The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • 2012: Deadliest year for journalists

    This has been the deadliest year for journalists, according to both the International Press Institute (IPI) and the Paris-based press watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

    Though the totals of deaths they have compiled differ, due to each using different criteria, the story is tragically similar.

    The bald numbers show 88 journalists were killed (up 33% on the year before) and a further 47 people described as “netizens and citizen journalists” were killed along with six “media assistants.” That’s a total of 141.

    Then 879 journalists were arrested (plus a further 144 bloggers and netizens); 1,993 journalists were threatened or physically attacked; 38 journalists were kidnapped; and 73 journalists fled their countries.

    The worst-hit regions were the Middle East and northern Africa (with 26 killed), Asia (24 killed) and sub-Saharan Africa (21 killed). Only the western hemisphere registered a fall in the number of journalists killed.

    This is the worst set of figures since RSF began producing an annual round-up in 1995. The number of journalists murdered or killed was 67 in 2011, 58 in 2010 and 75 in 2009. The previous record was in 2007, when 87 were killed.

    The 88 journalists killed in 2012 lost their lives while covering wars or bombings, or were murdered by groups linked to organised crime (including drug trafficking), by Islamist militias or on the orders of corrupt officials.

    The killing of journalists continues to be one of the biggest threats to freedom of expression. Here are the five deadliest countries for journalists:

    Syria: At least 17 journalists, 44 citizen journalists and four media assistants killed in 2012 during the conflict between Bashar Al-Assad’s government and various rebel groups.

    Syria has hit news providers hard because they are the unwanted witnesses of atrocities being committed by the regime and armed opposition groups.

    Due to the polarisation of information sources, news manipulation, propaganda, technical constraints and the extreme violence to which journalists and citizen journalists are exposed, anyone trying to gather or disseminate news and information in Syria needs a real sense of vocation.

    Somalia: Twice as many journalists were killed in Somalia in 2012 as in 2009, until now the deadliest year for media personnel. The second half of September was particularly bloody with seven journalists killed, two of them in the space of 24 hours.

    Most are the victims of targeted murders or bombings. Those responsible for this violence are either armed militias, such as Al-Shabaab, or local government officials who want to silence news outlets.

    The lack of a stable government in this failed state for the past 20 years, endemic violence and impunity all contribute to the grim death toll.

    Pakistan: Ten journalists and a media assistant were killed, mostly because of endemic violence in Balochistan and Taliban reprisals

    Pakistan was the world’s deadliest country for the media from 2009 to 2011, and Balochistan continues to be one of the world’s most dangerous regions. With its tribal areas, its border with Afghanistan, tension with India and chaotic political history, Pakistan is one of the world’s most complicated countries to cover.

    Terrorist threats, police violence, local potentates with unlimited powers and dangerous conflicts in the tribal areas place often deadly stumbling blocks in journalists’ paths.

    Mexico: Six journalists were killed as Mexico’s drug-fuelled violence continued. It has grown exponentially during the federal offensive against the drug cartels of the past six years.

    Journalists who dare to cover a range of subjects – drug trafficking, corruption, organised crime’s infiltration of local and federal government and human rights violations by government officials – are targeted.

    Brazil: Five journalists were killed. Drug traffickers operating across the Paraguayan border seem to have had a direct hand in the deaths of two of the five journalists murdered in connection with their work in Brazil in 2012. Both had covered drug cases.

    Two of the other victims were blogging journalists, who often find that the least criticism of local officials can expose them to danger.

    Source: guardian.co.uk

  • The real Saraki legacy

    For obvious reasons, I have restrained myself from writing on late Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki. After all, as a beneficiary, I am most likely to be accused of undue sentiment. More so, when democrats like the Senate President, David Mark, the former governor of Lagos State and Leader of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Senator Smart Adeyemi, among others, have paid glowing tributes.

    But when basic facts are deliberately twisted by faceless persons, there remains no option than to set the records straight. In his article published in The Nation with the title Really, what is Saraki’s legacy, one Abdullahi Ishaq, curiously laboured to stand truth on its head. For anyone, who has followed Kwara politics in the last 40 years, Ishaq’s assertion that Saraki had government’s instruments in his grips for 40 years and did nothing, obviously assaults good sense of history.

    Wherever he got his tale, it is common knowledge that Saraki never held any political office in the state. So, one wonders where Ishaq expected him to derive the power to ‘develop’ Kwara State to become another Lagos or Kano. But, if, Ishaq meant that Saraki helped install most governors in the state, there is certainly no argument. Yet, we must put in proper perspective events in those years to sincerely gauge the influence Ishaq and his fellow character hunters expected Saraki to wield on the respective successive governments in the state.

    We will recall that after Saraki helped install Adamu Attah on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria, (NPN) in 1979, barely few months into office, for reasons space will not permit, they parted ways. Then came C.O. Adebayo, who contested on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), but earned the blessing of Saraki, who encouraged his followers to vote UPN in the gubernatorial election. As always, Adebayo won but few months into office, the military took over government and sacked Adebayo.

    Again, when democratic dispensation returned and two political parties emerged – Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Party (NRC), Saraki gave his blessings to Shaaba Lafiagi of the SDP. He won. Three months in to office, the military sacked the civilian government. Instructively, before the Khaki Boys struck, Saraki had assisted Lafiagi in securing a N30 million grant from the federal government to fix the Kwara State perennial water problem.

    The exit of the military saw the emergence of Mohammed Lawal as governor. Just a few months in office, fifth columnists succeeded in their acts. Detail of the disagreement is also reserved for another day, the two families having become best of friends now.

    Perhaps, it could be said that not until Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki became governor, whatever dreams his dad had for the state remained only in the imagination, For, as witnesses, we saw the giant leap made by the administration in terms of project initiation and execution. The Shonga farm project, remains a pacesetter in public/private partnership initiative in the country. There are also the first commercial aviation training college, the international diagnostic centre, various road projects, including federal roads, to make life more comfortable for the people. The educational sector was transformed through a policy that made every child counts. There is also the middle class housing project, among others.

    Ignoring the age long culture of not talking evil of the death as ordained by Allah, the unseen hands behind Ishaq’s warped tale decided to adopt the mortal philosophy to achieve their ignoble objective. Or, perhaps, out of sheer mischief, deliberately saw nothing good in a man, who gave his all and best for the good of the people of Kwara, including fighting corruption as Senate Leader. But again, life is a matter of choice: what you chose to see, is what you see. Yet, no matter how good one is at logic chopping, the moment you try to turn the truth upside down, you do violence to facts. This is exactly what Ishaq’s apparently ill-informed article did and doing so with shameless audacity. While he agrees that Saraki was a great politician, having single-handedly installed commissioners, ambassadors, special advisers, board chairmen and so on, he shockingly, did not know that it could not have been possible if Saraki was not acceptable to the people or party members. Perhaps, too, in Ishaq’s thinking, Saraki should have, after helping people get political appointments, also break down their walls and compel them to teach others how to fish!

