The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Atonement day – a dirge for Iyayi

    Finally they cut up Iyayi

    For ultimate atonement

    They caught him on Kogi macadam

    Enroute Kano

    They cut him up on a mangle of metals

    Grime-fingered they poured scarlet libation

    To wayward gods seeking atonement

     

    But their gods stand confused

    Would you atone with hemlock?

    Would light atone darkness?

    Whoever caught a spirit in flight?

    Whoever sacrificed at a watershed?

    This is a sacrifice of damnation

     

    Who arrested Iyayi

    The defiant cockerel of a wasted land

    They boomed bazooka

    He morphed into ncheke

    And smiled from their ceiling

    They rolled out tanks

    And he became a running stream

    That slaked our distant hamlets

     

    They put him in prison

    And he became amiringara

    Progeny of the long snake

    They chased and chased

    They could not catch Iyayi

    The head-yam of our barn

    They had to waylay him

    On the road to Kano

    And cut him up on Kogi macadam

     

    Iyayi, the spirit in flight

    Now they finally set you free

    To roam our sphere

    And impinge their dreams

    Now you will sit on the hedges

    Of their monstrous-cities

    You will rouse their sleep

    At the sweetest hour of night

     

    You watered our deserts

    But they harvest our collective rains

    The gods planted wheat

    But they feed us weeds

    You gazed them down

    We are not mulls you said

    And they got mad, they imported

    Boots, batons and Kalashnikovs

     

    AS UU stood towering

    They grew horns, two devil horns

    And they lay eggs too

    Like evil chickens they lay black eggs

    Black IED eggs for land desecration

    Improvised Explosive Delinquents

    They harvest our collective rains

    Leaving our land patched and denuded

    In perpetuity

     

    Now they have cut our voice

    They have cut down Iyayi

    On the road to Kano

    They made a final atonement

    On kogi macadam

    But their gods stand askance

    mortified in bemusement

    For a spirit in flight

  • That Enugu MFM demolition

    Two incidents of almost equal magnitude and public hype, in relation to their unusual nature, occurred in the past few weeks in Enugu and Bayelsa states as regards the appropriate legal circumstances and interpretations that can warrant the forceful demolition of private individual or corporate property.

    The occurrences bring to the front-burner, the disparate nature and modus operandi of the Nigerian ruling elite’s attitude and disposition to the enforcement of the Rule of Law, especially in the implementation of set government (or the leader’s) goals and policies in diverse circumstances.

    In the first instance, Governor Sullivan Iheanacho Chime of Enugu State finally made good his threat of August 2012 that he will demolish the South-east regional headquarters of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM) Ministries, if after 72 hours, the authorities of the Christian organisation refuse to relocate from the site. Realising the enormity of the “fatwa”, MFM went to an Enugu State High Court seeking some judicial reliefs among which were an order restraining the governor and his agents from carrying out this threat until the determination of the main action which among others is to affirm MFM’s ownership of the plots of land in contention.

    For a year, Governor Sullivan Chime chose to obey the resulting court order that the status quo ante be maintained, in the breach. In an uncommon display of the law-abiding corporate citizen that it is, the MFM authorities listened to pleas of an out-of-court settlement bargain only to be saddled with a 20-plot alternative site between the Amaechi and Ngwo communities on Emeka Ebile Road. This ready offer of 20 plots of land turned out to be a Greek Gift and a hot potato as the Amaechi and Ngwo communities are currently locked in dispute over the rightful ownership of the ancestral lands.

    To compound matters, the same government had already allocated a sizeable portion of this land to another Christian organisation which has commenced development. It was in this mishmash of extant government’s approvals of 1998, 2002 and 2010; a legal Certificate of Occupancy and a subsisting Enugu State High Court order that the demolition “armada” of Enugu State government rolled on to the Zik Avenue Bridge, Uwani location of the MFM Regional Headquarters, some few weeks ago and laid waste the sprawling complex, in strict contempt of its own court!

