The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Impact of Fashola’s education reform

    Impact of Fashola’s education reform

    Given the universally acclaimed status of education as the strongest weapon to fight poverty and a useful pillar on which brighter and rewarding future is laid, the Government of Lagos state has accorded education the attention it deserves. Since assuming office, Babatundde Fashola has taken a keen interest in addressing the issues in the education sector because of his believe that it is the only weapon that can define the future of the country. This is why the regime has embarked on a lot of reforms to improve the sector.

    At a time in the state, the problem was that of access to qualitative and affordable education. However, in the last few years, alongside infrastructural development of the state, the BRF government has carved a niche for insisting on quality education. He has gone about this through creation of enabling environment.

    Today, just as we can talk about what the government has invested in terms of rehabilitation and construction of well-furnished new blocks of classrooms across the state, distribution of free text books, provision of well-equipped laboratories and libraries, provision of buses for teachers  to ease transportation problems, re-launch of uniformed voluntary organizations in the state’s public schools, implementation of  Teachers’ Salary Scale (TSS) for teachers in the state public schools among others, the impacts has also been enormous.

    The far-reaching achievement of Lagos state under Fashola has not just ignited hope on revival of value delivery in public administration in Nigeria, it also holds the template of assessing results on both quantitative and qualitative basis

    The recent improvements recorded in external examinations by pupils in the state are indicative of the positive result of the reforms and additional trainings of teachers in the state service. We can conveniently say that we have about the best teachers in the country courtesy of the heavy investment in training and re-training programme of our teachers.

    To keep the flag flying, the state government recently hosted the third Lagos State Education Summit with the theme, “Qualitative Education in Lagos State: Raising the Standard” at the Eko Hotels and Towers, Victoria Island.

    An integral part of the state’s educational reform is the EKO Education Project which has been a huge success thus far. The way the project has been adapted to suit the Lagos experience has promoted accountability and openness through its approval of discretional grants to schools.  The Eko Education Project enjoyed an unprecedented high rating from the World Bank, which is a partner in the project.

    One facinating aspect of the Eko Project is the volunteer teachers’ scheme which has injected about 20,520 hours per month into the schools system, an equivalent of 183 full time teachers. The spirit behind the Eko Education Project was to improve the quality of education, compel the government as regulator to monitor the performances of the students, the schools and the teachers and encourage others to challenge themselves for greater heights.

    Another innovation by the Lagos Eko Project is the provision of a Report Card for every school, with the card giving detailed account of how a school has performed in relation to other schools, Local Government Areas, Education Districts and statewide, a programme which is unique to the Nigerian assessment system. In its characteristic innovative style of governance, the state government, with a view to involving other stakeholders in the funding of education in the state, instituted the now popular ‘adopt a school policy’. Through this policy, well-meaning individuals, corporate Organisations, and religious bodies among others are encouraged to pick and develop a school in their choice location.

    The state government has since received favourable response from several stakeholders across the states that have been making massive contributions in this respect. Presently, the state government operates free education programme in all public primary and secondary schools across the state.  It should also be stressed that Lagos, unlike other states, does not limit its free education programme to only the indigenes. Consequently, the state spends more money in running its free education programme as it has to make provision for more pupils and students taking into consideration the cosmopolitan nature of the state.

    Aside running free education at primary and secondary school levels, the state government has equally invested heavily in the construction of multi-lingual laboratories, installation of ICT laboratories in 120 schools and installation of science laboratories in 170 secondary schools.Till date, the state government has provided  over 2,876 new classrooms in the state.

    In order to reduce the financial burdens on parents, the Fashola administration has sustained the payment of the West African Examination Council and the National Examination Council (NECO) for all of SS3 students in public secondary schools in the state as part of the support for education of the people. The special intervention programme for 495 trainee- teachers to assist WASCE candidates with extra coaching was also introduced.

    Similarly, the State Governor recently presented a cheque of N252 Million to 126 junior and senior secondary schools, which have displayed improved performances over a period of time in the first Governor’s Education Award. With the competitiveness that the award will bring into the educational sector, the result would be for the benefit of all stakeholders in Lagos State.

    Despite its huge investment in public primary and secondary education, the state government remains committed to creating an enabling environment where indigent students in the tertiary institutions would not in any way be short-changed. This is being done through periodic increase of bursary awards, scholarship and grants. Equally, government is currently working on the overhauling of facilities at all the state owned tertiary institutions in order to guarantee qualitative education. Guests at the 2200 days event of the state government, which took place at LASU few weeks ago, would readily attest to the fact that a new LASU is presently evolving.   True democracy cannot exist in a society incapable of supporting the aspirations of its youth, and indeed its people. A truly representative government must be able to create the enabling environment for its citizenry to freely express itself in positive ways so that the diverse potentials of its people could be easily harnessed for growth and development. Alexis de Tocqueville, in his immortal classic ‘Democracy in America’ (1835), insists that building the people is more necessary than creating wealth, for the value of the latter is tied to the existence of the earlier. As it is often said, great minds think alike. Undoubtedly, Governor Fashola was having Tocqueville in mind when he declared recently at a public function that “if this investment matures (the investment in the education sector), Lagos will be a better place because we believe clearly, without any doubt, that the greatest resource this country has is not oil but its people.”With the kind of reforms that has been started by the state government through its steadfast focus on upgrade of school infrastructure and teachers’ improvement, a significant progress has undoubtedly been made.

