The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • ASUU strike and price of indifference

    Former President Ibrahim Babangida has uncanny understanding of the psychology of Nigerians. While celebrating his 72nd birthday, Babangida demonstrated his understanding of the country when he described Nigeria as “one of the most amazing countries in the world”. He said no matter what happens you would “find people happy, laughing and attending football matches. That’s Nigeria for you.”

    Babangida’s statement neither confers responsibility nor liability. His statement does however reflect a mentality that seems to define government approach to the on-going strike action by Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU. It is an attitude of insensitivity, lack of responsibility and accountability. Clearly it reflects how Nigerians, their feelings, rights and indeed the future of this country are treated with contempt by people entrusted with leadership. Sadly they are emboldened by the level of complacence that pervades among the citizenry.

    Otherwise, how can a government that desires to develop the country technically, economically, scientifically, socially and politically choose to treat with disdain the very institution designed to produce manpower required for such goals? It is particularly difficult to understand the recent twist in the negotiation between federal government and ASUU.

    Suddenly a government that for three years refused to honour its agreement proudly tells Nigerians it is “alarmed over security reports reaching it that ASUU has been infiltrated by opposition parties”. In its thinking, it is the opposition parties “that have encouraged the lecturers to keep the universities closed, to make political capital.”

    There is no doubt that ASUU may have within its ranks sympathisers of all the political parties in the country (PDP, APC, PDM, etc). But the federal government allegation raises some concerns. It does not, for instance, tell us what the security reports said when for three years the government refused to honour the agreement it reached with the union, since 2009. What also has the security report told them about the dwindling standard of education in the country and its implication on national security and international integrity?

    One expects security report to have told the government that its non implementation of the 2009 agreement was a threat to the education system. That the lecturers were not ready to endure such insensitivity indefinitely. And that a major disruption in the university education was inevitable if government continued to act irresponsibly. No one knows if all of these could be attributed to opposition parties. However, that the government found it convenient to ignore an agreement that was in the best interest of Nigeria is bad enough; that they are desperate to find a scapegoat means they have no conscience. The fact is all Nigerians, irrespective of party, religion, tribe, etc, are affected by the strike. They also have legitimate right to feel angry, blame government or ASUU. Indeed, they have right to even protest against government insensitivity to a defining sector like education.

    If it is true the lecturers are more amenable to influence from opposition parties, it is indication of the failure of Jonathan administration to address legitimate needs of the education sector. In a democracy, a government that plans to win by popular and majority votes should have anticipated response of opposition parties, in the event of a strike. It would have quickly honoured the agreement so as to win the hearts and minds of the lecturers, and to restore some level of integrity. To ignore the agreement only to make wild allegations rather compromises the integrity of the administration.

    The attitude of the President and his cabinet shows that administration is paying lip service to issues of development. They know that Nigerians are generally gullible and susceptible to ethnic, religious and other sentiments that can easily be used to manipulate the masses. Otherwise, how can anyone explain the courage of federal government, when it said ASUU should be grateful because the “government has shifted ground from its initial posture that there was no money to offering N30 billion”. For an administration that knows it has violated the sanctity of a subsisting agreement and consequently betrayed its trust, such presumption is to say the least, arrogant.

    Perhaps, the administration has forgotten that according to the 2009 ASUU/FG agreement and the 2012 Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), what is due for the 2012 and 2013 is N500 billion. In four years government is supposed to have spent N1.3 trillion on federal and state universities. The fact that the government has offered only N100 billion, more than one month into the strike confirms its insensitivity. For the government to expect ASUU to be grateful that it (government) has shifted from its initial “no money” to offering some money is indecent. That out of the paltry sum, which evidently insults the principles of the agreement, government still wants to take back N1.975 billion as “project administration cost” is awful. Yet, it is ironic that a government that does not have enough to solve numerous problems affecting the universities, would rather spend N50 billion to construct only 35,000 bed spaces hostels when the same amount can be used to construct 125,000 bed spaces hostels. This again is, to say the least, scandalous.

    What is particularly interesting about the ASUU strike is the deliberate attempt to make a simple, straight forward matter complex and complicated. ASUU had declared the strike action following inability of the Federal government to honour the 2009 agreement the two parties had signed. The fundamental issues in the agreement were not personal to members of the union. They were meant to reverse the embarrassing collapse of the education system in the country. No one is ignorant that, even our highest degrees are hardly recognized beyond Nigeria. In the West, America, including some African countries our educational certificates are simply despised. It is a national disgrace driven by years of neglect. The 2009 ASUU/Federal Government agreement provided the roadmap to end the embarrassment. Lack of a conscience and patriotic feeling to recognize the agreement as obligation to the present and future generations is inexplicable.

    While the country’s leadership is willing to toil with the future of Nigeria, they are quick to deploy the commonwealth and assets to defend their personal ambitions. Often, realizing their ambitions is a do-or-die affair. President Goodluck Jonathan administration needs to understand that, on a yearly basis, Nigerians spend billions of naira to educate their wards in small, less endowed neighbouring countries like Ghana, due to lack of faith and confidence in our educational institutions. It is an indictment of his administration.

    The attitude of the government to the demands of the striking lecturers suggests that it is simply interested in foisting a culture where possession of a certificate is more valuable than knowledge and competence. And as Babangida unconsciously perhaps, revealed, our leaders are possessed by blind confidence that no matter what they do, Nigerians are too docile to react or express discontent.

    He is right. If you live in a country where the rule of law prevails, where elected leaders are accountable, where impunity is criminalised, where vote counts, where personal ambitions of those in power is separated from national interest or patriotism, where corruption is a vice not virtue, you will simply not believe what “you read and hear” about Nigeria. Here, the culture of impunity reigns, patriotism has been personalized and made synonymous with personal agendas of sitting leaders, corruption is a virtue. Men and women of honour are denigrated. Honesty and merit have been criminalized. Above all the complacency of the masses is unparalleled. It is this state of affairs that is holding the ongoing strike by ASUU hostage.

    • Dr. Bo is a public affairs analyst

  • PDP’s implosion

    At the just concluded PDP Special National Convention of August 30, to re(sel)elect national officers into vacant positions declared void for irregularities in the procedures preceding their emergence, a formidable splinter group emerged comprising seven PDP governors including Rivers’ Governor Chibuike Amaechi under the leadership of former acting National Chairman of the PDP, Abubakar Kawu Baraje with other major protagonists like Atiku Abubakar and Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

    The present implosion in PDP has always been a certainty long-predicted, awaiting the convolution of other conditions to crystalise. The immediate precursor of the present disintegration can be gleaned from the orchestrated crises within the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, where the smoldering presidential ambitions of some principal participants of that powerful club coincided with the greater agenda of the ruling party which is to foster some “cohesion” around the hold on raw power for the perpetration of the existing status quo. It was a fiercely contested situation that drew blood amongst members but whose utility did not exceed the parochial fixations of 2015 general elections. Opposition was, however, quick in deepening the cleavages of that crack and as minority beneficiaries of that cabal they dug deeper and fanned the embers of the present disintegration by their own opportunistic antics. In sheer desperation, a new prince of the “convoluted coven” in the person of Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom was crowned as the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, which for me, remained a clearly desperate miscalculation that did not take into account the already diluted essence of the forum that was, then, polarized along ethno- religious and geo political divides manifesting in the forms of Northern Governors’ Forum, South-south and South-east Governors Forum and I learnt of the latest ‘Progressive Governors’ Forum in the South-west under the leadership of my friend, Governor of Ekiti State Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

    The narrative on this score will remain naive and inchoate if I fail to look in the direction of another possibility that supports the view that the Akpabio’s emergence was not a mistake after all, but a carefully designed strategy to demobilize the Governors’ Forum since it could no longer sustain its relevance namely to maintain and secure the variables that guarantee the power base in favour of the status quo. At the least, you can be sure that neither the Jonah Jang faction nor that of Amaechi ever meets and whenever they do, it is to countermand what the other does. The fall out of this divide was the consolidation of the culture of impunity which graduated from the supremacy of 16 governors over their 19 colleagues in the botched Governors’ Forum election to the brazen temerity with which five members of the Rivers State House of Assembly allegedly removed their Speaker and positioned themselves to impeach the governor.

