The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Osuji got it wrong on Aregbesola

    Steve Osuji’s”Expresso” column in The Nation of Friday, November 1, in which he lashed Owelle Rochas Okorocha of Imo State for destroying his state’s economy, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of the State of Osun for his looks, faith and his education policy and Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, the Federal Minister of Agriculture for being adept in theatrics than his official portfolio was indeed an excoriation. Osuji, no doubt, holds his own as a columnist in this well-respected Nigerian newspaper but he displayed such a crass error of judgment especially as it relates to Aregbesola and his education policy.

    Osuji’s assertion that Ogbeni “loves his politics dearly… [but] always so quick to act to impress his people” made it sound like Ogbeni has committed a serious crime for being passionate about his politics and articulating his values to his people willing to listen. Osuji’s other assertion that Aregbesola “always seems to rub off people the wrong way—from his oft soap-box like grandstanding, to his shaggy beard and his Islamic religion fervor” that “always seems to leave some sour curd for people to chew” is ridiculous. Pray, how could Aregbesola’s articulation of issues based on his personal political philosophy and his values have amounted to grandstanding? Why would anyone feel that he’s being rubbed the wrong way just because the governor’s hair follicles decided to cluster below his chin, and he simply let them be? Why should a chief of state who simply takes his religion serious leave some sour curd for Osuji—or anyone for that matter—to chew? For the aforesaid from Osuji without any shred of evidence that a poll or survey was taken that ascertained that people are being rubbed off the wrong way is nothing short of sheer dislike, if not hatred for the governor’s person. And it’s indeed very unfortunate.

    Ogbeni’s holistic approach to major policy decisions as exemplified in his policy on education which Osuji had singled out, can never be “an unwarranted exercise in mysticism and magic” in that there’s verifiable evidence of a huge jump in the enrolment of students into public schools because even parents who had their wards in private schools withdrew them because of the glaring improvement they saw in the public school system after Aregbesola took office. What’s more? The State of Osun came from the lowest bottom to the top bracket as one of the states in the country that recorded the highest percentage of students that passed the WAEC examination with at least five credits including English and Mathematics within a short period after he commenced work as governor. Osuji needs to be reminded, in case he had forgotten, that the transformation in the education system currently underway in the State of Osun is the outcome of an education summit which was held at the inception of Aregbesola administration whose participants included some of the country’s best educationists that included Prof. Wole Soyinka, among others. It is appalling to see a member of the fourth estate who was supposedly trained to see and analyze societal ills like those confronting Nigeria to have opined that “there is absolutely nothing to reinvent” in this country’s education system. Education—especially in the public sector—like all other indicators of growth and development in the Nigerian society, is nothing in comparison to what obtains in neighbouring Ghana and some other African countries, not to even mention developing countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and Brazil. A serious chief of state desirous of development in his domain cannot help but reinvent what had proven so pathetically disastrous over time and had impeded the growth of his people and societal advancement.

    Yes, the school calendar, structure or classification may not be the problem confronting the nation’s education sector but it’s most certainly part of the problem. Even the architects of the 6-3-3 system that Osuji thinks is perfectly in order had since discovered that it’s no longer relevant to the present reality. If “Opon Imo,” a computer device invented by the Aregbesola administration that puts all academic curriculums as well as past WAEC questions, among its other features, on the fingertips of 150,000 senior secondary school pupils in the state, aside from pulling down old school buildings and replacing them with new ones, are not enough demonstration that the government has already declared education to be “one of its core priorities,” as admonished by Osuji, I don’t know what other evidence he needs. For him to have said that the government’s provision of uniforms and meals for the students is not necessary is a reckless and dangerous display of ignorance. What makes Osuji think that the government cannot afford it?