    Lawal,  writes from Festac Town

  • NNPC and politicisation of kerosine distribution

    It is not for nothing that the media is notably referred to as the Fourth Estate of the Realm. The other three Estates being the Executive, the legislature and the judiciary arms of Government.

    The media is the fourth and most strategic of the estates, to the extent that democracy and its successes or failure defends largely on the effectiveness and sense of responsibility and fairness with which the media holds the other estates accountable to the people. The framers of the constitution certainly did not intend that the Fourth Estate will be the problem other than its gate keeping role.

    Today, the Nigeria media has played significant and very notable roles in ensuring that our nation’s hard won democracy is not only jealously guarded and protected but nurtured. It is therefore in the vanguard of a citizens ‘army’ that must seek, identity and terminate all anti democratic practices wherever they rear their heads in the polity. It is indeed a herculean task.

    The media is consequently guarded by certain golden rules that remain sacrosanct and uncompromising. The first is that “News is sacred and opinion is free”, (Charles Scott of the Guardian). The other is that all report must entertain the input of all affected parties (Fairness). The media is not a court meant to try citizens. It is the court of public opinion where citizens are assisted to informed opinion after getting all the facts as presented by the media.

    Unfortunately this modest and universal ideal has not been so in the past few years in Nigeria where the media has clearly sought to become the accuser and the judge.

    No example best illustrates this claim than recent publications by some leading national dailies in which unwholesome and bogus claims headlined, “How subsidy graft cause kerosine scarcity” and “The kerosine subsidy scam” have been fed the reading public.

    Without going into the futility of the unfounded and untenable arguments presented in the stories and opinions aforementioned, suffice it to say that once an opinion writer has decided to close his or her eyes to the facts of the subject under treatment , it is the opinion so expressed that rightly becomes a scam.

    To be sure, the present leadership of the PPMC assumed office in February 2011. At the time only four depots were functional in the country namely satellite town, Mosimi, Ibadan and Ore. This is aside the depots attached to the Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt Refineries. It then became necessary to engage the services of depots to enable bridging to inactive depots especially the Northern parts of the country.

    However and not deterred by the plethora of challenges facing the new officers of PPMC at the time, they set out with uncommon focus and came up with a template to change the supply chain to all citizens of the country for good.

    The cardinal objective included but was not limited to:

    · Supply petroleum products to the domestic market at minimal operating costs

    Provide excellent customer service by efficiently transporting crude oil to the refineries and moving petroleum products to the market.

    The management of PPMC within the first year in office, recommissioned Kaduna – Suleja line, Kaduna – Kano line, Suleja – Minna line, Kaduna – Gasau and Kaduna – Jos lines. It is noteworthy that some of these depots had been unoperational and had not worked for 15 years prior to this time.

    The PPMC is unequivocal in its belief that the petroleum products subsidy on DPK benefits only the rich to the disadvantage of the average man on the street.

    Triggered by directives from the National Assembly, PPMC increased kero supply from 8millioin litres to 11million litres per day. The problem is and has always been distribution because there was ample evidence to prove that Kerosine meant for the masses was being diverted to the pharmaceutical industry. It is also a known fact that Kerosine was equally being diverted to the Aviation Industry, Road Construction and Manufacturing sector. Not least of all were the massive activities of smugglers of Kerosine across the borders. Then you had saboteurs who still mix Kerosine with Diesel for the purpose of increasing the volume of Diesel used for fueling.

    In the face of theses known facts, claims and velifications of a DPK cartel in the NNPC is not only grossly misplaced but unfounded and misrepresented falsehood.

    Since the tenure of late President Musa Yar’Adua and the confusion arising from who should pay the subsidy began, NNPC has had to bear the burden of solely sustaining DPK supply to the Nigerian market as marketers have refused to bring in the product due to the uncertainty already mentioned as to who pays the subsidy. The NNPC brings in the product with some contributions from the refineries owing to its statutory obligation to make petroleum products available nationwide.

    For the records, NNPC has supplied a total of 332,520,875 million litres of DPK from January 2011 – September 2013 to the Nigerian market.

    It must also be emphasized that the finance minister and coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonji Iweala recently alluded to the fact that the Finance Ministry has not paid subsidy on DPK to NNPC for about three years now. This should be of concern to Nigerians who must question whether the absence of subsidy payment on kerosene to NNPC is a deliberate ploy aimed at crippling the organisation.

    With the recommissioning of the Aba and Benin Depots, NNPC has been able to make DPK available through pipeline and loading from these depots to Abia, Imo and Anambra states.

    Industry experts agree that the pipelines are by far the safest, most efficient, quickest and cost effective means to distribute products especially for a country as large as Nigeria.

    The Gombe Depot is ready for commissioning as indeed loading of products is already in progress. The Aba – Enugu – Makurdi lines and their respective depots will be ready before the end of the first quarter of 2014.

    Once all pipelines are available, NNPC is well poised to pump DPK and indeed all products to the depots located in all regions of the country for so long as there is guaranteed safety of the pipelines from vandalisation. If the activities of pipeline vandals are stamped out, NNPC is in a position to pump products through its pipeline network spanning the entire country to 21 loading depots attached to various segments of the pipeline network. Non availability of pipelines due to incessant acts of vandalism is what denies the NNPC the ability to effectively distribute products hitch free nationwide.

