The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Still on OBJ’s letter

    The Greek writer Sophocles may have long predicted Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s vitriolic vituperations in the open letter, aptly entitled, Before it is too late to the embattled President Goodluck Jonathan. In specific terms, Obasanjo’s allegations  include the President reneging on his earlier promise to spend only one term in office, made to the top hierarchy of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in  Obasanjo’s presence; treating the  rampaging, hydra-headed monster of corruption with kid gloves, gross incapacity to rein in the evil of insecurity as evidenced by the spatter of kidnappings and the Boko Haram insurgency.

    He is accused of  promoting ethnic chauvinism, supporting opposition parties for electoral victory, protecting murderers and open romance with them, stoking the fires that threaten the unity of the ruling PDP and of course, the most dangerous of them all – having some 1,000 Nigerians on his watch list and allegedly training snipers as it was during the dark days of the dreaded Sani Abach-led  military regime.

    This sad, sordid and scary scenario painted graphically in the 18-page letter ignites some burning questions. So grave and grievous is this singular allegation about the training of snipers all in the bid to hang to power come 2015 that the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project(SERAP) swiftly sent a petition to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Christof Heyns urging him to ‘ask the Nigerian government to halt any alleged training of snipers for political purposes.”

    SERAP also wants a thorough investigation to be carried out to fish out the masterminds and bring them to speedy justice. It reminds that ‘the government has a particular responsibility to protect all citizens and other residents in the country against human rights violations. The right to life is widely regarded as the supreme right. The training of snipers will invariably lead to a pervasive climate of insecurity and the absence of the rule of law.”

    The second question centres on Jonathan’s   lukewarm and tepid response to the fight against corruption. Under this administration, concerned Nigerians have watched with utter disbelief how issues of gargantuan corruption are brought to the public space only for them to be swept under the carpet, deliberately. At first they generate so much public concern but soon they peter off and suffer what physicists would call the Doppler effect.

    How many instances can one recount? While poor Nigerians were subjected to untold agony over the removal of fuel subsidy, some smart Alecs in the name of fuel marketers were loading premium spirit direct from Port Harcourt refinery, off to ships waiting on the high sea, some papers were signed and the same fuel brought back to Nigeria and sold to the country at exorbitant prices! Amongst those fingered as responsible for the ripping of the country are sons of PDP stalwarts. The same Nigerians who were regaled about how the proceeds of the increase in fuel pump price from N65 to N97 per litre would be channeled into the SURE-P as buffer for their unjustifiable pains are now being told that some N500billion of the expected revenue inflow has suddenly grown wings. Not long after that, the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi  raised his voice a pitch higher to let Nigerians know that some tidy sum of N8 trillion naira expected as oil revenue from NNPC is nowhere to be found! And as the agency makes spirited attempts to douse the flames of public angst against such an outrage of financial recklessness or outright pillaging of the national coffers,   the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal adds his patriotic concern about the antics of a sitting president whose body language condones corruption in the corridors of power.

    Only recently, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State asked the Finance Minster, Okonjo-Iweala to tell Nigerians how many barrels of crude oil we produce and export on daily basis but no answer yet even as theft of crude oil goes on with spree.

    What has happened to Arumah Otteh after all the grave allegations leveled against her at SEC? What about Stella Oduah and the inflated contract for the purchase of two bullet-proof cars for N255million? She is still sitting pretty at her plush office as the Minister of Aviation at a time a fellow Nigerian who allegedly stole N500 was asked to provide N20,000 for his bail? How much more of this open stealing of our common patrimony can we take, at a time  when pension funds of those who served their country meritoriously running into billions are converted into private pockets by the untouchables?

    That brings us to the insecurity challenge as highlighted by Obasanjo. Though, one must symapthise with Jonathan for having the Boko Haram menace taking on a dangerous dimension during his tenure, how do we explain his obvious helplessness to combat it headlong and protect ordinary citizens from being sent to their early graves? With billions of budgetary allocation earmarked for stemming the tide of the blood-letting and with the state of emergency declared in three North-Eastern states one would have expected much more pro-active measures. But with Police Headquarters in Abuja bombed in broad daylight, with the UN headquarters suffering a similar fate and with the Air force base in Maiduguri razed to rubbles  in an early morning raid, nothing could be more telling of this administration’s inability to live to up to its responsibilities of protecting us all. So, sad!

    While patriotic Nigerians may not bother themselves too much about the crack in the PDP House that is fast falling, as Karl Meir would caption his book, it is interesting to note that Jonathan has been the piper dictating the ugly tune for the hard line posture of PDP helmsman, Tukur telling anyone who cares to listen about instilling discipline in a party whose antecedent is that of aiding and abetting corruption. Still, we must come to terms with the grim fact, that here in Nigeria, corruption has a million mesmerizing colours.

    One is that of a desperate president playing the ethnic card to further his vaulting ambition. Only that would provide the answers to the verbal missiles from the likes of Asari Dokunbo of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force rising to the rooftop to threaten Nigerians that hell would be let loose should Jonathan not be allowed to contest and win the presidency come 2015.And you ask yourself what manner of democracy are we operating. Only that would make us understand why the president’s Ijaw kinsman, Chief Edwin Clark has suddenly become his alter ego, defending all manner of absurdities that characterize the current maladministration. We may not begrudge his desire to start his own university, as his is located in Nigeria instead of Dokubo’s in the Republic of Benin. Perhaps, even our Christendom would have been saved some embarrassment if the jet-loving Pastor Ayo Oritsejefor is not the one calling the shots and using it as mask behind which every percieved enemy of President Jonathan must be given a dose of his restless tongue lashing.

  • Ogunro: Good guys don’t die, they live forever

    Contradiction: that word does amaze me to no end. And most especially when it applies to the life of a man! It is even more intriguing when applied to the life and times of Sesan Ogunro who was shot in the night of December 22nd at the MKO Garden neighborhood by unknown gunmen. That was a man who would never hurt a fly, a man who was always cool and calm; always in smiles. He was always at peace with himself.

    Ogunro abhorred all forms of violence and would let go of any material thing without thinking twice, yet he was shot- an irony. What were the odds therefore that he got shot and killed at a place of worship and peace, not even anywhere on the road? A place known for all he stood for and lived his life by? The contradiction in violence against the calmness of the church and its premises where the gunmen cut him down baffles me. Would it be right to describe this as murder in the cathedral? Ogunro hardly ventured into the night but he was shot in the night. Yet another contradiction! Before I proceed further, I need to quickly dispel the rumour making the rounds that he was shot by the robbers because he resisted them and was unwilling to surrender his car keys when he was accosted by the gunmen. What a wicked rumour!