    Conversely, on Wednesday, October 30, the private house of the sitting Governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Seriake Dickson, on Opolo-AIT Road, in Yenagoa, the state capital, was demolished by the Capital City Development Authority, supervised by the Deputy Governor of the state, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha Jonah (retd). The infractions? (a) Obstructing the Right of Way and (b) Intruding on the Capital City’s Master Plan, two offences that town planners say are prime criteria for such structure(s) to be demolished after the legally-allowed notice.

    In the case of the MFM Regional Headquarters, the Sullivan Chime administration accused the authorities of the Enugu MFM of intruding on the adjoining water channel over which the Zik Avenue Bridge traverses. The irony of it all is that relevant agents and prescribed authorities of the state government approved the initial Certificate of Occupancy issued in 1998 and subsequently okayed the remodelling/reconstruction works carried out in 2002 and 2010 to provide space for its continuously-expanding congregation. On all these occasions, the church had always maintained the legal set back limit from the adjoining water channel. More so, the “infraction” quoted by the Enugu State government, in counterpoise to the Bayelsa one, was a minor infraction on which the Chime administration visited the most drastic and inhuman weight of his government on the Mountain of Fire and Miracles.

    It is conventional wisdom that this Janus-faced application of the Rule of Law has, in many instances brought sorrow, despair and despondency to the victims, as in the MFM building case, and joy and contentment in the Bayelsa State one in which the actual Rule of Law was allowed to prevail without the extant law being circumvented.

    Cases abound where the assessments and eventual demolition or acquisition of landed properties by federal and state governments are predicated on extra-judicial parameters such as political affiliation, peer group, ethnic affinity, mutual religion etc. which are the prime indices of consideration in determining what structure should stand (or acquired), fall etc, regardless of what the extant relevant laws say.

    The framers of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria were fully conscious of the fact that ownership or acquisition, control and transfer or real estate of landed property are by nature, contentious and should be guided and shielded by explicit constitutional provisions in addition to that of the nation’s statute books. The condensation of these two lines of protection against arbitrary abuse sometimes does not provide the needful in terms of adherence to the Rule of Law.

    In many cases, some of these provisions have been consciously sidelined or misinterpreted by government agents to suit their whims and caprices. A vivid example is Chapter IV, Section 44 Sub-Sections 1a and 1b of the Constitution which says “No moveable property or any interest in an immoveable property shall be taken possession of compulsorily and no right over or interest in any such property shall be acquired compulsorily in any part of Nigeria except in any manner and for the purposes prescribed by a law that, among other things – (a) requires the prompt payment of compensation therefor; and (b) gives to any person claiming such compensation a right of access for the determination of his interest in the property and the amount of compensation to a court of law or tribunal or body having jurisdiction in that part of Nigeria.”

    These provisions and other relevant ones are being obeyed in the breach by the Enugu State government as regards the Regional Headquarters of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM) in Enugu.

    In spite of these legal and constitutional provisions that tend to protect and guarantee the acquisition of immoveable property anywhere in the country, cases abound where some prescribed authorities (Federal, State and Local Governments) choose what court judgments, injunctions or orders to obey. In this conscious mindset of selective amnesia, the cause of justice is not served and the prevailing Rule of Impunity is strengthened, perpetuated and institutionalised.

    The Enugu MFM building demolition scenario did not follow due process as there was no synergy of purpose by the various government’s MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies) involved in the approving, vetting, assessing and execution of any order on a property that had stood on that spot for 15 years.

    The Enugu State government should do the needful and put this sad episode behind her by apologising for the travesty of justice done in this circumstance; allocating a new site devoid of contention or bickering and paying commensurate compensation to offset the grievous acts of wilful damages visited on the Enugu MFM Regional Headquarters in Uwani, Enugu, the state capital.