    On the vexed issue of the pump price of DPK, it is a known fact that the NNPC does not regulate it. The Ex Depot price of DPK has been consistent at N40.90. It is the statutory duty of DPR to regulate and enforce petroleum products prices and not the NNPC.

    It must be equally emphasized that those who are licensed by DPR to sell the product buy from either IPMAN, MOMAN, Deport Owners, NNPC Retail outlets and resell at inflated and outrageous prices over and above the recommended price N50 per litre.

    From the foregoing, is the NNPC culpable or guilty of all the allegations being heaped on it by a section of the media? Only NNPC mega stations sell the product for N50 nationwide. Why then blame the NNPC for the wrong doings of others, why are other stakeholders not taken up on accountability? And what about the regulatory agencies of PPRA and DPR.

    The management of NNPC is unrelenting in its efforts and desire to deepen the growth of the LPG as an alternative source of energy for domestic household use. In partnership with an NGO, Gas to Health Initiative, the NNPC is set to raise awareness and educate its populace on the use of LP Gas which is a more efficient energy for cooking than Kerosine.

    This switch from kerosene and other biomass to LP Gas is the new trend around the globe including third world nations.

    The use of LP Gas has the added advantage of reducing subsidy on Kerosine as well as saving the environment from degradation, create wealth and enhance the health of the average Nigerian, the continuous use of kerosene as household energy is a total waste of natural resource.

    Available records confirm that LPG production in Nigeria is in excess of 3,100,000 tons per anum. Consumption has only recently risen to 200,000 tons per anum as at December 2012. Further available records show the NNPC has rehabilitated all the Butanization plants in all six geo political zones with the exception of Ilorin.

    These are facts and facts are sacred. Nigeria and Nigerians must be encouraged to join the rest of the world in the use of LP Gas and the onus is on the nation’s mass media to educate, enlighten and sensitize our people. The inventions of scams where none exist will do the country and its citizens no good.

     

    Gwazuwang, wrote from Abuja.

     

  • Health professionals and NAFDAC’s boss, Orhii

    Health professionals and NAFDAC’s boss, Orhii

    Should President Goodluck Jonathan cut short the tenure of NAFDAC Director-General? Health professionals believe it is the wise thing to do.

    Dr. Paul Orhii’s tenure as Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) no doubt has attracted a swirl of controversies. The controversies appear not to let up. It’s all about what the statute books say are the qualifying credentials of whoever should occupy the position. The law prescribes the profession of who should be appointed Director-General, something that Orhii’s appointment seemed to undermine.

    Pharmacists in Nigeria believe that the law in question has pencilled down a professional pharmacist as the one that must be appointed Director-General of the agency. Nevertheless, since the position of power and authority in Nigeria could be used even to the subversion of the statutes, it appeared that some four years ago, when Orhii’s kinsman served as the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, the very sleight of the hand became too attractive that he landed the job. The precedent, against the declaration of the statutes, has been the subject of recrimination and professional controversies.

    Indeed, sensing that they were losing grounds professionally and in national relevance with each day that the appointment was sustained, relevant industry professionals have kicked and cried. Inevitably, as the recriminations continued, the administration and delivery of healthcare in the country have faltered steadily. Aggregately, the controversy seems to also be testing the will of the relevant professional group.

    Years ago, following the appointment of Dr. Orhii, a medical doctor and a lawyer from Ushongu Local Council of Benue State, as Director-General of NAFDAC, it seemed that the state had finally nailed the fate of the pharmacists in these matters. Why, for instance, a government would pick a medical doctor and a lawyer to run the affairs of NAFDAC, when the statute books had advised differently, beggars reason.

    Section 9, sub-section 1 of the agency’s establishing statute recommends that: “there shall be appointed for the agency by the President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces on the recommendation of the Minister, a Director General who shall be a person with good knowledge of pharmacy, food and drugs.” Is it possible that in Nigeria, a person who so qualifies would altogether not qualify to register as a professional member of the professional association of pharmacists?

    Is it possible, drawing from the precedence, that the Federal Government could one day appoint someone who does not qualify to register as a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the professional association of qualified legal practitioners in Nigeria, as the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice?

    Pharmacists and several other health sector professionals seem equally incensed that successive governments seem to have been sold the lie that only professionals registered with the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the professional body for qualified and practising medical doctors in Nigeria, can be appointed Ministers of Health, a privilege that seems never extended to other health professionals.

    Pharmacists have repeatedly raised issues on this with both the Minister of Health and the presidency. It has neither yielded a word of contrition nor regrets from the government. Instead, in a clear disrespect of the provisions of fairness as well as the doctrines of the Federal Character, Dr. Orhii’s kinsman, Professor John Ibu from Oju Local Council of Benue State, was earlier in the year appointed chairman of the governing council of NAFDAC. Unlike Orhii, though, Professor Ibu is eminently qualified to chair the board of the governing council.

    A retired academic, Ibu is well respected both in the academic community as well as in his Benue State. A very devout Christian, Ibu has raised his family admirably in the purest traditions of the faith, and his daughter, a medical doctor by training, is today married to the senior pastor of the Dunamis Church, Pastor Enenche.

    With both issues of professional qualification dogging Dr Orhii, and the disrespect of the doctrines of the Federal Character in appointing Professor Ibu from Benue state buffeting the agency, it surely calls for an urgent remedy.