    Perhaps, what seems to be the common thread that runs through the vituperations of Aregbesola’s detractors is not so much about the governor and his policies—as their arguments have never been able to gain traction—but the audacity of the man to step where even angels fear to tread. No sooner did he mount the governorship saddle than he invented a flag, a crest and an anthem for his state, a move that drew the ire of those whose thinking have either been heavily militarized or did not understand the place of a state in relation to the federal government in a democracy. Even the Jonathan administration found that legitimate move so outstandingly bad that it almost declared a state of emergency on the state on the warped thinking that the state was trying to secede, only for us to wake up one morning to find that Bayelsa, his home state had done exactly the same thing and not a single word of condemnation came from the President. A misguided faction of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and its co-travellers went up in arms when the governor took Sukuk (Islamic bond), having accused him of attempting to turn Osun into an Islamic state. Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, who presides over a predominantly Christian country, has just announced its country’s readiness to raise money with the Islamic bond in order to shore up his country’s ailing economy. Ogbeni is no doubt unusual but it takes an unusual set of leaders to turn an unusual country like Nigeria and its component parts around.

     

    • Odere is a media practitioner.

  • ASUU Vs the students

    SIR: University is like the garden that nurtures the crops of tomorrow.  What kind of a future does a nation expects that shrivels the seeds that will bear a bountiful harvest?  Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on strike for alleging that the government reneged on their 2009 agreement.  When two elephants fight, the grass will suffer.  The country is struggling to come out of the malaise that has bedridden the society for awful long.  The strike by ASSU is threatening to put the education system back into a state of comatose.

    The malfeasance in the Nigerian system smells to high heaven.  The government is like a derailed train squeaking to get back on track.  Education has totally collapsed owing to a government that lost its conscience.  Officials devalued education to naira and kobo.  Politicians channel the fund for education to their private accounts.  University authorities will deny a student admission if he or she does not have money to pay for bribe.  The list of abuses on the education system indicates a nation that is on collision course with destiny.

    The products of this damaged system are like a wasted generation.  Workers who believe one can bribe one’s way to excellence.  Under-performance becomes an acceptable norm.  A bank clerk frowns at a customer for demanding a professional service.  She lacks the knowledge that it is the customer that keeps the bank in business.

    Majority of university graduates are unemployable because they did not pick up any valuable skill as students.  No wonder there is a high level of criminality in the society.  Full-fledged youths roaming the streets without an occupation, they will kidnap, rob, prostitute and engage in other vices for mere adventure, talk less of the necessity to survive.  The opportune ones will be a leach on their families and suffer depression for feeling worthless.

    There is a proverb in Igbo that one does not speak with an empty stomach.  It is pitiable, as terrible as it is, one rarely hears of a lecturer being kidnapped.  On the other hand, politicians guard their life like it is a bank safe.  Compare the lifestyle of a lecturer and that of a legislator for example.  They are both pivotal to the functioning of a civilized society.  The legislator makes laws that are barely visible in the sight of the suffering masses and lives in utmost luxury.  The lecturer teaches students under dilapidated roofs and lives on a salary that challenges a miser to scale through poverty.

    Lecturing can be compared to priesthood.  You become a lecturer because you have the elevation of the human condition at heart.  The future of the students is not enviable, and consequentially, the Nigerian condition worsens.  Democracy allows the populace the chance to vote out a government that is not trustworthy.  ASUU should be considerate.

    • Pius Okaneme

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

  • A good term deserves another

    SIR: A democratically elected government must meet the need of the people that voted them into power. Since governance derives it backing from the constitution and the people, it is mandatory for government, to listen, carry along and feed the people back, about its activities. The contrary view also  holds that when a government voted into power refuses to perform or meet the yearning or aspiration of the people that voted for them, same electorates or the people being governed have the right to reject such government by voting them out of power in subsequent elections.

    Senator Ibikunle Amosun has within two years in office proved critics wrong by being responsive and progressive in the discharge of his duties to the people of the state. Today, the common man is not only happy in the gateway state, the peace which was once eluded the people some years ago has returned. The entire senatorial zones in the state are witnessing massive reconstruction and rebuilding process. Senator Amosun has done very well to reposition the economy of the state. He has taken the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to an enviable and sustainable position, thus generating the funds to embark on infrastructural development. Today, peoples’ welfare and security are better off. As no nation or state survives without a major attention to its educational sector, here in gateway state, he has given the primary, post primary and the state tertiary institutions a very good attention, by increasing their funding and stabilizing the academy calendar. Students now, learn in a better and more conducive environment.

    The people of the state now see what the government is spending the money on. Amosun has further proved the essence and importance of taxation to rural and urban development, through the provision of essential services like good roads, water, health facilities and the rest to the people. In life, you don’t loose a winning team; rather you encourage them to do more. Amosun has so far done well. We can only encourage him to do better, through mobilization and support for continuity beyond 2015.

