The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Hubris among medical profesionals

    SIR: Have you noticed that American doctor’s append only MD as their titles? Indeed, to practice in the United States require that a doctor specialize in at least one of the many areas of medicine after the basic qualification. Therefore, as a specialist, the only insignia is the MD, though a description as a fellow may follow to show the specialty. Other appendages may include PhD, MPH and a few others. The reason is simple: A medical doctor (MD) is a medical doctor. The difference lies in the area of practice and expertise- psychiatry, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology etc.

    To become a specialist therefore is a necessity expected of every doctor. It is because of this that a national matching system for residential programme exists in the US. It is equally because of this that the emphasis is on the quality and standard of each residential programme and its director rather than examinations.

    Finally, it is basically because of this that the speciality board examinations at the end of the residency programme is optional, or voluntary, taken only to satisfy members of the public or, if the individual is desirous of practice across state lines(a different state from which he trained).

    Specialization in medicine therefore, must never be a privilege; for what is the aim of specialization? To break down medical knowledge into discrete and manageable entities and enable an increasing depth of learning and skill acquisition therein. A division of labor of sorts.

    In contrast, specialists in Nigeria readily flaunt their titles,FWACP, FWACS, FMCP etc. These are well earned /deserved titles no doubt. Problem, however is the attempt to make specialization an elitist enclave.

    Elitism seems to be native to Nigeria. It is almost a cultural thing. Everyone wants to show the other how much worthier he is above his fellow. There is a subtle but fierce battle to be the first always, primus inter pares! Competition, whilst not necessarily bad, but competition for her own sake, and in an unbridled manner is a death march! It breeds excessive rivalry and a penchant for ruthless despicable acts in order to suppress.It is therefore of little wonder that even within medical circles this culture festers.

    To specialize in an area of medicine has become an elitist venture. The process is brutal, dehumanizing and deliberately so. The specialists who are also meant to train others are the ones who make it so by not being responsible or accountable in any guise for the resident doctors under them; by the desire for elitism and exclusivity, and through the proliferation of multiple landmines called examinations at every corner and stage.

    The more vexatious of these issues is tying career advancement and promotions of the resident doctor to these centralized examinations without recourse to the sensitivities and peculiarities of the individual residential programmes! These exams are landmines designed to frustrate and eliminate anyone but the best of the best-hubris!

    Candidates are pitted against candidates and you have results like only seven out almost 300 hundred candidates passed and exam nationwide( family medicine)!

    Since knowledge in medicine is so deep and wide, there has to be, of necessity, specialization where a doctor further undergoes a residency programme. A residential programme affords the doctor the opportunity to focus on an area of medicine, work with specialists in their day to day care of patients, witness, participate and ultimately become a specialist himself. That is the concept of specialization and this should be our minimum requirement too. Some of our people are wont us to believe it is the preserve of some special of privileged few.

    Why is elitism and hubris so rife?

     

    Timi Babatunde MD

    Lagos

  • Stellagate: It’s a familiar tale

    SIR: Like previous high profile corruption cases, the raging scandal involving Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah and officials of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) would go the way of others. It will fizzle out pretty soon and life will go on smoothly as if nothing happened.

    Yes, this is Nigeria, where we are good at barking at every evil act, but lack the guts to attempt a bite.

    Hardly does a day pass that the world is not dished a portion of Nigeria’s abursidity, courtesy of the funny characters masquerading as leaders. No-one, including our so-called elder statesmen and clergymen seems bothered by Nigeria’s fast drift to anarchy and failure. Amidst allegations of rising malfeasance, which now define our system, we are so relaxed with an affirmation that all is well. We are at a crossroad. We continue to delude ourselves that the myriad of human-induced challenges staring would fizzle out pretty soon.