    • Umerah writes from Asata-Enugu, Enugu State

  • To Wole Olanipekun at 63

    SIR: I am of the school of thought that all men are born equal; after all the sun will not refuse to shine neither will the day turn to night because a purportedly great child is born. Different circumstances may be prevalent during individual child’s birth though. More so, various but different environmental factors also play important role. It is seemingly becoming a culture in our clime to sing the praises of the rich and powerful into the high heavens, even though they mean little or nothing to the people around them or the average person on the street in terms of impact. Eulogies, sycophancies and ‘flatteries’ are the definitions of the way we celebrate the rich in our society especially on a day of birth like this, all because of the crumbs that may fall from their table may be.

    All you need to do to become an object of worship overnight in my country is to be rich either by hook or by crook, nobody cares. You can even rob Peter and Paul to pay John a token; it is allowed in our unfortunate society and; you can be sure your name and pictures will grace the pages of the dailies. In essence, celebrating people has been propagandised and bastardised. We do not know who is who, save the Holy Scripture’s admonition of ‘You shall know them by their fruit’

    That Wole Olanipekun is an impeccable legal jurist, philanthropist of high profile integrity and a God-fearing man is no news; neither will such eulogies from a young Nigerian like me count as much as that of the crème de la crème of the society whose praises carry heavier weights and lend credence to the personality in question. His contemporaries and other well-meaning Nigerians are adequately engaged in the business of acknowledging and giving voice to his giant strides in national development through his relentless commitment to the legal profession, education, philanthropy and other social engineering activities.

    The print media has also brilliantly played its role in giving due recognition to the sacrifices of this selfless legal avatar in securing an educated and a prosperous posterity for our beloved nation. I have no doubt that only eternity can justly account for, and reward the selfless sacrifices of Olanipekun especially in a country like ours where greed has overtaken the people

    In the last 10 months of being privileged to work in his Lagos chambers, I have taken instructions from him, sat to hear him speak about the state of the nation. I have read news of his good works and interviews of him on the pages of different newspapers in his chambers’ library and some I have seen by myself. It has all inspired me and engraved a very strong message of living an impactful life. Space will fail me to highlight his philanthropic gestures to indigent students from his home town, Ikere-Ekiti and across Nigerian university campuses since 1997.

    Olanipekun is a life worth celebrating on this day, November 18, not just because of his monumental and intimidating success as a lawyer or the blessing of God upon him that makes rich, but rather, his selfless life of blessing and philanthropy that is touching lives and raising a dependable and self-sufficient generation. One can only pray that God grant him long life in sound health, peace and eternity after his terrestrial sojourn.

    • Abiola Olarinde,

    Lagos

  • Iyayi: Death most unfortunate, avoidable

    SIR: On Tuesday, November 12, our collective psyche was further attacked by the circumstances leading to the very unfortunate but clearly avoidable death of the erudite, selfless and patriotic intellectual giant Professor Festus Iyayi. Thus far, the undisputed account is that the vehicle in which the Professor was travelling to Kano for a crucial ASUU leadership meeting was hit by one of the escort vehicles in Governor Idris Wada’s convoy leading to his instant death.

    Granted that this could be an accident as investigation many reveal, but the incidence and frequency of this category of avoidable disasters by which innocent Nigerians are recklessly cut short by over-zealous drivers in the usually-long convoys of our respective state chief executives have become completely unacceptable. Recall that about the same time last year, the same Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State was involved in a ghastly road accident in which his former Aid de Camp died while he sustained serious leg injuries that kept him out of office for a considerable period of time.

    How they (governors, executives) remain comfortably in those recklessly-piloted motorcades to the detriments of pedestrians and other road users whose lives amount to nothing continue to baffle me. All over the world, the primary purpose of government is the security, sanctity of life as well as welfare of citizens. Our constitution in Section 14(2) (b) is clear on this, yet by the policies, actions and inactions of our governments, her citizen are being killed on regular basis.

    The deplorable state of our road infrastructure nationwide can hardly be discountenanced as a major contributory factor to this inglorious level of road mishaps. The entire academic unions in Nigeria particularly the ASUU which Iyayi led as the president between 1986-1988 as well as the Human Rights/Pro democracy community particularly the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) which he led as the National President from 1995-1997 must rise to the occasion on this score and ensure that this reckless killings stop. The fact remains that there is no correlation between the whooping and successive budgetary allocations to road infrastructural development and the conditions of our road networks which re-introduces the nagging question of severe corruption in our body politic.