    Unknown to many, that Sunday evening’s encounter with robbers was not his first. It was probably the third. One which I still recall as he once narrated to me is that of an evening almost two decades ago. He said he had pulled up at a petrol station somewhere in Ikeja to fuel his Mercedes Benz 300 coupe which was one in town back then when some gunmen accosted him demanding for the keys of the car. Pronto, he surrendered the key and pulled out his wallet, and told them that the car was low on gas and was to hand over fuel money when suddenly one of them recognized him saying ‘Eminent Man, good guy, return his car key to him’. Thereafter they simply vamoosed. Few days later, the car was up for sale.

    So, Ogunro would never resist an armed person for he would warn that you do not challenge a man holding a gun. What happened on that black Sunday as recounted to me by some people at the scene was a robbery gone awry. He had got to the place of an ongoing robbery right in front of his church where he attended a carol service along family members and panicked, which triggered another panicked reaction from the robbers causing them to shoot him at close range. He would then battle for another three hours before he finally died at about 12:45am on Monday morning. In another clime, my egbon would have survived that fatal gun wound.

    A seasoned marketing communications professional and a strategist, Ogunro’s foray into the realm of political communications took off when he played a big role in the Bashorun MKO Abiola Presidential election campaigns of 1993 which was won but denied. Most will still remember the “MKO is our man o o” campaign pay off which was his brainchild. Since then, his signature had been seen in Tinubu and Fasholas’ election campaigns of 1999, 2003 and 2007, 2011. He served as political communications advisor to several other election campaigns.

    Born of Mr and Mrs Folorunso Ogunro of Ise-Ekiti, Sesan Ogunro spent his childhood in Lagos before proceeding to the Elite Christ’s school Ado-Ekiti where he had a distinguished academic career in the arts especially fine arts. His late father, who had had a stint in the military, later worked as an accountant at LUTH before retirement. Ogunro got reconnected to his Ekiti roots during his sojourn at Christ’s School Ado. He was always fond of telling people how Christ’s School shaped his life for which he was always grateful. After secondary school, Ogunro returned to Lagos and began working as a Journalist at Radio Nigeria and enrolled at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism then on Lagos Island where he obtained his Diploma. From there, there was no looking back for him as he would later venture into the exciting and glamorous world of advertising.

    For those of us who were close to him, there was no dull moment as he was capable of making jokes out of any issue. He was an indoor’s man who would glue to his TV watching his favourite Manchester United FC on weekends. To ensure he did not miss his team’s match he would only be in a place where there was a generator just in case of public power failure. As a big fan of Man U, you dared not call him on the day his team got defeated. He never drank alcohol but water and homemade juice. He hardly attended parties unless extremely important.

    Remembering Ogunro and the good times we shared together will linger forever. How can I forget my frequent visits to his office and our lunch of ice- water soaked gari and roasted groundnut? Or the pounded yam and vegetable soup quickly organized by Dennis or Yusuf? How can I forget Sesan Ogunro? Forty eight hours before he was fatally shot, we were gisting and laughing merrily at Southwestern Hotels Ado-Ekiti where he insisted I must return to Lagos for Christmas. He made promises which I know he would have fulfilled.

    Despite all, Sesan Ogunro lived a fulfilled life full of great achievements within his 61 years on this earth. He was a loving husband, a caring brother, a doting father and grandfather. He had touched many lives so profoundly that the mere mention of his name will continue to open doors for members of his family. Ogunro is truly unforgettable.

    To his aged mother whom he would hail during discussions as “say mummy,” I pray God comfort her because I can attest to mama’s closeness to her first son. To his lovely wife Dupe, his children Dami, Sesan Ogunro Jnr.(Bobo), Fade and Timayo, I urge them to take heart as we are consoled in the good works their dad left behind. To our dear Sesan Ogunro, good guys don’t die, they live forever. Unforgettable, that’s what you truly are.

    • Ekundayo, Commissioner for Information, Ekiti State, is Ogunro’s cousin.

  • Open letter to a new generation

    The thing about age is, it is catching. It’s like a hysterical jester lying in wait for the fool.

    I want to tell you about Mrs Okoro. Before l turned nine, school was a vaguely irritating distraction from the pursuit of happiness in play and adventure. Every school day, I’d wear my red checked dress and burgundy beret uniform and passively submit to school. l was not a rebellious child. I was a bored child who daydreamed through classes until lunch when the school served asaro and chicken with bananas and ground nuts as snacks. That was until l got to Mrs Okoro’s class. Mrs Okoro made letters become words, words which became stories, stories which became my life. I loved her dearly, perhaps it was transference as l’d only just lost my mother but at nine, l started going to school because she was there. One day walking out the gates after school, l saw Mrs Okoro getting into a bus ahead of me so l ran across the road to get into the same bus. I didn’t bother checking for traffic. The next thing l remember is thinking heaven looked rather like Akoka road. I had been hit by a car and was staring up at the concerned faces of Mrs Okoro and others. The driver was distraught; he was a student at Unilag and in the moment before pain cut through my adrenalin, l remember being happy l had been hit by a grand university student not some infernal danfo bus driver.

    He took me to the university health centre where the nurses gave me a large cone of ice cream to comfort me before treating me and putting me in the big university bus home. My heart was swollen with pride as the shiny big bus drove down our dirt street in Bariga. Not a dime was exchanged, no one called my father at work, there were no mobile phones and we had no phone at home. There was no need; the system took care of me. It was Nigeria 1980.

    Recently on my way out of Nigeria, the Murtala Mohammed airport was thrown into chaos, people were sweating and swearing, passengers stranded as all electronic equipment had stopped working. The place stank because there was no water to clean the toilets. I watched the white airline crew walk by with barely contained derision as they gingerly sidestepped the mess. The problem wasn’t that there was no electricity at the airport, that’s normal; it was that someone had not supplied the diesel to run one of the generators.

    I sat in a corner, observing people; those who fascinated me most were the band of men, mid30s to late 40s, Nigeria’s emerging business and political elite. I recognised them by their Louis Vuitton luggage, logo jacket and velvet slippers, disguising their social anxiety with an unabated desire for the pointless. Seemingly oblivious to their environment, they strutted about backslapping and rolling their r’s, being cocky, rude and dismissive to everyone.