    Prior to the implosion of August 31, you would recall that the major power bloc in the PDP which is the PDM went directly for the party’s jugular and engaged the soul of the floundering party by seeking and obtaining registration at the INEC. For a less arrogant and nihilistic political party, that alone would have narrowed the option available to the leadership of the party and drew their attention to the red lines. But lo, none of that happened because, in their undisputed estimation, the issues and concerns have not and cannot change. I had the privilege of reading the tirades of one of their oldest warhorses and chairman of the BOT, Chief Anthony Anenih who rather than face the reality and possibility of change in politics continued, as he unwittingly did in the volcanic uprising of Edo State, to discountenance the direct implications of Atiku’s moves. But by far more devastating to the imprudent assessment of the situation and to the total detriment of the political fortunes of President Goodluck Jonathan is the failure of PDP’s leadership to recognise that the Atiku/PDM’s most cancerous strategy of disengagement aimed at maximum destabilisation of the party was to remain right in PDP, and shop for supporters.

    Two supervening developments immediately after the Saturday event would convince anyone in doubt about the far-reaching degree and impact of the activities of the splinter group. The next day, Sunday September 1, the President, in spite of the initial grand-standing and posturing of leadership of the PDP, quickly extended hands of fellowship through an open invitation to the leadership of the splinter group which was meant, at the least, to create and sustain a window of communication with this critical dissident group. To be sure, this may not pose any serious challenge to actualise because, to a large extent, what has just happened must, also be interpreted from the prism of its opportunistic essence where capons of the same buccaneering group raised the bar of the game through effective threats and blackmail with the clear objective of returning to the same ship if and when the “price” becomes right. Otherwise why did their name not change fundamentally beyond “New PDP”? Did you also bother to consider their grievances and observe how very little the real challenges of the Nigerian state and the fortunes of her people featured? As at the time of going to press, four out of the seven governors have already attended the first reconciliation meeting at the presidential villa with the prospect of an expanded attendance the next day.

    You would also notice that former President Olusegun Obasanjo immediately flew into Aso Rock in the pretext of attending an inter-denominational church service with the President but ended up spending over three hours in closed-door meeting with President Jonathan in recognition of the clear need to immediately arrest the present trend which has an inherent danger of completely disintegrating the party.

    Whereas I have argued in a manner suggestive of the implosion in the ruling PDP, I believe, as am bound to, that it is cosmetic, ephemeral and will not educe for two obvious reason. First, the character and pedigree of the protagonists of the splinter group is such that they could not have possibly conceived a radical departure from the status quo and in fact, cannot afford such extreme position because they have no alternative abode or shore to anchor thereafter. Secondly, the reasons offered, thus far, for their present resentments have very little to tell about the woeful experiences of Nigerians under the rulership of PDP in the past 14 sordid years where all that mattered was the control of raw power for power sake.

    In the circumstance, the crucial question must be raised and addressed namely; what is in it for the ordinary Nigerians who are the short-changed victims of this high powered political maneuvering? I am inclined to believe that the lot of the Nigerian people is not yet within the consideration of these politicians who have not shown any clear cut difference except when the balance of power tilts against them. For a party that cannot do more than oscillate around Anenih, Bamanga Tukur, Obasanjo, Ahmadu Ali, Olabode George etc in search for leadership, such a party offers the people a wonderful opportunity to exit this stereotype in realization of their dreams. The time is therefore now for the suffering people of this country to reject the old brigade and align forces with credible progressive formations that are determined to contest power with disintegrating PDP.

    • Ugwummadu is a Lagos based legal practitioner.

  • Golden assets in our nation’s cultures

    The noise that Nigeria is about to break up is increasing everywhere one touches in the world. For me, one consequence of it is that I tend now to think a lot about the time of my youth as a Nigerian boy growing up in the beautiful hills of northeastern Yorubaland – in the land of the green hills and rock towers that my people call Ekiti. Our folklore – folk tales, songs, praise poetry, jokes, legends, myths, etc – told of town after town dotting our valleys and hillsides, and of our much larger country equally dotted with towns, all of which towns belonged to one large mystical family known as the Yoruba, the people of “Ekaaro, e jiire”..

    My earliest memories are ofwalking with my mother and some other kinsfolks, up our hills and down our valleys, to go and fraternize with family or friends celebrating some festival or family event. Town after town we would go. Just as we were getting tired of the walking, we would come to another town. I often wondered how it was that my people knew people in every town, and that we could usually walk into some family compound where the people would accept us as family and ask us to take a rest while they hurriedly cooked some good meal of pounded yam for us.

    I fondly remember many of those festivals. But the one I remember the most is the annual Maidens’ Festival of Songs in Ise in southern Ekiti. In this festival, girls who were ready to marry made their debut by singing a particular kind of Ise song, to which each girl composed her own long lyrics. This was beauty on show – each girl in front of her family compound, surrounded by the large crowd of her parents’ relatives and friends and her admirers from all over Ekiti and much of Yorubaland, glistering in the most dainty hair braiding, and dressed in equally dainty clothes, beads and other jewelry, and singing heavenly songs that usually brought tears to the eyes of many in the crowd. It used to be said that marrying an Ise girl was one of the best things a man could do, because she would fill his home with beautiful singing and happiness.

    Yes, we Yoruba are great lovers of colour and beauty. Having established solid foundations of plenty and order over many centuries, we had gradually built a culture that emphasized dignity and elegance – many centuries before the British showed up. As one Ekiti king, the Ogoga of Ikere, said in 1959, “The world knows that we Yoruba always bring colour and beauty into whatever we do”.

    But another source of beauty in our towns was their cosmopolitan character and orientation. In virtually every family compound in every one of our towns, there were people from various parts of Yorubaland, some of them still speaking their different Yoruba dialects, and some occupying very high positions in the community. One of the highest members of the elite in my Ekiti hometown was from Ondo town. He had come from Ondo as a young labourer at the time that our first local church was being built, and had stayed on, and become a rich and important citizen – and a chief. One Ijebu man became very famous among us children during the drought of 1944-5. Most water wells in the town failed because of the drought, but the well behind his house regularly had water because his house was built in a low area of the town. When we children came to get water, he would sit there by the well and joke with us as we drew water. But he would never allow any of us to come there when he was too busy to stay with us. If any of us came at such a time, he would come rushing out with his whip, shouting “Ki ro mi se?” (What are you doing there?) in his Ijebu dialect. His story is that he had seen a child fall fatally into a well somewhere before, and he was determined not to see that kind of terrible sight ever again. We children called him Baba Kiromise.

    Many non-Yoruba folks were also part of our community life. Many of them, as ethnic groups – the Urhobo, Nupe and the Ebira especially – added to the beauty of our towns by celebrating their own cultural festivals annually and taking it to the palace. For many centuries, Hausa traders had enjoyed the privilege of lodging in the outer wing of our Oba’s palace, near the marketplace. Centuries before, one of our early Obas had given them space near the marketplace to build a mosque. In the marketplace, my mother belonged to the Iso (location) of the sellers of home-woven cloths. One of her closest friends, a Nupe woman named Amina (but better known as Mama Tapa) belonged to the Iso of sellers of smoked fish. On my way back from school, whenever my mother was too busy haggling over cloths with customers, I could always walk over to Mama Tapa at her Iso and she would take good care of me. She was like my second mother. In our family compound, there lived an Ibibio trader who owned a small store near the marketplace. I never knew his name. His wife called him Manager, so our people called him Monija. Because, in the Yoruba culture, every adult member of a family compound is parent to all the children in the compound, Monija was one of our parents too. We children liked to run errands for his wife because of her tasty non-Yoruba foods. In the next compound, there lived an old Fulani cleric whom we called Baba Filani, who made divinations on sand and taught the Arabic alphabet and the Koran. He was nice to children, and so we all respectfully ran errands for him.

    In short, I grew up with a rich cosmopolitan outlook – the way that, for many centuries, generations of Yoruba children have grown up. The fact that we Yoruba do not, unlike most other peoples in the world, fight over religion, has enriched our cosmopolitan outlook enormously. This cosmopolitanism is the golden soul of our culture – the great gift that we bring to the making of Nigeria.