    I join millions of aggrieved Nigerians and associates of Professor Iyayi all over the world to commiserate with his immediate family on this unfortunate but avoidable development.

    • Malachy Ugwummadu Esq.

    Lagos

  • Oduah: Pitfalls of Reps report

    Oduah: Pitfalls of Reps report

    There was this nominee, several years ago, to serve as a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States of America (USA). He was a black man, if my recollection still serves me right. His confirmation hearing was so bitter and divisive that it spilled over from the otherwise hallowed chambers of the US Senate to the streets of the country. It was so bad that in the effort to spike his nomination, the issues and questions to be thrown at the nominee would be ‘leaked’ to the public by sources 24 hours before hand.

    The idea by those behind the ‘leaks’ was ostensibly to dehumanise and demonise the nominee to the Supreme Court before the American public and in the court of the American public opinion. At the end of the brutal hearing, the nominee was confirmed and he got the job. Before that nominee assumed his position in the Court, he spoke, addressing many issues including what he considered the planned, coordinated, orchestrated and well-funded effort by some people to find him guilty even before trial. He described it as an attempt at ‘hitech lynching’.

    As events unfolded in the past two weeks or so on the subject of purchase of operational vehicles including two bullet proof cars (which some writers and commentators also refer to armour-plated/armoured cars) by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA); the alleged roles of the supervising Ministry of Aviation, and the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, and the diverse positions taken by individuals and groups, it has been difficult not to recall and relate what has been going on as akin to the phrase of attempt at ‘hitech lynching’ of Oduah.

    At the risk of naivety, I want to assume that the issues and allegations are well known to the partisans to warrant a detailed and exhaustive recall. So, we will summarise. The NCAA ordered, procured and/or leased operational vehicles. Thrown into the basket are two BMW bullet proof cars that were not appropriated for fiscal 2013. The bullet proof cars enjoyed duty waivers they should not have enjoyed. The N255 million committed to the bullet proof cars was insensitive and wasteful. The N643 million for the operational vehicles even after discounting the N240 million appropriated by the National Assembly in fiscal 2013, was beyond the Minister to approve without reverting to the Federal Executive Council (FEC). Due process was not adhered to, including allegedly ignoring the Public Procurement Act.

    It’s important to note that calls by individuals and groups for Oduah’s sacking commenced the very day the story broke. Indeed, the campaign to oust Oduah from the Aviation Ministry started immediately President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan assigned her the portfolio. She was derided as having no experience in the industry and of being a square peg in a round hole. Critics were somewhat shamed when she doubled down and went to work and began an amazing transformation (a cardinal principle of the Jonathan government) and remodelling of our airports. But it was obvious the critics were not pacified and this became manifest whenever there was a mishap in the sector. After the air mishaps, the orchestrated controversy over bullet proof cars procured by the NCAA has provided a fresh fodder for the enemies at the terminal.

    In the quest to stampede Oduah out of office or get her sacked by the president, some anti corruption ‘activists’ have procured protesters to further the plot. Talking about protesters, the Nigeria variant, there was this true incident in Abuja during the presidency of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo. A group was as usual procured to sit-in with placards at a particular institution with a view to getting the leadership removed. A perceptive middle ranking officer of the institution that was besieged, acting on his own, discreetly interviewed some of the protesters and was told that each person was paid N1000 to carry the placard for a few hours.

    Quickly, the officer went into the office, prepared a fresh set of placards in favour of the institution and its leadership, arranged money, came out, retrieved the offensive placards from the ‘protesters’, gave them the new placards with positive messages and N3000 for each ‘protesters’. By the time the original sponsors of the ‘protesters’ arrived the venue of the sit-in with their horde of hastily arranged photojournalists, they met ‘protesters’ carrying placards they did not bargain for. I leave you to imagine their disappointment and then to ruminate on the ‘protesters’ we see sometimes on national television. It has to be said that not all protests are rigged.