     

    • Ademola Orunbon

    Federal Housing Estate, Abeokuta

  • CBN’s money troubles

    CBN’s money troubles

    More money more trouble: that is a common street saying and Hardball agrees that nothing is truer except that in the case of Nigeria’s apex money shop, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this truism is a bit more nuanced than you may think. First, this is not to suggest that the CBN is swimming in cash – though it may well be considering that it is the repository of Nigeria’s treasury – we are concerned here about the endless shifts between coins, polymer and paper currency in the last five years.

    But think what you may, cynics have a different take – and they have a right to their worries – they see in the flip-flops, heavy cash movements in the name of contracts rendered both in local and foreign currency tranches. Each time we change from one form of currency to another we are doling out huge sums and in a sense that can be said to be money trouble. If CBN were the Central Bank of Niger Republic for instance, it sure would not have such large sums to play with or throw around. You may even say that CBN when confronted or ‘troubled’ by a surfeit of cash (which comes with its peculiar challenge of managing it) it thinks up currency change to reduce the wahala of managing so much liquid cash.

    Since 2006, the CBN which seems to live in a neuter world of its own where we have only to accept the report it renders to us and where transparency, accountability and oversight are abhorrent practices grants us any mode of currency it sees in its dreams. For three years from 2006, CBN experimented with the N20 denomination of the polymer note. Having found it exceptionally cost-saving, durable and anti-bacterial, the big bank set all the other small notes like the N5, N10, and N50 into the polymer wonder at a huge cost and contract procedure that was opaque as can be. CBN also entered into its usually expensive publicity blitz to sell the new polythene money and make us love and use them. In fact recall that at a point, a deadline was fixed for the final jettisoning of the paper money. Nobody had a sensible reason why we had to outlaw our money just because it was in the paper form but consequent upon that announcement, market women were upfront in rejecting the notes because they don’t want to be stuck with it. In the ensuing crisis, many ended up getting stuck with the paper money.

    Nigerians have been using the polymer currency ever since with most either not knowing the difference or not caring. If only they could find the money to spend it would not matter the nature of it. Truly the polymer money has proven to be more durable comparatively but less manageable in the peculiar Nigerian way.

    Last month, the CBN sailing on the choreographed braggadocio of its governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, told us that we have to revert to paper money because it had been re-discovered that polymer is not amenable to our hot climate which makes it fade easily. It is as simple as that; no detailed comparative cost advantages, no apologies for blatant policy failure and no dire consequences to any. Once the CBN oracle has spoken to the denizens, so be it.

    In no time, contracts would be awarded (they may well have gone out) and ultimatum would be issued to we guinea pigs for the change over to paper money once again. Dear reader, is this not money trouble of an acute type? By the way, what is the value of these miserable ‘little’ notes? Whoever uses N5 anymore for any purchase? There must be a fundamental problem somewhere if only the CBN thinks.

  • Mandela: His virtues absent in our leaders

    SIR: A British historian said, “Death is a consequence of birth.” One of the properties of living things is death. Our maker starts making our shroud of death as soon as we’re born. Death can snatch us away at anytime without giving us notice.

    Last week, the legendary Nelson Mandela became one of our ancestors; he went the way of all flesh. His death at the great age of 95 has thrown millions of peoples from diverse races across the world into deep mourning. Mandela was a great freedom fighter and political figure, who commanded universal respect. The tributes by world leaders and iconic figures that greeted his demise are proofs of his popularity and fame. But, our expression of grief for him is understandable, and not misplaced. He was clamped into jail, and he served time for 27 years as a prisoner of conscience. His relentless fight for the political emancipation of South Africa from white rule and the abolition of Apartheid earned him global acclaim.

    African leaders are strenuously striving to out-perform one another in their paying of tributes to the fallen Madiba. From South Africa to Ghana, to Cape Verde, From Tunisia to Nairobi, almost every President on the Africa continent has paid tribute to the dead Mandela.