    Like most people across the country drawn by his unequalled philanthropy, undying love for the less-privileged and unparalleled interest in the affairs and well being of the masses, I added to the growing Sarakite team. While everyday comes with new opportunities, the man, who says he has seen the light, must do well to share the experience where he is coming from. So, you begin to wonder: where were these emergent liberators when Saraki was constructing schools, building water and health-care projects in communities, feeding and investing in people? Here was a humanist, who invested and threw his gates open for indigent people, while others built high walls with the inscription ‘Beware of Dogs’ to scare people away. Where others cared just for their families, Saraki catered for all.

    But, really, has it become a crime to have father, mother, wife, husband, sons or daughters or even in-laws, in politics? Across the world, we have families and children that are carrying on with either a business or political legacy established by their parents. In fact, it is the joy of every parent to groom a daughter or son, capable of continuing with family’s legacies. In the United States, for instance, we have the Clintons and Bushs. So, is it a crime because the name is Saraki or Kwara State or because God carved a special role for some people?

    Wide as the political stage, every follower knows his or her leader well enough to readily obey his instructions, Kwara State not an exception. Kwara, like most other politically stable states, has a tradition. A tradition of stability and political consistency. Where were Ishaq’s paymasters and co-travellers when Baba was paying bills for children of the poor, sending them to foreign lands they never dreamt of visiting? Where were they when he was picking people’s wedding bills and feeding the widows and the orphans? Baba Saraki opened his gate when many barricaded theirs. Every one has a mission. Baba accompanied his mission of caring for the needy. The children of the needy who today are lawyers, doctors, engineers will revolt against Ishaq’s clients of imperialism.

    Truth remains that the Sarakis will continue to resonate in Kwara politics, having done so much to shape it to the level it is today. So, for Ishaq and his ilk, who are still wondering why the Kwara people love Saraki in life and death, my advice is to keep the right company and identify with the people, particularly, the masses. Saraki loved Kwara and its people and gave his all. He lived a fulfilled life; conquered poverty and liberated many from its claws. Indeed, he was a political maestro, an enigma that never quivered. Little wonder the people celebrate him, except, perhaps, the few emerging liberators without antecedents that are hiding behind Ishaq’s twisted article.

    • Oba, chief press secretary to the Kwara State governor writes from Ilorin

  • The new order in Abia

    Events lead a double life, and the appearance of events in politics is as important as their reality- Theodore H. White.

    In the recent past, that is, during the first eight years of our current democratic experiment, many states in the unitary system wrongly tagged federation were more or less empires of fraud and rapacious inclinations accentuated by the worst form of prebendal manipulations. Some of the states including Abia were run like family estates or kingdoms of the age of antiquity where the subjects had virtually no say in the way they were being governed. Consequently, even as the presidency was submerged in a stinking flood of corruption with a putrid stench as obnoxious as that of a rotten egg, some of the states were monopolised by business men who saw governance as a huge investment. Yet, in the uncanny dialectics of politics of corruption and the contagious corruption of politics, the old order somehow managed to throw up a new order of decency and accommodation in the manner of divine intervention

    In spite of whatever quake of apprehension that was bound to erupt as the aftermath of the infamous 2007 general elections, Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief when the late Umaru Yar’Adua emerged as President with also some educated and conscionable young men becoming governors in certain states across the country. This marked the beginning of the reversal of the fatalistic hopelessness that marred the confidence Nigerians reposed in the democratic process. Theodore A. Orji, the Abia governor, incidentally was one of the apostles of the new socio-political order. He sits atop a state that is commonly referred to as an agrarian, civil service state. Like the Biblical Joseph who became Prime Minister of Egypt from prison, Orji, popularly known as Ochendo, won his election while he was being incarcerated by political enemies.

    He inherited a state that was hitherto the hotbed of kidnapping activities in the South-east and a home to lawless traders that made people to sell their property at rock-bottom prices in order for them to leave Aba its commercial hub for safety. It was as bad as that, truly. Now, everyone can appreciate how he wooed the restive “area boys”, confused the pundits and salvaged the once volatile state from anarchy.

    To middlemen of ideas, after more than four years in the saddle, Ochendo remains an utter riddle- a study in ironic metaphor. Hence, the local and international media have given him the most sweeping commendation ever accorded a public officer in recent times. In more than five years in office, Orji has not known personal unpopularity, nor has his administration seen anything but success.

    He stands above all political fray despite occasional hysteria about politics of local government allegedly sponsored by his adversaries and the seeming simple political catches being dropped by those who desperately want his job. Although we cannot disparage the value of general notions about the climate of opinion in a given period and the unsavoury inquisitions of political enemies, we cannot as well deny the fact that Orji has infused the hitherto turbulent and crime-infested Aba city with some sweet benevolent antidotes. For those who had the misfortune of visiting Aba at the apogee of kidnapping, Abia State now presents the apotheosis of peaceful co-existence in the entire South-east geo-political region. This did not come by a sudden flight. It happened as a result of strategic planning and diligent application of tact and tenacity.

    Whereas several politicians in positions of authority don’t see themselves as managers but believe that their job is “to do the right things” while others are responsible for “doing things right”, Governor Orji belongs to the negligible clan of politicians who see themselves first and foremost as managers. They make things happen and get result. They don’t wait for the future; they create it. If you want to know how effective a leader is, read the direct interviews he grants to the press and do some textual analysis of those interviews. Here, I am not talking about stage-managed official propaganda. I have never met Theodore Orji one-on-one neither have I spoken with him on the telephone. But I have taken time to follow up developments around him and also studied some of the interviews he has granted the popular media. I have discovered that, perhaps due to his civil service background, Orji organizes people, allocates resources, manages time, implements strategies-whatever it takes to get things done.

    In fact, an Abuja-based friend of mine from Abia State, who is certainly not one of Orji’s boys, told me something recently: “I am definitely not one of T. A. Orji’s fans. But it is good to say the truth since it is the only thing that can set you free. If Orji were not working, I would not have been frequenting Umuahia as I have been doing in recent times trying to put up a bungalow for my children. I would probably have ended up in the den of kidnappers. Another thing is, in Umuahia electricity is 24 hours. I don’t know how he did it”.

    According to many citizens of Abia State, some of whom have had cause to confront him due to party differences, one thing that marks Ochendo out as a man of the people is his brand of politics. He is a tolerant politician who eschews bitterness, animosity and rancour.

    Of course, it is true that Governor Orji is far from being a saint. No man is infallible or perfect. But how he came to be so in tune with the dauntless optimism and carriage of an international statesman is a true mystery left to be unravelled by historians. Yet, what could possibly have been responsible for his magic wand? As a village boy who lived all his life in Abia State, except, perhaps when he went to higher school in Owerri, university in Ibadan, and NYSC in the North, Orji’s transparent husbandry in allocation of scarce resources to productive ends can be cited as a case in point.

