The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Katsina-Alu’s loud silence

    Katsina-Alu’s loud silence

    That former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami, had a spectacular falling out with erstwhile Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloysius Katsina-Alu, leading to his removal as one of the nation’s leading judicial officers has already been sufficiently ventilated in the media. The role played in the matter by the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the executive branch remains the object of intense debate.

    Ever since his forced exit Salami, has maintained a pregnant silence about the circumstances surrounding his ouster. Perhaps this was down to the issue becoming the subject of litigation. But once the judge made up his mind to throw in the towel and retire, it was only a matter of time before he opened up.

    Although he was expected to speak at some point, his brutally-frank distillation of the events that forced him from office – made at the recent launch of his memoirs – astounded many. In many ways judges are like diplomats always choosing their words carefully, and steering their steps away from controversy – where they can.

    Salami was anything but diplomatic. He pointedly accused Katsina-Alu of lying and his erstwhile colleagues of betrayal. It was strong stuff and many expected an equally robust response from the man at the receiving end.

    Instead, not a peep has been heard from the former CJN. Perhaps he’s gathering his thoughts to unload a verbal bazooka of sorts on the long-suffering Salami; or he’s secretly penning a tome which will reveal all.

    In the interim, enter the meddlesome interloper to play advocate. Since Katsina-Alu would not speak up, National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisah Metuh decided to help out by hurling invectives at Salami. If ever there was a case of one mourning more than the bereaved this is it.

  • Ted Cruz’s absurd comment about Nigerians

    I watched, like every American, and the rest of the world, the unnecessary spectacle that led to the US Government shutdown for 16 days. While Americans are breathing some sigh of relief that their Government has finally re-opened, after losing so much, including a loss of “at least $200 million a day,” Senator Ted Cruz, in the most bizarre, absurd manner, tried to show his harboured animus toward Nigeria and Nigerians by exploiting some correctable computer “glitches” that customarily affect big companies that are first working with a very large volume of data.

    What Ted Cruz said with such reckless abandon was to condemn Nigeria, Nigerian government, and Nigerians all over the world. To him, Nigerians are scammers, unprofessional, and “of no good.”

    Now, let us first explore what Ted Cruz’s statement means, and finally answer the ultimate question, “why did he say that?”

    Let us assume, for the moment, that all the Engineers hired by the US Government to run the Affordable Healthcare website are all Nigerians. Now, what does that really say of Nigerians in the US? It clearly and unequivocally says that some Nigerians have actually attained such lofty professional heights in the US and the world, writ large. Put differently, there is no way Americans, especially American government officials, will hire any African or foreigner, at the job level we are talking about, with less than first-class, superior resume or curriculum vitae.

    One must also notice that in every society, including the United States of America, there are natural, native born “scammers.” No society is immune to fraudulent people of some sort. Consider this: Grace Commission was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to look into how Pentagon (the US Defense Headquarter) spends money appropriated by the US Congress. This Commission was created, following some whistleblower report. Here is one of the mind-boggling, startling findings by Grace Commission (1984): Pentagon was spending $91 on a 3-cent screw.

    It does not take Solomon’s wisdom for one to figure out that there are some American contractors – red-white-blue American contractors – scamming the US Government. Hence, Pentagon was paying $91 on a screw one can simply buy 3 cents from ordinary hardware store.

    Now, does this finding by Grace Commission make all Americans scammers, unprofessional, and “of no good”? Common sense says NO!

    So, instead of Ted Cruz allowing the engineers to do what engineers do in such normal circumstances of “glitches” – i.e., take a breather, clear some cobwebs, take a second look, and try to find the source(s) of the glitches – he found it compelling to juxtapose such glitches with what he considers “Nigerian scammers”. This is absurd, to say the least. To publicly malign Nigeria, Nigerian Government, and Nigerian people in this manner is totally uncalled for, mean-spirited, and highly disrespectful of his office as a Senator.