    What stuck me most about these preening peacocks though, was their total lack of shame at the state of things. They are the band of new-Africa-rising, proudly Nigerian jingoists, living in a glass bubble as far removed from the Nigerian reality as you can get. For them patriotism is not a recognition of failure and a determination to redress it, but a slogan to be worn, tweeted or liked.

    Later on, crammed into a rather unsanitary first class lounge, I watched them posturing for furtive young female travelling companions, clearly under instructions to pretend not to know them. The odd thing is that these are no corn farmers made good from my native Ida ogun, these lounge dwellers are very well educated and uncommonly well travelled Nigerians. A defective fraction of the immense amount of brainpower and knowledge Nigeria has produced.

    I often hear foreigners perplexedly comment that Nigerians are some of the best educated, urbane and confident black people they have ever met, so how come the country is so, well, Shit?

    The question therefore should be, what is it about the country that makes it impossible for its bright, hard working, resource rich population to organise itself into collective prosperity? What is it that turns some of Nigeria’s brightest technocrats into hand wringing, head-scratching incompetents when they achieve power?

    You see, Nigeria was founded as an economic proposition to collect and remit resources to the empire, with the British government entrenching a feudal, centralized, western-education-phobic elite in the North and a westernized, Judeo-Christian, anglicised elite in the south.

    On departure, these elites with their distinct cultural differences but common goal of avarice became the new imperialists. Imbued with a servitude underpinned by self-loathing and a voracious appetite to mimic their former bosses, they confused westernisation for civilisation and like all counterfeiters concentrated on the surface of things. Thus, to their thinking, the more resources of the land they could coral, the more trappings of the west they could possess and the more civilised they could become.

    That unwelcome process continues today.

    Each time the elite is replaced, it is by a new generation similarly afflicted and culturally insecure with the same desire to fraudulently acquire a large share of the common wealth themselves.

    This is self-loathing in action. It is a terminal disease.

    The system designed by the British was to serve the big empire. It was not designed to work for us and never will.

    The dysfunction at Nigeria’s heart remains because it serves the interests of whichever big man muscles or cheats his way into power. (Note; I said man, the system will never allow for a woman, at least not a woman who won’t do the needful.)

    But what about the people? What about the youth?

    The subtext of Obasanjo’s recent letter to Jonathan is what they used to call two fighting boy and boy in the streets of Shomolu. The people can sense this it is not their fight; they are as disconnected from the elite as the elite are from them.

    They know their place is to submit and dream. They want to be the next big cat. They have no real distaste for those who have stolen their future; often they just want to replace them. The grudging admiration seeping through their envy fuelled whimpers of protest reveals fragile egos easily stroked by association with those who have raped them, then thrown them a bit of Vaseline and warm towels.

    Nigeria in 1980 was by no means a perfect place but would my counterpart in Shomolu today have a Mrs Okoro or such access to public health care?

    Let us sound a warning to our “betters,” as they push and pull the country one way and another in their hustle; it is untenable, there will be a snapping, one, which no one can predict.

    So what shall we do? What will the young intellectual elite of today do differently?

    A youth cultural revolution of ideology and values perhaps? Jettison the hypocrisy, the pseudo religious, anti-women, anti-children, anti-poor patriarchy. Turn away from the bigotry, the megalomania, and the cultural bravado. Free yourselves and your future. Speak the truth to power and each other, not just on twitter, to face. Refuse to participate in the racket, the hustle, and the lie. Be better than that which is on offer.

    Thatcher, a deeply polarising figure, but outstanding leader once said;

    “Watch your thoughts for they become words.

    Watch your words for they become actions.

    Watch your actions for they become habits.

    Watch your habits for they become your character.

    And watch your character for it becomes your destiny.

    What we think, we become. ”

    Start now before you become the company CEO, the minister, the commissioner, the senator. Lead from within and without.

    Abraham Lincoln once said of citizens desiring change; make me. Make your elders and leaders take you seriously. Help the few good men and women in power by showing there is a generation who can and will stand with them. Insist on the structural and constitutional changes that which will free our collective creativity, innovation, science, ideas and culture.

    Civilisation is neither westernisation nor exclusive to other climes. It is building a society on values and institutions designed to protect not the strongest but the weakest as we are only as strong, as honourable, as respected and valued as the sum of our weakest parts.

    Now what? My job is to tell stories with context, sometimes l don’t know the end. Write your own ending. Shape history.

    •Excerpts of a paper delivered by Ms Iyanda at ThinkOyo 30under30 Awards on December 21, 2013

  • Look back with angst

    As new year approached a century ago, most people in the West looked forward to 1914 with optimism. The hundred years since the Battle of Waterloo had not been entirely free of disaster-there had been a horrific civil war in America, some regional scraps in Asia, the Franco-Prussian war and the occasional colonial calamity. But continental peace had prevailed. Globalization and new technology-the telephone, the steamship, the train-had knitted the world together. John Maynard Keynes has a wonderful image of a Londoner of the time, “sipping his morning tea in bed” and ordering “the various products of the whole earth” to his door, much as he might today from Amazon – and regarding this state of affairs as “normal, certain and permanent, except in the direction of further improvement”. The Londoner might well have had by his bedside table a copy of Norman Angell’s “The Great Illusion”, which laid out the argument that Europe’s economies were so integrated that war was futile.

    Yet within a year, the world was embroiled in a most horrific war. It cost 9m lives – and many times that number if you take in the various geopolitical tragedies it left in its wake, from the creation of Soviet Russia to the too-casual redrawing of Middle Eastern borders and the rise of Hitler. From being a friend of freedom, technology became an agent of brutality, slaughtering and enslaving people on a terrifying scale. Barristers shot up around the world, especially during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The globalization that Keynes’ Londoner enjoyed only really began again in 1945 – or, some would argue, in the 1990s, when eastern Europe was set free and Deng Xiaoping’s reforms began bearing fruit in China.

    The driving force behind the catastrophe that befell the world a century ago was Germany, which was looking for an excuse for a war that would allow it to dominate Europe. Yet complacency was also to blame. Too many people, in London, Paris and elsewhere, believed that because Britain and Germany were each other’s biggest trading partners after America and there was therefore no economic logic behind the conflict, war would not happen. As Keynes put it, “The projects and politics of militarism and imperialism, of racial and cultural rivalries, of monopolies, restrictions and exclusion, which were to play the serpent of this paradise, were little more than the amusements of (the Londoner’s)… daily newspaper”.