  • From The Cell Phone

    From The Cell Phone

    For Gbenga Omotoso

     

    It is a shame for Obasanjo to unveil the statue of our great late Chief Bola Ige in Osun State. From Sola Iyand

    Gbenga, thanks for all the news. Of all the stories, I like the one reflecting Sanusi’s views on spending 70 kobo out of each naira to pay wages. The man spoke the truth, nothing but the truth. Gbenga, would you believe that some civil servants who worked with Sir Ahmadu Bello in the then Northern Region have remodeled their ages just to remain in service to benefit from the bogus salaries/allowances? If Sanusi were to mention these people, they would ask for his head. Anonymous

    Hate him or you like him Obasanjo remains the most influential politician in the country. But as influential as he is, he is also the most criticised ex-leader. For him to have accepted to unveil the statue of the late Bola Ige is very disgracing to the family of the late minister. He should have covered his face while unveiling it. History will judge sooner or later. From Hamza Ozi Momoh Apapa Docyard Lagos

    You are not a good student of history. Ige was murdered while still serving as the justice minister and not after resigning as contained in your piece of today. Anonymous

    We are grateful to God for not allowing Obasanjo to tamper our Constitution and elongate his tenure. As for the assassinated former attorney-general Bola Ige, who resigned as minister in Obasanjo’s cabinet before they kill him, why our security agents unable to fish out his killers. From Simmie Jones O., PTD . Aba unit

    Sir, are you sure chief Bola Ige was murdered after resigning from the Obasanjo led administration? Anonymous

    Wonders would never cease. I blame those who arranged the mess as they lack sense of history as well as encouraging evil doers. Rip bola Ige. Your killers would face God if they above men. From Nurudeen Gasali.

    What a wonderful commentator u are Gbenga! “Here is the news” is a classic. I have read it with relish. Keep writing. But I wonder if the rich and powerful are hearing! From Rev. Fr. Paschal Opara, Ciwa, PortHarcourt.

    We are educated to a significant level here in Nigeria. Educated people are supposed to be rational in the way they think and do things. It would be irrational and an unwarranted conclusion to infringe on Obasanjo’s moral freedom in the statesman assignment he did in Orile-Owu. Let us not allow commonsense to govern our rationality. From Ukor, Makurdi

    The unveiling of the late Chief Bola Ige’s statue is just normal thing as far as the killers will never be apprehended. Anonymous

    I believe Obasanjo must have prayed for forgiveness from Bola Ige. May he be forgiven and free from the den of hell. Who killed Bola Ige ? From Peter Ajadi, Ibadan

    Thank you for your write-up titled “Obasanjo : From Ghana to Osun”. Please allow Baba to rest. Chief Bola Ige or no Chief Bola Ige. Nemesis will speak for all of us. God bless you sir. From Pastor Nseobong Brown

    Re: Obasanjo: From Ghana to Osun. No one understands why Obasanjo was often misunderstood. I like the man because he hardly talks but when he chooses to, he would hardly be faulted after Hues and Cries. He should be respected rather than being embarrassed. From Lanre Oseni

    “Obasanjo: From Ghana to Osun”. The third term agenda man does not have any conscience! Would it be proper for him playing the second fiddle? Time will definitely tell! Ride on chief. From Adeosun, Oshogbo

    Ebora Owu, Obasanjo has no conscience; he knows that no matter what, the dead always stay dumb. Anonymous

     

    For Olatunji Dare

     

    “The Shame of our prisons” with a bleeding heart. One thing is certain: this inhuman and lawless act cannot go on forever! Sooner than later, there will be an end to the insanity in the land! From Olufolake, Lagos.

    Please which minister is in charge of prisons? Where are the gifts sent by churches? Anonymous

    Despite the fact that Onitsha prison was rated among the best, I wept and had nightmare for weeks. Thanks for your write-up on the state of Kuje prisons. May God bless you. From Ogo Oranu, Awka.

    I read your write-up on “The shame of our prisons” in The Nation today and I must say that the write-up throws up so many questions in my mind. Foremost is, am I being a simple minded to believe the Federal Government can easily set up a panel of judges to go across the 36 states of the federation and hear cases in the prisons for those awaiting trial and discharge and acquit those who are innocent or that were indeed guilty but have probably served the time and over for their crime? Can’t the National Assembly establish punitive laws to deal with whatever agency is found culpable in ensuring that swift hearing of cases becomes a norm? What am I missing? From Timi Egbuson

    Dare, it is worst at Kirikiri prison such that it is rated the second worst prison in the world after the prison in Islamabad. The irony is that our leaders who loot our common patrimony do not ever do time in such prisons they use their loot to circumvent the law and pervert justice. With such leaders as we have to recover thesoul of nation is herculean task. Anonymous.

    Your piece titled ‘The shame of our prisons’ portray the dehumanizing and parlous conditions of our prisons the very corrective and reformative purpose it is meant to serve has been negated we now have a prison that now churns out ex convicts who are more notorious hardened and more criminally inclined no thanks to the tougher treatment meted out to them, it is really a shame. From Ojo A. Ayodele, Emure Ekiti

    Re: The shame of our prisons. Conditions of our Prisons had been discussed many times at different fora as well as at various workshops and thought by now, the NIGERIAN Prisons would have been improved. Alas! the same corruption would not allow for reformation as at today. In civilised societies, prisons are reformative while they are punitive in Nigeria. But for how long shall we move along, with International Best Practices? Kill Corruption and get everything right! Authorities, reading the above titled, should act fast by rapidly improving Nigeria’s prison conditions. From Lanre Oseni.

    Dear Mr. Dare, your article titled “The shame of our prisons“ contained severely misleading assertions. Kuje prison was founded in the late 80s, hence it is not possible for the inmates on awaiting trial to have been incarcerated for upwards of 20 years. Similarly, congestion can only be eliminated when the courts and judges stop adjourning cases and be less corrupt. Meanwhile, convicted inmates go to schools in prison, acquire skills, etc. Anonymous.

    You are only biased on Saraki issues because you are South-West, even those who hated him like you and your sponsored know well that Oloye did well for Kwarans. Anonymous.

    And whoever eats of his plate and drink from his cup and turns against him will die violently. Each time he is ill people die. Have you bordered to ask. Why? Too many rumors that many people were relieved when he eventually died. In death rumor continued about mode of burial. Anonymous.

    Dare, you got an important fact wrong in your column. In the 1979 Presidential election to be declared a winner a candidate must secure a majority of the popular vote plus at least 25% of the votes cast in 2/3 of all the states in the country. This is different from how you stated the regulation in your column. Thank you. From Bode Segun.