    Princess Stella Oduah’s show of obscene taste and display of extravagance as revealed in the purchase of armoured BMW cars valued at N255 Million provides an insight into the reckless manner our collective resources are being plundered by the elites.This is a sin against God and crime against humanity. This is the height of wickedness and irresponsibility. It beats one’s imagination to discover that a serving public official sees nothing morally or legally wrong in acquiring cars with such a huge amount in a country where thousands go to bed daily on flat empty stomachs.

    This amount is enough to pay the annual salaries of 50 professors in our beleagured public universities. The humongous sum is enough to build 100 healthcare centres across villages in Nigeria.

    Without pre-empting the outcome, this abuse of office will no doubt go the way of others. Frankly speaking, the panels amounts to huge waste of time and resources. Such time and resources should be channeled into productive ventures.

    Where is the report of the oil subsidy probe panel that indicted some lawmakers? What about the Malabo Oil deal involving the top echelon of the justice ministry? What about the corruption case against former House of Representatives Speaker, Dimeji Bankole and his deputy, Usman Bayero Nafada? Undoubtedly, this particular high profile corruption case will go the way of others.

     

    Abdullahi Yunusa

  • Power Minister, call Abule Egba PHCN to order

    SIR: I am a law-abiding citizen and feel it is a duty to pay my electricity bills and by God’s grace this I have never failed to do. And at all time my account with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN reads credit. I understand the times in the land and do not expect that even with that I should get constant power supply, but this has never discouraged me knowing that in the foreseeable future and as the Jonathan power sector reform agenda starts to yield fruit, I and many others will see that it is always better to be on the right side of the law.

    But alas, for all this, PHCN at the Abule Egba area in Lagos has been crazy enough to cut off the light supply of a wide area in Abule Egba ensuring that I and many others do not get even the little light that usually comes to us after their load shedding.

    Reason? To punish those who are owing them. I now ask: should those who are paying PHCN suffer because of those who are not paying? Why throw out the baby with the bathwater? Where is justice? Would this type of action not discourage those who are paying? The right thing is for them to go after those who owe them and cut their light. If they are scared of going to their houses to do that they could go with the police. I do not encourage impunity. But even God himself would not have destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah if he had found one just man in those cities.

    I and other law-abiding people should not suffer for the crime of others. Or does PHCN’s mandate include denying those who are paying light supply?

    The power sector reform has made PHCN staff to carry on like those with a chip on their shoulder. Never mind the payoff. Not all have even gotten it with the handover date close. So they are like angry wild animals. And they will not leave without biting off the flesh of the people.

    Dr Cosmas Odoemena,

    Lagos

  • At the Wailing Wall with President Jonathan

    At the Wailing Wall with President Jonathan

    Hardball is at it again activating his special device that could have him embedded into a man’s mind. Such was it that he spirited to Jerusalem on that multitudinous Presidential entourage. It was just as the prophets prophesied. Zechariah (8: 21-22) must have had Nigeria in mind when he said, “People from around the world will come to pilgrimages and pour into Jerusalem from many foreign cities… Yes, many people, even strong nations will come to the Lord Almighty in Jerusalem to ask for his blessing and help.” Prophet Micah too spoke in the same vein: “People from all over the world will make pilgrimages there…” (4: 1-2). And Isaiah was more specific foreseeing the day presidents and kings will throng Israel with bounties; (60: 10-14).

    Thus President Goodluck Jonathan’s storming of Jerusalem with governors, ministers, religious leaders, aides and aides of aides, numbering no fewer than 100 is merely a fulfillment of the word, isn’t it? At an average of say N1 million per person, what is N100 million or even double that amount worth compared to the reclamation of the famished soul of the biggest black nation on earth? Those who are suggesting that President Jonathan went a bit gung-ho in hauling such crowd on an unprecedented pilgrimage to Jerusalem underestimate the break-point condition the nation is poised at. He would move the entire country if that becomes necessary ward off the evils pressing at his door.