    Orhii, a medical doctor and holder of a degree in law from an American university, has argued that he holds a PhD in Neauropharmacology as a biomedical scientist. He, however, has refrained from stating whether he was qualified to register as a professional member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, as well as the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria. But clearly knowing where his bread is buttered, Orhii has taken advantage of the ensuing silence from the presidency to mount strong lobby initiatives for his confirmation as Director-General for a second tenure. Members of the pharmacy profession have argued that they have the law on their side.

    There seems to abound in the case both moral and legal issues. Following the position of the statutes, it means that anyone occupying the position of the Director-General of NAFDAC must be assumed to be a practising pharmacist since a “good knowledge of pharmacy” cannot be effective outside its practice. Yet, it beggars reason whether anyone is permitted to practise pharmacy professionally when the person is not qualified to be registered as a professional member of the PSN? Will the authorities in the presidency look carefully at the merits of this issue and in their quiet, silent refrain swiftly serve Orhii a notice of “service no longer required” to permit it to not only correct the anomaly but to also pick a professional who is from outside of Benue State?

    To have kept Orhii at NAFDAC these past four years is a mistake only excusable by the understanding that the government must not be made to lose face. But to stretch his stay in the place beyond one tenure is a grave affront on the rule of law and a disservice to Nigerians. On the legal implications of this, the Attorney-General has a duty to prepare a memo to the presidency on this. Dr. Orhii could, however, be redeployed to some agency that does not create professional misgivings on the overall programmes of government.

     

    •Onubogu is a public relations consultant based in Benin City.

  • Our politics of money

    How can there be free and fair election in a system where all processes of political power acquisition is heavily monetised? Politics in Nigeria is a huge commercial enterprise that yields the highest profit.

    Godfathers install their surrogates as governors in their ‘captured’ territories and governors in turn impose their surrogates as local government chairmen and councillors.

    It has happened and will continue to happen across parties except political office is made less attractive and service to the people is the motivation, not looting. So, e get as e be when armed robbers fight another set of armed robbers. Social Revolution is the answer.

    By Adeola Soetan, Lagos

    adeolasoetan@gmail.com

  • Tribute to Nwariaku

    Death is everywhere, always on the prowl to take mortals on the journey of no return. But Williams Shakespeare makes us to believe that the death of a prince often evokes agony, sorrow and a great sense of loss. He was right because no one loves to lose his dearest and most precious person. This is to say that the value or rather the worth of a man is best measured after his death.

    The thought of Shakespeare comes to play in the passing on to glory of Dr. MacDonald Samuel Chikwendu Nwariaku, an Engineer and a role model, and one of the world’s best intellectual icons. He lived an exemplary life as a puritan and commanded respect in every circle he worked and lived. These are great attributes that would have made him a celebrity even in the great beyond.

    Indeed, the late Nwariaku in life symbolised the best essence of human dignity and good worth in character and conduct. He was a great mind, the type of which was rare among his peers and acquaintances, just as he lived through life anchoring his ways on Spartan discipline and enviable devotion to spirituality and services to God. His death was a huge loss to those who knew him well as a fountain of love, epitome of hard work and a mind with milk of human kindness.

    A quintessential family man and lover of peace, the late renowned engineer was a transformational agent whose public and private life was completely devoted to humanity, as he applied his God-given rich intellectual knowledge and moral virtues to change the society better than he met it.

    He was a man of immense stature who bestrode the world’s engineering landscape like a colossus. The late Nwariaku hailed from Umudinkwa, Avodim, Ubakala, in Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State. The urbane and accomplished engineer began to edify his sojourn in life with a quest for sound education.

    He attended the famous Methodist College, Uzuakoli in Abia State and the Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha, Anambra State, from where he earned the Cambridge School Certificate in Grade 1 in 1948.

    For a stretch of 16 years, he dedicated his life to academic adventures, revolving within various world class colleges and universities, including the famous Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA, the Imperial College, London and the Kings College University of Durham, New Castle.

    A soil scientist and engineering expert per excellence, Dr Nwariaku obtained the prized DIC in Highways and Airports in 1959, after having obtained his B Sc. degree three years earlier and bagged the PhD in Applied Science in 1964.

    A patriotic Nigerian who served his fatherland with uncommon zeal and selflessness, the late Nwariaku worked severally in many areas of the public service and delivered his hubristic best in key aspects of civil engineering designs and construction, including roads, bridges, dams, airports, wharfs, water supplies and nuclear energy, whose contributions spanned the domestic and international environments.

    The late Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, FNSE, and “Distinguished Merit Award” contributed immensely to the development of national infrastructure, including involvement in the construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge, Damaturu-Yola-Ngure Road, Calabar-Ogoja-Maiduguri Road, Potiskum-Rigachukun Road and serving as Resident Engineer and a member of the Task Force that built the Imo International Airport.

    During his research days in the university, his academic pursuits were interspersed with practical trainings and researches during which he was involved in the construction of airstrips on ice, Alaska, USA; highways constructions in Copenhagen, Denmark and Saskoping, Sweden; and construction of airport on coral at Gan Island, Southern Indian Ocean, amongst others.

    In demonstration of his intellectual creativity, he added his name to the Engineering discipline literary Hall of Fame with the launch of his book ‘Principles and Practice in Road Maintenance in year 2009. The book is described by professionals as a hallmark of intellectual fecundity that is bound to inform future thoughts on road maintenance principles and practice across all climes.