    Sadly, those African leaders and former ones eulogizing Mandela are the very antithesis of Mandela. They have blatantly refused to maintain fidelity to the ethos and norms of democratic governance in their respective countries. They have deepened poverty in their countries with their visionless and wasteful governance. Africa’s economic and technological backwardness is inextricably linked to bad political leadership by African countries’ leaders, who have stayed too long on the throne. These men have run out of ideas on how to take their countries to the acme of economic prosperity and technological advancement. But, they erroneously believe that their countries cannot do without them.

    Africa teems with sit-tight civilian depots, who think that they are indispensable in the leaderships of their countries. They are now synonymous with the state they govern owing their long stay in offices.

    Can’t these African leaders borrow a leaf from Nelson Mandela’s life? Can’t these despotic civilian leaders on the African continent follow Madiba’s example, and leave the political stage when the ovation is loudest? Our leaders’ manipulation and tinkering of their constitutions as well as their political maneuvers to extend their stay in office cause tensions in their polities which often lead to political instabilities in their countries. Can political instability in a country conduce to the economic and technological development of that country? Peace and unity is the sine qua non for national development.

    As we mourn the greatest son of Africa, let us reflect on what he stands for, and emulate his positive qualities.

     

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Uruowulu-Obosi,

    Anambra State.

  • Farewell Madiba, the global icon

    SIR: The late Nelson Mandela, the unrepentant crusader and freedom fighter against the obnoxious apartheid regime in South Africa became an instant toast of the entire world when soon after his release from prison at the notorious Robben Island in 1990, he preached the gospel of tolerance, forgiveness and reconciliation among the diverse racial and segregated groups in South Africa. He had spent 27 long years in solitary confinement for his role in the fight against the despotic and authoritarian white minority regime

    His uncommon spirit of tolerance and forgiveness largely facilitated the peaceful transition from the racist apartheid regime to non-racial democratic government in South Africa. Mandela’s amazing personality and his eventual election as the first black South African President in 1994 brought to an end almost a century of white minority domination against the 26 million black majority South Africans.

    His extraordinary humane disposition and forgiving spirit took the entire world by storm and utter amazement. It was no surprise that this singular attribute informed his choice for the most prestigious Nobel peace prize jointly awarded to him and his former political adversary and immediate predecessor, ex-president Fredrick W. De-Klerk.

    The exemplary life of Mandela should serve as a great lesson to many sit-tight African leaders whose democratic credentials, seriously lack credibility and legitimacy. The likes of Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Al-Bashir of Sudan, Paul Biya of Cameroon and a host of other African dictators and despots masquerading as democrats should have a re-think and honourably leave the stage when the ovation is still loud.

    An important lesson to be learnt by the people of Nigeria is the need to jettison the negative and primordial spirit of ethnic cum religious bigotry in the politics and affairs of the country. It is worthy of note that the irrepressible “Madiba” came from one of the minority tribes in South Africa – the Xhosa tribe and yet as a foremost nationalist and freedom fighter he commanded the respect, loyalty and admiration of the entire South African people simply by virtue of his exemplary leadership qualities coupled with his great vision and steadfastness. The only way the people of South Africa, nay the peoples of African descent can immortalize the name of the departed great leader is to continue to uphold those legacies of tolerance, forgiveness, reconciliation and peaceful co-existence among all the diverse racial groups that the great and indefatigable “Madiba” had left behind for posterity.

     

    • Nze Nwabueze Akabogu (JP)

    Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra State.

     

     

  • Patriotic ultimatum to ASUU/FG

    SIR: Sequel to the unpatriotic stance of the Federal Government and ASUU in resolving this five months long impasse, I hereby issue my own ultimatum albeit “patriotic” that if Federal Government and ASUU fail to amicably resolve this raging inferno, within one week or two, I shall take leave of Nigeria to go back to Ghana where people appreciate the value of education.

    I spent my sabbatical leave in the University of Cape Coast in 2008/2009 Academic session. It took patriotism to disengage from the university after the one year sabbatical leave.

    As I resumed in the University I was given a decent accommodation, I was entitled to one month free feeding at the University Guest house, my flight (travelling) expenses from Nigeria was fully refunded; I was given a new office properly furnished, the Secretary to the Department handed to me a realm of paper, a packet of markers, duster, a packet of blue, red biros, some files, some foolscap papers and already typed list of the second year, third year, final year and masters students I was going to teach in the semester.