    It must be stated, rather boldly and poignantly, that there are good, law-abiding Nigerians in the continent of Africa, in the US, and all over the world obeying the laws of the land, discharging their professional duties with honesty, decency, and professional decorum. Further, there are so many Nigerians fulfilling their civic responsibilities in the US, and participating in the US electoral process – some of them, I am sure, voted for Ted Cruz in Texas. Therefore, to use the usual glitch, which engineers encounter all the time in say Microsoft, Apple, AT&T, General Motors, Toyota, Mercedes Benz, and other big companies that handle huge volume of data, to condemn Nigeria and Nigerians is totally out of line.

    Now, one must ask the ULTIMATE question: Why did Senator Ted Cruz make such absurd and disparaging comments about Nigerians?

    Seriously, the answer is not buried in rocket science; the answer is rather very simple. Ted Cruz and his likes know, for instance, that they will NEVER leave American banks to bank in Nigerian banks – NEVER! They know they will never leave their schools to collapse only to send their children to Nigerian schools to study. They know they will never leave their own hospitals to collapse only to fly themselves and their family members to Nigeria for medical checkup and treatment. They know that no matter what they do or say about Nigeria, so many Nigerian leaders will always do what they do best, namely, abandon Nigerian banks to bank abroad; abandon Nigerian schools to send their children to study abroad; abandon Nigerian hospitals to fly abroad for medical checkup and treatment; abandon Nigerian people only to feed Swiss people and their cohorts with Nigerian oil money. In other words, they know that there will be no meaningful, substantive response(s) from Nigerian Government – NONE! ZERO!! Indeed, Ted Cruz and his likes understand that lots of Nigerian leaders have yet to understand the meaning of true patriotism – i.e., the love of a country. If they did, the N10 Billion (Ten Billion Naira) squandered on Independence Day dance celebration this month in Nigeria, for instance, could have been invested in Nigerian roads, schools, science, research, hospitals, and other infrastructures to command respect for Nigeria around the world.

    So, Nigerian leaders must wakeup and bear this in mind at all time: leadership is action and not a position, and that leadership is parenthood. Just as parents take care of their own people, leaders must take care of their own people. If leaders abandon their own people, their people will become a laughing stock of the whole world. It is as simple as that. Nigerian leaders must learn a big lesson from such ugly, disrespectful statements by Senator Ted Cruz and his likes, and do everything in their power to build up Nigeria (with Nigerian oil money while oil still remains a source of huge revenue in the world today) so that the likes of Ted Cruz and the world will start respecting Nigeria and her people.

    Bedford Nwabueze Umez, Ph.D, Lee College, Baytown, Texas, USA

  • Nigeria’s famous exports

    Nigeria is famous for her many exports: the ‘sweet’ Bonny Light crude oil, our exciting football teams and Nollywood movies with their wafer-thin plots.

    But not all our exports are so welcome. For the hundreds of thousands, may be millions, around the globe who have had to open another scam email, the name ‘Nigeria’ is wreathed in infamy.

    A couple of weeks ago, controversial United States Senator Ted Cruz in the heat of the American government shutdown made disparaging remarks about how Nigerian email scammers had taken over the malfunctioning Obamacare website.

    Even when copycat scammers send their infernal mail dubious credit always lands in our account. But who can complain? We largely own this invention!

    What I find infuriating, however, is the refusal of the scam email clowns to lift their game. If they won’t go away, at least they should learn to write English and come up with new stories – instead of the same tired, old lines from 1992.

    The way things stand they deserve to be awarded the “IGNOBLE PRIZE FOR THE DUMB”. Their numbskull victims should cart away the “IGNOBLE PRIZE FOR THE DUMBER.”

  • Anambra: of prayer and politics

    Faith and state have never been the best of bedfellows. When you mix the twain with a dash of politics you have a device that is more potent than any explosive. That was what happened a week ago in a remote area called Uke in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State. The Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha had held its monthly vigil on Friday and as the worshippers trooped home early Saturday morning, a stampede had ensued on a narrow way leading to the death of no fewer than 25 persons while many more sustained injuries.