    In his private life, the late humanist devoted substantial time and resources to building a family that ordinarily symbolises an ideal home, a model of moral and spiritual virtues.

    Married to Dame Julie Onum-Nwariaku, a member of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, (ICPC), the deceased bequeathed a worthy legacy in a son and another intellectual prodigy, Prof Fiemu Nwariaku, and a grandson, Ikenna.

    His priceless works have made him a man that a country like Nigeria should not miss at this critical point of its dire needs. Though we need this fine gentle man as a people, we remain helpless because God needs him more. What else can we say than to wish him well in his passage to eternity? Adieu, our father, uncle and brother, as we wish you a blissful rest in the bosom of the Lord.

    By Folu Olamiti (FNGE)

  • APC and question of acceptance in Southeast

    I am writing this article to correct some misconceptions about the APC in the Southeast and its consequences.

    This is my personal opinion despite being aware that some people from this part of the country might not agree with me but they should also consider and have it in mind that what they consider as not good for the goose might be good for the gander and that’s life.

    The same APC they are blackmailing is the same party that has been embraced in other parts of the country. This week’s defection of five PDP governors to the party is a serious pointer.

    That APC did not win in Anambra does not mean that they cannot win in Lagos, Kano or Borno.

    Since the merger that brought about this party, it has suffered lots of onslaughts and blackmails that it’s a Yoruba party, Hausa party or a Muslim party and the deportation brouhaha.

    Peter Obi was exposed to have “deported” hundreds of other people prior to the Fashola “deportation” saga but it was the same Peter Obi who dubiously used it as a propaganda to blackmail APC and tarnish the image of the party in the south east in his desperation to deliver APGA at all cost in a dubious election that is still inconclusive after two weeks.

    All these allegations although unfounded and deceitful is being embraced by a section of the populace and this is very dangerous when some people who call themselves leaders despite knowing the truth but prefer to use falsehood to achieve their aim leaving their followers to suffer in ignorance .

    Presidential spokesman Doyin Okupe has predicted in his usual manner that APC will collapse before the full merger .Today, its more than five months since the merger and the party has waxed stronger and stronger.

    Then some confused tribalistic minds came up with a theory that politicians from the east and west can never work together.

    Well, some of them have not cared to learn from history on how Micheal Okpara who was a leader of the UPGA, an alliance of NCNC and remnants of imprisoned Awolowo led AG in the 1965 elections.

    Some myopic minded individuals also hinted that there is no way that Buhari and Tinubu can work together or that Buhari cannot work with the Igbos.

    Please be informed that both Buhari and Tinubu are just members of APC and both are wise men that know where this merger is heading to.

    Recently, a former member of the presidential committee on the proposed national confab, Col. Nyiam revealed that Buhari has always preferred to work with Igbo military officers during his time in the military. Col. Nyiam as an outspoken person has known Buhari personally since the outbreak of the civil war.

    Then recently, another school of thought with their spokesman in the person of Senator Jonathan Zwingina hinted that the Yoruba can never agree with the north.

    He justified his position with the last horse trading accord of 2011 between Jonathan and Tinubu that helped Jonathan to win the southwest. It’s likely that Senator Zwingina will get the shock of his life.

    Back to the Southeast, there is no positive justification to vote against the APC with regards to these cheap and unfounded speculations.

    PDP has held firm here for 12 years and has nothing to show for it. It’s not a hidden thing.

    After all in 1999, we had in the APP (later ANPP) the likes of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Arthur Nzeribe, Ogbonnaya Onu , Ifeanyi Araraume, George Moghalu, Evans Enwerem and host of others but all of them excluding Ogbonnaya Onu and George Moghalu decamped to the PDP .

    The APP later metamorphosed into ANPP and later APC. These heavyweights could have been members of APC today if they have stayed back in ANPP with an example of Chief Ogbonnaya Onu and George Moghalu and their counterparts in Borno, Yobe and Zamfara.

    They were not chased out of the party but for reasons best known to them, they preferred to be with the party in power.

    The same was with the formation of AC, ACN and later APC .As a member of AC since 2006, later ACN and now in APC, I can give a small history of the Southeast participation in the party.

    AC was formed by most national stakeholders who took part in the successful anti third term project led by Atiku. After the unsuccessful 2007 elections, many of the foundation members who could have stayed behind to further strengthen the party in the south east retreated to the PDP. They are the Vice presidential candidate, Senator Ben Obi, John Nwodo, Okwesilieze Nwodo, Dubem Onyia and hosts of former national house members like Greg Egu and others whom I cannot remember went back to the PDP with Atiku.

    My argument is that lots of our Igbo brothers played major roles in the formation of these parties that later merged into APC but instead of staying to consolidate they left on their own accord to the ruling PDP.

    I want to know at what point that ACN/ANPP became a southwest, northern or Muslim party when prominent Igbos played major roles in their formations but abandoned them for “greener pastures” called PDP.

    They, together with their other compatriots spread all over the country went to PDP to either play national politics or to have a share of the “national cake.”

    An Igbo proverb says that it’s when you marry two husbands that you know which one is the best.

    PDP has never fielded any Igbo man as a presidential or vice presidential candidate but AC and ANPP had fielded Igbos as vice presidential candidates at various times in 2003, 2007 and 2011. So which formation really loves the Igbos more if we have to judge from this perspective?