    So when the issue of Oduah moved from the cacophony of voices and the charade of ‘protesters’ to the setting up of a probe panel by the House of Representatives, I reasoned that a measure of sanity is returning to the discourse. The fear remained that there may be some panel members with mob mentality but there was also a feeling that there could just be one or more sober elements in the panel. From ‘leaked’ reports to the media, the House Panel has written its report which formed the basis of their recommendations to the whole House.

    If the report and recommendations ‘leaked’ to the media ahead of submission to a committee of the whole House were to be believed, it would then appear that the House of Representatives Probe Panel members on Oduah worked from the answer – Get Oduah out by all means.

    Let us analyse their findings and recommendations taken from newspaper reports: *President Jonathan should sack Minister Odua for bursting her approval limit. *Oduah breached the Appropriate Act 2013 by allowing an Agency under her watch to procure vehicle not captured in the budget.

    *Minister bypassed public procurement process.

    *A clean bill of health for First Bank, but that the executed lease purchase agreement should be revoked.

    *Other recommendations which obviously were designed to fulfill all righteousness. We will ignore them for being inconsequential.

    It is interesting that a member of the House Probe Panel told a newspaper that there was nothing in their findings that suggested that Oduah derived or would derive personal benefits from the transaction and that the bullet proof cars were not bought in her name. Drawing from the findings so far, it would appear that if Minister Oduah was guilty of anything, that thing would be indiscretion. And indiscretion in this instance cannot be equated with corruption.

    Anticipatory approval for a contract is part of government business in our clime. The N255 million for bullet proof cars by NCAA will surely be covered by this mode of doing business. If the Minister gave approval (which of course she did not do, given the documented evidence she directed the Agency to do the “needful”), the sum which lease arrangement spans over 36 months would still be accommodated within her approval limit. The argument that by so doing, Minister Oduah would be committing succeeding Aviation Ministers is a non issue. And I will explain. The Federal Minister of Works will be stupid to limit the lifespan of contracts for road repairs and construction to terminate with the duration of his stay in the Jonathan Cabinet. In any case, how would he know how long he will serve? Nothing that says he will be in the FEC and in the same post till 2015. He, like others, serves at the pleasure of the president. In like manner, the bold statement in remodelling our airports cannot begin and end with the initiator – Oduah. In other words, future Aviation Ministers will have to continue with contracts entered into under her charge as long as such contracts are not incurably bad.

    More important is the fact that the travails of Oduah have little, if anything, to do with corruption. It’s more about 2015 and Jonathan. For those who choose to live in denial, they are free to do so. Princess Stella Oduah inspired an NGO-Neighbour to Neighbour-that gave hell to those who opposed Jonathan ahead of the 2011 presidential election. Neighbour-To-Neighbour was a formidable movement and a nightmare to opponents of Jonathan. If Jonathan needed Neighbour-To-Neighbour in 2011, he will need it more for the yet undeclared reelection quest in 2015. The plot of Jonathan haters is to discredit Oduah and weaken the credibility and moral standing of Neighbour-To-Neighbour when the time comes.

    They have started with the president’s party – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Nobody needs a prophet to confirm that Jonathan will seek reelection in 2015. But he should realise that his opponents in the forthcoming contest will not take prisoners. Prisoners can be a burden and a distraction. They would rather apply the Italian solution. But for as long as he is the president, Jonathan holds the aces.

     

    • Onuoha, is a public

    affairs commentator

  • Please, construct the Obajana-Kabba road early

    The federal government recently awarded a contract for the construction of Obajana- Oshokosho-Kabba roads in Kogi State.

    The roads, which have been in deplorable condition for the past twentyfive years, have made it difficult for travellers going to Kabba from either Lokoja or Abuja to access the road to Ilorin and Lagos, thus one needs to travel through Okene, making the journey of a half hour to last for two hours.