    I went to the toilet it was so clean that I was not in a hurry to leave the toilet. What do you say about classrooms. I never had any reason to postpone or cancel my lecture because my period clashed with another lecturer. That is to say that they have enough classrooms and more were being built. The environment was quite conducive for research we did not experience power outage in my university for one year. It was there that my “Philosophy of Integrative Humanism” was given birth. What I could not achieve in my 29 years of teaching in the University of Calabar was achieved in one year in a conducive environment provided by the Federal Republic of Ghana.

    May, I therefore use this medium to appeal to Federal Government and ASUU to grant me leave of absence to fulfil this patriotic ultimatum of migrating to a country that appreciates the value of education, that allocates more than 36% of her yearly budget to education. There is no University in Ghana that is not qualitatively better than the universities we have in Nigeria. You can visit University of Ghana, Legon, the  University of Cape Coast and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, etc. I therefore once again plead that the Federal Government takes the bull by the horns and do the needful and ASUU should reciprocate to avoid further brain-drain.

    There is nothing left, let all that should be signed be signed and let our universities open in the next one week.

    • Prof. G. O. Ozumba

    Department of Philosophy

    University of Calabar

     

  • Ogun still a huge construction site

    I first came across the phrase a ‘Huge Construction Site’ in November 1999 during a tour of Germany sponsored by the government of that country. The expression was used in an information pamphlet describing the city of Berlin which was then undergoing massive reconstruction befitting its status as capital of the newly united Germany.

    That phrase, however, aptly captured the scenario presented on the streets of Berlin during the period. Every corner you turned to, there was construction work going on, with giant equipment dotting the landscape. Thus, when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), in his speech on January 24 during the commissioning of the first flyover bridge to be built by the Ogun State government in its 37 years of existence used the same expression to describe the situation in the state today, one could not but marvel at the beauty of the expression.

    With 16 major road construction projects going on simultaneously across the state and other reconstruction works on some other smaller roads, Ogun State has really become a big construction site, where top civil engineering firms now compete to prove their competence.  The construction work on major roads in Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode, Ota, Sagamu, Isheri, Magboro, Ilara, Ijohun, Ilashe,  Ilishan, Ago Iwoye, Mowe, Ibafo, Ofada, Sango, Agbado, Akute, Alagbole, among others, is a manifestation of the urban renewal and infrastructural development which form part of the five cardinal programme of the Ibikunle Amosun administration’s Mission to Rebuild Ogun State.

    The government commenced this urban renewal programme with the reconstruction and expansion of the 2.4 kilometre Ibara-Sokori-Totoro road which was used as a model for what is now known as ‘Ogun Standard’ roads. The already completed road came with road furniture including walkways, drainage, median with street lights and flower beds, bus stop, flyover at the Ibara junction and pedestrian bridge. All these facilities are being enjoyed by the good people of Ogun State.

    As at today, the seven-kilometre Sagamu-Benin Express Junction/Oba Erinwole Junction road, 4.8 km Ilo Awela road in Ota, 8.7 km OGTV-Brewery junction road, 6 km Moshood Abiola Way, 34 km Lafenwa – Ayetoro road, 9 km Ojere-Asero road, 5.6 km Somorin – Ajebo road, 2.2 km Abiola Way Junction- Muda Lawal Stadium, 850 metre Moriamo Olorombo road, all in the state capital, are under construction.

    Other roads being modernized by the Ogun State government are the 100 km Ilara-Ijohun-Ilase road, 25 km Ilishan-Ago Iwoye road, 29 km Mowe-Ofada-Ibafo road, 9km Ejinrin-Oluwalogbon junction in Ijebu Ode, 12 km Magboro-Underpass road, Isheri road and the very important 32 km Sango-Agbado-Ojodu Road.

    Most of these roads are at different stages of completion to levels ranging from two to 30 percent and the last of the roads is expected to have been completed by December next year. The latest road where construction just started in October is the Sango-Ojodu Road which will solve the problem of neglect suffered over the years by the numerous residents of the border towns with Lagos.