    Every Nigerian nationality has some spirit of gold in their culture too. We can build a lasting Nigeria of all-round beauty if we would respect and honour the cultures of all our nationalities. Regarding our nationalities as obstacles to the evolution of a united Nigeria, and trying to push them down, is a boundlessly destructive posture. Also, any nation disrespecting and abusing the culture of any other Nigerian people, as we are now seeing more and more in Nigeria, is putting on itself the historic responsibility of destroying the spirit of Nigeria. In fact, the most obvious sign that Nigeria is moving towards dissolution today is that some Nigerian nationalities are becoming more and more viciously disrespectful of some other Nigerian nationalities.

    In the matter of building of a harmoniously evolving Nigeria, we the Yoruba nation bring a huge lot to the table. But, obviously, we cannot be expected to make fruitless sacrifices indefinitely. The only viable path forward for Nigeria is that every one of our nationalities should place emphasis on bringing their best to the table too.

  • Power sector: It’s a new dawn

    The epoch-making event of handing-over of erstwhile successor companies of PHCN to the new private sector owners must not go unrecognised and un-celebrated because it is a major step in the nation’s quest for self-sufficiency in electric power supply. What began like a child’s play about 14 years ago when President Obasanjo (OBJ) sacked the management of NEPA and replaced it with Sen. Liyel Imoke-led Technical Board has finally arrived at the destination and alas, there is no more NEPA, no more PHCN – acronyms which have been maligned by the very people they were serving.

    To discerning observers, the process has taken too long but, like the thousand miles journey which begins with the first step, that singular action of Obasanjo and indeed his resolute commitment to power sector reform gave birth to the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005. The Act specifically provided for one year to wind up PHCN and allow the 18 successor companies autonomy of operation. However, the journey has not been without feebleness and near U-turn on the part of the administration of President Yar’Adua and filibustering by the workers’ unions aided and abetted by external forces who have been leeching the system. A new vista was given to it when President Jonathan launched the Power Sector Reform Roadmap in August 2010. Despite missing some key milestones, the power sector reform train has finally berthed at the terminus! It is marvellous in our eyes!

    Before examining the outlook of the power supply industry under the crop of the new private sector owners, I consider it important to look at two sectors of the economy where similar reforms have yielded positive results even though some of the benefits might have now been taken for granted.

    Time was when a customer seeking to withdraw cash from banks must be prepared to spend sometimes up to half a day to accomplish the objective. You would have to collect a plastic disc with a tally number and wait endlessly for your tally number to be called. The teller would pass your cheque to a supervisor who would order retrieval of your signature card to verify your signature and search through piles of computer print-out pages of previous day’s closing balances of all the branch’s customers to ascertain your balance before releasing your cheque for payment! Systematic reforms led to adoption of electronic banking with applications of ATMs and various online transactions. Now we are talking of a cashless society! All these changes came about because of the reforms in the banking sector.

    The few customers of NITEL (few because they were just about 500,000!) cannot forget what they went through whenever their numbers were “stolen” or “temporarily out-of-service (TOS).” If you wanted your number back, you would provide a ladder with a vehicle to transport it and the NITEL technician through long routes of telephone poles and wires ending up in your premises!

    In retrospect, NITEL was managing a situation of scarcity of telephone numbers, a situation which bred corruption whereby customers who could afford it induced its staff to manipulate the situation in their favour. It was not unusual for numbers to be diverted from unsuspecting subscribers during the daytime and routed to businesses who piled up debts for the subscribers at night time; in order instances, numbers were brazenly withdrawn from subscribers and allocated to highest bidders.

    I consider it appropriate to start this natal welcome note with the DISCO successor companies because, by virtue of the fact that they operate downstream, they form the interface with the consumers. As corporate entities who can sue, you should expect that your customers also have reciprocal right to sue you. Quid pro quo.

    For you, customer focus is sine qua non.You have a lot of in-house and out-door cleaning up to do.Your commitment to reduce losses must be pursued vigorously; the reticulation infrastructure is worse than an eyesore in most places. Conductors are undersized and drooping to less than three metres ground clearance with catenaries which defy any description, majority of poles are worse than the leaning tower of Pizza, cross-arms display different inclinations and detached insulators are not uncommon, feeder pillars doors are kept permanently ajar etc. Gone are the days when the Electrical Inspectorate Division must certify installations before they would be allowed to be electrified. Hopefully such oversight functions will come alive again.

    For as long as generation output does not match demand, you can be rest assured that customers will understand the inevitability of load shedding. Compliance with NERC directive of publishing or publicising the schedule of load shedding must be complied with. There must be no favouritism in the matter of load shedding. Customers should not have to pay for provision of, or repair/replacement of any item outside their premises; and whatever a customer is obliged to pay for must be officially invoiced and receipted. It is in your own interest to create multiple avenues for customers to pay for your services like, for instance, scratch cards or payment at designated supermarkets. You should consider introduction of packaged sub-stations and SCADA equipped control rooms and other efficiency-enabling power distribution technologies as soon as possible. Customer enlightenment on conservation and efficient use of power must not be overlooked especially for consumers with high inductive loads. You must help your customers to help you!

    The power generation companies (GENCOs) constitute the anatomical heart of the system as they generate and “pump” electricity into the transmission and distribution grids. The system today is anaemic, so to say, and just as doctors have to transfuse blood into anaemic patients, the GENCOs must not only gun for highest availability of the equipment already installed in power stations they have acquired, they must embark on expansion projects right-away. The demand is there, the ROIs are good and the sector is strategic and attractive to financiers. The challenges of gas supply are being properly addressed. Realising that nearly 120 million Nigerians have been denied access to electricity, your vision 2020-20 must be “To connect 20 million Nigerians to electricity yearly from now until year 2020” so that by 2020 Nigerians will enjoy clean, un-interrupted power supply. By 2020 our homes and businesses ought to have forgotten the era of load shedding with the attendant environmental pollution emanating from diesel and petrol generating sets causing health hazards like asthma and in extreme cases, mortalities caused by carbon monoxide poisoning from generator fumes, long-term exposure to carcinogens, noise pollution and all other inconveniences that go with running generators.

    I have always pitied the whipping boys of government apologists who wasted no time blaming generator merchants for the epileptic power supply and bureaucratic ineptitude demonstrated in handling of projects in the sector. If indeed these merchants constitute such a cabal and if indeed the cabal has been sabotaging government’s efforts at improving power supply, there is no reason why they will fold their arms now that private operators have taken over, afterall the stake must be higher for them now! If on the other hand, the generator market shrinks to the bare necessities of standby power at critical installations like high rise buildings, airports, hospital theatres etc, then Nigerians will know for sure that “the worms gnawing at the vegetable dwell therein!”

    Properly managed, the privatisation of the power sector will be a veritable advertisement for further divestment by the government from other sectors which can be better funded and managed by the private sector.

    To all key players in the electric power supply industry, I say LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!

    • Dr Eribake writes from Lagos.

  • From the cell phone

    For Segun Gbadegesin

     

    Re: “Not a task for the self-serving.” I am opposed to Sovereign National Conference and National Conference. With love, we could pass our amendable issues to our National Assembly. Mark could not have been autocratic to mates. He had the duty to listen, moderate and take decision on vital issues to amend. The lawmakers are self-serving since they approved pensions for their leaders and deputies. They also failed to accept local government autonomy. However, there is nothing wrong in amending the Constitution; what is wrong is the dishonest amendment that took vital things out of the existing piece. Next time, rather than giving such an assignment to the self-serving lawmakers, it could be handed over, to any political consultant to review. From Lanre Oseni

    “The return of Suntai”. Honestly, the man is unfit to govern the state going by what I saw on television and national dailies. From Azubuike Ekeh, Owerri

    You have been a consistent uplifter of our awareness of human rights. Please, continue to educate us on our liberal democracy and federalism rights. I have known you by proxy. From Col. Tony Nyiam (rtd)

    Dear Segun, your piece on Mark is light to our blind, cowardly and dishonest leaders. In Nigeria, it is a class war that is playing out. From A. T. Mozie, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

    With reference to your article in The Nation of August 30, 2013, I wish to point out that Senator Mark was an inner caucus member of the military elite who annuled the June 12, 1993 election. Either by fair or foul means, he is now a member of the political elite. He is suffering from the hangover of his military background. He is neither a lawyer nor an intellectual. He is only looking at issues from a very narrow angle. He is obviously enjoying privileges not available to 99.9 per cent of Nigerians. The patriots spoke wisely. We need a sovereign national conference. Anonymous