    It would have been a routine tragic occurrence if this were the beginning and the end of the story. Even the Metropolitan Archbishop of Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province, His Eminence, the Most Rev. Valerian Okeke in a statement on the incident, ruled out any act of sabotage which in itself, was a hint that there could have been sabotage. But he puts it down to an unprecedented large turn out of worshippers this month perhaps due to the solemnity of the All Saints Day – a holy day of obligation for Catholic faithful. He noted that his investigations had shown that all precautions were taken by the organisers but the stampede occurred along one of the narrow roads out of the venue as a result of a false alarm.

    However, Anambra State happens to be in the thick of electioneering prelude to the November 16 governorship election thus the atmosphere in the state is suffused with politics. Governor Peter Obi was present at the Adoration Centre, venue of the vigil in company of Mr. Willie Obiano, his party’s candidate in the forthcoming election. In his broadcast after the tragedy, he pointed out that he was invited to the programme and he had left at about 3.00 am after making his remark. It also came out that during his remark politics had crept through the prayer grounds even at such an unholy hour when prayers were most solemn. Followers of the governor’s party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and that of the major opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) were reported to have been roused. This suggests that the two camps were entrenched even on the prayer ground.

    The governor insists he was heckled as he spoke, by people waving brooms while his antagonists aver that he mounted the hustings for his candidate thus charging the atmosphere. Brickbats have been thrown by both parties and blames are flung back and forth by the politicians. The truth may never be known; not even the panel of enquiry set up by the state government is likely to unravel the mystery of the Adoration Centre deaths. Why was it necessary for a governor to address a congregation at a vigil in the dead of the night? If he went there strictly for a personal religious obligation did the candidate have to tag along? Were people really waving brooms at the prayer ground; in which case they would have left home with broom and bible in hand?

    Three quick lessons are to be learnt by the politicians, the church and the laity. First, the politician in his quest for power must be cautious not to do so at the expense of the blood of his people. The church must by this tragedy learn that it must keep politics far away from its arenas especially during election period. The laity, the ordinary man must learn by this that he is just a trampling, a mere dispensable, sacrificial element for both the political and religious establishments. He must always look out for himself and ensure that he is never used as cannon fodder for principalities and power that have no qualms about making an impromptu sacrifice of him. Hardball can declare that God has not designated any special centre or ground for answering prayers. From the corner of your room he will answer if you call upon him in truth and in spirit.

  • Power sector’s new dawn

    SIR: The privatization of the power sector is,indeed, a dream come true. It offers the promise of total emancipation for Nigerians who have been subjected to captivity of power failure.

    Nigerians have so much lived in ‘darkness’ that the jubilation, whenever power is restored for a while, defies the sense of dignity and decorum. It had always been an eruption of ‘up NEPA!’ in every home, street and community.Funny enough, this is not the shouts of children alone, but of

    adults as well. If this is not captivity that a full grown adult shows

    such excitement like someone who just won a jackpot over something he is

    supposed to have constant access to by right, then what is?

    Many Nigerians spend fortune on fuel and dieselto generate power for domestic use. According to the Good Governance Initiative Nigeria (NGGI), a Non Governmental Organization, Nigerians spend a whooping 2.7trillion naira annually on fuelling generators. Many small and medium scale businesses, firms, and industries have been thrown out of market as they can no

    longer afford to generate power for their daily activities. Many large

    firms barely survive.

    The power sector privatization is no doubt, a great feat by the government. Against all odds, the processes and the formal handing over of the sector to the private power generation and distribution companies were finalised and actualised respectively, on November 1. Not only was this singular achievement by the government widely applauded,it also marked a historic dawn.