    As Hardball noticed from his crouched position, strange white people marveled and gawked at our horde as if they had never seen such a scene in the annals of pilgrimages. They forgot that the queen of Sheba “arrived in Jerusalem with a long train of camels carrying spices, gold, and jewels and she told him (King Solomon) all her problems.” It must also to be noted that travelling large and merrily around the world is an art our president seems to have mastered. From Australia to China and New York recently, Jonathan moved large boisterous hordes, each man and woman well fortified with ample booty from the treasury code-named estacode. Apart from the so-called opposition party and their nattering, negative press, was anyone the wiser? Was there a crisis arising from crowd management even in complicated foreign lands?

    If only Hardball had the gift of a Geoffrey Chaucer who wrote Canterbury Tales about Middle Age English pilgrims to the Canterbury Cathedral, this presidential trip would have been a rich sauce for a magnum opus: every member of the team is a cascade of stories seeking to burst loose. Ayo Oritsejafor is the chief priest; elaborately tailored in seeming magical attires, his private jet thoughts would nag him even as he performed his raucous prayers. Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State clutching a miniature chaplet would have November 16 on his mind at every station. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State is dogged by life after 2015 and the desperate quest for a senate seat soft-landing. Governor T. A. Orji would be keen to acquire a talisman for warding off the gadfly next door, Rochas Okorocha.

    Was that the Nigerian Labour Congress president, Abdullahi Umar lost in the Jerusalem crowd, in repudiation of his Nigeria-bound rabble-rousing workers? Labaran Maku was in his feisty element; like a student on holiday enjoying every fleeting moment, seeming capable of and willing to jet off to Mecca tomorrow with another president. Papa Martins Elechi looked a distraught and unwilling pilgrim. A hundred pilgrims, 100 stories untold, unharnessed.

    But at the Wailing Wall, Hardball espied President Jonathan’s petition to his maker. With his skull cap tipped precariously at a pliant angle, he solemnly propositioned his maker concerning 2015. Nothing else mattered, over and over and over his petition was one, only one…

  • Time to amend MEND

    Someone recently quipped that a time might come when the wives of prominent persons in Nigeria will become pregnant and MEND would claim responsibility. This jibe comes on the heels of the recent activities of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND. First was the kidnap of the sister of the Senior Adviser to the President on Research and Documentation, Mr. Oronto Douglas and the second, the fire-bombing of the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company last Tuesday.

    Concerning the kidnap of Mrs. Augusta Douglas-Ayam, (she has been released) MEND had claimed that though it did not commit the act, it was in touch with the culprits whose grouse is about the manner the amnesty programmed is being handled. But in the case of the refinery facility, MEND in an email statement signed apparently by its now famous spokesperson who goes by the name, Jomo Gbomo, the group claimed responsibility for the sabotage.

    It said further that: “Hurricane Exodus was intended to burn down the entire refining facility. As long as President Goodluck Jonathan continues to rely on an unsustainable and fraudulent Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, peace and security will continue to elude his government in the region. Hurricane Exodus is on course.”

    Hardball is worried at this turn of event at MEND considering that in the halcyon days of militancy in the Niger Delta, it was this group that gave the ‘struggle’ class, a shade of sophistication and of course respectability. It introduced the use of email and intelligent use of the media to disseminate information widely and further its cause. It also seemed to ensure limited human casualty in its engagements choosing to attack facilities when it is ‘dry’ and ‘safe’. While others were daily rampaging and foraging for spoils, MEND seemed to have its eye set on the larger picture of attempting to call attention to the plight of the people of the oil-rich region. The mindless environmental devastation by oil firms and criminal neglect of the people were high points.

    However, with the Abuja bombings of October, 2011 and the subsequent trial and conviction of Henry Okah who is perhaps the author and architect of MEND, Hardball if he were a member, would sue for a rethink of strategies and a possible rapprochement. The Abuja strike in itself may be a tactical error considering that the election of President Goodluck Jonathan ought to stand as one of the victories of MEND’s activism. Why would a man seek to destroy the prize of a hard-fought battle? Any wonder President Jonathan spoke off the cuff that he knew his people and that they would not bomb him. It turned out he spoke too quick. If the purpose of the ‘struggle’ is to get their due, why intensify action just when you are about to reap a windfall.