    Apart from being a move aimed at fulfilling his promise to the people of Ogun State and implementing part of his five cardinal programme, the road construction projects have implications for other items on Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s mission. For instance, other aspects of the mission include employment generation, industrialization, affordable housing, affordable qualitative education and efficient healthcare delivery system. With the road construction, the problem of unemployment plaguing a continuously growing state like Ogun is being tackled. The construction firms are employing thousands of skilled and unskilled workers. Their work is also contributing to shoring up the local economy as many other allied businesses like supply of sands, granite and other materials used in construction work are now thriving.

    The road network is also part of the infrastructural development necessary to attract genuine investors who will like to have their companies located in a place where there is easy movement of goods and persons. In any case, the state government is expanding the roads in readiness for the future construction of light rail to complement the road transportation system. On April 9, the government signed an agreement with the CCECC, a Chinese construction company for the construction of light rail which will link up the major cities in the state like Abeokuta, Ota, Sagamu and Ijebu Ode. The plan therefore is to use the road construction to prepare the state as the next preferred investors’ destination in West Africa.

    The road construction projects are to be complemented by ambitious housing programme which will help to accommodate the people that will expectedly begin to relocate to Ogun State in search of jobs and a safe, peaceful abode. More importantly, the new roads, when completed, will open up the nooks and crannies of the state to modernization. There will be effective link between the far flung parts of the state in Ipokia and Imeko to Ogun Waterside and Ago Iwoye.

    However, as it happened in Berlin during its reconstruction period, the road expansion and modernization comes at a cost. There has been loss of property by some people to create right of way for the new roads. Vehicular and pedestrian movement is slowed down around the construction sites. Many people whose homes and businesses are beside the roads find it difficult to access their premises. The people of Ogun State deserve praise for the understanding and support they have been displaying in the face of these temporary pains. They have continued to support government’s efforts to bring development to the state. Many property owners voluntarily demolish their structures once they are marked to be affected by the road construction. They also troop out, praying and offering encouraging words to the governor whenever he goes on inspection of the construction sites.

    With over N90 billion being invested on these infrastructural development projects, there are those who wonder where the money is coming from. The sources are many. There is the Internally Generated Revenue which has risen from the paltry sum of N700 million per month that this administration inherited on assumption of office in May 2011 to about N4 billion. The leakages in the financial system have been blocked. There are internal loans from local banks which are being frugally dispensed. There are also funds from development partners.

    Yet, the state is blessed to have a captain who does not sit in the office, giving directives. The governor moves round the construction sites mingling with engineers and supervising the pace and quality of work. The frequent tour of the sites helps to ensure that the state is not short-changed at any time and in any manner. The tour of project sites is perhaps another way Governor Amosun uses to touch base with the people and also keeps fit, physically. See why Ogun State is Nigeria’s modern day ‘Huge Construction Site’?

     

    • Olaniyonu is Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Ogun State.

     

  • Human face of Delta Beyond Oil

    One unmistakable and discernible thread that has run through the programmes and policies  of Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, is his uncommon concern and care for the welfare  of the less endowed, referred to in popular parlance as the less privileged in the society. This innate trait in the governor came to the fore once again in Warsaw, Poland at the UN Conference on Climate Change.

    Uduaghan, a founding member of R20, an international organisation of sub-national governments, NGOs, corporations and educational institutions across the world committed to combating climate change, speaking at a panel discussion on “Enhancing adaptation and resilience at the local level” at the UN conference lamented the challenges of adaptation to climate change on the rural people, who are most vulnerable to the devastating impact of flooding.

    His words: “What I see here is a lot of attention being given to issues in the cities and urbanization, which is important but I will like to see some attention paid to the lives of the people in the rural communities. During extreme weather event like flooding, these are people whose economic and social means are destroyed and they have a lot of difficult time getting on their feet. So the text that will emerge from this conference must reflect the necessity of providing means to improve the adaptation and resilience of the rural communities.”

    The governor no doubt was speaking from experience. He saw firsthand, the havoc, sorrow and the devastation people at the bank of the River Niger suffered in the wake of the 2012 horrifying flood that submerged about two-third of Delta State. The victims, mostly rural dwellers lost houses, farmlands and in some cases loved ones to the flood.

    Uduaghan informed the audience that his administration has been doing a lot within the constraint of resources to implement robust adaptation and mitigation measures as the state is prone to flooding.