    The impact of this privatization on the economy will definitely be enormous on the long run. There will be decrease in cost of production as manufacturers will experience reduction in the cost of purchase of fuel and diesel to power their equipment for production. The effect of this will be a reduction in prices of goods and services, increase in demand/sales, revenue, GDP and standard of living of the people. As demand increases, there will be need for increase in supply which calls for increase in output and expansion of plants and industries. These, no doubt, will call for employment of more workers; reducing the problem of unemployment in the system.

    Also, it will create enabling environment for industrialization.

    Industries and businesses which rely so much on power to carry out their

    activities will thrive. New industries will be established,creating a market economy where competition among firms leads to efficiency

    and qualitative production of goods and services which culminate in industrialization and economic growth. Foreign investors will, equally, be attracted; generating foreign capital inflow and capital formation in the economy, to mention, but a few.

    Therefore, we must all embrace this new ‘mark on the sand of time’; we must all follow up on this new era our great nation is being driven to with full optimism. We must patiently wait for it to fully unfold and blossom, as this can only happen overtime and not overnight. Watch out for new Nigeria!

     

    • Justine Nwanakwere

    University of Portharcourt

  • Why our leaders prefer to die abroad

    SIR:  The failure of our rulers cannot be measured only by the visible decay of infrastructure and the dwindling quality of our lives but also by the way they prefer to die.  While ordinary citizens live their miserable lives unsung in the country, our leaders, or rather, rulers on whose shoulders rest the responsibility of taking us beyond the miserable 47 years life expectancy live theirs in foreign lands and/or die there.

    It has become fashionable to hear those who should fix our health care delivery system say they travelled abroad for medical check-up or that they had their medical cases treated in India or London. When our presidents, governors or their amiable and not so amiable spouses, or lucky children fall sick with the flu, the nearest medical facility is the one in London or Germany. It is the people that are sentenced to attend the panadol-dispensing clinics they call teaching or specialist hospitals here in our country.

    In our culture, the dead is treated with so much respect that we are told that it is more dignifying to die and be buried at home than in a foreign land. Now, it appears fashionable to travel in the luxury of a business-class for medical treatment abroad and be brought back here for burial in the baggage compartment of an airliner. What a shame.

    Dying far away from home like they do is an indictment on the poor, unfeeling, insensitive and profligate governance which our rulers have provided and continually provide us ordinary citizens of Nigeria. If our general, specialist or teaching hospitals were working, our rulers would not need to travel to foreign lands for answers to their medical problems. And it is ironic that it is those who should make our hospitals work to serve our needs who actually lead the way to foreign hospitals. It is even more ironic that many of the medical consultants and other health care providers they rush to patronize abroad are actually Nigerians driven away from home by lack of basic equipment and conducive working environment at home.

    You still want to know why our rulers are dying far away from home? The answer is not far-fetched: there are no facilities here for the proper diagnosis and treatment of “the afflictions of the wicked” rich and mighty in our country.

    When shall we begin to think seriously about a health care delivery system which guarantees all Nigerians adequate, accessible and affordable diagnostic and management facilities such that no one needs to travel abroad for specialised or general medical care? When will our teaching, specialist and general hospitals be transformed from death centres to truly teaching and specialist hospitals good enough to attract the patronage of all of us, including our rulers?

    • Blessing Yakubu,

    Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

  • Ngige and Anambra election

    Next weekend, November 16, it will be over in Anambra as the people vote to decide what their future is when placed in the hands of toughened contender, Senator Chris Ngige and other young and unroughened, in volatile and highly commercialised politics of the state.

    For Ngige it is a battle of wits. Others, people say, are adventurers advertising their wealth; flaunting local and foreign currencies to the embarrassment of those who understand the economy of wealth and to the humiliation of the poor. Nobody is poor in Anambra; those who grab the proceeds of the bazaar proclaim.

    The ‘professional’ or career politicians are having fun as they celebrate victory that is still far away. What is exciting about all these is that the ‘brides’ of the moment are having fun, believing that the hallucination of the cheer-gang is real; swaggering with confidence and trading their wealth with false romance. The votes will come in trickle and will eventually be summed in thousands; not in millions because all votes will be counted.