    Yes, the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) is not flawless but it has achieved ample results. It has calmed the Niger Delta considerably, it has engaged a large number of the boys, especially the ‘militants of fortune’, who had no cause nor understood any cause for that matter, but only sought to improve their lives by partaking in the spoils of the oil boom. PAP cannot and will never capture everyone. It also will be fraught with mismanagement and even fraud but can we begin to contemplate what might have been if it was not initiated.

    There is time to fight and time to sheathe the sword. MEND must rethink its strategies; Nigerians don’t know what it is fighting for anymore and it may no longer have the sympathy of the generality of the people it purports to defend. To what end is ‘Hurricane Exodus’ and for whose benefit? If the massive refinery in Warri is bombed and razed, how has that furthered the cause of MEND or benefited Niger Delta people? MEND must reach out to its kinsman in Aso-Rock, this is the best opportunity it has to achieve its purpose, whatever it may be.

  • Corruption and federation account system

    I agree that corruption has done incalculable damage to both our national economy and psyche, but I differ from those that hold the idea that it represents all our challenges. Our corruption challenge to me is a legislative error that can be corrected through genuine law-making process in just one stroke.

    Like most commentators have argued, majority of Nigerians abhor corruption. Only a few are neck-deep in the unholy act. There is a consensus among public commentators that corruption in the First Republic was very insignificant until the military took control over.

    First, was the Unification Decree of Aguiyi Ironsi which brought all matters directly under the office of the Commander-in-Chief as against the delicately worked out federal system that our founding fathers had put in place. Even when Ironsi was removed from office, Unification Decree 34 was never repealed. The next move from the military was the Balkanization of the regions into states. These were to achieve two things; first, to weaken the regions from putting up any resistance and to exploit the greed of the individual opinion leaders in those areas just like the preceding colonialists.

    When General Yakubu Gowon took over, his tenure was not too different from Aguiyi Ironsi. The Gowon administration in “1968 established the Interim Revenue Allocation Review Committee (IRARC) headed by Chief I. O. Dina, then Permanent Secretary in the former Western Region. The main term of reference of the committee was to find out sources of new revenue and suggest any change in the existing revenue allocation system.”

    Among the recommendations of the Committee were:

    (i) That the Distributable Pool Account should be renamed “State Joint Account.”

    (ii) That there should be established (a) A Special Grants Account; and (b) A Permanent Planning and Fiscal Commission to administer the Special Grants Account, and also to study and review the Revenue Allocation Formula.

    (iii) That horizontally the allocation principles should be

    (a) Basic needs;

    (b) Minimum national standards;

    (c) Balanced development; and

    (d) Derivation.

    (iv) That the vertical sharing formula for royalties from on-shore mining should be:

    (a) States of origin- 10%

    (b) Federal Government-10%

    (c) States Joint Account-70%; and

    (d) Special Grants Account-5%

    (v) That rents from on-shore operations should be paid to the states on the basis of derivation-100%

    The Dina Committees’ Report was rejected on the grounds that its range went beyond the mood of the military government of that time. For example, it recommended that there should be uniform tax legislation for the nation and that the pricing of Marketing Board produce should be harmonized. In addition, it proposed that the federal government should finance all higher education. The government continued with the then existing formula.

    Under Obasanjo’s watch, the circle for unitary government was completed through the Land Use Decree and the unification of the local government system. Through the Land Use Decree, Obasanjo appropriated the fossil products and other mineral deposits from states to the federal government rather than as the exclusive preserve to the state or the old region where such mineral is deposited. Through its unified local government system, it destroyed the individual administrative initiatives of the regions in the running of their local governments, which had always been based on tested culture and tradition. He did not stop there; he brought them under the federal allocation system rather than allow them to remain as a creation of their respective regions or states as they were.

    This was the situation until the Second Republic.