    So, it’s really shameful when someone comes to say that Igbos don’t have a stake in the APC formation that has respected our aspirations in the past.

    One of my friends wrote that notwithstanding that Imo is APC, that PDP will win the presidential election there. I don’t want to argue but my argument is why some people are so much concerned about who wins in Imo state.

    Will Jonathan win the general elections if he wins only in Imo and the entire southeast?

    Also, remember that the northern states of Niger, Katsina, Gombe, Bauchi, Jigawa though “currently” PDP states are likely going to vote against Jonathan.

    I keep on advising PDP supporters and reporters that they should not lose sleep about the east.

    I am not trying to dispute your Jonathan’s landslide or moon slide in the east. You guys should worry about what happens in other zones too, because the south south/southeast and some north central states with their weak numerical voting strength cannot deliver Jonathan.

    Ask yourselves these questions:

    1- Will Jonathan”s victory in the southeast guarantee him total victory if the whole north west/north east and southwest with their superior numerical strength vote against him?

    Go and check and compare the voting strength of current PDP controlled states ( 28 million plus including likely swing states of Niger, Katsina, Gombe, Bauchi ,Jigawa) and APC controlled states ( 35 million plus).

    Note that I included the voting strength of those likely northern swing states to Jonathan despite the fact that they will vote against him.

    2- What’s the voting strength in Imo State and the entire southeast compared to only one APC controlled state of Kano?

    I hope that those myopic minds using the Anambra election to generalize the outcome of the 2015 elections will have a rethink.

    Since the election, I have been bombarded with attacks here in Owerri . It seems that some people were just waiting for the outcome of the election to erroneously pronounce the death of APC in the entire southeast and Nigeria on the whole.

    It beats my imagination on how some people can use the incident in Anambra to arrive to a conclusion.

    I have always maintained my stand that the perception and acceptance of APC in the Southeast falls short of the perception and acceptance of the party in other parts of the country and at the end it might be the perception and acceptance of the party in other parts of the country that might be the deciding factor.

    That the southeast will vote for “Ebele” ( chukwu) , but that will not save him.

    That’s my personal opinion.

    Last Tuesday, I was very busy and was not aware that the political landscape of this country has taken a new dimension.

    I went to watch a local football match in the evening and again I was “mobbed” by friends of how brother ” Ebele” will win landslide and moonslide in Imo State and south east.

    When I asked, they pointed out that I should ask the common man on the street.

    When I pointed out that the common man on the street of Owerri and the common man on the street of Lagos, Ibadan Sokoto, Kano, Dutse etc might not share the same idea, they absolutely refused to understand.

    It was when I reached home that I felt somehow vindicated when I heard the news that APC has gotten five PDP states without a fight.

    The “common man” in Sokoto, Adamawa, Kwara, Rivers and Kano had spoken.

    To my conclusion, many people have always had the view that all Nigerian politicians are the same despite their political affiliation but that should not make us to fold our arms and watch a handful of people hiding under the PDP to hold the nation hostage.

    We should vote them out and replace them with other people so that this will help our economy and democracy to grow because anyone that goes their will strive to work hard having it mind that failure to do so means losing the next election.

    It worked in Ghana, Kenya and lately Senegal and we hope to see this happen during our own days here on earth.

    Osita Chiagorom

    ositac@yahoo.com

     

     

  • IGP MD Abubakar and unending bug of corruption in Police

    It was a raining Monday morning, and I was stocked in the notorious Lagos traffic. Right ahead in the downpour were two traffic officials, one a LASTMA officer who was wearing a branded raincoat and rain boots, while his police counterpart was going about the discongestion of traffic, exposed to the element in his police uniform and black shoe.

    At independence on October 1, 1960, Nigeria was ranked as one of 15 most viable and potentially prosperous nations on earth within the next 20 years. It ranked higher than Malaysia, Singapore, India and slightly above even China. But today, whereas those other nations have gone ahead to realize their potentials and striving to achieve more, Nigeria has remained prostate with majority of its people living on less than two (2) Dollars per day, unemployment rate as one of the highest in the world, infrastructure decay and sitting amongst 20 poorest nations on earth.

    Not a few eyebrows were raised in Nigeria and beyond when on November 23, 2005, the erstwhile Inspector General of Police; Tafa Balogun, was sentenced to a meager six months’ imprisonment for diverting funds that amounted to billions of naira meant for officers and the entire rank and file of the Nigerian Police Force.

    In delivering his judgment, Justice Binta Nyako also ordered the forfeiture of Tafa’s assets totaling One Hundred and fifty million US Dollars ($150m) including money stashed in banks, foreign and domestic, diverse shares in blue chip companies, home and abroad and properties totaling 14 in all. Last year was the turn of Police Pension Fund to hit news, when Alhaji Atiku Abubakar Kigo, Former Permanent Secretary, Police Pension Fund confessed to the looting of 32 Billion from the fund.

    Another scandal has broken out that seems to dwarf both Tafa and kigo’s house of shame, with the revelation that over One Hundred and Thirty Five billion Naira (N 135,00b) received between 2010-2013 by M.D., Abubakar for reformation of the Nigeria Police Force,  has been diverted and siphoned. Despite the institutional and contemporary security challenges like terrorism that the police now have to grapple with, and the unassailable low level of morale of its officers saddled with the unenviable task of combating crimes.