    Playing your role

    Humanity can learn from its mistakes, as shown by the response to the economic crisis, which was shaped by a determination to avoid the mistakes that led to the Depression. The memory of the horrors unleashed a century ago makes leaders less likely to stumble into war today. So does the explosive power of a modern conflagration: the threat of a nuclear holocaust is a powerful brake on the reckless escalation that dispatched a generation of young men into the trenches.

    Yet the parallels remain troubling. The United States in Britain, the superpower on the wane, unable to guarantee global security. Its main trading partner, China, plays the part of Germany, a new economic power bristling with nationalist indignation and building up its armed forces rapidly. Modern Japan is France, an ally of the retreating hegemon and a declining regional power. The parallels are not exact – China lacks the Kaiser’s territorial ambitions and America’s defence budget is far more impressive than imperial Britain’s – but they are close enough for the world to be on it guard.

    Which, by and large, it is not. The most troubling similarity between 1914 and now is complacency. Businesspeople today are like businesspeople then: too busy making money to notice the serpents flickering at the bottom of their trading screens. Politicians are playing with nationalism just as they did 100 years ago. China’s leaders whip up Japanophobia, using it as cover for economic reforms, while Shinzo Abe stirs Japanese nationalism for similar reasons. India may next year elect Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist who refuses to atone for a pogrom against Muslims in the state he runs and who would have his finger on the button of a potential nuclear conflict with his Muslim neigbours in Pakistan. Vladimir Putin has been content to watch Syria rip itself apart. And the European Union, which came together in reaction to the bloodshed of the 20th century, is looking more fractions and riven by incipient nationalism than at any point since its formation.

    I have drunk and seen the spider

    Two precautions would help prevent any of these flashpoints sparking a conflagration. One is a system for minimizing the threat from potential dangers. Nobody is quite clear what will happen when North Korea implodes, but America and China need to plan ahead if they are to safeguard its nuclear programme without antagonizing each other. China is playing an elaborately dangerous game of “chicken” around its littoral with its neighbours. Eventually, somebody is bound to crash into somebody else – and there is as yet no system for dealing with it. A code of maritime conduct for the area is needed.

    The second precaution that would make the world safer is a more active American foreign policy. Despite forging an interim nuclear agreement with Iran, Barack Obama has pulled back in the Middle East – witness his unwillingness to use force in Syria. He had also done little to bring the new emerging giants – India, Indonesia, Brazil and, above all, China – into the global system. This betrays both a lack of ambition and an ignorance of history. Thanks to its military, economic and soft power, America is still indispensable, particularly in dealing with threats like climate change and terror, which cross borders. But unless America behaves as a leader and the guarantor of the world order, it will be inviting regional powers to test their strength by bullying neighbouring countries.

    The chances are that none of the world’s present dangers will lead to anything that compares to the horrors of 1914. Madness, whether motivated by race, religion or tribe, usually gives ground to rational self-interest. But when it triumphs, it leads to carnage, so to assume that reason will prevail is to be culpably complacent. That is the lesson of a century ago.

  • Lessons from Olanipekun, my man of the year

    Lessons from Olanipekun, my man of the year

    Social learning theory posits that human beings internalise social behaviours as a result of modelling the attitudes of others, with whom they interact or observe. An American theologian, Tyron Edwards, almost in the same school of thought says, “people never improve unless they look to some examples higher and better than themselves”. Against this background, however, it could be deduced that many of the socio-political and economic problems bedeviling Nigeria today may not have existed if there was a preponderance of sound moral models in every aspect of life.

    In other words, how wonderful will our society be, if all parents set good examples for their children to copy, if all teachers in all our schools could see themselves as models for their students to follow, thus, setting good examples of moral rectitude, if all religious leaders practise what they preach and all political gladiators see themselves as Nigeria’s own version of Mandela, ready to die for the betterment of the society. But, sadly, converse is often the case! Some parents feel it is much cheaper and better to buy results for their children, rather than teaching them the value of hard work. A particular parent even attempted to bribe me with dollars, in order to facilitate admission of his child to the University of Ibadan. I rejected it promptly and ran away from a tempter! We don’t take bribe in UI. Admission is purely based on merit.

    However, our society is not without men and women of honour. We have always had, and still have quality models in all walks of life. I am of the opinion that Nigeria has abundance of honest and value-driven men and women in the media, academia, religion, polity, economy, sports, judiciary among other fields of human endeavour. The problem is that their opposites seem to be in the majority. But, when we see one of the avartars, we should not hesitate to celebrate and highlight the inherent values that can encourage the coming generation, as by appreciation, we make excellence in others , our own property.

    Consequently, this writer wishes to pick one of the Nigeria’s best and former President of Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and an officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) as Man of the Year 2013, given the sterling qualities and enviable values he represents. Chief Olanipekun who has been under the serious study of this writer in the last fifteen years is certainly one of the social icons in Nigeria, qualified to study for emulation. Observing a man for 15 years is perhaps much more than enough period to be able to make a near-accurate judgment on him.

    My first contact with Chief Olanipekun was in 2002 at Cultural Centre, Mokola, Ibadan, Oyo State Capital where he contested and won almost effortlessly, the presidential election of NBA . I was then working for Champion Newspaper as Oyo State Correspondent. His peaceful mien, as well as his humble disposition and friendly aura struck me beyond description as I instantly became his secret admirer. Since then, I have never failed to listen to his public speech and read religiously his interview in print media. I personally made him my mentor without his knowledge as I so much appreciated his Omooluwabi’s virtues.

    As fate would have it, Chief Olanipekun was appointed Pro-Chancellor and Chiarman of Council, University of Ibadan in 2009 where I had a more vantage opportunity to study him more closely.

    One of the lessons I have been able to glean and learn from Chief Olanipekun’s life in the last 15 years is the value of hard work and diligence which is probably fast evaporating in the society He believes the price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.

    In one of his public presentations, the legal colossus has this to say to this generation, “those who have everything given to them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life. The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today”. I was in his Lagos office recently uninvited, sources informed me that Chief Olanipekun was not a lawyer that sits in office all day long. According to the sources “he is very busy, he hardly spends two hours on his seat, the man is a workaholic.” At 62, I soliloquized, “why is this man still working hard?” Perhaps, this is a great lesson to this “microwave” generation which believes in shortcut to everything, with a byword “sharp, sharp.” Chief Olanipekun’s life is teaching us that only a grave digger starts from the top, if you jump up, you will come down, but if you grow up, you will stay there.