    Since Nigeria’s potential in commercial exportation of oil was established, attention was diverted to oil to the neglect of other sources as the main revenue earner. Gradually, the system became compromised from the allocation of oil blocks to importation of refined products. At the end of every month, the federal government, states and local governments share whatever is claimed to have accrued to the account. The amount each tier of government got was determined by an agency of the federal government. Every month, the states, local governments and the federal government meet in Abuja to share out money irrespective of contribution. In the thinking of the military, all parts of the country must develop at the same pace and time not putting into consideration that it is even against the natural order.

    As a result, foreign bank accounts became swollen with slush funds from Nigeria. How can anyone expect the states to share funds that they did not work for and expect that there will be no corruption? It is the idea of maintaining a federation account, whether one makes contribution or not, but yet assured of monthly allocation that fuels corruption in Nigeria. The idea that the federal government can maintain larger portion of the funds with little or no responsibility is what allows corruption to thrive.

    A legislation that cancels the idea of a federation account and supplants it with a contributory account like we have in the First Republic will take out of the spiral of corruption and put us on a solid footing of economic buoyancy. No amount of a safety valve would stop this cycle of corruption unless the federal government is willing to give up some of the undeserved power the 1999 Constitution vested in it.

    Every state within the federation must get ready to work in competitive environment among its peers. The federal government must join the National Assembly in ensuring that this aspect of our life is corrected through the process of constitutional amendment. Have we ever wondered why it is only countries that develop its economy through taxation that thrives rather than those that rely on natural resources? When revenue is raised through taxation, the tendency that the people might rise up in revolt one day keeps the leaders from messing up with the treasury. In fact, a friend told me that one of the reasons we could not witness a replica of the Arab Spring is because we do not actually own the government. It is not only through election that we own government; our financial contributions to sustain the government go a long way.

    For a very long time, California, a state in the USA has remained the world’s sixth biggest economy. Its economic growth was buoyed by effective taxation not only on income tax but property. The 2010 GDP survey exercise carried out by the Lagos Bureau of Statistics (LBS), put the state’s GDP at N12.091 trillion i.e. ($80.61 billion) representing 35.6% of the national GDP and 62.3% of national non – oil GDP for the same year. Among African cities, the state ranked fourth after, Cairo- $145 billion, Johannesburg – $110 billion and Cape Town – $ 103 billion.

    In addition, Lagos GDP is higher than that of 42 individual African countries’ GDP, including Kenya – $66 billion, Ghana $61.97 billion, and Tanzania -$ 58.44 billion while only 10 African countries have GDP that surpassed that of Lagos State. The countries are: South Africa – $523.95billion, Egypt – $497.78billion, Algeria -$251.117billion, Morocco – $151.432billion, Angola- $107.31billion, Sudan – $99.99 billion, Tunisia – $99.995billion, Libya – $90.571 billion and Ethiopia – $86.123 billion. Lagos GDP is higher than 14 of the 51 states in the US, and, bigger than the GDP of 22 of the 27 states in Brazil.

    I deliberately brought Lagos into focus because it is a classical case of a functional government. I also know that a state like Osun and Ekiti are also setting template that is revolutionizing governance and free their people from dependence on allocation from Abuja. From the clinical attention that is paid to budget preparation and the workings of the budget, these governments have accepted responsibility that they are answerable to the electorate.

     

    •Raji writes from Lagos

  • Imperative of national conference

    SIR: Nigeria, as a nation, has not achieved its potentialities. Our country is neither technologically advanced nor economically prosperous. Nigerians call Nigeria the giant of Africa, but the fact is that it is an under-sized-giant that basks in self-adulation and deludes itself as a great country. South Africa is head and shoulders over Nigeria, technologically and economically. Years of bad political leaderships have left Nigeria prostrate. Nigeria is a metaphor for dysfunctionality.