    The fact today is that our Policemen and women are compelled to pay for their uniforms, boots and shoes. Senior officers pay for their mandatory training which oftentimes is outdated with syllabus unchanged for the past 30 years, and pay for the fuel to move their vehicles around. In states where the executive governor is not financially buoyant or charitable towards the police, it is common to see Mopol Squadrons hiring commercial buses because they lack serviceable trucks to move their men to one duty or the other. The mounted troops and K9 branches of the police is non existence on street patrols, while the much needed forensic laboratories have become a mirage.

    While relations of Department of State Security officers who were ambushed by cult members in Nassarawa state got 10million naira each, dependents of the police officers involved in the same ambush went home with one million naira only.

    However, this uncharitable state of affairs is not peculiar to the Nigeria Police.

    Just as it had been noted elsewhere. The problems of the Nigerian Police are symptoms deep rooted in societal maladies. The rot in the Nigerian police is only a reflection of the Nigerian society. It is a manifestation of our inverted national culture of corruption and lawlessness. Corruption has eaten so deep into the national psyche. It has corroded our national will, distorted our collective sense of fairness and perverted our value system. It undermines equity and merit, entrench inefficiency and mediocrity. The resultant effect is a policing institution, one of the worst globally, in terms of domestic performance and attitude towards its own people.

    ‘Just as children subconsciously behave like their parents, the people unwittingly behave like their leaders. It is the greed, fraud and lawlessness of the power elite that pervaded and perverted every segment of the Nigerian society.’

    And the miserable situation continues.

    With the latest scandal breaking out on over One Hundred and forty billion Naira Police funds mismanaged by the current IG, Mohammed Abubakar, the Police outfit has again mirrored the decadence and widespread rot in the polity with most of the officers wondering why allocations to state Police commands and Mopol squadrons had to be reduced by seventy five percent (75%) when such monies have so far been collected. Most of these senior Police officers who are ready to ask questions, have expressed lack of confidence in the Senate Committee on Police Affairs to unravel the theft and misuse of the N140billion  since the Committee and indeed, the entire Committee of the whole upper chamber has demonstrated more than enough of its own bug of this malaise.

    We should cry out today for an encompassing investigation into this alleged fraud  as one of the critics of this government who often times have given kudos and knocks as the situation demands. If indeed government provided the sum of One Hundred and Thirty Five billion Naira to enhance the activities of the Nigeria Police Force, and there is absolute nothing to show for it, somebody must pay for this evil against the state and people of Nigeria. If the police are well equipped, people like our aviation minister will spend less consideration on bullet and armored proof vehicles.

    There is the need to establish the details of the proposal that necessitated the 135Billion budget, what defines the philosophy of the word ‘Reform’ in the police. Was the police ‘oga at the top’ the originator and did he actually get the monies? Was it a slush fund as being brandied by many commentators to fund the governorship aspiration in Ekiti of a certain minister?

    I have many friends in the police force that I am proud to be associated with. They are gentlemen, incorruptible, patriots and hard working officers. But these men over the decades have not only been deprived the basic equipment needed to be effective, but traumatized with the mismanagement of scare funds. They are not allowed to unionize like their contemporaries in some western nation-states.

    They are denied a voice, but the voice of the Nigerian people is the voice of God, and we demand a honest and transparent probe.

    We cannot afford to be stupid on purpose when it concerns our collective security.

    Gambo, writes from Lagos.

  • Her Lordship, the bishop

    If Hardball dares to say it, bishops, especially of the Anglican fold (that he has taken an especial note of) are mostly portly, well-fed and expansive in their overflowing robes. They seem to be of the same genetic stock. But from next year, there will be a fundamental change in the physique and make-up of Anglican bishops: they will be buxom, curvy and full-lipped. Some may even wear lipsticks as the years roll by and of course, mount on the pedestals of dainty high-heeled shoes. Yes, all these and more will manifest because the Church of England, (CoE) the mother church of the world’s Anglican Communion is poised to consecrate female bishops next year.

    A recent report says that the CoE’s governing body voted overwhelmingly in favour of female bishops mid-November ending a 20-year impasse that would see women ordained as senior clergy by the end of 2014. The report notes further that a vote on a package of measures to endorse women bishops was supported by 378 members of the General Synod. Only eight voted against while 25 abstained. Women already serve as bishops in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Once the CoE endorses it, it naturally becomes acceptable for members around the world.

    But like the issue of homosexuality (among the clergy and the matter of gay marriage) which has enjoyed widespread accommodation in the churches of the Western world, the Anglican Church in the developing world, especially Nigeria, do not even ordain female priests yet. In fact, the body of bishops, led by Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, is vehemently opposed to it the same way it has held out against the gay rights campaign. The Bible is unambiguous about male-female relationships, Okoh and his ‘3rd World’ caucus insists. We shall do it the Bible way and we shall abide by the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, they say vehemently.

    But the Anglican faithful of the ‘advanced world’ argue that the world has changed and mankind has evolved. They are showing a fresh new sensitivity to individual rights to sexual preferences. Those who are opposed to this ‘new’ way are labeled ‘homophobes’ and traditionalists. On the women priesthood matter, they say we live in a new world of equality of genders. They insist that in the Bible eras of Old and new Testaments the world was primitive and was biased against the female gender. Again man has evolved and it has been proven that beyond physiological differences, man and woman are basically equal. Gender sensitivity is the new chant.