    Re: A farewell to two legends. Dr. Dare struck the point when he said ‘…yet when he died, Kwara State went into deep mourning….’ The fact is that majority of Kwarans jubilated in joyous mood when Saraki died just like when Abacha died or when news of Okar’s coup first filtered into the air in 1991. Reason being that ‘those who did not fall in line in Saraki’s lifetime were actually humiliated and hounded out of the system not only in Kwara. Ask Vera Ifudu of NTA fame. Dr. Dare, I suggest your caption should have been “A Farewell to a legend and a Vagabond” after reading your column. Please be more at home than abroad. All the same, you still make my day after reading any of your columns, even from your Guardian days. From Ben Obateka., Offa Garage, Ilorin.

    Critics of Obasanjo are half baked intellectuals parading the fourth estate, not only limited but unappreciative. Baba Na Baba, he is recognized worldwide by those with discerning ability, Kennedy was assassinated, so also Bola Ige who was Obasanjo’s friend for many years. A man of honour, Obj. From Cardinal Wole of Sinners Assembly, Abuja

    Sir, you are wrong to assert that Chief Bola Ige was murdered after resigning from the Obasanjo administration. He was actually killed as a serving Minister of Justice in the former’s Government. From Rotimi Shitan, Akute

    The issue concerning the death of our dear uncle Bola Ige and the unveiling of his statue by Obasanjo is to be left to God who pronounces vengeance in Psalm 94. At the appropriate time, God will take vengeance. From Tope Ekundayo, Ilare Ijesa , Osun state

    The piece: “Here is the news “is a beautiful rendition of Prof. Soyinka’s narrative expertise of “Stream of Unconsciousness”. Every one of the issues raised is a reminder of the worthlessness of our system, the rottenness of the integrity of The Nigerian leadership, and the hopelessness that a national respite may be around the corner for the raped nation! From B. Somade-Idowu

    Re: Here is the news. If importation of other cement-brands would be competitive enough, to force down the local ones by Dangote and Ibeto, let it be! By now, price of cement should not exceed N1000. With all the Ibetos, Makurdis, Gbokos, Obajanas, we should be happy now. Converse is the case. Let there be Oligopoly! Personally, I appreciate the donation efforts of Dangote, Adenuga, Jim Ovia and many others. Sanusi Lamido has human right to express himself even though he was said to have been misquoted on the need to ‘fire’ 70 per cent of civil servant. Lucky Igbinedion would lie low now and know both good and bad governance as well as which is better if Igbinedion University had been poorly run by its administrators! Both Boko-Haram and Kidnapping thrive because those caught were/are being treated with Kid gloves. Mrs Alakija may be said to have struck on luck and/or an opportunity through God. How many of them with Oil Blocs know about Oil? None, but that is Nigeria for us. From Lanre Oseni

     

    For Segun Gbadegesin

     

    Re: Moving Oke-Ogun forward. Undisputable, no development-minded person would not be moved by your narration of the need for unity among indigenes, community people and governments at large. It should be a past that we totally rely on irresponsible governments. Rather, the indigenes and communities should brace up in unity and develop Oke-ogun in Oyo state. Your nationalistic tendency is highly valued and appreciated. Whoever loves growth for his community like you and me, will continue to progress, Ameen. From Lanre Oseni.

    Thanks for that wonderful piece on Oke- Ogun. The greatest problem with Oke-Ogun is lack of sacrificial leadership coupled with mutual but senseless suspicion. Unless the so called can look beyond personal interests and work together it will be difficult for the area to free itself from neo-colonialism. From Remi Adegbola Ibadan

    Thanks for your exposition on Oke-Ogun. It is highly inspiring. I wish to know more about the convention, possible links and may be the communiqué. Best regards sir. From Dr. Owoyele Jimoh in TASUED, Ijebu-Ode.

     

    For Tunji Adegboyega

     

    I want to believe your write-up titled ‘Let Sambo have his N14bn palace’ is all irony. I couldn’t help but laugh in disdain on the mindset of our political climate. From F.O.

    Tunji, considering your antecedent, I would want to know if your write-up of today (December 16) is for real or a satire. Please respond to enable me know the direction of my comments. … I am relieved. No further comment. Thanks. Anonymous.

    Tunji, your article on the N14bn palace did not please your fans. Disappointed indeed. Anonymous.

    Tunji, your article, “Let Sambo have his N14bn palace” is nauseating and bereft of a sense of responsibility to the suffering Nigerians who toil for this nation and cannot get their pension. Many have died without enjoying the results of their sweat; yet, the country has N9bn to spend building a palace for the Vice President. You will some day pay back all the monies you have been hired for to write such articles in the name of being a columnist. You even have the effrontery to condemn Senator Smart Adeyermi for standing with the National Assembly not to appropriate additional fund for the project. You gave several stupid reasons why the VP deserves such a palace, one of which is to befit his image. Why can’t you suggest he should go and live in the moon and operate from there? Anonymous.

    Please tell Smart that N10bn can build 200 quality duplexes plus infrastructure. Anonymous.

    RE: ‘Like Oliver Twist, Jega wants more’ (your column of December 9 refers). Personally, I do not see anything wrong if the CBN, ASUU and the judiciary sought for/are seeking and are near being given or given autonomy. Jega’s case becomes Oliver Twist’s only if the public objectively assessed that the powers being sought for and assumed given are considered abused! This however hasn’t occurred. Anyone cleared/rejected by INEC can be ratified by the Supreme Court directly. But let us all always be open-minded in burning but would-be-useful issues. From Lanre Oseni.

  • Uduaghan: working to save dying nation

    Uduaghan: working to save dying nation

    Death is the end of all mortals. Whenever it chooses to come, it leaves tears and heartache in its trail. Knowing the vulnerability of human beings when it comes to death, Shakespeare wrote: “Woe, destruction, ruin and decay; the worst is death and death will have his day”. For everyman, there is indeed no worst fate than death.

    While it is incontrovertible that every death hurts, it is also true that some kind of deaths really hurt. For instance, when people suffer terminal diseases such as Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), which robs them of everything they have before killing them, friends and relatives wail for days and curse death. It gets worse when the victim was a poor fellow who could not afford the exorbitant cost of treating kidney failure and other related disease in a hospital abroad.

    Although it has always been a challenge, cases of kidney failure are becoming rampant by the day. These days the media is inundated with stories of rich and poor people dying of kidney failure and other related diseases. Be it on television, radio or newspapers, there are countless cases of someone somewhere seeking funds to treat a kidney ailment abroad.

    A recent statics released by the National Association of Nephrology, revealed that at least 32 million Nigerians have chronic renal illnesses which leads to kidney failure. The figure represents more than 20 percent of the entire population of the country. As if that was not enough reason to be afraid, some Medical experts sent a chill into many spines when they disclosed that more people die every day from kidney related diseases than malaria and HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.