    Another vital lesson his enviable life preaches is honesty and discipline. In the last 15 years of my study of this Ikere -Ekiti born legal mind, his life evinces the value of honesty. To Chief Olanipekun, honestly is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist. He served the University of Ibadan without blemishes. He never introduced a contractor despite many humongous contracts executed by the University under his watch. After the expiration of his tenure, Chief Olanipekun challenged anyone to come forward with evidence of shady deal during his tenure. He came with a clean hands and left with clean heart.

    Again, his humility is as infectious as his amiability. No wonder he was recently described as a great man who carries greatness lightly. John Ruskin says the first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility, Ruskin does not mean doubt of the powers or hesitation in speaking one’s opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what one can say and what one can do. Chief Olanipekun is so humble to a fault. I challenged him one day on why he did not pick my calls. Chief, as I fondly call him, humbly told me “Sunday, you have neither offended me nor I am deliberately ignoring your calls, the fact is that, I am dealing with so many people.” I felt humbled.

    Do I need to restate here that his life teaches philanthropy and kindness? He has declared publicly that one of his ministries is assisting the needy. This, he has been doing without expectation of returned favour from the beneficiaries. Some jobless youths in Ikere -Ekiti seemed to have found it convenient to always ambush him for financial assistance whenever he goes to his town. Chief Olanipekun gathered them and empowered them with a brand new motor-bike each , so that they would be able to fend for themselves. This is one of the least he does all over the place. Following his towering legal status, Chief Olanipekun was one of those who were recently conferred with the Fellowship of Advanced Legal Studies . He has contributed in no small measure to the development of legal profession with his first- class advocacy.

     

    Saanu writes from

    University of Ibadan

    sundaysaanu@yahoo.com

     

  • Making Lagos work for all

    Ware coming to the end of 2013 and are glad that we are alive today and pray that we will make it into the New Year. I am particularly happy that my daughter is here today. For us, 2013 was a tough year for all of us in the family especially for her. The year started with a bang for us. My daughter, my only child was barely two months old then. It is needless to say that I and my wife just commenced our parenthood and were both immature at the time. On that New Year’s Eve, we noticed that our daughter was having difficulty breathing. We called her doctor and he asked us to remove her mosquito treated net. This we did to no avail. He then asked us to bring her to the hospital. This was 10:12pm We went through Gbagada Phase II and didn’t bother to take the Lanre Awolokun Road as it is always locked by 7pm so we drove through Olumoroti Jaiyesimi Street and on getting to the gate, we were told that the gate was closed for the night. All our efforts to make them understand that this was an emergency fell on deaf ears as they left us and walked away. As we had no time to waste, we had to go back and use the expressway. That meant that we had to make a U-turn at New Garage and go to Anthony and make another u-turn at Town Planning Way and back to the expressway to Charly Boy Bus Stop, Gbagada, where the hospital is. It was another round of negotiations at KKK Street but these security men were more understanding and they let us pass when we explained we were going to the hospital. We eventually got to the hospital by 11:15pm. A journey that would have taken us 15 minutes eventually took over one hour. At the hospital, she was admitted to the ward and was given series of transfusion and intravenous injections to stabilise her. In the course of her examination, the doctor asked if any of our families had a history of asthma and we answered no. She asked us to describe our environment and we did. Our kitchen is far from her room, we were not frying, our house is tiled, her net is even child-friendly etc. Our answer didn’t satisfy her curiosity. She expressed her surprise and told us that our daughter was showing symptoms of asthma, albeit at a very tender age. “Please always ensure that her room is well ventilated and not stuffy,” she advised. Then was when it struck. Smoked had filtered into our room earlier that night, as some people in the neighbourhood were having a bonfire to usher in the New Year. We came out of the hospital a week later and after two monthly checkup appointments, she was given a clean bill of health. This is how some people’s ‘enjoyment’ could have brought terrible sorrow to our family. This is Lagos. Everyone is in pursuit of his or her own happiness and hardly pays attention to how our ways of life actually affect other people’s lives. It is in Lagos that one resident will decide to close the street because he is celebrating the birth of a child. It is in Lagos that some driver will change his flat tyre in the middle of the road instead of driving it to the kerb. A danfo driver will park in the middle of the road while his conductor goes to solicit for passengers. Market men and women will block half of a major road with their tables as they sell their wares to their customers. Tanker drivers will line up and almost block the expressway as they queue for fuel at the various oil tank farms in Lagos. Some landlords’ associations have banned commercial vehicles into some of the estates, not minding that these estates are maintained by tax payers’ money. People indiscriminately cut the roads to lay their water pipes without properly filling the roads thereafter. The list goes on and on. We are not interested in the hardship other people suffer on account of our actions. A few years ago, the Lagos State government abolished the erection of gates and directed that these gates, if they are to be allowed, must not be locked before 12 midnight and 5am. It also directed that such gates must be manned during the time they are locked. Men from the state’s Ministry of the Environment actually enforced this order at the time but the situation has returned to status quo today. The day the government goes to demolish these illegal structures and arrest the offenders; arrest those who block the roads for parties; arrest those who trade on the roads; confiscate the tankers that block the expressways etc., we will start shouting that the government has no human face etc. The question is: should we wait for the government to come and arrest us before we know that we hurt others. Don’t these landlords associations know that there are people who do not have cars of their own and depend on taxis for movement; don’t those who lock the gates know that there could be emergencies and people may need urgent medical attention; do these people who block the road not see the traffic jam they cause innocent road users etc? It is high time Lagosians stepped back and assessed their behaviour and how this behaviour impacts other people. For everything we do, we need to do a social impact assessment to know how the society is affected by our activity. We do not need to be prodded by government always. The same way we pay for our children’s school fees; take them to hospitals when they are sick; and give them food when they are hungry; is the same way we could accommodate the society in our actions. We only can make that resolution and all of us will be the beneficiaries of the better society we create with this resolution. •Ekechukwu writes from Lagos

  • Ahmed: A legacy of performance

    Dateline May 2011. Governorship election day. Abdulfatah Ahmed, immediate past commissioner for Planning and Economic Development and gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had just gotten to know he won the election.

    Though expected, the implications of the victory were overwhelming, given that the party had just won admist division in the house. Dr. Olusola Saraki, incontrovertibly the most influential politician to have come from Kwara State, was yet to be assuaged. Beyond that, the victory also meant the party, the PDP, and by extension the candidate, had just defeated the younger sister of the sitting governor. As such the development was of great interest to newsmen across the nation.