    The tireless efforts of Senator Smart Adeyemi, who represent the area in the national assembly, must be commended for ensuring that the construction of the roads becomes a reality.

    The importance of these roads to the socio-economy of not only Kogi State but the whole country can’t be over-emphasised, taking into consideration the Obajana Cement Factory situated in the area.

    We call on the federal government to ensure the early construction of the roads to bring relief to the entire people of not only Kogi State, but commuters who ply the roads from Abuja to the southern part of this country.

    Also with commitment of President Jonathan’s administration in reviving the steel industry at Ajaoukuta Steel Industry, the movement of the steel product to areas like Lagos, Enugu and other parts of the country would bring much economic activities to the development of the entire country.

    We are of the view that the early commencement of the construction of the road should be a source of pride to the people in Kogi State, and ameliorating the

    Bala Nayashi

    Lokoja

  • Nigeria: The quintessence of double standard

    As widely reported in various newspapers, the Edo State government has recently approved the death penalty for kidnapping. Fine, I am not opposed to the death penalty for kidnapping; indeed I support it.

    My support for the death penalty for kidnapping notwithstanding, I have a moral question I wish to pose to the conscience of Nigeria: Why the death penalty for kidnapping and not also for corruption? Which of kidnapping or corruption poses the greater threat to the existential continuity of Nigeria? I am firmly convinced it is corruption. As heinous as kidnapping is, it usually affects one, two or a few individuals. In contradistinction to kidnapping, corruption, in the form of looting of public treasury, embezzlement of funds, constitutes what I may term “arsenal of national destruction”. Hundreds of thousands and indeed millions of Nigeria’s denizens are sent to their untimely graves as a result of unconscionable and insensate looting of public treasury without the gravity of punishment commensurate with such a crime.

    The lawyers who defend such unpatriotic treasury looters always laugh their way to the banks after having collected their share of the loot by way of the so-called professional legal fees, which are unregulated. The lawyers are always up in arms whenever the issue of the death penalty is raised for corruption because they are beneficiaries of the proceeds of treasury looting through their thieving clients.

    Why have the lawyers not risen in opposition to the death penalty for kidnapping? The axiomatic reason for their silence is this: kidnapping is usually carried out by the less-privileged against the rich elites whilst corruption is carried out by the rich but corrupt elites (the clients of lawyers) against the poor.

    Apart from willful murder for which even the Lord God Almighty approves the death penalty, if we must approve the death penalty for any other crimes, they should not just be for crimes committed by the poor and down-trodden of the society against the corrupt and thieving elites, it should also reciprocally be for crimes usually committed by rich, corrupt and thieving elites against the poor.

    If the death penalty were not operational in China to deal with corruption (as is the case in Nigeria), would she have become the second biggest economy in the world today? Or would China have been in the position to lend Nigeria a billion dollars recently?

    In conclusion, I am an avowed believer in the fact that unless corruption is tackled with the severest retributive judgment it deserves, the existential continuity of Nigeria beyond the foreseeable future will remain in the realm of probabilistic conjecture.

  • A nation and its convoy of deaths

    It has really become pitiable how our dear nation has been turned into a theatre of tragedies. It is more worrisome that the people whose statutory duties should include an aversion for tragedies have become the harbingers of calamities and death. The rate at which the convoys of  public office holders and other such ‘powerful’ men get involved in car accidents, in recent times, has become a cause of worry. Innocent lives have been wasted while other road users have been endangered by the recklessness of many of our governors.  It is very unfortunate and unbelievable that one of the finest and very courageous university dons in Nigeria, Professor Festus Iyayi, a former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) , could be killed in a car crash involving the convoy of Kogi State’s governor, Captain (retd.) Idris Wada. It is of great concern that in less than a year, this is the second time Governor Wada’s convoy will be involved in ghastly crashes. In December 2012, while he was lucky to escape the crash along the Lokoja – Ajaokuta road with a fracture, his Aide-de-Camp, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), was not. He died on the spot.