    For the average Nigerian, it is not the fact that renal (kidney) failure has assumed the dimension of a killer disease that is frightening. It is the fact that there is no hospital anywhere in the country where it can be treated wholly. Where facilities are available to detect the disease at its infant stage, it is beyond the reach of the poor. Findings revealed that Nigeria has only 75 neurologists and about 50 functional dialysis centres which are all located in urban centres like Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt.

    What this implies is that treatment for kidney failure and other related infirmities is exclusively reserved for the highest bidders. Those who have the wherewithal can either get treatment at any of the fifty dialysis centres or travel abroad while the poor they are condemned to suffer in silence and curse their fate.

    But with the recent intervention of the Delta State Government, led by the amiable Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, there is a silver lining behind the clouds of hopelessness for people suffering various kidney related diseases.

    Going by the decision of the State Government and the Management of Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH) to partner with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to develop a centre of excellence for kidney transplant, poor patients who cannot afford the high cost of treatment abroad can be hopeful of getting first class treatment within the shores of Nigeria.

    By virtue of the Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) which signed by the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan himself, both institutions would collaborate to build a centre of excellence where kidney transplant and treatment of other kidney related cases can be addressed. To make this dream a reality, the Dialysis Centre, Laboratory, Radiology and Theatre Departments of DELSUTH will be upgraded to become centres of excellence where world-class treatment can be accessed.

    For Dr. Uduaghan, this is memorandum is more just an agreement to equip and upgrade the State’s Teaching Hospital. It is in tandem with his vision to provide quality healthcare for Deltans and other Nigerians. While signing the agreement, the Governor noted that the overall objective was to make the facilities for nephrology and kidney transplant available at a cheaper rate for the people. That means ordinary Nigerian who have been denied treatment because they can’t afford cost of treatment can now get treatment without paying much.

    Knowing how passionate he is about healthcare, Uduaghan’s decision to build in world class kidney centre in Delta State does not come as a surprise. Anyone familiar with happenings there can attest that the state has one of the best healthcare delivery system in the country. It is perhaps the only state in Nigeria where free and quality healthcare is available for senior citizens, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

    At DELSUTH, where the kidney centre will be located, the massive investment on ground there speaks volumes of Uduaghan’s passion and quest to ensure that his people live a healthy life. The investments are yielding visible results as the hospital which commenced full operations about three years ago now ranks amongst the best in the country in terms of facilities and personnel. Earlier this year the hospitals reached a milestone by becoming the first to successfully carry out a knee replacement surgery in Nigeria.

    At a time when cases of kidney failure have become so rampant, Uduaghan’s foresightedness should be commended and embraced by other states and even the Federal Government. If we have first grade Dialysis centers where kidneys can be treated and replaced, Nigerians will not spend their hard earned money that could be used to develop the country travelling abroad for treatment. When we have standard hospitals in various parts of the country, it will not only help Nigerians live a healthy life, it will also boost medical tourism that will help government generate funds that can be used to grow our economy. With quality health care centre like the one Uduaghan is planning to build in Delta, foreigners will also find a reason to throng our hospitals for the treatment. Indeed Uduaghan is working to save Deltans and Nigerian from the scourge of kidney diseases.

    • Eboh writes from Warri, Delta State

     

  • Boko Haram is about 2015

    Boko Haram is about 2015

    Matters of insecurity of life and property have become a national issue in recent time. Attention seems to have shifted from the problem of corruption to one of its deadly offsprings”insecurity. With corruption sitting at the top of the ladder, life in the country today is already full of dangers. When terrorism is added to corruption, nobody is safe anymore. Nigeria has, through the years, become a nation where only evil triumphs. Because the fear of death is what keeps us alive, we all fear the dreaded diseases like malaria, diarrhea, hepatitis, cancer and HIV/AIDS which we all try as much as possible to avoid. Added to these threats of killer diseases are now the man-made threats from armed robbers, political and economic related assassinations, extra judicial killings and, of course, the latest in the chain-acts of terrorism like the serial bombings in the North by the Boko Haram sect.

    Boko Haram, which means western education is a sin, has since the last presidential election poisoned the entire Nigerian space with its venom. The activities of this religious (or is it political) sect has almost choked the nation to a state of mental stupor resulting from physical dehydration. Its activities have also acquired international dimension to the extent that Boko Haram may soon find its way into the English and American dictionaries. This is because, in recent times, the level of insecurity is due, to a very large extent, to the activities of this sect. It is an extremist group of religious fundamentalists whose official name is Jama’atu Ahlis Suna Lidd’awati wal-Jihad , and whose mission is to fight for the establishment of Sharia law in Nigeria.

    The sect was seen as responsible for the serial bombings and killings, mostly in Northern Nigeria, which have occurred almost on a daily basis. Although it may be difficult to count the number of bombings by the group between 2011 and 2012, there are some of them that were unarguably the most notable, horrendous and most brutal. In this connection, special mention must be made of the devastating attack by the bombing of the United Nation’s building in Abuja on 26 August, 2011 where 18 of the 26 staff of the humanitarian and development agencies based in the building were bombed to death.

    In June of that year (2011), suspected members of Boko Haram had struck at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Suleja, leaving scores of people dead and several others wounded. It is significant to note that as soon as the results of the presidential elections of April 2011 were announced and President Jonathan of the PDP was declared winner, some young men and women took to the streets in some parts of the North and went on rampage, leaving many people dead and properties destroyed. This particular instance appeared to have spearheaded subsequent protests that graduated to bombings in the North. We may call them the genesis of Boko Haram insurgence in the country. It predated the events of June and August 2011 as mentioned above. Perhaps the most sensational of all, which exhibited religious intolerance, was the bomb explosion in the morning of Christmas day, December 25,2011, at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, near Suleja in Niger State, Jos in Plateau State and Damaturu in Yobe State. In all, scores of Christian worshippers were reportedly killed in the bomb blasts while many more sustained serious injuries. One hopes and prays that this event would not be re-enacted this Christmas season.

    The bombings and shoot-outs had continued at sporadic intervals and escalated to daily occurrences in Borno, Plateau, Kaduna, Bauchi and Sokoto states. For each of the occurrences which Nigerians have stopped to count, the federal government, through the presidency, usually came out with press releases crafted in the usual, boring, routine statement, very much like a recorded message: “we are on top of the situation; the perpetrators will soon be caught and brought to book”. Not to worry, the president would say, but events have shown that the presidency is not on top, but at the very bottom, of the ugly situation, and the federal government was in a state of helplessness and bewilderment”the perpetrators were as free as the air, bombing their targets with clinical ease. They have become invisible spirits or ghosts in the presidential jacket and the Nigerian space, to the extent that no perpetrators, even when they admitted responsibility for the bombings, have been found or brought to any “presidential” book. To the government, therefore, Boko Haram has become a veritable ghost, a peculiar ghost in the political machine of the federal government. As of today, the federal government seems to have given up the fight and surrendered its sovereignty to the Boko Haram who has become more feared than the federal government itself.