    In Ilorin, the state capital, journalists, obviously must have been tasked to get the first words from Ahmed, by then the governor-in-waiting. They found him in a small guest house somewhere in the old GRA area of Ilorin. But if they expected a gloating winner, particularly given the verbal war that had accompanied the election, especially between the then ACN and the PDP, they were utterly disappointed. Not only did the newly elected governor refuse to share in the victory of the polls, he pointedly told the journalists there was no way of removing the hands of the elder Saraki, now of blessed memory, from the victory.

    Then one reporter asked a daring question. Ahmed responded but with a caveat not to be misrepresented. Then he did something unheard of in this clime; almost on his knees, he begged them not to misrepresent his views. Some may say if  he went that low it was because the weight of his office and powers were yet to dawn on him at that instance but more than two years down the line,  it is evident that he was not pretending; the governor is still the same man: humble to the core.

    Those who have come across him at personal level since he assumed office will testify to the fact that one humbling fact about Ahmed’s personality is his humility. He is not one to allow the grandeur of his office to blind him from the reality of his humble beginning and the opportunities that God has given him to rise to the position of privilege he occupies.

    No wonder the pioneer chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, had this testimony about Governor Ahmed:  ”You are humble. You are respective. You are a decent human being and God has blessed you with all that is decent in nature. God will not take this away from you. You are an epitome of decency and respect. May Allah build around you an impregnable fortress which neither mole nor ant can touch. In sha Allah”.

    As a member of his campaign team and now his chief press secretary, I am often amazed at how the governor relates with even young reporters at the end of every interactive opportunities. I have also seen him mingle with the down and the low, the women and the youths, at various fora and there is no other conclusion one can draw other than to say that God has clothed him with the garment of humility which seldom signposts privileged individuals.

    Yet he is focused and hard-working. One lesson I have learnt  working with this chemist-turned –banker-turned-politician is that a lazy man cannot work with Ahmed who is given to focussed discussions and detailed analysis of issues. He is always on top of every issue at any point in time. He is not the type of politician to be coached unnecessarily; he can hold his forte on any platform at any time, little wonder he is a journalist’s delight. He once held political editors spellbound during an interview prior to the gubernatorial election 2011: he brilliantly fielded questions for over three hours without holding a note and not once did he miss or mix his points.

    If you thought it was because Omolewa, his humble, generous, humane and resourceful wife, was right beside him during the interview, what about his out of the box interactions with the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the Christian Association of Nigeria, members of the academia, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, among others? Femi Adesina, Boni Iwuoha, President of the Guild and former President of the NUJ respectively, among other members of the Guild requested that Kwara donate the Governor to Nigeria for the much desired social economic transformation of the country.

    In less than three years that God has given him the privilege to rule the state, everything points to the fact that Ahmed has caught the ultimate Saraki bug: my people, my people, what is in this for my people?  It is this passion that has led to the creation of several pro-poor financial schemes in the state. In the last two and a half years, the government gave N250 million as first tranche of a N500m revolving loan for small scale entrepreneurs. The fund has generated more than 3000 jobs across the state, just as another N100million was disbursed for artisans who for the first time have been brought under an umbrella association to allow them form smaller sub-groups to access the facilities. In spite of irregular inflow of expected resources, the governor approved the release of N60m for the payment of NECO and NABTEP examinations as a demonstration of his love for the youths.  2014, Maigidan Kwara, as he his fondly called, promised a N50m quarterly allocation to generate the much needed youth employment.

    Communities that have long been neglected are now feeling the impact of government. Not talking about five general hospitals that were rehabilitated and fully equipped to international standard. The people of Ora-Ayetoro in Ekiti local government area of Kwara State, among other numerous communities, now have cause to smile. For 20 years, according to the monarch of the community, Oba Christopher Olatunji Odeyemi,  they were in ‘bondage’. For 20 years, they had suffered neglect as the only bridge linking Ora-Aiyeetoro with other communities in the local government had collapsed. For 20 years, the people had to contend with the dangerous option of swimming to cross to the neighbouring Ejiu community and ditto for the Ejiu people whenever there was the need for them to visit Ore-Ayetoro or other communities after Ora-Ayetoro. As a matter of fact, they transported their farm produce to other communities by swimming with their loads to cross the river.

    The pro-poor governor has also approved the rehabilitation of the16 kilometres-long Obbo-Ora-Ayetoro road as part of N2.5 billion rural road projects.  The newly constructed bridge over the Ora River has been completed. Other communities across the state are enjoying the same gesture; not bound to their economic viability but their existence as locations inhabited by Kwarans because with Ahmed the mantra is ‘shared prosperity.’

    Teachers in the state can testify to his humane nature; this year they gave him a merit award for outstanding performance in education. When teachers in Nigeria honours a man, it is no joke; they are one of the most effectively organised and united workers’ group in the country. And what did Ahmed tell them at the award ceremony? “It is no longer tenable that teachers’ reward is in heaven. We must do everything we can to enhance the welfare of teachers and also create a conducive atmosphere for effective teaching and learning”.

    It is a story of commitment to the well-being of the people. And the story is the same among the youths. It is the same among traditional leaders. It is the same among religious leaders. It is the same among those who have one form of disability or the other.  It is the same among indigenes and non-indigenes.  Indeed, as several activities take place to mark yet another fulfilling birthday anniversary for this versatile banker and administrator, it is apt to say that Kwara is blessed to have had a successor like Abdulfatah Ahmed taking over the mantle of state administration from an achiever like Senator Bukola Saraki.

    Happy birthday, Boss!

     

    • Oba is chief press secretary to the Kwara State Governor.

  • Senator Akume at 60

    On December 27, 1953 in the little known village of Annune, in Benue Province was born a child whose life would greatly influence the course of Nigerian history. George Akume was born into a family of great politicians. At the time of his birth, his uncle, late Senator Joseph Sarwuan Tarka was pioneering the crusade for minority rights in Nigeria. Many decades later, he would step into the oversized shoes of his great uncle as a politician of note from Benue State.

    Senator Akume had his primary education  at the then Native Authority (N.A) Primary School at Annune between 1960 and 1966, and then proceeded to  former Government Secondary School, Otobi now Model Science School, Otukpo, Benue State, between1967 and 1971 for his secondary education.

    Despite his humble beginning, “George” as he is called by his close associates sought and was admitted to St. Louis College Jos for his Advanced Level in1972, and then proceeded to Nigeria’s Premier University, at Ibadan for his Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology, graduating in 1978. He also obtained a Master’s Degree in Industrial and Labour Relations (MILR) from the same university in 1986. At the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), he obtained a Certificate in Management, 1988.