    “Over the past five years, my administration has worked hard in developing an integrated approach in addressing the menace of climate change. Our approach is to promote sustainable development and the diversification of the energy economy of the state. We have been

    collaborating with international institutions and corporate organizations to achieve this,” he said.

    He listed the collaboration with UNDP on Territorial Approach to Climate (TACC) study, which is now completed with the production of the Integrated Territorial Climate Plan (ITCP), a report that captures adaptation and mitigation strategies across all, including the rural communities. He also explained that based on the ITCP report, the state would encourage the use of energy saving stoves, to reduce the felling of trees for energy use at the rural communities. He also listed the use of energy efficient fish dryers and biogas digester that will turn kitchen waste to cooking gas as other initiatives his government is encouraging.

    Governor Uduaghan stated that his administration will pursue tree planting initiatives to act as green belt in coastal communities to forestall erosion and flooding. He also talked about the recently launched Carbon Exchange Desk, explaining that it will serve as a clearinghouse for carbon credit-related transactions. Delta state is the first State in Nigeria to do this.

    Close watchers of programmes and policies of the Uduaghan’s administration see foot prints of his milk of kindness and concern for the ordinary folk in all his endeavours since assuming office as Governor of Delta State since May 29, 2007. This uncommon burden for the underprivileged dots his award winning micro-credit programme that has provided economic support to over 100,000 economically weak persons, majority of whom are women, in the state. The micro credit programme which won three-consecutive Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) awards has three attributes: empowerment of the grassroots population, creating new wealth at the level and reducing unemployment in the productive age bracket. It targets the rural and urban poor, unemployed, particularly school leavers, economically disadvantaged persons, the physically challenged among others. Reports from the Commissioner of Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Antonia Ashiedu, indicates that most beneficiaries of the scheme who started as small scale businesses have grown to medium enterprises and are now exporting some of their products.

    The administration’s free rural, maternal and child Medicare programmes, where urban poor and rural folks are treated free of charge are no less welfarist. Under the free rural health scheme, which has moved to about 400 rural communities in the state, over 100,000 patients have received medical treatment, including surgeries.

    Data from the State Ministry of Health indicate that over 600,000 clinical attendance have been recorded under the free maternal care scheme since its inception in 2008. The scheme provides free medical care for pregnant women from conception to child birth. These include free drugs and surgeries. The result is drastic reduction in maternal morbidity and mortality. Prior to the scheme, the maternal mortality rate in the state was about 450 deaths in every 100,000 pregnant women but the figure has dropped to about 211 deaths, the lowest in the country. Similarly, the under five free medical programme of the state government that provides free Medicare for children under five years has reduced infant mortality in the state. Independent health data indicate that 110 deaths out of 1,000 for children under the age of five used to be recorded in the South-south states, prior to this scheme but that the figure from Delta State has dropped to about 23 on the average.

    The state government’s urban, rural and riverine transportation schemes that provide comfortable means of transportation for the citizens at drastically subsidized prices also have imprints of a man with the wellbeing of the less privileged at heart. The Mass Transit Scheme at the moment has about 800 buses on its fleet, including 50 Marcopolo Buses, 40 school shuttle buses and nine civilian buses for tertiary institutions. The target is to increase the fleet to 1,000 buses. The state Ministry of Transport has also distributed over 4,000 tricycles at highly subsidized prices and recently 130 executive boats were given out to ease riverine transportation.

    Rural folks used to rickety vehicles now board fully air-conditioned buses at little cost. Urban dwellers who were at the mercy of Shylock taxi and bus drivers now take pleasure in boarding comfortable buses, popularly called ‘Uduaghan Buses’ at very cheap rates.  Riverside dwellers too now move about in comfortable boats.

    It is common knowledge that public primary and secondary schools in Nigeria today are attended by children of the less privileged. Uduaghan, aware of this and in keeping with his character, embarked on an aggressive and massive infrastructure revolution of public primary and secondary schools. Under the programme, most of the dilapidated structures have given way to modern state-of-the-art buildings conducive for learning and instruction. Governor Uduaghan on assumption of office ensured that students in public schools are enrolled for the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Council on Education (NECO) examinations free, with the state government bearing the cost.