    A possible clue to what have been going on in the country was suggested by General Aziza, the former national security adviser who suspected a linkage between the escalations of Boko Haram insurgency and the 2015 presidential elections. One of the reasons of insecurity in Nigeria, as suggested by General Aziza, is the inability of Nigeria to find its footing in the democratic space as demonstrated by politicians jostling for leadership by trying to fix who becomes the next president from the six geopolitical zones. Thus, the country is being pushed menacingly into zonal wars that may break the federation. If we put this side by side of the violent protests that led to the deaths of many people in the north immediately after the 2011 presidential elections, followed by the menace of Boko Haram and the threat to President Jonathan to resign unless he turns Nigeria into an Islamic State, we can see clearly that Boko Haram is about 2015 and 2015 is about Boko Haram.

    Judging by the incessant nature of the bombings and shootings of innocent Nigerians that have now been extended to politicians of northern extraction who the Boko Haram sect has vowed to punish for their disloyal activities during the 2011 presidential election which did not favour the North, and for the non-support of Islamic State by some Northern governors, we can see more clearly that Boko Haram has the backing of some aggrieved politicians who are determined to give the present government no peace of mind until power is returned to the north in 2015. Perhaps a solution is being sought by Obasanjo’s open rejection of President Jonathan, and Gen Danjuma’s dumping him, for his 2015 ambition to re-contest. All this is to say that the general insecurity of the nation may not go away while a different and more daring and perhaps more brutal agenda may be in the offing unless there is the hope for a change of baton in the year 2015, a situation reminiscent of George Orwell’s gloomy picture for the year 1984 when the doomsday clock, the clock of destruction of the human race and civilization, was expected to move to midnight on the December 31, 1984. Luckily, George Orwell’s doomsday clock ( in the book George Orwell:1984) did not reach the midnight but almost got to midnight as it fell five minutes short of the predicted 12 midnight on December 31, 1984, because the super powers not only refrained from stock pilling weapons of destruction but also refrained from using them.

    Now, in Nigeria, we are faced with Boko Haram doomsday clock for the midnight of 2015 presidential election or its result. There already exist the symptoms of our closeness to Armageddon, a situation that probably woke Obasanjo and Babangida from their dogmatic slumbers against the impending doom that is likely to come upon the nation as already predicted by the US for 2015 when the Nigerian doomsday clock might click dangerously toward midnight on the eve of 2015 presidential elections.

    By providence, there could be a sudden change of attitude in the dangerous socio-political and ethno-religious maneuverings and some unforeseen circumstances that may frustrate the coming into being of the Nigerian doomsday clock come the eve of 2015 presidential elections or their results.

    • Professor Makinde is the DG/CEO of Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo.

  • Amosun’s Midas touch in Ogun

    Amosun’s Midas touch in Ogun

    Immediate past Ogun State Commissioner for Information, Sina Kawonise, must be commended for re-awakening our memory about the pervasive air of fetishism that dogged the administration of his erstwhile boss, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. During that era, lurid stories were told of the practice of necromancy in high places. Many of these were documented in Wale Adedayo’s book, Microseconds Away from Death. Adedayo should know. He served that government for the best part of six years, including as director of communication, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ogun State and later, media director to former Governor Daniel.

    Eager to prod us to remember our recent, most despicable, misfortune of being saddled with the most archaic government ever, Kawonise, in a recent piece, accused Governor Ibikunle Amosun of being responsible for the “death of prominent Egba chiefs” in recent time. He did not stop at that. He accused Amosun of “spiritually” responsible for the carnage on federal roads, including Lagos/Ibadan and Sagamu/Ore – axis in Ogun State. How much worse can an individual exhibit intellectual stagnation!

    It is heart-warming, at least, to know that throughout his piece, Kawonise could not pin a single case of physical violence intent on Amosun since assumption of office. It may be necessary to recall immediate ugly and shameful development that led to Kawonise’s emergence as information commissioner. Before him, two former predecessors of his left office in record hullabaloo. One, Niran Malaolu, allegedly got slapped for daring to attempt to instil decorum into the governor’s activities. The other, Kayode Samuel, fled the shores of Nigeria, fearing that the goons of the administration would take it out on him, before throwing in his resignation letter.

    Shortly after Tunde Oladunjoye, erstwhile boss of Ijebu North East Local Government, who, by then, had fallen out with Otunba Daniel for his patriotic opposition to pilfering council fund by the executive branch, went to town, armed with copiously intimidating evidence, some pictorial, that the wife of the governor, physically led rag-tag undertakers to unleash terror on his home in Ijebu Ife.

    Indeed, three media managers fell out with the Daniel administration in circumstances as intriguing as they were nearly bloody. Take the case of Adedayo, Daniel’s erstwhile media director, who engaged in a gun duel with suspected agents of the government at Ilishan before he went underground.

    This is a mere snippet of the general air of terror which pervaded Ogun State in our recent past. Now, is it not curious that while his three predecessors scampered out of office in the circumstances painted above, Kawonise, a hitherto unknown media figure, not only worked cordially with a government openly accused of murderous tendencies but also still keeps company of his erstwhile boss.

    It is a known fact that the menace of cultism and youth brigandage spiralled during the eight agonizing years of the Daniel administration. Boys, barely out of their pre-teen, were armed to unleash mayhem on opponents of the administration. The ripple outcome of this is the overwhelming possession of illicit weapons in wrong hands, a situation that has led to increased cases of violence in our environment.

    Not prepared to be caught napping, the Amosun administration recently introduced the highest number of Armoured Personal Carriers in crime control in Ogun State. Amosun deployed 13 of the equipment as against the only one dubbed “Iyalode” (for its eternal immobility) purchased by the Daniel administration.

    While he inherited 16 Hilux trucks meant for use by policemen, the Amosun administration, barely a year in office, bought 182 of the vehicles. The government also bought a large number of bullet-proof vests, helmets and riffles, precise number of which can not be disclosed here for obvious reasons.

    As soon as he came into office, the Amosun administration recruited 5,000 youths, mostly university graduates, into the civil service. At the moment all the lucky individuals have been fully integrated into the service.

    Unlike the practice of his predecessor in office whose officials spoke to the people only through cudgels and, sometimes, the gun, Governor Amosun personally went around the state to interface directly with the people who would be affected by massive road reconstruction currently commencing in Abeokuta, Sagamu, Yewaland and other places. Many of them, particularly in the state capital, Abeokuta, have received momentary compensation for their property that would give way to the modern roads. Others who have not received theirs are already being prepared to take their entitlement as well.

    Many of these roads have become incapable of withstanding modern day traffic across the state. As a matter of fact, many of them were built at a time when the state population was less than half of what obtains today. Therefore, it needs no further prodding for any responsible government to know it is, indeed, time to overhaul them.