    The point must be made, however, that religion is not science or art or logic; it is faith, blind unreasoned belief. Can the world wise up to God? It is all there in the first consecration recorded in the Bible: “Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me as priests, Aaron and Aaron’s sons:” (Exodus 28 v.1). Further down the chapter, it says that, “you shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests. And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist to the thighs. They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the Tabernacle of meeting, or when thy come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die.” And chapter 29 v.37 is clear: “Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and sanctify it. And the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy.”

    True believers know that God does not make mistake and the Word is immutable. Even Christ did not choose women among his disciples; it was by no means a mistake. The woman is the ultimate cross bearer for procreation and she is blessed with a monthly period which forbids her to carry out altar duties. They have their duties cut out for them in the children and women ministries. Consecrating women will seem to negate God’s clear injunction.

  • Remembering late Oba Adelabu (Ewi of Ado-Ekiti)

    SIR: Wednesday October 23, marked the 25th remembrance anniversary of His Royal Highness, Oba Adeyemi Adelabu (I). He reigned as the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti between 1983 and 1987.

    Though brief, Adeyemi’s reign was quite remarkable.

    He ascended the throne at a time Ekiti needed a forefront leader and a monarch that would re-engineer the ancient town in the wake of growth and development sweeping through Nigeria then. The late Oba felt Ekiti communities could not afford to lag behind. He then used his influence to mobilize the elites and sons and daughters of Ekiti towards the growth and development of Ado-Ekiti. The fruit of such efforts was the creation of Ekiti State with Ado-Ekiti as the capital.

    In the area of traditional institution, Adelabu’s reign brought radical changes into the Obaship institution. His prowess, glamorous life and exemplary leadership style amongst the then Ondo State monarchs became notable as smaller communities in Ekiti started installing younger and educated individuals as their monarchs.

    It is still painful that the late Oba Adeyemi could not wait to enjoy the fruits of his legacies; however, the children are grateful to God and are comforted by the knowledge that their late father was not only fulfilled in death; but lived a life of notable accomplishments which we are all witnesses.

    The family also owes a lot of gratitude the late Oba’s friends and close associates for their support at all times. We shall continue to be grateful to the Executive Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi for not forgetting the family.

    Late Oba Adeyemi Adelabu is a personality that cannot be forgotten in a hurry. He lives on and his works is what the Ekiti people and indeed Nigeria cannot ignore.

     

    • Prince George Adelabu

    Lagos

  • Our variant of politics

    SIR: Representative government or democracy is the most popular type of government in our today’s world. Military rule is viewed as an aberration.

    There are places, especially in the Middle-east, where the Islamic theocracy blends with monarchical type of government to form a type of government. But, then, the wind of democracy blowing across our world has swept away some military dictatorships. Nigeria is now a democratic nation. Our 14 years of unbroken democratic leadership is a milestone that calls for celebration, our country men having suffered under oppressive military dictatorships.

    Now, Nigerians are increasingly familiar with democratic culture. They participate in periodic elections to vote in new leaders. But, our brand or type of politics is egregious. Politics is the means by which politicians try to acquire political power legitimately. What shaped our peculiar politics are cultural factor and our moral values.

    Since 1999, when the fourth republic dawned, our manner of politicking has become set and fossilized. In the past, politicking in Nigeria had got to do with the proposition of ideas and ideologies. There were politicians who belonged to the left of the centre and there were the rightists. They would woo the voters with their parties’ manifestoes and programmes. In the first republic, Chief Obafemi Awolowo identified with democratic socialism. As a leader in the Western Region, he implemented the free education policy, which was in harmony with his party’s political ideology. Today, many prominent people of Yoruba extraction occupying exalted positions in the government owe their successes in life to Awolowo’s benefaction and socialist welfarism. NCNC had its political ideologies, too; and, its leader, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, an orator, dazzled audiences with speeches that showed his party’s economic and political leanings.

    Sadly, our type of politics is no longer issue-based. Our politicians seldom talk about issues that affect us, not to talk of offering solutions to them. When they’re compelled to appear on television for debate, the debate session will degenerate into a shouting match. One cannot make out what they’re talking about.

    In the run up to the 2013 Anambra State governorship election, one of the contestants, a debtor whose company was under receivership, gave kerosene, motorcycles, cars and monetary gifts to people so as to sway them to his political party. Giving money to people during political parties’ rallies is the in-thing and fashion now. Our politics has been bastardized and monetized. Giving money to the voters has dislodged soliciting for the people’s votes based on their parties’ manifestoes and positions on issues.

    It is our politicians’ desperation for power that informed their resort to politicking based on dishing out money to people. Clinching political power offers them unlimited access to our financial tills. Our perception of power is warped and perverted. Political leaders see their occupation of exalted political offices as an opportunity to amass wealth. Here, in Nigeria, we worship those with ill-gotten wealth, but feel contempt for the man with probity. Against this background of moral unscrupulousness, many electoral workers can compromise their moral principles and work ethics for pecuniary rewards.

    So, politicians do collude with electoral workers to perpetrate electoral fraud. Those entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the sanctity of elections pervert the electoral processes.

    The culture of election fraud leads to the emergence of social misfits as our leaders. The ultimate sovereignty in a country resides with the people. But, election malpractice causes the subversion of the people’s political will.

    We should articulate ways of eradicating these bad characteristics that define our way of politicking.

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Uruowulu-Obosi Anambra State.