    Besides, the state’s bursary and scholarship programme has afforded students of the state’s origin and indigent students opportunity to realise their dream of tertiary education. Every student from the state benefits from an annual bursary scheme but students with a higher grade point average are in addition paid annual scholarship of about N100,000 with Masters and PhD candidates receiving N200,000 and N300,000 respectively, annually. The administration also runs a PhD scholarship scheme where students of the state’s origin who make first class are granted automatic scholarship to study up to their doctorate degree and are paid N5 million every year. There are also the overseers, children of deceased civil servants, physically challenged, aviation and law scholarship schemes that the administration is running.

    Statistics from the state’s  Bursary and Scholarship Board indicate that over 80 thousand students have benefited from the student’s bursary scheme between 2009 and 2012, while 1, 236 students in law school have also benefited under the period. Over 90 students have also benefited from the overseers scholarship scheme while no less than 300 have been granted scholarship under the first class scheme.

    • Idama is a public affairs commentator.

  • The Mandela oxymoron

    The Mandela oxymoron

    Writing about Nelson Mandela in the heat of this moment is like praying to God: there is a million and one thing unsaid yet everything has been said. It is infinitude – that state of endless magnitude; a greatness that is of infinite nature. Everything about Mandela is a story, an anecdote or a positive lesson that humanity must do well to learn. Hardball was thus stuck finding a fresh entrée in the Mandela repertoire. What more is there to be said? Everything has been said yet so much remained unsaid about this unusual bird flying out of Africa.

    As I pounded my gray matter an old adage came to me. The living in mourning the dead, mourns but his self. And yet another saying that your very life is your funeral; that is the way you live your life is a foretaste of the kind of funeral you will ‘enjoy’. Put more plainly, in living you are drawing up your burial progamme. As the world stand as one eulogising Mandela in cities and towns, churches and mosques it is not the fact of his death that stirs the human community but his life.

    Dear reader, you must have noticed the oxymoronic tendencies of this piece, the emerging contradictory words and phrases so far deployed. For instance, “your life is your funeral” and “the living mourns but his self.” But the Mandela oxymoron is of deeper import. How about black Africa, the dungeon of the modern world; a world of strive, poverty, hunger and ugliness sprouting an exquisitely beautiful flower named Mandela? And as we say in Africa, “the greenest sukuma wiki grows in the rubbishest dump” (Kenyan) and “from the blackest pot comes the whitest pap” (Nigerian/Yoruba).

    And as we relish our repertoire of Mandela-inspired oxymoron, how about the seeming endless streaming of eulogies by leaders from across the world, especially African leaders? Let us take just three here and see if could detect any hint oxymoronic contradictions in them. Robert Mugabe, the 89-year- old President of Zimbabwe is a contemporary of Mandela’s. While Mandela did one term as president of South Africa and turned down another term of five years when he was 76, Mugabe is on his seventh term as president and he does not seem ready to go yet. In his tribute, he described Mandela as the great African icon of liberation… a humble and compassionate leader. Say, when Mugabe transits someday, would the world hail him as a great African leader, humble and compassionate even though he stayed on the throne for almost eternity?

    Here in Nigeria, former President Olusegun Obasanjo narrated how he had asked Mandela why he would not do a second term and how the great man had retorted: How many 80-year-olds do you see still ruling a country? This was shortly before Obasanjo returned to office as president. But what did Obasanjo do after serving for two terms of eight years? He was desperate to go for a third term having forgotten Mandela’s homily so soon. He corrupted the system in his bid to suborn the constitution and he set the polity almost on a spin. Though Obasanjo cumulatively ruled Nigeria for 13 years did he win the hearts of his people? Did he achieve world acclaim? How does he compare to Mandela who did just five years?

    Lastly, we take President Goodluck Jonathan’s epic tribute to Mandela in which he said “Nigeria politicians were tiny men” compared to Mandela. Let us hear Jonathan: “Read newspapers, listen to radio and television or go to the social media and see how politicians talk. Some of us even think we are gods. We intimidate, we threaten, we show hate in our communication. These are definitely not the virtues of great men. They are shockingly the vices of tiny men.” Leaders like Jonathan (according to him,) cannot be great like Mandela because they are “tiny men.” This must be our classic, screaming Mandelan oxymoron.