    On the economic front, over 500 transformers were acquired by the Amosun administration. They have since been distributed to needy communities. In no small manner, this gesture has greatly assisted economic empowerment of citizens since a large potion of the populace derive their survival from availability of electricity.

    Still in the empowerment arena, a total of 77 buses, the largest ever in the state, were drafted into the hitherto epileptic mass transportation system of Ogun State. These consist of 27 pieces of 43-seaters luxury buses; 30 of 18-seater Toyota buses and 20 Nissan buses. Aside remarkable positive intervention in the sector, this move has also provided gainful employment for no fewer than 250 indigenes of Ogun State.

    In place of the practice of yesteryears when youth were deliberately armed by the government to cause havoc in the society, the Amosun administration has begun the arduous, but necessary, task of steering them away from crime. In January this year, the Amosun government flagged off the distribution of N1.8 billion worth of textbooks to private primary and secondary schools in the state. This was a follow-up to a similar gesture involving distribution of instructional materials such as note books, pencils, biros, file jackets and school bags among others. To promote the process further, 28 model schools are currently being built across the state.

    • Lawal is publicity secretary, ACN, Ogun State

  • Kano renaissance

    Kano State is now under repair, having been battered politically, socially and economically by the preceding administration. Equipped with his blueprint toolkit, Gov. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso came into office well-prepared to tackle the daunting challenge of oiling the rusty economy, hammering the squeaky infrastructure, welding the ripped till, powering the street lights, fertilizing the soil, laying the water pipeline and erecting a lasting pillar of youth empowerment.

    In the midst of the foregoing development, Ra’ayi Initiative, a nongovernmental organisation emerged with another blueprint that will put Kano on a solid socio-economic pedestal. The document was carefully framed and vetted by Kano Renaissance Think Tank, an array of intellectuals – at home and in the diaspora – who are passionate about the development of Kano State.

    Presenting the report to Governor Kwankwaso recently, the eloquent vice chairman of Kano Renaissance Think Tank, Malam Yakubu Musa said KRTT report “contains a set of realistic but visionary recommendations that would contribute in effectively addressing Kano’s challenges in the four main areas of Education, Energy, Healthcare and Public Transportation.”

    With Professor Abba Gumel breaking every lump of idea into chewable pills, Yakubu Musa injecting progressive ideas into the report, Hussaini Jibrin giving powerful presentation, Auwal Sani Anwar ironing the wrinkled portion, Dr Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u giving academic finesse, Dr Shuaibu Dambatta analyzing ideas as complex as central nervous system, Alhaji Uba Danzainab and Dr Umar Tanko Yakasai treating the political implications, the KRTT report can pass as a wide range of recipes that will satiate Governor Kwankwaso’s hunger for achievement.

    The economic transformation taking place in Kano State today is unprecedented. For the first time in the history of Kano State, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state is making inroad into reaching N2 billion mark. Urban and rural renewal are taking place at the same time with equal commitment. The cost-cutting principle of the present administration had no previous instance as the budget ratio always goes 2:1 in favour of capital expenditure. Governor Kwankwaso now literally sits on the till, making pillaging of public funds in the state almost impossible. In order to bring an end to unplanned layouts and their associated problems, construction works are currently taking place in the new cities established by the present government. And unlike before, Kano is now a haven of development agencies because of the government’s judicious application of resources.

    Kwankwaso’s frugal management of public resources is manifest in the way he treats every memo, brief, proposal, etc with utmost care and speed in order to see the justification before giving approval. No file remains on his desk for more than 24 hours without treatment. In Kano State today, even the (in)famous security vote is never set aside by the present administration as every kobo spent on whatever venture is duly appropriated not “reciprocated” in a “Reciprocal Arrangement”.

    Worried by the chaotic transport system of Kano State, Governor Kwankwaso established Kano Road Traffic Authority (KAROTA) with a view to having an agency with legal backing that will bring sanity into the system. Buses and taxis are also provided, just as brand new Amana Taxis are about to start plying the roads. Thousands of youths who were hitherto idle are now empowered by KAROTA. Already contractors building the first-ever metropolitan flyover have moved to site after creating link roads to bypass the project site.

    Rural development is another concern of Governor Kwankwaso. For the first time in the history of Kano State, a whole village (Warawa) is to be built by government in order to provide good shelter for them and reduce the effect of perennial fire outbreak associated with thatch-fence surroundings. While new houses are built in Warawa, construction of five kilometre roads with accompanying infrastructure is taking place in each of the 44 local governments of the state.

    Healthcare delivery is another focal area of this administration as new hospitals are either built, or existing ones re-equipped or rehabilitated. The metaphor that hospitals in Nigeria are as slaughter-house is disparaged by Kano State government under the present government. During the governor’s recent trip to the United States, he negotiated the supply of tens of containers of hospital equipment to Kano State ex gratia. It is gladdening to note that some of the containers have arrived Kano. Mobile clinics are also established to cater medical service to the teeming citizens, just as more ambulances were purchased to bolster emergency healthcare delivery in the state. Commitment to polio eradication and reduction in maternal mortality of the present administration is evident in the free ante natal treatments and consistent campaign against polio.

    But the governor seems more concerned about education as modern classrooms are build across the state, scholarships awarded, teachers trained and recruited. So far there are 21 training institutes operating and graduating students and trainees across the state. Additionally, craft schools in all the 44 local governments were also established. While Kano State University of Science and Technology is resuscitated from coma, a brand new university, the Northwest University, Kano will begin its maiden session this year.

    Even the Independent Power Project (IPP) is one aspect that is dear to Governor Kwankwaso’s heart as formal arrangements toward having the nod to utilize the dams in the state to generate hydro-electric power is at advanced stage.

    Such is the synopsis of economic policies of the present administration, which others are copying warts and all. The policies, dubbed Kwankwasonomics, have become a development model for many states in the country. Its little wonder that in no time, uncountable laurels, garlands, plaques are by the day knocking on Governor Kwankwaso’s doors.

    The governor, who is on the track of fulfilling the four thematic areas of the KRTT report, will certainly use the document toward having a smooth journey to his development destination.

    •Jaafar is Special Assistant to Kano State governor on Media and Public Relations

  • Where-to-be-born Index’s distressing verdict

    I am deeply saddened by the content of 2013 Where-to-be-born Index which was recently released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a subsidiary of The Economist magazine. Nigeria, according to this unflattering report is the worst country to be born. Eighty countries were assessed by EIU but Nigeria came at the bottom. This survey is shattering because real people were actually sampled and all the respondents agreed that Nigeria is the least or the last place they would want to be born based on ten criteria.

    From the figures, Nigeria scored 4.74 points which placed her on the 80th position, the foot of the table while Switzerland came out with 8.22 points as the best country to be born in.