    Thanks for the logic of Mark! What must be done is to bring to the awareness of Nigerians the need for a referendum on “Should we have a new constitution?” This should solve the problem of getting the people covering the required sovereignty. I know this can have the desired impact on the people of Nigeria to rise and demand for it. God bless you. From Dr. Iwuagwu, Port Harcourt

    Much as the 1999 Constitution is dotted with defects and some irrelevant postulations and with calls for a new one that will reflect the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians across tribes, it is impotant to note that the attitudinal change of the operators or the state managers of the existing order is of utmost concern to Nigerians in the entire arangement. No written constitution, however, sacrosant, empirical knowledge comfirms, can work if the operators are anti-populist and corrupt; whereas an imperfect constitution can even make a headway in meeting the aspiration of the people with visionary and purposeful leaders as the operators. Either way, it is the attitude of those whom it would always fall on to operate the constitution, in a given period, that actually holds the key to our advancement in this country, no matter how functional, defective or sacrosant the constitution might be, and not the flawlessness of the constitution per se. From Emmanuel Egwu

     

    For Olatunji Dare

     

    It is particularly painful that our National Assembly is still confused on what to do with the spurious document called the 1999 Constitution. All the dishonest amendments on the document cannot stand the test of time. We all know that the American presidential system is admirable, but if Nigeria wants the American type of constitution and democracy, the thing to do is not to start deceiving ourselves all over again but to ‘import’ Americans to put us through. Our law makers should stop beating about the bush. From O. O. Adegoke, Ikhin, Edo State

    As our lawmakers are reviewing the military constitution, let the new constitution reflect the yearnings of Nigerians. We want people-oriented constitution that will move the nation forward. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia state

    Why was this fact that the National Assembly lacked the power to review the constitution not canvassed at the inception of the execise or why are the civil organisations not taking action to stop it? What is the way forward now that we have seen that these people are serving themselves? From Akparawa S. Innoh, Calabar

    The president of the Senate said they were tricked into voting in favour of child marriage, that sounds funny; may be their attention was divided because there was no money involved. Some senators might be sleeping during the session because a sleeping mind will endorse anything, either good or bad, since there is nothing to share on the table. I urge David Mark to urgenly make provision for the next sitting so that all the senators will vote according to their pocket. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa, Lagos

    Without doubt, I affirm your opinion that Nigeria needs a new constitution to address the shortcomings in the rag-tag document forced on us by the military, to give our beloved nation a sense of porpuse, direction and a future. For that remains the only way we, as a people, can compete among the comity of nations. And not the haphazard window dressing method the National Assembly is using in the name of constitution amendment. From James Anjor-ikom

    Sir, David Mark must be joking by saying the Senate was “tricked” on account of Section 29. Who tricked them? Obviously, it is not Yerima that tricked them. From Martins, Asaba

     

    For Olakunle Abimbola

     

    Your write-up “Again, Sege talks the talk” is a very good one and you are right. If Nigeria is to be great and attain it’s manifest destiny in the comity of nations, the present generation of leaders must shun Obasanjo, all what he stands for and his empty rhetorics. With this, they and the Nigerian State will be free, then Obasanjo would embrace his fate in history. Hopefully, very soon the best in our nation will be ruling us. Thanks! From S. R. Omotayo, Shomolu Lagos

    Abimbola, the Ijaws have shown us that no matter how bad your person is, he should always be above board. That is why, to them, Goodluck Jonathan is as infallible as the Pope even though he is so far the worst occupier of Aso Rock Villa. Obasanjo’s most acerbic critics are the Yoruba. I know that your level of education will not allow you to celebrate mediocrity like the Ijaws, but that is the trend now. Let, therefore, OBJ be. From Kwaghfan, Makurdi

    For Gbenga Omotoso

     

    It is very unfortunate that Suntai’s wife prefers power and money to her husband’s health and peace of mind. He should resign and write his name in golde. From Joe Agah, Makurdi

    If the man was able to physically address the people of the state last night, why so concerned about his condition of health? If he says he is ready to return to work, why not wait and see if he is insincere? Afterall, is there any governor in Nigeria today who is 100 per cent healthy? Anonymous

    I am afraid that the acclaimed, good for nothing people are playing with the intelligent people of Taraba State. From Ken, Owerri

    This is another way of exhibiting our insincerity. Let Suntai subject himself to the Medical Board to prove his fitness and health. Anonymous

    Those people trying to block Danbaba Suntai from taking office are disappointed that he survived the accident. They should remember that it can happen to anybody, including them. They should stop creating unnecessary tension in Taraba State for their selfish interest. From Kassem, Jos

    The return of Suntai like in the era of the cabal that held the country by the jugular during the times of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua are at it again. Since it is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state, he will continue to enjoy the cover-up to the detriment of the people, by the interest group which is bent on benefiting from his health situation. Allowing him to recuperate outside power will be better than the ill-advised motive to cling to power. God save him! Anonymous

    We, in the military and paramilitary, believe in loyalty. If Suntai’s deputy is loyal, he should assist him to run the government not to take over through backdoor. How are we sure there is no sabotage in the crash going by recent desperation? From Esan, Osogbo

    We all know Suntai is not yet capable. He may not even be aware of the gravity of what he is doing as he may be acting out a written script. We all could see that he read from a paper. To Mrs. Suntai, do not tell us your husband who could not wave well at the airport and was supported down the jet is now the one drafting and dissolving his cabinet.

    From Richard Ebuka Umezurike, Ado-Ekiti

    I love your sense of being your brother’s keeper but why not leave Suntai alone. It is always said among the Yoruba that a dog that is destined to get lost will never hear the hunters’ whistle. If he wants to die let him do please. From F. T. Odugbemi, State Of Osun

    Daniel’s attitude and recent behaviour justify the level of neglect of our children due to parents’ carefree attitude to their children. The films Daniel watched and put into practice were provided at home. He then felt it was wise to practise them than to study because he was on holiday. He deserves to be remanded in a reformatory home until he is 20. This will teach others like him a lesson. His teacher should be invited. I presume Daniel does not stay in the classroom to learn. Let the parents provide his report sheet. He may be a stubborn child. Anonymous

    I really enjoyed reading your piece, “Daniel goes to Lagos”. While I agree with you that Daniel should be allowed to return to his parents to continue “dreaming”, I also feel that such a boy deserves to be treated as a special talent with huge potential. I have a hunch that he is no ordinary kid and should therefore be specially monitored to ensure that he does not end up a waste like others with great talents and potential. We all know that Nigeria has a great track record for wasting talents. From Bola Olugbade, Saapade-Remo, Ogun State

     

    For Tunji Adegboyega

    Re: ‘The comic tragedy in Taraba’ (The Nation on Sunday, September 1). What I could not understand is why Suntai has been hell-bent on ruling. A three-year-old child knows that the governor remains unfit to continue to govern as his being unwell is too pronounced. Coming back home is not sufficient proof that he can now govern. To worsen matters, he sacked his SSG and Chief of Staff. Are they responsible for his plight? His arrival was just to meet our constitutional requirement of saving his job and not necessarily to govern. The legislators are right. From Lanre Oseni

    Tunji, you are becoming a “notorious” satirist. Maybe you should be writing for the depressed and hypertensive patients to relieve them of their situation. Anyway, I admire you. From Yemi Ilori, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

    I like reading your Sunday articles in The Nation because we reason alike most of the time. Your piece on Taraba State governor is so funny that I laughed and laughed. I had to read it over again. It was a wonderful piece and I enjoyed your angle to the matter. Though funny, I never missed the message you are passing across. From Femi, Ijebu-Ode.

    Cabals in the news again! How could a governor who doesn’t speak well rule? Let us call a spade a spade; the man is not yet fit! Let the truth be told; with what Nigerians saw when he was coming down from the aircraft, Suntai is not okay. He should resign honourably on health grounds to take care of himself. We should not allow the international community to laugh at us with the drama in Taraba. It is very embarrassing and uncalled – for for the cabal to seek to restore him for their selfish interests. We pray and wish the governor quick recovery. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

    Great piece! Your apt title, ‘The comic tragedy in Taraba’ says it all. Yar’Adua was a tragi-comedy because it ended happily. But I wager my insurance certificate this one (starting on a comic note) will not, not in the PDP diarchy. From Chux Omessah.