    Our leaders’ inability to curb the menace of corruption in our polity has led to our economic and technological stagnation. Political leaders are on thieving spree while governance is abandoned. That is why our roads are death-traps. As the Ore-Lagos road is still in a state of disrepair, so are other federal roads in the country. Money set aside for road repairs and other infrastructural development is diverted into private accounts. Our leaders travel abroad to treat minor ailments because hospitals in Nigeria are ill-equipped and their personnel not motivated to perform at their optimal capacity. Public universities have been shut down for months because of disagreements between university teachers and the federal government.

    Our government has failed us on all fronts. It cannot diversify the economy to provide job opportunities for millions of university graduates that roam our streets daily. Some of these frustrated and disillusioned youths have taken to criminal activities to earn their livelihoods. Now, a state of insecurity of lives and property pervades the country.

    Against the background of the forces pulling the country apart, the convocation of national conference has become a compelling imperative. Thankfully, President Goodluck Jonathan has acceded to the yearnings and calls of millions of Nigerians by setting up an advisory committee to work out modalities and framework for the convening of the conference.

    Nigerians from diverse ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds should use the opportunity of the round-table to state their grievances and reach a binding consensus on how we shall continue to live as one indivisible country. Nigeria, as it is constituted now, is a forced marriage of ethnic nationalities contrived and midwifed by the British.

    In many countries around the world, ethnic nationalities are asserting their right to self-determination or self-rule. It is better for us to disintegrate peacefully rather than descend into a fratricidal civil war that will claim millions of human lives and destroy people’s properties.

    And, if we choose to live as one country, Nigerians should be given a new constitution, as the current one is not a people’s constitution. Issues of fiscal federalism, indigene-ship and citizen’s rights should be unambiguously spelt out and incorporated into the new constitution.

     

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye,

    Uruowulu-Obosi,

    Anambra State.

  • Stellagate: What’s the President waiting for?

    SIR: The problem with Stellagate is not just the level of impunity exhibited, but the brazen stupidity of the bureaucrats we employed to man the gate. The defence of indefensible is laughable. The denial of the obvious is ludicrous. The cover up is criminal. We are at a point in our democracy where corrupt politicians need to know that the people of Nigeria may not have power to remove them through the ballot box due to the corruption of the electoral process, but we do have power to embarrass and shame them.

    The fact that the mainstream press initially shied away from the story is in itself telling of the complicity of the press in Nigeria. Without the ever present vigilance of the burgeoning blogosphere in Nigeria, we may as well give up on our democracy. The valiant work of the likes of Saharareporters and others should be commended. Sometimes they get it wrong and we rightly excoriate them, but in the long run the internet self-publishing journalism has saved us more than our mainstream press have done. This is not however to say that we do not need the mainstream press. Their reach cannot be understated. It is heartwarming that they immediately jumped on board as soon as it was apparent that the scandal of overpriced bullet proof car for the aviation minister who celebrate deaths on our airways is for real.

    The question is what is next. Many have asked that the president should suspend the minister, Stella Oduah. I concur. You don’t allow a suspect to guard the crime scene. There is prima facie evidence that a crime was committed. Every day the minister spends in that position gives her the opportunity to tamper with evidence, intimidate witnesses and interfere with investigation.

    This scandal is a big test on President Goodluck Jonathan’s readiness to defend the integrity of our democracy and fidelity to our constitution. If he fails to dispense justice in the bid to protect his hirelings, we should be ready to expose his regime for what it is: corruption-ridden, malfeasance-driven gulags!

    We need to continue to put pressure on the president and the National Assembly to expose every facet of corruption in Nigeria. Our future and the future of democracy depends on it.

     

    • Francis Adewale

    Spokane, WA, USA

  • Whither Oyo’s forest reserves?

    SIR: This question becomes pertinent because it appears that forest resources in most parts of Oyo State have been depleted to the extent that Mango, Shea butter, locust beans,cashew and Kolanut trees are being sawn into planks by sawmillers as soft woods, while the state depends on sister states in the South-west and middle belt states for her supply of hardwoods for furniture and building purposes. As a stakeholder in the forest sector, I can say unequivocally that with the rate that the forest resources are being depleted, the future of the sector is bleak and the government should be notified for urgent intervention which Ajimobi’s government is noted for.

