The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Register if you live in Lagos

    Forget Abuja, the place to be in Nigeria is Lagos, the centre of excellence. And it didn’t earn that epaulette recently. Since overthrowing Calabar as capital of the geographical area now known as Nigeria, it has grown from a simple coastal town to what it is today – a mega-city. And like New York is to US, so is Lagos to Nigeria. Hence, it’s great to be a part of this great state. I am definitely not alone in this as many residents of this state would agree there is nowhere like Lagos.

    And daily from the other 35 states, there is a steady exodus to Lagos, which like a mini Nigeria, comprises people from all the nooks and crannies of the country. As the nation’s commercial nerve-centre, it is the Mecca of success. And anyone who succeeds in Lagos, can succeed anywhere in the world. Despite this, Lagos still grapples to cater for Lagosians. Yet, over the years, all sorts; businessmen, artisans, traders, investors, stragglers, nomads, and herdsmen, from other states and abroad have trooped to Lagos. And they keep coming, attracted like iron to magnet. Such is the pull Lagos has.

    But to boast about Lagos is not the purpose of the piece, even though the state has earned bragging rights. Rather, it is to dwell on the recent drive of the state government to document every one that resides in Lagos. Organised by the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA), the scheme seeks to register all those who ‘reside’ in Lagos in a database. Though a sizeable population of people reside in neighbouring Ogun states in places such as Sango, Mowe, Matogun, Akute, Sagamu, but earn their living in Lagos, this scheme is targeted towards only people residing in Lagos. But why is the need for this?

    In development economics, high premium is placed on planning. And one essential ingredient which drives policy formulation is statistics. Without having the correct population figures, planning for that population is subject to trial and error. But real development is not achieved that way.

    I remember a conversation I overheard in a commercial bus about the period of the last population census organised by the National Population Commission (NPC). An Igbo chap speaking with his friend, said he was going to his village to ensure he was counted there. From what I gathered, this chap lived and traded in Lagos. He fitted the bill of the typical Igbo hustler that go ‘home’ to his village in the east during festive periods after a ‘good’ year. But, to him, being counted in his village obviously meant more. His likes don’t realise how they short-change themselves. I mean, Lagos is where he works, probably renting a shop or office, renting a house, going to hospital, sending his children to school, and enjoying other ‘public’ infrastructures. It is to Lagos that he most likely pay taxes, go to clubs, and entertain most of his friends and relatives. And most likely, it is with proceeds earned in Lagos that he prepares for retirement. Bottom-line: he lives ‘more’ in Lagos. He probably felt the issue of census was more for ethnic advantage than developmental purpose. To other people, the thinking is that the registration is for taxation purpose. But Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola has dispelled these fears. According to him, the registration of residents is “to enable us have a reliable database of all residents so that we can plan better and increase access to government services.”

    Section 10 of the state’s law agency charged to create a reliable data base of all residents of Lagos State with a view to providing useful information for social welfare, security, business, employment, financial activities, health, and housing. This data will no doubt ensure planning and aid development. Hence, government will know how many people it should provide water for, how densely their environments are, so as to be able to deploy adequate security, the number of children in the state that need to go to school. And even in the long stretch, to know how many people would need electricity, when and where they are needed more.

    Already, the pilot phase of the scheme has registered over 60,000 civil and public servants in the state. The next phase is to register Lagos’ residents into the database and issue them with Identification cards. There are many reasons why this data is needed. For instance I’ve always wondered why the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) does deploy a daily train on the Alagbado/Iddo axis like every hour on weekdays, knowing there is a huge population there to service. If strategists at the corporation had data of people likely to commute along that axis, surely it would have known that it was depriving potential train riders of its services. And also losing revenue too.

    However, with the forthcoming Lagos light rails, data collected from this scheme would allow the state to efficiently deploy its trains to serve Lagosians better. The other modes of public transportation also stand to benefit. This is because it would have not an ‘idea’ but a realistic figure to work with. That is just one of the symbiotic benefits of planning. Residents would be happy just as government efficiently meets its service. This database would also come in handy when drafting policies in other sectors.

    That Lagos is on the road towards achieving mega-city status is no longer news. But to realise tthatt dream, there is need to have a sensible count of ourselves. And this must be viewed not in term of voting figures or for taxation purposes. Rather, it should be viewed with achieving development. If we refuse to cooperate with the state by registering and availing the state government of necessary data it needs for planning, we might not be able to hold government accountable for inadequacies in deliverables. That is the truth. Government officials are not spirits that know everything. And without registering as a resident in Lagos, one is just ‘doing’ himself or herself.

     

    • Akinmosa wrote from Agege, Lagos.

  • What more does ASUU want?

    SIR: The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has overstepped the bounds of reason. To say that most discerning Nigerians are angry with the union is an understatement. Whoever anticipated that ASUU’s show of shame would last this long?

    At first, we all sympathised with the pedagogues, thinking they were protesting to secure better learning conditions for the younger generation. Alas, we were wrong!

    Now, the varsity teachers have made it clear that they are more interested in their personal comfort than the future of our nation. At the beginning of the strike, the union bought us over by presenting poor infrastructure as the ostensible reason for their action; yet even after government has made concessions, releasing 130 billion naira and making a commitment to do even more, the lecturers have remained implacable.

    Isn’t it clear that they have less than noble intentions? To make matters worse, ASUU has resorted to ludicrous antics in a bid to hoodwink Nigerians into thinking that they are national heroes fighting for the evolution of a better educational system. This is far from the truth. Rather, they are simply using our young ones as pawns in a ruthlessly brutal duel to prove some political point, which is best known to them and their sponsors.

    In times past, ASUU has called off strikes even when their requests were not acceded to. Why is it that they have remained adamant now that government is responding positively? I am especially appalled at the manner with which these people continue to insult our sensibilities by maliciously passing the buck to the government and deliberately maligning well meaning people like the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who has nothing to do with the whole thing.

    The last I heard, 100 billion naira has been released to put needed infrastructures in place on our campuses. Furthermore, the Federal Government has also committed to spending N200 billion in the 2014 budget on the universities as well as in each of the next three-four years until the universities are brought to world-class standard. This is in addition to the N100 billion dedicated and already made available for 2013. Every university student knows that most lecturers don’t take their responsibility seriously. