers in the state’s public service. Despite an obvious 15 per cent difference, the teachers insisted that they also must be paid.

    The point being made here is that while the competency controversy raged, the teachers argued that the government had no reason to exclude its other workforce from the test if the policy was not meant to witch-hunt them. In other words, they sought to make the point that what is good for the goose should be sauce for the gander. But the question begging for an answer is this; if indeed, the teachers are concerned about the need for equity and fairness, how come they conveniently chose to forget that their counterpart in other sectors of the state’s public deserve equal pay and allowances?

    While the purpose for asking the question above is not to ruffle already calmed feathers, one must not fail to reiterate the point that to whom much is given, much more is expected. If that is true, the teachers ought to understand that there is need for them to be good enough for the job for which they are being paid so much. In other words, if they are deserving of special pay and allowances, they ought to be ready for special assessment. Fortunately, the governor has done what appears to be the needful. What remains to be seen is that the beneficiaries of his gesture must find the moral courage to reciprocate it in kind. The people of Edo are waiting eagerly to see not only the colour of their response but also how soon it will manifest. But whatever colour or hue the response takes, they must not forget the reasons given by the governor for initially insisting that the competency test must be conducted: basic education is like the foundation of a house; if it is weak, the building will collapse.

    Right now, the foundation is in the teachers’ hand.

     

    • Omoarelojie writes from Benin City
  • Educating Nigerians on credible visa procurement

    Educating Nigerians on credible visa procurement

    Over the years, some notable Nigerians have complained about the intense scrutiny they were subjected to at airports of some foreign countries just because they were carrying Nigerian passports. The experience which they regarded as humiliating and embarrassing may have seemed unjustified considering the calibre of such people. However, it is increasingly becoming clear that many countries are  indeed wary of just accepting people entering their airports with Nigerian passports for who and what they claim to be because of the incidences of Nigerians travelling with fake or fraudulently acquired visas.

    A story was told recently, at an event in Lagos, of a Nigerian business woman who sought the assistance of an agent to procure a visa to visit a foreign country. It was arranged and the unsuspecting woman was given a visa which identified her as a government official billed to attend a United Nations meeting. At the port of entry, immigration officers asked of the purpose of her trip and she honestly told them she was visiting. To her consternation, she was promptly arrested and deported. Back home in Nigeria, she landed in more trouble into the waiting arms of the law, for visa scam.

    This story, funny as it seems, shocked the audience, a gathering of stakeholders, at a national seminar on visa acquisition, organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) held at Ikeja. It signified the extent to which unscrupulous touts and compromised government officials could collaborate to perpetrate visa racketeering. More importantly, it also showed that not all those involved in visa procurement scams were criminally minded. Many innocent Nigerians genuinely looking for assistance to procure a visa to travel have actually fallen into the hands of touts and fraudsters posing as travel agents. The seminar shed more light on this and other issues involved in visa acquisition and the criminal activities of touts in Nigeria.

    In his opening remarks, Chairman of ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta said the seminar was part of the Commission’s further intervention in restoring sanity and integrity in important sectors of national life. “We have now turned our searchlight on visa procurement process. We are raising awareness on how to acquire visas in a transparent manner and helping to eradicate corruption- prone processes.”

    He observed that “the visa conditions of various countries could be very cumbersome and complicated and could pose a problem to the ordinary traveller which requires third party intervention, such as, a knowledgeable travel agent or consultant, a friend or a family member” to avoid an infringement in the process which could have serious consequences such as the traveller losing the right to travel temporarily or permanently, embarrassment, arrest, deportation, imprisonment etc.

    The Special Guest of Honour, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, represented by the Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter- Governmental Affairs, Dr. Wale Ahmed, who declared the seminar open, commended the ICPC on its anti-corruption advocacy. He said the awareness the seminar would create will save a lot of people from the antics of visa scammers.