    He who works hard knows this: that hard work ensures victory and good luck belongs to lazy fatalists. Senator Chris Ngige is a philosopher of hard work. He has shown this twice –as a governor of the state 2003-2005 and now as a senator representing Anambra Central Constituency – when he had the opportunity to serve his people.

    Those who promote the idea that Senator Ngige, an academic politician can’t sail on the rough waters of Anambra politics are in error. What can be rougher than medical school? Above all, he had received the baptism of fire from the sango of Ogun and former President, Olusegun Obasanjo and survived the conspiracy of charlatans in his kitchen. Here, he survived by freak of luck, worked hard thereafter and have been ridding on the crest of loud ovation as the people lay red carpet wherever he goes in Anambra State. He opened vistas of solid asphalt roads throughout the state and dared the ravages of erosion

    True, Ngige may not be the type of ‘professional or the career politicians’ who would insist; ‘we are the real political scientists, dealing with what is (on the ground), not what ought to’ (be on the ground) and would pretentiously add, ‘we make deals or stoop to conquer the opponent.’ Horse-trading? Ask no questions yet. Politicians can sacrifice pride, promote and trade treachery to get what they want. But not he who liberated Anambra State from wolves! We can’t forget the past in hurry.

    Sure! Beautiful bride is here again! And this bride redefined his path to creating a new Anambra state; taking off from where he was wrenched out of Government House in Awka. Certainly he has and careful of known pretenders, stays off their path and intrigue to nurse his tact for the benefit of the state.

    The village squares are rife with victory permutations. Here, some politicians who pride as the champion of champions, veer off tack of reason and turn fake political philosophers to proffer tsunami in favour of the other contenders. But the people laugh them to scorn and in return promise the jesters a four-year recess.

    Never mind, they know when to disembark a sinking vessel and know who to give a checklist to shop for them. You do not ask or hand over the checklist to a man who is on his way back from the market, the fake philosophers whisper. Ngige is the now-man, the new market-master, in charge of the malls: he is the real bride and the market-master who will be in session, after the election billed for next week; some eight days away.

    Why will Ngige win instead of any of the other contenders? Will the victory be the consequence of hard work or good luck? Will there be conspiracy, bad deal, over-assumption, bad luck or fate, losers would ask and lament as they sit to compare notes. It will be too late. Whichever, aren’t such questions, even the lamentation, at this point, far less important? They can be rehearsed two or three years from now.

    To get back to the philosophical connotation or definition of good luck, bad luck or fate is a still-birth. But it cannot be wished away. We may not want to philosophise on these words, we cannot benchmark Ngige’s outstanding performance during his aborted first tenure as governor, on his refuge in the masses through hard work. By extension, that he had no option than use the people resources to develop the state. He had option like his predecessors: vulgarly abuse the people, invade their treasury and turn his face the other way. His senatorial performances so far have advertised who he is: that he is a humanist. The constituency projects, scholarship awards and effective sponsorship of bills in the senate that turn fortunes of the people around for good are inured advertisements of his character.

    Can we then say that there has been element of luck on his way? Here for whatever it was, if pedantry definition of these two words, good luck means earning a favour without hassle, but he has had real hassle, he translated it into proving his identity and in running the affairs of people on whose mandate he has the luck to hold.

    Anambra has been jinxed for long. We have tried Ngige and he showed the people that he is from the heart of Anambra State, born here by Nigerian parents, and has witnessed unpardonable deprivations in the rural villages of the state. He has also watched governments in the state from a distance being run vulgarly. Shouldn’t we entrust him with the opportunity to restructure the state’s method of running Anambra state government and reintroduce discipline? We should.

    Senator Chris Ngige, by words and deeds, said that leaders should have graffiti, of who they are and what their tenures were, on the city walls so that eternally, people can pause to read as they review the history of their constituency to say ‘we had distinguished leaders.’