    Tunji, I have always had cause to warn you not to write satire. Undiscerning readers will not know the difference. But the article is very funny. From Tony Esho.

    Thanks for your realistic “Nigerians as Praying Mantis” on August 25. From Ben.

    Tunji, a time is fast approaching in this country when man will start praying to God to help them by giving them direction on how best to loot more of the country’s money and how to spend it. We continue to mock ourselves … but God is watching! Thanks for the write-up. From Simon Oladapo, Ogbomoso.

    Re: “Nigerians as Praying Mantis”. Long before now, once issues cropped up, be they religious, political, social or economic, it was always recourse to prayers. That was to dissuade us from resolving the problems fundamentally. Prayers work in countries that are devoid of injustice, corruption, embezzlement, indiscipline and other vices. Here, stubborn sore requires toughened medication … When shall we make vehicles with prayers?

     

  • Still on child marriage debate

    One of the worrisome challenges facing girl child education in most developing world is adolescent pregnancy either following casual unprotected sexual intercourse or as part of her marital responsibilities when she is married off too early in life for various reasons. There are several controversies trailing child marriage and one of such is the issue of consent of the “would-be” bride. Some have argued that child marriage is tantamount to “forced marriage” while others have stated other reasons such as culture, religion and others to make case for it. Recently during the constitutional review debate by the National Assembly where the issue of citizenship was being discussed, an argument ensued about minimum age to take such a decision and there was a digression to minimum age of marriage. This issue which has been repeatedly denied by the leadership of National Assembly that the discussion is about citizenship but not child marriage has drawn local, national and international attention with each group trying to justify her position. It is imperative that Nigerian public consider her decision holistically by not taking matrimonial responsibility as procreation alone.

    Transformation of a child to adult entails physical, emotional and social well-being and it therefore behoves that Nigerian leadership and her citizens take cognisant of all these before benchmarking any particular age as a ripe age for marriage. Medical consequences of child marriage which is often described as “Teenage marriage” in medical literature should also be considered before a far-reaching decision is taken on this popular discourse. According to the World Health Organisation, any girl given out in marriage and consequent child bearing at age of 18 years and below is considered child marriage and pregnancy emanating from such is termed Teenage pregnancy or Adolescent pregnancy. This decision is borne out of compelling evidence that ladies that are pregnant at this age are often faced with myriads of avoidable medical problems, which could endanger their life and sometimes increase their risk of dying when compared to other age group.

    In general, it is estimated that there over 100 million teenage pregnancy worldwide. Asia and Africa account for about 48 and 42 percent respectively. In Nigeria, the 2008 demographic health survey also shows a high prevalence of teenage pregnancy with regional variation. Evidence is replete that teenage pregnancy is associated with poverty, low educational level, high maternal morbidity and mortality.

    Teenage pregnancy is regarded as high risk because of the complications that may occur during the pregnancy, childbirth, and/ or in the postpartum period. The associated hazards of this practice on the teenage girls and their infants are numerous and often lead to life-long debility, social implications, psychological trauma and death.

    Elevation of blood pressure in pregnancy is a very common problem among adolescents in pregnancy and it is referred to as Pregnancy induced hypertension. Progression to convulsion (eclampsia) with fatal outcome has been attributed to a poor attitude of not seeking care during pregnancy and deficient capacity to manage this challenging medical condition in many rural communities in Nigeria. Most pregnant teenagers do not want to be seen in antenatal clinic and they therefore seek help elsewhere where capacity to manage their health problems is deficient. Case fatality is higher in region where the practice of teenage pregnancy is higher.

    The burden of anaemia and malaria infection during pregnancy is higher among teenage pregnancy than other age group. The risk of anaemia in pregnancy is far greater because the young mother’s body has to compete for nourishment with foetus thus causing a rapid depletion of the nutrient reserves. In addition, this population of young mothers is not empowered to eat balanced diet that will boost the red blood cell level. First time pregnant women to which these adolescents belong, have been found to be more vulnerable to malaria infection largely due to decreased level of immunity in pregnancy. The consequent effects of these two conditions include failure of the foetus to grow as expected, preterm labour, low birth weight baby, still birth and in very severe cases, death of the mother can ensue.

    Another serious risk associated with teenage pregnancy is the high propensity to developing cephalo-pelvic disproportion (CPD) in labour resulting in mechanical obstruction due to immature pelvic bones of the birth canal. This is higher among young under-16 years and short below-1.52m adolescents. A contracted pelvis has severe untold consequences on the health of the young mother and her baby. In Nigeria where only about a third have access to skilled birth attendant, most obstructed labour are not detected in time and this results into several complications such as infection, stillbirth, rupture of her womb and death. This is one of key cause of prolonged obstructed labour in the country.

    The rate of operative deliveries including caesarean operations is higher among teenage pregnant mothers than adult healthy pregnant women population. Caesarean section, though relatively safe when performed by competent medical practitioner, its attendant complications, the cost of the procedure, socio-cultural beliefs including aversion for it, and lack of emergency obstetric care services in rural areas are some of the factors that can debar access. This is a reality in Nigeria today.

    Obstetric fistula (a condition where women pass urine or faeces through there vagina uncontrollably as a result of abnormal connection from the bladder and /or the rectum to the vagina) is a socially distressing condition. Many of the women with any of the two types: Vesico-Vaginal Fistula and Recto-Vaginal Fistula are made objects of derision and often ostracized from their community. It occurs commonly following prolonged obstructed labour from the young, immature and malnourished women. Huge resources are voted to curb this avoidable menace.

    Adolescent pregnant women tend to have a higher maternal mortality rate than those in older age group. The risk of dying from pregnancy related causes is twice higher for women aged 15-19 years than as for women in their early twenties and worst still, the risk increases to five times amongst those aged 10-14 years. This has been adduced to lower socio-economic status, low educational level, lack of antenatal care attendance and obstetric care services among the pregnant adolescents. The risk of death is unequally higher among teenage pregnant mothers living in the rural areas compared to their peers in urban areas.

    The socio-economic implication of teenage pregnancy is enormous. The cost of managing them is far higher than other older age group and management should be offered in specialised centres with drain of facility resources. Also, teenage pregnancy is associated with poor educational advancement, poverty, and other related factors.

    The dangers of teenage pregnancy in our society can be overcome when we put in place programmes and policies that will complement values that will proactively discourage teenagers from getting pregnant with possible attendant complications. There is need for genuine efforts from parents, government agencies and NGOs to promote education of the girl child, most importantly in the North where many parents viewed educational investment on the girl child as a waste. Rather than blaming our political leaders, Nigerians should actively engage them constructively before critical decisions are taken which could have far reaching implication on the citizenry. Traditional, faith based organisations, and opinion leaders, human right organisations, civil societies, women organisations and others should engage the political leaders at their ward, local governments and states so that the right decision could be taken for the future leaders of this country.

     

    • Dr. Akinwumi is a Resident doctor at the Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, while Dr. Morhason-Bello is an honorary Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University College Hospital, Ibadan.

  • Dominant tone of APC

    There is a sense in which talking about so subtle and impalpable a thing as a party’s “tone” is almost self-defeating. If a tone must be adopted self-consciously, rather than simply growing spontaneously out of the nature of the movement and the character of its supporters, it runs the risk of being spurious and counterproductive.

    But everything about a political development as large as the APC mega party has the potential of becoming very important, and deserves the best thought we can give it. Trying then, to avoid phoniness, what qualities are reasonable to hope the All Progressive Congress may display?

    Since it is by definition an attempt to express the views of a nationwide coalition, surely one of the most important attributes of the mega party should be its readiness to cast its net wide and to co-opt, like the defunct ACN, CPC and ANPP parties before it, issues that concern important blocs of voters.

    No doubt, APC has and will probably retain a firm grip on the political allegiance of the youths of this country if and when the party continue to maintain its engagement with the youths as a strategic imperative to meet the challenges of prioritizing human development in health and education among other lists of challenges as rolled out in the party’s 31- page manifesto unveiled by its leadership and elders few days ago.