    Senator Akume began his working career as a Land Officer with the Benue State Civil Service in 1979 after he completed the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme. He made steady  progress in his career as a civil servant. Because of his versatility and diligence, he was at various times given diverse responsibilities and duties: Assistant Secretary, Research and Policy Analysis (REPA) in the governor’s office; Principal Secretary; Under Secretary, and Director of Personnel Management.

    He also handled several special assignments which included, Sole Administrator of Idah Local Government Council, (Now in Kogi State), and later Gboko Local Government Areas. He was also Director of Protocol, Government House, Makurdi, Benue State.

    Between 1994 and 1995, Akume was seconded to  the Federal Ministry of Education, Lagos as Deputy Director and on returning to his home state became the Director- General in 1996, and later, Permanent Secretary, (Establishments and Management Services) in the Benue State Civil Service. He voluntarily retired from public service in 1998 to participate fully in partisan politics.

    On entry into politics, he registered as a member of the defunct Congress for National Consensus, (CNC), one of the five registered political parties during the Sani Abacha’s transition programme. He was nominated as the governorship candidate of the party but this ambition was short-lived when Gen. Sani Abacha died on June 8, 1998.

    Senator Akume’s desire to serve his people was not dampened even with the death of Abacha. This much was renewed when General Abdulsalami Abubakar who took over after Abacha’s death as Head of State outlined an elaborate but short transition programme. He actively participated in the formation of the Peoples Democratic Party and in 1999 was elected as the third governor of Benue State. As a reward for his sterling performance, he was re-elected for a second term in 2003.

    As a governor, the people’s desires and yearnings were always first on Akume’s the list of his priorities. He distinguished himself in the areas of poverty alleviation, the establishment of cottage industries, free health services and basic education for all, upgraded electrification and power supply in Makurdi and across the state, and he also opened up the state’s hinterland by constructing many feeder roads to enable farmers bring out their produce for sale.

    He also engineered a purposeful agricultural programme and this increased Benue farmer’s prosperity tremendously.  His impact was felt in other areas such as the establishment of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, School of Medical Science, the Greater Makurdi Water Scheme as well as initiating an enhanced emolument and welfare package for all categories of state and local government staff etc. To this day, and for many years to come, his achievements as a state governor are used as yardstick for measuring the extent to which his succesors have succeeded or failed.

    His rare courage and patriotism were on display when he along with other Nigerians stood firm against the botched Third Term ambition of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He repeated the same enviable feat against the tyrannical desire of the ruling PDP to subvert the will of the people in 2011 when he decided to join the more progressive and people–oriented Action Congress of Nigeria, now All Progressive Congress just before the elections. For a political platform that was relatively unknown in the state and region, he confounded his traducers with his re-election victory at the polls in 2011.

    In recognition of his sterling contributions to the activities of the Senate and the development of the nation at large, he was elected Senate Minority Leader by the minority caucus of the Senate. As the minority leader, he is known to be an astute political team player and a negotiator per excellence who prefers to play behind the scene. This trait has served him and his people well in his political career.

    Senator Akume’s innate ability to think clearly even in a  hazy political atmosphere has enabled him to contribute in no small measure to the evolution and emergence of the new political identity in Nigeria, the All Progressive   Congress.  And as he attains his 60th birthday today, one thing that has remained topmost on his mind is how to daily improve the living standard of the common man in all ramifications.

    This is reflected in the innumerable constituency projects – several manual and motorized water boreholes, health centres, classroom blocks, electricity transformers as well as skill acquisition centres among others that he has initiated and completed in different parts of his constituency.

    As a reward for his immense contributions to the development of Nigeria and in acknowledgment of the Senator’s outstanding qualities, he has received recognition from several local, national and international bodies. These include among others, Honorary Doctor of Letters (D. Litt.) from University of Jos, Most Distinguished Almunus (MDA) University of Ibadan, outstanding recipient of the Key of Little Rock, Arkansas and Honorary Citizen of the State of Georgia United States of America, Best Performing Governor among PDP Governors from the North-Central zone, Kwame Nkrumah Leadership Award for Excellence from All African Students Union, and Life Patron, African Sporting Initiative. He is also a member of several professional bodies including, Fellow Nigerian Institute of Management. He is also a Knight of Saint Job.

    • Ominyi writes from Abuja.

  • Christmas gift for Ogun homeowners

    In 2003, I joined a group of fellow young professionals to purchase one plot of land in what was then an undeveloped village called Orunmerunmu along the Lagos Ibadan Expressway. For several years, I had to frequently call the local land owner called Omo onile to keep an eye on my plot of land. On at least three occasions, two of my friends and I had to make emergency trips to the village on being tipped off that some Omo oniles were reselling undeveloped plots. Of course, this vigil service was neither free nor cheap.  Every Christmas, my wife and I never failed to send gifts to the Omo oniles as an insurance policy against their reselling our single plot of land.

    As our income improved, we set about the building process, using our savings, loans and wages. In a spartan manner, we bore sacrifices over a two-year period until, finally, our three-bedroom bungalow was ready for occupation. It was a very simple structure; it remained unpainted for two years. However, humble as the building was, we saw it as the fulfillment of a dream – escape from landlords, security in our old age and a future inheritance for our children. I had never slept as soundly as the first night in our own home. You can ever understand the relief, the peace that becoming a homeowner gives until you actually become one.

    Later on, the euphoria waned and another reality confronted us. Yes, we had a home. Yes, we were free of struggling to pay rent that climbed up faster than our incomes or being harassed by landlords. But we could not secure the almighty Certificate-of-Occupancy-the only formally recognized proof of ownership of landed property. It is true we had carefully kept the land receipt issued by the local ruling family and all the receipts for the tippers of sand and bags of cement used in construction but there was no Certificate-of-Occupancy and, indeed, no building approval for the property.  Like many in these areas, we relied on the grapevine for our information about how cumbersome and expensive the process of obtaining those documents would be. We also thought we were saving money and time by not obtaining required documents more so because many neighbours who had commenced trying to regularize their documentation later abandoned the effort in frustration.

    Another widely held belief in our area was that C-of-O would never be issued as Ogun State government was planning to demolish the buildings in areas like ours and resell the land for development of luxury housing complexes. The lack of public schools and other facilities in the area was cited as evidence that government had other plans. Stories of the demolition exercises to create right of way for new roads under construction in other areas of the state were used as examples of what would befall us. The sadness and uncertainty that the situation created is not easily described. The collective knowledge that we legally had no leg to stand on, having built without approval and having no evidence of ownership presented a stark reality that when government decides to act, we will be helpless.  Where would we go if the bulldozers eventually came? How would we start again? Would we lose our new status as landlords? Knowing that despite being a homeowner you had no real legal standing is a truly frightening position for one to be.