    Vegetation wise, Oyo State falls within both tropical forest and guinea savannah. Aside, Ibadan/Ibarapa area where we have tropical forest, other zones in the state are not so blessed in forest resources. Consequently, teak and gmelina plantations were established by both western regional and later Oyo State government in various parts of the state. These plantations include Olokemeji, Gambari, Ijaye, Osho, Lanlate, Igangan Olaseyinde, Olla hill, Olokoo, Odanbon amongst others. All the reserves have been depleted due to indiscriminate felling since 1999. It is remarkable that there was a modicum of security in the forest reserves during military regime; however, the security of the forest reserves has been porous since 1999.

    The travail of Oyo State plantations began in 1999 during the mad rush for teak wood by Chinese and Lebanese businessmen. It was at that time that most of the teak and gmelina reserves were allocated to all sorts of people as political patronage, consequent upon which the reserves were depleted and has since not recovered till date.

    The blame for virtual depletion of the forest resources in Oyo State should not be heaped on the forestry department because of the undue influence of the politicians on civil servants, lack of operational vehicles and necessary equipment to safeguard the plantation. Also, unlike other uniformed personnel, forest official do not carry arms limiting their effectiveness in safeguarding the forest resources of the state. In view of the above, Oyo State government is advised to formulate a policy that would save the state forest resources from extinction. It should be made an offence for any unauthorized person to exploit the forest reserves. Equally, activities of the chain saw operators, rafter cutters and firewood hewers who operate in the forest reserves should be stopped throughout the state. However, because of the fact that kerosene has gone out of reach of the common man, charcoal makers and firewood hewers should be spared but made to register with government, while their activities should be monitored by forest officials.

    New plantations for natural and unnatural trees should be established in various zones in the state and old ones closed for some time with stiff penalty for intruders, so that the forest could be replenished. The Forest Department should be reinvigorated with modern equipments and vehicles as against rickety and hired vehicles driven around by the officials of the department.

    • Adewuyi Adegbite

    Apake, Ogbomoso.

  • The princess, Asuu and Abuja market women

    The princess, Asuu and Abuja market women

    For a lily- livered soul, that does not have the privilege of a regal background, the past few days could be strenuous and frustrating. But not for a princess with a royal blood. This princess is one with a difference. In a country where male chauvinism is still on prowl, her firm grip on the plum job of the General Overseer of the sky speaks volume. Mark you; she is not just a minister! She belongs to the inner caucus of trusted and ‘performing’ cabinet members that could be referred to as prime ministers.  The last time there was a shake- up in the federal cabinet, we were told that the man inside the solid rock at Abuja wanted to inject new blood into the federal cabinet in order to speedy- up the actualisation of the government’s transformation agenda.

    Recent developments in the polity, especially with the controversy rocking the aviation sector, have indeed, shown that more old bloods need to take a bow from the cabinet for us to breath the much needed ‘breath of fresh air’.    It is no longer news that the last two years have witnessed, perhaps,  some of the most gruesome kinds of air disasters in the country. The recent crash of an Associated Airline aircraft, with registration number 5N-BYT in Lagos, instantly killing 13 of the passengers on board, is just an agonising reflection of the sorry state of the aviation sector in the country. In more decent climes, the minister and other key figures in the sector would have offered to step aside. Shockingly, the Princess in charge of the beleaguered sector went to town berating critics of the sector. It was mind-blowing listening to the minister, in the thick of the ill-fated Associated Airline incident, calling critics of the aviation sector drunkards and drug addicts. This smacks of sheer arrogance and gross insensitivity. Since the princess enjoys all the pecks of her plum office, which, of course, include the controversial N225 billion two sleek BMW armoured cars, it is only logical that she should be willing to take criticisms from any quarters in their strides.