    I am intensely worried by these negative rankings. I remember sometime in October, African Insurance Organisation, another watchdog described Nigeria as kidnap/ransom capital of the world. The October ranking was particularly distressing because the thought of kidnap and ransom had set my mind racing to Somalia but I was wrong. According to the report, Nigeria accounted for 25 per cent of global kidnappings. Earlier, in June, the Global Peace Index had also ranked Nigeria as the sixth most dangerous African country to live in. These rankings leave an impression and calls for deep reflection.

    For me, this latest EIU verdict may not be a true representation of our situation really, but it still manages to remind us of how terribly bad we have drifted as a country. The survey, I understand, “earnestly attempts to measure which country will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead” but that is not all that led to this regrettable verdict. There was also the issue of security, the standard of family life and trust in public institutions which were all considered. But if we are to sincerely consider these criteria, how far have we fared?

    How can Nigeria which was once the black man’s pride suddenly become the worst place to be born? We have played significant roles in the African continent and our brothers and sisters within and outside our sub region can attest to that. It may not be auspicious here to cite an example of our support but the truth is that we had at various times intervened both with resources and militarily to save fellow Africans in their moments of grave challenges. But if really Nigeria is so terrifyingly bad and we are truly the worst country to be born, then we must all begin the process of saving our country. It is a collective responsibility that demands utmost urgency.

    The good in the EIU verdict is the fact that we are again reminded to wake up and think. For too long, we have dissipated a lot of energy trying to dispel some well known truths about us. One of these truths is our usual spirited efforts towards wooing foreign investors without first ensuring that conditions at home are favourable to investment, whether foreign or local. This time I must say, seriously requires that we all look inwards for solutions. And until we address our decrepit infrastructure, protect our vulnerable citizens, provide security, change our attitude and redouble our efforts towards genuinely re-building our nation, we may still expect more troubling verdict from the world.

    Agreed that President Goodluck Jonathan is desirous of transforming Nigeria but we must speedily move beyond the comfort and soothing effect of this philosophy and rhetoric. Change only comes to those who are truly prepared and this country will really not experience the desired transformation if she continues at this pace. The leaders and the led both have a responsibility in this direction.

    I had asked earlier, what is the state of our public institutions today? How confident are we in these institutions? Beyond the general clamour to strengthen them and make them relevant for the 21st century, what manner of legacies are we living through these institutions?

    My worry unfortunately, is that Nigeria has remained largely a country of potentials. Sadly, we have not been able to take the long over-due leap that we had all waited for these long and difficult years. Everybody agrees today that security remains our major challenge and except something urgently is done we will continue going in circles. A few forward-looking governors know this and have taken steps to get it right.

    This urgent need to address security came in focus recently. Professor Ibrahim Gambari, frontline diplomat and former Nigerian permanent representatives at the United Nations shared his thoughts with Nigerians on our their nation’s worsening security problems at the first annual Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial lecture on leadership and good governance in Abuja. Speaking on Boko Haram, Gambari had warned “in this regard, I do not want to sound alarmist and wish to speak with the highest sense of responsibility. As a diplomat with two and half decades experience you know that it is not in my nature to raise the alarm where none is needed. However, as we sit here today is there anyone among us who has an absolute assurance that a bomb will not explode anywhere in the North of Nigeria today or, in this city or that innocent lives will not be violently terminated? If you feel any immediate unease, or even suppressed panic about this possibility, then imagine the terrifying experience of our compatriots who have lived everyday in the last few years under the fear of imminent terror.”

    This is a timely warning from a respected diplomat and I want to believe that we must all heed this wise counsel. We cannot accuse the leadership for ever because as far as I know, we are all going to sink together if our worst fears happen, but God forbid! This is therefore an auspicious moment to think. Our leaders must come together and reject this path to perdition because it will do no good. They should act and speak out irrespective of political affiliations, after all there must be a Nigeria before the political elite can aspire.

    • Peterside, a member of the House of Representatives is Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resourced (Downstream)

  • US Senate’s votes to curb indefinite detention

    US Senate’s votes to curb indefinite detention

    The Senate voted late on Thursday to prohibit the government from imprisoning American citizens and green card holders apprehended in the United States in indefinite detention without trial.

    A federal appeals court panel approved the detention of Jose Padilla, an American who was arrested in Chicago and accused of being a Qaeda operative.

    While the move appeared to bolster protections for domestic civil liberties, it was opposed by an array of rights groups who claimed it implied that other types of people inside the United States could be placed in military detention, opening the door to using the military to perform police functions.

    The measure was an amendment to this year’s National Defence Authorization Act, which is now pending on the Senate floor, and was sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Mike Lee, Republican of Utah. The Senate approved adding it to the bill by a vote of 67 to 29.

    “What if something happens and you are of the wrong race in the wrong place at the wrong time and you are picked up and held without trial or charge in detention ad infinitum?” Ms. Feinstein said during the floor debate. “We want to clarify that that isn’t the case — that the law does not permit an American or a legal resident to be picked up and held without end, without charge or trial.”

    The power of the government to imprison, without trial, Americans accused of ties to terrorism has been in dispute for a decade.

    Last year, in the previous annual version of the National Defence Authorization Act, Congress included a provision stating that the government had the authority to detain Qaeda members and their supporters as part of the war authorized shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But lawmakers could not decide whether that authority extended to people arrested on American soil, and so they left it deliberately ambiguous.

    Ms. Feinstein, arguing that law enforcement officials have proved capable of handling cases that arise on domestic soil, said the amendment was intended to”clarify” that the government may not put Americans arrested domestically in military detention.

    Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, objected to the restriction on security grounds, saying that even American citizens arrested inside the United States on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack for Al Qaeda should be held under the laws of war and interrogated without receiving the protections of ordinary criminal suspects, like a Miranda warning of a right to remain silent.

    From the other direction, an array of civil liberties and human rights groups — including the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First —objected to the amendment because it was limited to citizens and lawful permanent residents, as opposed to all people who are apprehended on United States soil.

    “Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced an amendment that superficially looks like it could help, but in fact, would cause harm,” said Chris Anders of the A.C.L.U.

    But on the floor, Ms. Feinstein said that she limited the amendment to citizens and green card holders because she believed that language would “get the maximum number of votes in this body.”

    The Senate on Thursday also passed, 94-0, a series of additional American sanctions on Iran. The amendment would impose penalties on individuals selling commodities to Iran that might be used in ship-building or the nuclear program, including aluminium and steel. It also threatened countries, like Turkey, which are buying Iranian oil with gold, in an effort to circumvent banking sanctions.

    The current language does not give the president the power to issue waivers, as he has done for countries like Japan, South Korea and India that buy Iranian oil. The White House has opposed the amendment, with officials saying they fear it could “threaten to confuse and undermine” existing effort to get allies, China and other countries to impose other sanctions already in the pipeline.

    Also on Thursday, the Senate voted, 62 to 33, for a nonbinding amendment calling for an accelerated withdrawal of United States combat forces from Afghanistan. The measure was sponsored by Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, and was backed by 13 Republicans.

    • New York Times