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Bashir Wali, also commended the ICPC for its efforts to sanitize the visa acquisition process which has led to the arrest and prosecution of several suspects and their collaborators. He noted that “touts and miscreants have constituted themselves into visa procurement agents luring peace and law-abiding citizens into “engaging knowingly or unknowingly in visa scam.” He said the seminar will further expose the dubious tricks of visa procurement scam and encourage responsible individuals and corporate bodies to avoid such unwholesome malpractices

    A representative of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea delivered a goodwill message identifying with the ICPC initiative to sanitize visa acquisition process. He said the seminar was one of the cornerstones of the exchange of ideas between the Nigerian government and the embassies on how to solve the problems associated with visa procurement.

    The seminar was indeed an eye opener as predicted by the speakers at the opening ceremony. It illuminated critical areas of the visa acquisition process and the loopholes or shortcomings which unscrupulous people usually took advantage of to perpetrate scams. The first presentation by Mr. Abbia Udofia, an official of ICPC entitled “Curbing Visa Scam: The ICPC Experience” described visa scam as irregularities in form of discrepancies at any point of the visa application process, false declarations, cloning of documents, transfer of legitimate requests for visa to unauthorised persons, misrepresentations of reasons for travelling and forgery of documents.

    The ICPC intervention to curb visa scam, he explained, has largely been successful with the support of the ministry of foreign affairs, the security and law enforcement agencies and the embassies and high commissions. So far the Commission’s drag net has caught 35 people allegedly involved in visa scams in various capacities while 17 cases are being prosecuted in various courts across the country. Suspects include travel agents, private individuals, lawyers, protocol officers and other public officers. The list also includes prospective students, sportsmen and impersonators using false identity to process visas. The Commission seized 372 passports from various travel agents and touts out of which 65 have been returned to their owners after thorough investigations.

    There has been a groundswell of opinion suggesting that Embassies should be partly blamed for incidences of visa scam because some of the conditions they require of visa applicants are so difficult that the applicant is left with no option than to seek help from agents and touts who claim they can assist to meet the conditions or work around them to secure the visa. This was a challenge the head of the Lagos office of the Indian High Commission, Mrs Ranny Malik had to address in her presentation.

    She said that her country’s visa is obtainable through a simple process by filling the online form, which is not more than two pages. The applicant then comes to the High Commission with the relevant supporting documents for the visa interview. The applicant has the privilege to select his appointment date while filling the visa form.

    However, President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA) Alhaji Aminu Agoha, insisted that some embassies were in the habit of indiscriminately turning down genuine visa applications. He recounted his experience as a victim. He decried the activities of fake travel agents involved in visa scams and advised Embassies to always make enquiries from NANTA which is recognised worldwide.

    The Assistant Comptroller-General of Immigrations (Passports), Mr. T. A. Hundeyin, from the Nigeria Immigration Service, spoke said the Service issues the e- passport (which came into force in 2007, replacing the machine readable passport) in three categories, namely the green standard passport, the blue official passport and the diplomatic passport.

    Ambassador Abdulazeez Dan Kano, Director of Consular and Immigration Services in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in his paper, urged Nigerians at home and abroad to be law abiding and stop patronising touts and unscrupulous government officials for illegal diplomatic (note verbal) visas. He warned that mechanisms to detect and apprehend them have been put in place. He also disclosed that the ministry was working closely with embassies to reduce the difficulties in visa procurement and ensure the protection of the rights of Nigerians.

    As the seminar closed, there was a consensus of opinion condemning the activities of visa scammers while urging embassies to look inward and make visa procurement worthwhile for law abiding and genuine applicants by reviewing some of the contentious conditions.

    Stakeholders in attendance included representatives of foreign embassies in the country, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Foreign Affairs ministry, National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA) and the protocol and external relations units of some state governments. Participants also included the Director- General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof. Bola Akinterinwa, representatives of non- governmental organisations, civil societies and the Lagos state University Students Union, among others.

     

    Akinseye wrote from Lagos

  • Who’s afraid of Chris Okotie?

    Who’s afraid of Chris Okotie?