    Regrettably, the same indiscreet strategy the princess and her allies resorted to in the case of the unfortunate Associated Airlines crash is being utilised in the on-going N225 billion armoured cars scandal. For the princes and her people, she is a victim of the wicked games of the president’s political enemies. Quite laughable! Come to think of it, the president’s political opponents must be something else to have been able, first, to inflict the nation’s airspace with misery and, now, made the princess and her people to waste the nation’s hard- earned money on a rather ludicrous opulence.

    The most annoying aspect of the impunity that has, over the years, become the hallmark of governance in Nigeria, is the way serious issues are often trivialised. Sometime ago, Channels Television did a documentary, which raised lots of dusts across the land, on the sorry state of infrastructure at the Ikeja Police College. Unfortunately, rather than ride on the furor generated by the Channels Television’s expose, to deal with the obviously  disintegrating  police institutional system that was responsible for such decay, the president was reported to have asked  police top brass at the college how Channels Television’s crew gained access into the premise. Indeed, at the heat of the uproar generated by the issue, it was insinuated that the Channels’ documentary was the handiwork of the president’s political opponents who are bent on giving his presidency a bad image.

    In a similar fashion, it was widely reported that Aviation authorities have decided to go after its official(s) that allegedly leaked the information of the purchase of the controversial armoured vehicles. The Director-General, National Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, recently disclosed at a press conference that the Federal Government was concerned about how the information got leaked to the public, noting that whoever leaked the information committed a criminal offence. He explained that the agency had begun moves to uncover and deal with the person[s] that leaked the information to the public.

    For Christ sake, what really do our leaders take us for? Fools? Idiots? For how long would our collective sensibility continue to be assaulted in such reckless fashions? The on-going ASUU strike, which has effectively paralysed academic activities in Public tertiary institutions across the country, further illustrates our un-seriousness as a people. The other day, in his media chat, the president told the nation that he was convinced the current ASUU strike is being politicised. How? Why? As usual, details were quite sketchy. However, it is obvious that the president’s political opponents are at it again! Is it not rather curious that the president could subject members of his own constituency to such level of contemplation bearing in mind that he was once a university lecturer? The implication of the president’s insinuation is that members of the academic community have no minds of their own. Hence, they could easily become pawns to some desperate politicians.

    For crying out loud, these are university lecturers! We are not talking of some informal sector’s operators-bricklayers, panel beaters and carpenters. No! These are men and women that shape the future of our nation. Resorting to cheap blackmail in addressing the current ASUU’s strike typifies governance in the country. It could not be strange to discerning minds that ASUU members are now being painted as unpatriotic and greedy bunch who would not appreciate the monumental efforts of government in transforming tertiary education. Tales of how what ASUU is demanding could cripple the economy reverberate across the land. Yet, we live in a country where public funds have always been spent (not just a problem of the current administration) on needless and frivolous concerns.

    Come to think of it, if we cannot  fix education, power, public infrastructure, refineries, water, security, public health (public officials spend billions of naira annually on medical tourism), sports (Stephen Keshi, the Super Eagles coach, is being owed seven months’ salary while the winning bonus of the Super Eagles players was recently slashed due to non-availability of funds) among others, the question is: what actually is the nation’s money being spent on?  Answers to this question should concern every well meaning Nigerian, especially the Abuja market women. Having successfully held a protest in Abuja, condemning the current ASUU strike, one would like to encourage the Abuja market women not to rest on their oars. In the coming days, one looks up to more protests coming from their stable. They need to gear up and guide their loins for the mother of all protests in respect of the current controversy rocking the aviation sector. If they are concerned about ASUU’s strike, and rightly so, they should be equally concern about what is going on in the Princess’ empire and, indeed, other sectors in the country. Unlike Honourable Dina Melaye and his Anti Corruption Network, ACN, co-travelers, the Abuja Market Women are assured of their security. No one dare stop their protest. After all, they are the mothers of the nation. Who knows, they could hold the magic wand to appeal to the minds of those who (mis)govern us.

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