    The APC may, of course, be more fortunate or alternatively, less so. But if its leaders keep constantly in mind the great strategic objective of replacing the PDP with this newly formed broad-based and essentially progressive/liberal coalition, the future unquestionably belongs to the new party. And that is fortunate; for if democracy does, after all, have a future in Nigeria this 21st Century, let alone what follows it, only the forces and principles represented in the great coalition have a serious chance of realizing that future and protecting it.

    Several years after Chief Obafemi Awolowo formally declared this Nigerian progressive merger proposition, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu restated it still more broadly and emphatically. It now behoves on Nigerian people to advance along the highway of Nigeria’s progressive party amalgamation, which is the alternative choice of Nigerian electorates. The electioneering contest in Nigeria is not the concern of a day, a year or an age. Posterity is virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected even to the end of time by the proceeding that goes on now. Now is the seed-time of the progressives. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak, the wound will enlarge with the tree; and posterity will read it in full grown characters.

    By unveiling the manifesto of the party with the clear cut eight-point agenda that will propel this nation to greatness, the situation of the Nigerian nation will surely change for better. Geographically, Nigeria sits on the throne of African continent. Her history is that of the evolution of a distinct, separate, and independent people. The APC’s mission therefore, should be the creation of a new breed of patriots and to present to the citizens the example of the happiness and well-being which comes from progressive, self-disciplined liberty. This is the faith of our genuine patriots that founded APC. By that faith, ought we not to abide? The Nigerian nation, the supreme love of our hearts, the highest object of our effort and our thought- the Nigerian nation free of hand and unchained of foot, matching steadily onward toward the destiny to which it is entitled by the reason of its place on the African continent the genius of its people, and its orderly institutions of freedom.

    At this crucial moment of the nation’s political evolution, it is reasonable to expect that opportunity to perform a service for our country, in a purely idealistic spirit, may at last attract into politics and into candidacy of the APC, men and women of sound judgement and mature years who were never able to bring themselves to participate in the strife-ridden, self-seeking and often blatantly corrupt practices that characterize so much political activity of the ruling PDP in Nigeria today.

    To this end, since the ultimate objective of APC is to replace the moribund Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the central government in Abuja and in all the states governed by the PDP altogether, it must be made as easy as humanly possible for the Liberal/Progressive elements in the midst of PDP to move into APC without appreciable loss of status or other disadvantage. This will require great political diplomacy and probably some sacrifice all around, but it will be eminently worth it in the long run.

    If I may intrude here a purely personal note, I go so far as to hope that the All Progressive Congress (APC) might be fun to belong to, and a down right pleasure to vote for. Where is the music that once played so large a part in our politics; the pulse, pounding, rhythms, the popular tunes that can often communicate so much more effectively than words?

    And why not hope for a reasonable amount of humour as well? Frivolousness would be a mistake; the problems facing this country are much too serious for that. But the kind of unforced good humour that clearly implies we do not take our individual selves too seriously, and that we respect the sincerity of our critics, is wonderfully disarming, and shared laughter is often better food for the soul than the most solemn speech- or even a 10-point programme.

     

    • Engr. Shoyebo, an author writes from Lagos.

  • Kogi at 22: Moving forward

    At last, Kogi, a state blessed with agricultural, mining, industry and tourism potentials, yet rated among the poorest in the country, is on the verge of getting it right as an investors’ haven. Created August 27, 1991, Kogi is ranked 13th most populated in Nigeria. The state is richly endowed in natural and human resources and has the potentials of the food basket of the nation and also a tourist destination. According to a report published by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in 2009, Nigeria has commercial deposits of a total of 37 minerals, up from 33 minerals in 2008.

    Kogi State has deposits of a total of 29 mineral resources available in commercial quantities. These include coal, dolomite, feldspar, bauxite, iron ore, tar, limestone, gold, tantalite etc. Each of the 21 councils in the state is said to have deposits of at least two minerals. The Okaba district of Ankpa Local Council alone holds reserves of 99 million tones of coal.

    The report states that Kogi State has enough deposits of coal to supply all of Nigeria with electricity for 400 years. Its limestone deposit would keep three giant-sized cement factories (with over 15m tons annual capacity) operational for an unbroken stretch of 99 years.

    The state capital, Lokoja hosts historical relics and geographical monuments, notably the museum of old European commercial activities and the confluence of River Niger and River Benue.

    Despite the amazing depth of human and mineral resource and tourism endowment, Kogi State had, over the years, placed last in all Nigeria’s social and economic indices.

    Determined to rewrite Kogi’s story, Governor Idris Wada, on assumption of office in January, 2012, raised a think-tank comprising illustrious sons and daughters of the state, to prepare a development blueprint for his government. While it has been tough adhering to the spirit and letter of the blueprint in the face of challenges, suffice it to say the administration is not too far away from the blueprint.

    Undaunted by the several months of election related litigations, Wada traversed Nigeria and foreign countries, while his deputy, Yomi Awoniyi ran errands on the domestic scene. Eighteen months in the saddle, there are sufficient signals to suggest that Wada has made haste slowly as the seeds of the benefits of his silent trips overseas and outside the shores of the state are beginning to germinate. Kogi is presently undergoing an agricultural and industrial transformation made possible through the influx of foreign investors. The result is that, Kogi now plays the role of a catalyst, culminating into the signing of about 12 memoranda of understanding running into billions of Naira.

    The attraction of foreign partners into the state’s economy is driven by the political will of Capt Wada to create an enabling environment for business to thrive. Leading the pack is a consortium of investors from Saudi Arabia, including the Alkatani Group, a Saudi family business with 73 years experiences in oil and gas, steel plant development and pipeline, led by its Vice Chairman, Sheik Sallah Alkatani.

    The partnership seeks dual advantage in terms of direct and indirect employment and to ensure that the lean funds accruing to the state from the federation account are channelled for other developmental purposes. The investors on their part are guaranteed healthy returns on their investments.

    In all of the MoUs signed by the state government, what it has done is to capitalize its land and its content in a “use it or loose it basis” under which the state is allotted a percentage of equity. Aside incentives as tax holidays, access to land with necessary titles, the state also facilitates exploration of minerals through the necessary federal agencies as support to investors.

    The creation of an Investment Promotion Desk by the state government, a one-stop shop for information and detailed discussions, serves as an investment maternity ward for the safe delivery of investment projects in the state.

    Towards ensuring the development of the state’s agriculture and industrial sector, the Wada-led administration, entered into partnership with Ostertrade Engineering and Manufacturing and DPP International APS to develop 6000 hectares of cassava farm and to process it to native and modified cassava starch. The project has an equity investment of US$650 million realisable within 18 months by all parties. The project also has a high net worth with a return on investment of 27 per cent and a pay back period of less than four years. It is also capable of generating thousands of employment in the area of its location.

    The partnership with Espera Global Limited in commercial agricultural and agro-industrial investments, which operates on a Project Model called Strategic Fast Tract Agricultural Development System, seeks to invest up to US$650 million on 25,000 hectares of land. Aside the backward integration advantage to the state, the state also enjoys 15 percent share of the project while employment would be created in agriculture infrastructure and social services.

    The Chelsea Group plans to establish agriculture and ethanol plant and other associated Industries in Ilama Community in Dekina Local Government Area. The project is a US$300 million investment. It has an equity structure of 85 percent and 15 percent for the partner and state government respectively and will occupy a land mass of 10,000 hectares.

    Favic Construction Company seeks to exploit the immense location of economic advantage of Kogi State as a transportation hub. On the average, vehicles from 22 states pass through the capital daily.

    A Mechanic and Spare Part Market in Lokoja, is to be sited on a minimum of 10 hectares of land. The facility which will have an international hotel, car park that will take at least 200 vehicles, a bank, Open Court Restaurants, and Rest Rooms is structured on the basis of 75 percent and 25 percent for the investor and the state, respectively.

    Towards providing mass housing scheme, the state entered into a partnership with Light House Financial Services Limited to build 1500 houses of various categories for it citizens to be located in Lokoja; those for other urban towns would be prosecuted in phases.

    The importance of power in driving socio-economic development of the state made the administration to sign a MoU with Good Earth Power Nig. Ltd and Astra Coal Nig. Ltd. The companies aside investing in housing, agriculture, infrastructure and power plants, would utilize the abundant coal deposits to generate the much needed electricity for the country.