    It is not as if accidents do not happen in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, Nigeria is ranked 191 out of 192 countries in the world with unsafe roads with 162 deaths per 100,000 from road traffic accidents. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, over 1.3 million people are killed annually in road accidents while over 50 million people sustain different degrees of injuries from such crashes. After malaria, car accident is the number two killer in Nigeria. The vexatious issue on the killing of Professor Iyayi by Governor Wada’s convoy is the grotesque display of might by motorcades of top government officials that claim scores of lives.

     A recent research indicates that accidents involving convoys of public office holders and other VIPs had claimed over 26 lives in the past three years. The auto crashes, which occurred in different parts of the country, also maimed and injured many and destroyed property and vehicles. Convoy drivers drive recklessly at neck-breaking speed without caution or, perhaps, with encouragement from their principals. This culture is a direct legacy of the oppressive long-spell military regime that terrorised Nigerians for over two decades. The use of convoys by the political elite, particularly government officials, is not new in Nigeria though it became rampant during the military era. However, it has grown out of proportion under the current democratic dispensation.

    It is rather sad that the political elites in Nigeria have imbibed this oppressive tendency that does not have any regards for the citizenry. It is laughable that the only way some of our leaders could show that they have ‘arrived’ is to intimidate fellow citizens, ironically those who voted them into power, with the ridiculous blare of siren. How else would you differentiate the common man from the ‘big man’, and this is the reason they would buy just two cars for almost half a billion naira in a country where just  ten thousand naira could restore the hope of many. That is the reason many of them arrogantly loot the public treasury to continue to intimidate and oppress the citizenry. They are completely detached from the people they govern, the same people they are to be role models to. This is not right.

     Ogunmosunle is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • The prayer contractor – A fable

    A certain government contractor (let’s call him Jobman) was out of business for quite sometime. Every bid he made for job came to naught; there is cash crunch, he was often told; oh oil revenue has dwindled as a result of theft, was the new song. A contact deep in the corridors of power would whisper to him that the next election was the only business on hand and all the cash is being stashed for that purpose. It is so big that the usual ‘proceeds’ of contracts won’t be sufficient any longer as the entire haul is being warehoused. No more procurements or supplies jobs for ‘outsiders’ anymore, he learnt. You may consider non-government businesses for now until after the elections in two years, he was counseled.

    Jobman was heart-broken and moved to tears before his friend. The last contract he executed was low-budget and it paid less than the premium kickback. Worse still, he sprayed the ‘proceed’ like confetti on insiders (vermin he calls them) from ministry to ministry and desk to desk. Don’t worry we are lining up a bigger job for you they kept reassuring as they fleeced him. He is down on his backside currently; he has never had it so lean. Every door is shut tight and the usual treasure trove in the oil groves seems to be marked off limits without anyone really saying so.

    One of those forlorn days, Jobman loitered around one of those watering holes where government overlords, their legmen and running dogs unwind in the hoary corners of the new capital city. Presently he happened upon Tommy Mire. TM, for short, is one of those public faces untutored citizens call ‘big boys’. But he is actually a notoriously reliable front man. He is a master weasel known to be able to spirit away any proceeds of graft to the remotest corners of the world with uncanny deft. If there was a university chair for the study of the subject of accessory to official graft, TM would be the professor laureate. And mind you he is very proud of his invidious vocation and it goes without saying that he is stupendously rich.

    Jobman had known TM for a while since he had sought him out and courted him to ‘submission’ and made a point of duty of tagging with him. This quiet evening he happened upon him and ensconced himself onto his company. I am down and almost out, Jobman begins his sad narrative… my bro no job anywhere, wetin dey ground now, anything, any runs make man take hold body? Forget it, TM tells him, taps have been shut everywhere, no contracts again, noting doing anywhere… Well, you may want to try some prayer business, that’s the vogue now especially as the year draws to an end. Which one be prayer business again? Jobman retorted, convinced that TM underestimates his dire situation.