    The Electoral Body (INEC) should obey the court order and register the Fresh Democratic Party – The Nation, Editorial

    THE Nation was one of the papers that wrote an editorial commentary on the Fresh Democratic Party, FRESH deregistration saga involving the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. It is a controversy that continues to fester like gangrene with no remedy in sight. Yet, the solution is very simple, like most of Nigeria’s complex problems, If only the government would do the needful.

    After weighing the arguments for or against the delisting of the political parties by the commission based on their alleged failure to win a seat in either the state or National Assembly, the newspaper made a case that since the offending party and chief protagonist (FRESH) in the suit (No: FHC /ABJ/CS/800/2012), successfully won a court verdict for its recertification it should be readmitted into the fray in the interest of justice and fair play.

    The ruling was given by Justice G.O. Kolawole of Abuja High Court 5, on July 29, 2013, in what was clearly a watershed in the evolution of our democracy.

    Like the Nation, many mainstream national newspapers have written editorials in support of INEC’s recertification of the young party founded by one of the country’s elite preachers/politicals activist, Rev. Chris Okotie. Standing firmly on the controversial Electoral Act 2010, INEC has refused to budge. Worse, the National Assembly has gone ahead to make a bad case worse.

    The law makers, in the course of the extensive constitutional review exercise going on, have likewise expanded INEC’s mandate to deregister political parties which fail to win any elective seat on offer, from the Presidency down to councillorship. The initial amendment restricted this action to the bigger offices, excluding the grassroots offices in the local government arena.

    Surprisingly, the lawmakers, who were joined as respondents in the Fresh & 2 Ors Vs INEC & 3 Ors action, did not take cognizance of this extant judgment, which was and is, still widely published, while taking its decision to carry out the latest amendment of the Electoral law.

    The issue here is not whether deregistration is right or wrong, but that a court of competent jurisdiction has declared the Electoral Act 2010 null and void, and, therefore, any action derived from it of no effect. INEC, the National assembly and the other two respondents should obey the court order.

    What the judgment says is that INEC should restore the FRESH party as one of the recognized political parties and allow it to field candidates in any office it so decides in the on-going elections.

    We are vividly reminded of this case by the Nation’s edition of May 8, 2014 which conclusively settled the constitutionality or otherwise of the INEC action: “FDP approached the court to seek legal redress. Among the reliefs it sought from the court were that it has satisfied all the conditions and requirements of a political party as stipulated under the Electoral Act, 2010, and continues to exist as an extant political party in Nigeria; that it cannot be de-registered except in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 constitution; that the reliance by INEC on Section 78(7) (ii) of the Electoral Act as well as Section 223 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution

    to de-register FDP without hearing the party’s side violates Sections 36, 38 and 40, 221-222 of the 1999 Constitution and paragraph 15 of the 3rd Schedule (part 1) of the constitution and an order nullifying the purported de-registration by INEC as illegal, unconstitutional and violating democratic tenets.

    “The FDP also prayed the court to order INEC to restore its recognition as a political party as well as restrain the electoral body or any of its agents from implementing or enforcing the de-registration. Describing Section 78 (7) (ii) of the Electoral (Amendment) Act as a product of “legislative arbitrariness”, the court held that the legislation negates Section 222 of the Nigerian Constitution, which stipulates qualifications for registration of political parties.

    “The learned jurist stated clearly that the Nigerian constitution does not ‘specifically or impliedly’ provide for de-registration of a political party that has met the conditions of Section 222 (a) to (f).”

    As an independent observer who, like millions of Nigerians, has been following this case, no excuse is tenable

    in law for the blatant disobedience of a court order. We cannot accept the argument that, because the legislative authorities decided that, only big or money bag parties with effective capacities to appropriate enough votes to win some elections are dominant today, other parties should “fall down and die”.

    Democracy is about level playing filed. The absence of this has blighted our processes and actions; this INEC and lawmakers’ impunity in the FRESH case is unpalatable. Some people are even asking: Who is afraid of Chris Okotie? Is all these attempt to shut out his party a sign of genuine phobia for man and his paradigm shift ideals? If FRESH claims to be only serious alternative to the present political shenanigans, we should allow the electorate to decide.

    •Imoukhuede wrote in from Lagos