    Astra Agriculture Resources Ltd intends to establish a rice farm and mill at Ibaji. Infrastructures such as health centres, schools, roads, water and electricity would be provided by the investor as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.

    Through the Kogi investment and properties Limited, a joint agreement with Kiabo Engineering Group Holding Limited of Hong Kong to Design, Construct and Operate an -storey hotel and offices to be known as Kogi House is yet another brilliant initiative of the Capt Wada administration. The project which would be located in the central business area of Abuja would see the State enjoy 80 percent equity participation in the venture which spans a period of 30 years.

    With the future of the nation closely tied to agricultural promotion, the state massive investment in agriculture especially in sugar through the establishment of a 50 hectares cane sugar seed nursery, is geared towards enabling the planting of 1000 hectare of sugar cane in about a year, an investment anchored by BUA Sugar, Dangote Sugar and Unikem Sugar companies. The trio, planning to set up sugar plantation and refining facilities in the state, it is hoped, would help form the bulwark for the realization of the National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP).

    Without mincing words, the friendly environment created by the Idris Wada administration, the state’s abundant potentials in agriculture, mining, tourism, human capital development as well as its strategic location is making it to presently undergo an agricultural and industrial revolution.

    *Agbana and Abu are both media aides in the Governor’s Office, Lokoja.

  • The nationality question

    Permit me to begin this contribution with two incontrivertable assertions. Firstly, had we successfully answered what has come to be collectively known as the ‘’Nationality Question’’ in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s there would have been no civil war in 1967. Secondly, had we not chosen to forget our differences but instead had we tried to understand them the last 53 years of our existence as an independent nation would have witnessed far more unity,stability and progress than it has done. The agitation and quest to answer the ‘’Nationality Question’’ in Nigeria will not stop until the question has been successfully answered no matter how long our leaders, politicians, professionals and intellectuals ignore it and attempt to brush it under the carpet. The quest to properly identify, situate and define the rights, duties and obligations of each and every one of our numerous nationalities in a wider Nigeria will never end until it is achieved. As a matter of fact, given the sheer desperation of each of the major ethnic groups to win control at the centre in 2015, the activities of Boko Haram, the agitation of the Niger Deltans, the ressurection of MASSOB, the unmistakeable resurrgence of a rather extreeme form of igbo nationalism, the activities of various ethnic nationalist groups and the growing religious and sectarian divide in our country it has only just started in earnest and it is a cause that I have chosen to dedicate my life to. As  long as I live I will resist the idea of any part of Yorubaland being turned into a ‘’no-man’s land’’ where the Yoruba people are meant to live as second class citizens and never-do-wells and where they are treated like filth. If that makes me a tribalist or a bigot, then so be it.

    If loving my nationality,which comprises of 50 million Yoruba people, and adoring my nation of 160 million Nigerians at the same time is a crime, then I am guilty of that crime. I do not have to love one at the expense of the other. We are not America which is a nation that is made-up of immigrants and ex-slaves and a country which literally wiped out the indigenous population that they met there when they arrived who were known as the Red Indians. We are not Americans who somehow found their way into the world barely three hundred years ago but we are Nigerians. And each and every one of the great and numerous nationalities that make up our beautiful nation has a noble heritage that goes back for thousands of years. We may not be as developed or as wealthy as they are but we know who we are and we know where we are coming from. That is why I am proud of this country and all the various nationalities that make it up regardless of our difficulties and challenges. Yet we are not so different to some others. In the United Kingdom there are basically four nationalities: The English, the Welsh, the Irish and the Scottish. Each of these four nationalities is actually a tribe yet you very rarely find a British person who will tell you that he is not proud of his Scottish, Welsh, Irish or English heritage and at the same time proud of his nation. He is first an Irishman, a Welshman, an Englishman or a Scot before being British even though he  cherishes being both. He does not have to sacrifice his Irish, Welsh, English or Scottish heritage and roots for Britain and neither does he have to sacrifice Britain for his heritage and roots. He balances it well, he has the best of both worlds and this is indeed a wonderful thing. He derives his strength from both. He enjoys being Irish, Scottish, English or Welsh and cherishes it deeply just as much as he enjoys and cherishes being British. And today, centuries after Great Britain was established as one nation under one Crown and one Royal Sovereign the British citizen still cherishes his primary nationality and tribal heritage so much that power has been gradually devolved from the centre at Westminster in London to the various tribes and ethnic nationalities in the regions over the years.

    Such is the agitation for the restoration of ethnic identity and devolution of power in the United Kingdom today that Scotland is preparing for a referendum to determine whether her people should remain in Great Britain or not. This is a beautiful thing. It is known as self-determination and no human being ought to be denied that right. Taking pride in your primary roots and your ancient heritage is not a crime.That is how it is meant to be. It is only in Nigeria that we call this perfectly natural and wholesome phenomenon ‘’tribalism’’. We give it an ugly name and we ascribe to it an even uglier connotation. Everywhere else in the world, the reality of ethnic nationalities is acknowledged, respected, valued, cherished and well-managed. As a matter of fact, such diversity is a source of strength and pride for many. For example, in the nation of Belgium one will find that there is an ancient dichotomy and deep rivalries between the Flemish people of the north and the Waloons of the south. They speak different languages and have a completely different history and cultural heritage yet these two great and ancient nationalities or tribes are proudly Belgian and they rally under one flag. This is how it ought to be everywhere. I have no hate or ill-feeling towards any other ehnic group in this country or anywhere else. God knows that that is the truth. If I did I would say so and damn the consequences. Racism and tribalism is below me and such primordial traits offend my sensibilities. To harbour such views is well below my intellectual and spiritual dignity. Those that know me well can attest to this. I am just too big, too large-hearted and too well educated for that sort of thing and most important of all my christian faith and heritage does not allow me to look down on anyone or any other race. We are all children of the Living God. I have as many non-Yoruba friends just as I have Yoruba ones. I look down on no other human being, no other race and no other nationality and I do not claim that the Yoruba are better than anyone else.

    What I insist on though is that I should be allowed to acknowledge my history and to preserve my ancient heritage, culture, values and ethos. I also insist that my people should be allowed to develop at their own pace. I am not ashamed of who I am and where I come from and had it not been for others holding us back I know where the South West and the yoruba would have been by now in terms of development. And neither would I go to England or America or Enugu or Kano and claim that I own the place or that my people built it from scratch and that they generate all the money that is there. I would never say or do such a thing and neither should I be expected to sit back quietly when someone says it about my land, my people and my territory. In this debate, I have threatened no-one, I have incited no-one, I have accused no-one and I have not sought to silence anyone with threats or blackmail. I have not expressed hatred towards anyone. Yet my family has been subjected to insults, threats, humiliation, hate-speech, misrepresentation, falsehood, intimidation, calls for arrest and lies by some people who really ought to know better. My late father of blessed memory has been insulted during the course of this debate as has my late mother, my wife, my children and my people from the South West. We have been called all sorts of names and subjected to the most filthy and disgraceful abuse and malicious lies. And now some ask me if I will ever stop this fight for the rights of my people. The answer is that I will not stop because a price has already been paid. I will never renounce my views. As a matter of fact, now more than ever before I see how important it is for us to ensure a certain degree of separate development in this country and to hold on to our heritage because we are just so different. Those that have chosen the path of aggression and open hostility and that seek to supress our voices, intimidate us into silence and drown us with their propaganda are vulger, crude and rude. That is their way. They are also experts at telling lies. Yet they cannot silence a whole nationality or just wish us away. We are here to stay. I am not looking for trouble and I abhor strife and violence. To me this is simply an intellectual exercise and we can agree to disagree and still remain compatriots and friends. However I will not give up my identity because that is all I have. I will not betray the dreams of my forefathers and their aspirations for our people. For four generations now, the Fani-Kayodes have contributed positively to the affairs of this country. Unlike some of those that are bleating and insulting us we have paid our dues. Like millions of others, we have a stake here and we are from  Yorubaland. I have a little Fulani blood in me too and I am very proud of that but I am first and foremost a Yoruba and I will live and die for the Yoruba and indeed for my nation Nigeria if need be.