    Can we see Ngige’s face or his good deeds, who he is, on the rustic walls around the state as he comes around after the election? We will. Guber candidate, Senator Chris Ngige holds this wisdom.

    • Sir Social, a community leader in Anambra writes from Enugu.

  • Nigeria and workplace slavery

    SIR: The damning report of the Australian anti-slavery campaign group, The Walk Free Foundation that Nigeria sweeps the board in mustering the highest number of people living in modern slavery in Africa is not only on the threshold of verifiable truth, but also in the crucible of sordid reality.

    The foundation which defines modern slavery in the vistas and themes of human trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, sale and exploitation of children, tangentially obviates workplace slavery, seedy and sub-human working conditions. However, for this pardonable lacuna, it blares out, “Victims of modern slavery, have their freedom denied, and are used and controlled and exploited by another for profit….”

    It is logical and tenable to aver that if the organization had considered critically Nigerian workplaces and the working conditions of Nigerian workers, the published figures of 670,000 and 740, 000 (Nigerians living in modern slavery) would have quadrupled.

    The sad truth is that some Nigerian workplaces are concentration camps, and working conditions in Nigeria are below the crust of salubrious standards.

    It is without a doubt that some organisations in Nigeria do not adhere to labour stipulations as regards the treatment and working conditions of their employees. Labour organisations too, are either timid or indifferent when it comes to defending the rights of workers. This a rough blot on the Nigerian work system. The rising tide of unemployment too has foisted a mentality of “I work or I die” on Nigerian workers that they endure execrable depths of maltreatment, expurgating their rights from the rule books.

    The present conditions of Nigerian workers call for accelerated actions in giving jagged teeth to labour laws protecting Nigerian workers from misuse, abuse, and capital dehumanization by their employers. Workers in general must be treated with dignity, fairness, and respect if maximum output is expected of them. It is when they are treated right that employers can avail themselves of the best of them.

    • Fredrick Nwabufo

    Abuja

  • Ham-fistedness

    There is no better word to tag the current hounding of the Alhaji Abubakar Baraje-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) than ham-fistedness or extreme clumsiness if you like. Leadership is said to be better tested in times of crisis and most great leaders of history are forged in the furnaces of the most turbulent of crises. But the leadership of the PDP has no proof of leadership. They have failed to rise to the quality of introspection and tact that the occasion demands. On the other hand, they seem to have resigned to trailing the in-house opposition by reacting to their every move and plans.

    The current crisis in the PDP has again confirmed the long-held view that PDP is at best, a conclave of philistines and kakistocrats whose primary aim in politics is to grab power for the sake of it and for suborning the treasury. It has become apparent that for nearly 15 years, PDP still remains a woolly-headed entity, unable to grow into an institution. It therefore has not acquired the capacity to get a handle on any issue, big or small. For instance, its headquarters is still a temporary site while the new head office building for which so much money was realised at a fund-raising has been abandoned for years. In essence, the party touted to be the biggest in Africa has no institutional memory or capacity for any work.

    Hardball of course is concerned about the seeming unraveling of the big umbrella in the face of a tricky, little internal storm. First, it is unthinkable that the rump of the party had gone to a national convention without having any inkling as to how deep the fissure in its fold was. Right there in the middle of the convention to choose new party leaders, there emerged a division down the middle to the embarrassment of the leaders. The splinter called nPDP immediately formed a formidable body electing and announcing its officers same day. It was a pointer to the capacity of the nPDP members to plan and organise.

    The original PDP which has the presidency and all other appurtenances of power and high office has continued to blunder and flounder since this crack appeared on its wall a few months ago. Attempts at reconciliation have failed serially, another attestation to the awkward leadership skills of the party leader, (the president), the chairman and members of the Board of Trustees. The seven breakaway governors have continued to dictate the pace and lead in initiative.