    So you can imagine the joy when on December 16, Governor Ibikunle Amosun unveiled the Homeowners’ Charter, an opportunity to regularise our documentation so as to obtain a C-of-O without any penalty and at a large discount. Even those who had built on land owned by government rather than private land are being allowed to formalize their ownership, again at considerable discount. The surprise is that majority of people in our position would have readily paid the full amount if they can be assured of getting the building plan approval or the C-of-O. In fact, I would readily pay double the full amount, simply to be secure in our house.  I found the discount almost unbelievable until after seeing it repeated several times in media reports about the launch of the programme.

    The fact that we are finally free from the threat of a return to being tenants, that we will be issued documents that prove we own our home, documents that can be used to secure a loan at any bank or to sell our property with ease, is enough for me. Many homeowners are relieved that the government of Ogun State has decided to take a practical approach. Investment in houses running into millions of naira would be lost if the government decides to demolish our homes, or use our situation to extort money from us. Rather, the government has streamlined and simplified the process of applying for documentation for housing. The regularization of housing documents will assist the government in understanding the population in the newly developed area of the state and planning for social and infrastructure needs.

    For majority of homeowners in Ogun State, Christmas was not just memorable for the usual festivities, parties and merriments.  It will be remembered because for the first time in many years, there is the prospect of certainty about the ownership of the property we occupy. This is a lifelong Christmas gift.

     

    • Odedere writes from Orunmerunmu, Ogun State.

  • My sweet encounter with LASTMA, Police

    This article is not intended to launder the image of anybody but a conscientious exercise to purge myself of some guilt. Since I had carpeted an entire corps because of an ‘isolated’ case that I experienced, I feel obliged to commend the entire corps for another ‘isolated’ case that I also experienced that I found gratifying. I believe that in so doing I would have been fair to all.

    I have heard many stories about the excesses and unethical behavior of some law enforcement agents in Lagos. From the story of the Police extorting bribes from motorists, to that of how Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) officers are involved in stealing, extortion, assault and other unscrupulous activities. These stories sounded like the usual stories we hear daily of the police and my response had always been ‘it takes two to tango’ suggesting that these atrocities happen because the so-called victims compromised with the officers.

    I came down from that moral high horse on November 20, 2012 when I had a direct contact with two police officers on my way home from a confectionary store where I went to pick my daughter’s birthday cake. This encounter happened on the Gbagada General Hospital Road. The road was in a very bad state at the time and motorists had to meander through the road as they dodged the potholes and bumps road. This was exactly what my driver was doing when I was startled with some banging at the back of my car.

    I asked the driver to pull over to ascertain what the issue was. As the driver stopped, the cyclist came in front of the car and stopped. He demanded to see my driver’s driving licence and ordered his colleague to enter my car. “I charge you with dangerous driving, I have witnesses,” he barked. Up till now the cyclist and his passenger had not even identified themselves. I was so amused that I asked him to go ahead and sentence since he has already delivered his judgment.

    They took us to the police station and once we got in, they took my driver and pushed him behind the counter. Unknown to us, some officers went and deflated my tyres. I stepped out and called my lawyer and asked him to join us at the station. Before he came, the police brought out a foolscap sheet and asked my driver to write a statement. On the paper, they claimed that they were chasing an armed robber suspect when my driver used his car to block them and the suspect ran away. Nothing could be more hilarious – from dangerous driving to aiding and abetting. In the end, it took a court injunction for my driver to be released. He spent two weeks at the station for no just cause. I felt terrible that he went through the ordeal just because I refused to ‘play ball’.

    For this incident, I resolved never to trust any man in uniform, talk less of the police again.

    I was to have a change of attitude again a fortnight ago. I was coming back from work one night and my car suddenly had a flat tyre at the Ijora Olopa area of Lagos. I even shivered at the memory of the incident. I was alone in this eerie place. I abandoned the car and was fleeing to safety, when I saw a police patrol van. I flagged it down, hoping they would stop. They did and I narrated my ordeal to them. They took me and went and made a U-turn and came to where the broken down vehicle parked.

    By then, LASTMA officials had come to tow the vehicle away. I explained my ordeal to them and begged them not to tow the vehicle away. All they asked for was my Caution sign, and once I showed it to them, they assisted and changed the tyre. All the while, the policemen stood by us. When they were done, they turned to leave. I felt shocked and offered them N5,000 as a show of gratitude. I was surprised they turned down the offer, saying all they needed was to know that I had the Caution sign. It felt like a dream or a movie from Nollywood but it was real. I then asked for their names and office. I had to go to their office to report my experience to their boss and to commend them for the work they are doing.

    I know many Lagosians, like me, have one story or another to tell of their untold experiences in the hands of various law enforcement agencies in Lagos from the Nigerian Police, the military, customs, Kick Against Indiscipline, LASTMA, VIO, FRSC etc. which has created a bad impression about these law enforcement agencies. Often times we share the same feelings about civil servants. We have been presented with situations that portray the civil servants as unruly and people with questionable integrity.

    One lesson I have learnt from the two encounters I have shared earlier in the article was to approach each person with an open mind and not create pigeonholes where I plug every government official. As I was told by the LASTMA official, the establishment was set up to regulate traffic in Lagos State; it was a necessary solution to a growing problem in the state. The responsibility of managing traffic and everything associated with vehicular movement in Lagos State is not a child’s play and in the overall, residents and visitors to Lagos have greatly benefited from their work.

    He informed me that LASTMA has helped reduce the number of bad drivers from the roads and managed the security risks posed by tramps on the Lagos highway.

    He asked me to contemplate a day without LAWMA officials, the several traffic choke points without anyone to ensure free flow of traffic; the accidents as a result of unruly motorists breaking traffic laws; the several obstructions on the highways as a result of broken down vehicles. He further informed that LASTMA has set up rules to help it discharge its mandate. “It is the people who don’t want to follow laid down rules; people who always like short cuts that think that we are out to stress their lives,” he said.

    No doubt, all law enforcement agencies, like every other institution, have some bad eggs among their rank and file. We can only hope that they will weed these bad ones out but in the meantime, it will not do us any good to regard all members law enforcement agents as bad simply because of some not-too-good encounters.

    • Maduka, a sociologist writes from Apapa, Lagos.