    I have written about virtually every major ethnic group and nationality in this country over the last 23 years and sometimes in very harsh terms, including my own, Yet it is only when I disagree with some of our Igbo brothers and sisters and dispute their claims on Lagos that all hell break loose. Well one thing is clear. Whether they like it or not, as long as God gives me life I will voice out my opinion and articulate what millions of the Yoruba are secretly thinking on this matter but are too shy, gentle and polite to say. They may not want to talk but I will talk for them and I will voice their legitimate concerns about the future of every Yoruba child in an increasingly hostile, ugly and unsustainable Nigeria.  All the smear campaigns in the world cannot change that and neither can it stop it. If God does not smear me or mine, no man can smear us.This battle is more important to me than politics or anything else. It is a battle for the very survival of my people and my nation and with my intellect, my pen, my tongue, my knowledge and my wits, I intend to fight it till the day that I die. It is my right to voice out my views and create awareness about the imminent danger that my people are facing of being overwhelmed by others that were never really part of them. They say our territory is ‘’no-man’s land’’ yet they will never offer us theirs in return or even allow us to build there. Who is the fool here? And when we complain they have the nerve to insult us. Enough is enough. It stops today. I am not a racist or a bigot but I believe that I have a right to defend that which is mine and to preserve my identity. Though I love being both, let it be clearly understood that I am a Yorubaman before being a Nigerian and I make no apology for that.

    We ignore our differences at our own peril and this is not only naive but it is also exceptionally dangerous. They made the same mistake in Yugoslavia through the ‘70’s and 80’s until the explosion came out of the blue in the ‘90’s and all hell broke loose. No-one saw the war coming in that country except the more discerning and brilliant minds who had been shouting for decades before it came that their very own ‘’nationality question’’ had to be answered and that Colonel Broznin Tito’s dream of an eternal and everlasting old Yugoslavia was unsustainable. No one listened to those discerning voices and consequently, millions were killed in the most horrendous and vicious civil war that Europe had ever seen. From being one country where the people and numerous nationalities were compelled to ‘’forget their differences’’ by law, Yugoslavia was eventually broken up into five sovereign independant states as a consequence of fratricidal butchery and unrestrained and all-out war. I pray that we never break up and that we never witness or fight such a war in Nigeria. The answer is to understand and settle our differences and not to conveniently forget them.

  • Awo, APC and 2015

    Awo, APC and 2015

    Thirty years ago, on 15 December 1983, at the Sixth Annual Congress of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) held at the Ogun State Hotel, Abeokuta, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in his characteristic manner, in his speech on that occasion, looked into the future. It was the first annual congress of the party after the highly flawed August 1983 General Elections, which returned the Presidential Candidate of the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) Alhaji Shehu Shagari, for a second term in office as President. Chief Awolowo was the Presidential Candidate of the UPN in the election.

    In the memorable speech, Chief Awolowo floated the hypothesis of the Synthesis of the Thesis and the Antithesis. He spoke of the “binary compounds of thesis and antithesis which may be evolutionary or revolutionary in which, whether we like it or not, all human beings are inescapably involved… When the war is over, only the best of us will be accommodated in the synthesis with the best in the antithesis in complete dominance”.

    There were six registered political parties that took part in the 1983 General Elections. The NPN and UPN were the two leading political parties. The simple analogy deducible from the Awo postulation or rather, prophetic pronouncement, was an advocacy of a two-party configuration for Nigeria.

    Two weeks after the explosive thought provoking address, on 31 December 1983, the military struck again and terminated the democratic process. General Muhammadu Buhari took over with his lieutenant, Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon. Notably, for the 20 months they were in the saddle (before they were booted out on 27 August 1985) the Buhari/Idiagbon regime said no word about the return of the country to democratic rule. It was however a different ball game with the succeeding Ibrahim Babangida regime that promptly announced a Transition to Civil Rule programme.

    On 13 January 1986, about five months after it came into power, and three years after Awo’s Abeokuta Declaration, military President Babangida inaugurated a 17-man Political Bureau headed by Dr. J.S.Cookey with the mandate to conduct a nationwide debate towards fashioning out a viable and enduring ‘‘people oriented political system devoid of perennial disruptions’’ for the country. Its term of reference among others also include a ‘‘review of Nigeria’s political history, identifying the basic problems which led to our failure in the past and suggest ways of resolving and coping with the problems’’.

    At the end of its assignment, following an exhaustive debate across the country and a critical, in-depth appraisal of our past political experiences, the bureau recommended a Two-Party System for the country. The recommendation was accepted by government but it rejected the suggestion by the bureau on the imposition of two distinct ideologies – Western Liberal Capitalism and Socialism – for the two political parties. Government was of the view that ideologies should not be imposed but should emerge from the consensus and activities of the political parties.

    Empowered by the relevant decrees, the National Electoral Commission with Professor Humphrey Nwosu as Chairman, on 4 May 1989, barely 24hours after the ban on political activities was lifted, released guidelines for the registration of political parties. Thirteen political associations collected, completed and returned the relevant application forms for consideration for registration. Nwosu, on September 25, 1989, presented the report and recommendations of his commission on the verification and assessment of the political associations to the government. The best six associations were recommended for consideration.

    In the estimation of the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) none of the six scaled the hurdle for registration as a political party. The bombshell of a verdict was contained in an address by Babangida on Saturday, October 7, 1989 creating two political parties; National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The two parties, with professed ideological leanings; A Little to the Right, A Little to the Left, were automatically registered by the electoral body.

    Babangida left no one in doubt of his conviction that a Two-Party System is the panacea to the myriad of problems that had bedeviled Nigeria’s political landscape. In the determined effort to make the system permanent and enduring, he got government to build party offices for the two political parties in Abuja, all the state capitals and the headquarters of all the 454 local governments existing at the time.

    So much has been said over the years about the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election as the freest, fairest and the best in the history of the country but not many had acknowledged the fact that the historic development was largely made possible by the Two-Party arrangement. It left us with only two options. Consequently, there was little or no acrimony. Religious, tribal, ethnic and other primordial considerations were subsumed as the membership of the two political parties cut across all divisive barriers.

    Twenty years after, here we are again. With the registration by INEC – on July 31 of the All Progressives Congress (APC) a merger of the former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (ANPP), Nigeria is set on the path to the emergence of two strong political parties with some other mushroom parties on the fringes, that would, with time, die naturally.

    Looking back, it is discernible from our past experience that we have always exhibited a tilt towards a two-party arrangement. After the 1959 General Election, the NPC (North dominated) had to go into a coalition with the NCNC (East dominated) to form the government at the centre leaving the AG (West dominated) in the opposition. A similar scenario played out towards the 1964 General Election with the emergence of the Nigeria National Alliance (NNA) and the United Progressives Grand Alliance (UPGA) from the various political parties of the time.

    A situation similar to that of 1959 surfaced again after the 1979 General Election with a coalition arrangement between the NPN (North rooted) and the NPP (East rooted) leaving the UPN (West rooted) as the main opposition party. In the course of the Second Republic, the NPN/NPP fraternity collapsed. Subsequently, the three governors elected on the platform of NPP, joined their nine other colleagues of the UPN (5), GNPP (2), PRP (2) that had been meeting periodically (12 Progressive Governors) for matters of mutual interest thus constituting a formidable opposition to the ruling NPN.

    We can also not forget in a hurry, the alliance between the AD and APP for the 1999 Presidential Election which pitched Chief Olu Falae, as the joint presidential candidate of the two parties, against Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP. The notable and significant difference between the past coalitions and the birth of APC is that, APC is an outright merger with all the parties involved dissolving into one block. – a welcome development that would impact positively on the nation’s polity, as a whole.

    As Chief Awolowo stated in his Thesis, the arrangement cannot be perfect at a go “The dialectic process represents principles of change and of progress: of progress from lower to higher, from part to whole, from the indeterminate to the determinate…The goal of the dialect procession is perfection; it aims at the perfection of all the virtues embodied in it. There are stages, epochs and eras in the dialectic process…”

    We should not expect perfection from the APC from the outset. Perfection would come with time. One prays that the party and its leaders would be able to go through the crucible successfully as the journey towards 2015 continues. This nation, at this point in time, is in dire need of a truly new breath of fresh air, a strong opposition party, an alternative to halt the slide towards a one-party-state, to save our ears from the sickening crackles of the groove repeating gramophone record that ‘we will rule for donkey years…

    • Akinyemi, journalist and public affairs analyst sent the piece via akinyemi ayo@yahoo.com