    Second, the old party, after the initial rupture, has responded in a most ham-fisted manner. It openly chases after the governors, especially Rotimi Amaechi, deploying all sorts of awkward trickery to either impeach him or force his decamp to another party. But the more they try, the more they make him a hero. Jaded tricks reminiscent of the Abacha and Obasanjo eras are being dusted up and re-used but to little effect. For instance, graft agencies suddenly dredge up old case files of ‘enemies’ that were hitherto, abandoned. Offices are being stormed and houses belonging to the ‘rebels’ are marked for demolition. The logic is to intimidate them to the point of surrender.

    But recently, a new verve has been added to the assault on opposition members. With the courts over-ruling the nPDP, the state’s security network, especially the police have been unleashed on its members. The rule now seems to be that anywhere half a dozen people are gathered behind closed doors, it is the ‘rebel’ governors and they are to be dispersed. It is called hamesucken in Scottish law, it means assaulting a man even in his own house. The latest was the invasion of Kano State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja last Monday, where the police tackily sought to stop governors meeting therein.

    Before our eyes, the police are being debased, our constitution is being suborned and democracy is being damaged. This clumsiness will sooner harm us all.

  • ASUU/FG imbroglio: Balancing the arguments

    SIR: Watching a recent live programme on the NTA which focused on the ASUU strike elicited a number of emotions. The discussants on the programme acquitted themselves very well. Their aim was nothing but to persuade ASUU to call off the strike. They argued that since the decay in the university system did not start from the Jonathan’s administration, ASUU should not expect a comprehensive repair of the dilapidation that has become the lot of our universities in one fell swoop. They blamed the lecturers for wanting to enjoy the kind of luxury our senators enjoy. Their strong point is that to be a teacher at any level is both a calling and a vocation. A teacher like a parent is forbidden from embarking on strikes. He is under moral obligation to take care of his students no matter the condition in which he finds himself.

    My position is that the appeal is well taken but we have to balance out our arguments. We cannot compare teaching profession of today with those of the days of yore. Today, our teaching is done within the context of meeting the global standards. We need basic teaching tools namely computers, e-books, e-library, vibrant academic linkages with the outside world and a lot more if you are not to bring shame to your institution and the nation at large. For our institutions to qualify for exchange programmes with other global institutions of the world, our environment must at least be minimally conducive to learning and research. Our society today has become a consumerist postmodern world, it is difficult to isolate teachers and say they are not supposed to be affected by the profligate consumption pattern exhibited by our leaders. Remember that our society has become so monetized that nobody is interested in how many degrees you have but what capacity you have in terms of solving incidental financial problems that come your way. If our teachers are not empowered to make the teaching profession attractive to future generation of intellectuals, soon the profession will be abandoned to the never-do-wells of our nation. This will mean penny wise pound foolish. Our leaders must lead in the crusade of trimming our consumption pattern so as not to become so ostentatious and tempting as to corrupt the entire populace. Teachers’ reward should therefore no longer be in heaven because today teachers are living in a globally competitive world and must live up to global expectations if they are not to become irrelevant in the global scheme of things.

    Running higher institutions is not a child’s play. It requires enormous resources-manpower, finance, material, equipment, infrastructure, etc. This means that the government must budget sufficient funds for the education sector and ensure adequate supervision and monitoring of projects and programmes in our tertiary institutions. To be able to carry the burden of financing the educational sector, there is the need to involve the public sector, individuals and NGOs. Government must plug all loopholes through which our nation loses cash to looters. Prudential fiscal policies and management will reduce the rampage of national looting which is currently in vogue. If we are to build competitive human capital then the education sector is one sector that must not be politicized. Government must take far-reaching steps to rebuild eroded trust and instill confidence in ASUU that a new dawn has set upon our educational sector. It should no longer wait for strikes to discharge their obligations to our public universities. We urge our indefatigable President to arise and rebuild his former constituency.

     

    • Prof G. O. Ozumba

    University of Calabar, Calabar.