    See, you know our friend Charlie who hangs out with us here sometimes, he has already finished two prayer jobs and he has two more lined up for Christmas. Charlie is the biggest thing in town now; you may need to reach him, he just might give you a piece of the show. Do you remember the national prayer summit our legislator had a while ago? It was Charlie’s job. But his big catch was the one in one of the delta states. It was a one-week affair which featured a sprinkling of foreign names including an expired American politician cum reverend. That was big, the prayer was ‘hot’ and Charlie cleaned out. The trick is, find any well known ‘man of God’ preferably from the USA, SA or even Ghana and you stage your show this Christmas with governors queuing to pay upfront. When our ‘Oga at the top’ relocated half of Nigeria to Jerusalem for prayers recently it was a massive contract. Ol’ boy prayer business is in and prayers are getting answered for some of our guys!

  • Lessons from Golden Eaglets’ victory

    SIR: The victory of the national U17 side, the Golden Eaglets, at the UAE tournament, is quite instructive in many ways. For one, the Golden Eaglets won the tournament for a record fourth time. Second, the Eaglets created a new tournament record of scoring a total of 26 goals in the competition. Third, the team’s goal -tender, Dele Alapamsu, emerged as the tournament’s best goal keeper while the team’s play-maker, Kelechi Ihenacho, was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the competition in addition to his winning the bronze boot as the second highest scorer of the tournament.

    The Golden Eaglets equally won the tournament’s Fair Play award. Indeed, the UAE soccer event  was a glorious moment in the annals of the country’s sporting attainments.

    There are so many lessons for us as a nation to draw from the victory of the Golden Eaglets at the UAE. For one, the victory further underscores the abundant of sporting talents in the country. Since  Nigeria won the first FIFA U17 World Cup which took place in China in 1985, we have gone ahead to win it on three other occasions – 1993, 2007 and 2013. This is aside emerging runners up twice at the tournament. Through the tournament, players such as Nduka Ubgade, Kanu Nwankwo, Victor Ikpeba, Wilson Oruma, Emmanual Babayaro, John Mikel Obi, Celestine Babayaro, Godwin Opkara, to mention but a few, have emerged at the centre stage of the soccer world.

    This, of course, takes us to the all important issue: We have just unleashed 22 sporting teenagers on the soccer world. But, what happens to the millions of other undiscovered sporting talents languishing in different parts of the country?

    The Eaglets success story at Abu Dhabi equally has vital implications for the Nigerian youth, and indeed the nation at large. It is important for the youth to imbibe the spirit of self-belief by rising above every limiting environmental factor to achieve set-goals. The inherent difficulties of living in Nigeria or being a Nigerian should not provide stereo-typed excuses for failure. All our youths need to do get to the promise land is to keep believing and keep focusing.

    Today, individuals such as Segun Odegbami, Chidi Imoh, Mary Onyali, Chioma Ajunwa, Jerry Okorodudu, Stephen Keshi, to mention just a few, command great respect across and beyond the country for their selfless services to their fatherland.

    However, it is imperative to dwell on the need for sports administrators across the country to turn a new leaf. It is rather sad that as much as our compatriots in the sporting fields would want to give their all in the service of their fatherland, they are often frustrated by the selfish and unpatriotic attitudes of our so-called sports administrators. Take for instance the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF, which over the years have appeared to act in manners that impede the development of soccer in the country. Is it not particularly embarrassing  that the NFF is reportedly owing Stephen Keshi, the Super Eagles chief coach seven months’ salary?

    It took the coach’s lamentation on the pages of newspapers before the NFF reportedly agreed to pay him two months’ wages out of the outstanding seven being owed.  To think that this is the same coach that has returned the Super Eagles to winning ways!

    The NFF needs to come up with creative marketing strategies that would enable it  catch-up on the recent successes of the various national teams for financial gains. This is the way it is done all over the world. Going cup in hands, all the time, to beg state governors for fund each time our national teams are on assignment is, to say the least, unprofessional and demeaning.

    • Tayo Ogunbiyi

    Ministry of Information and Strategy,

    Alausa, Ikeja.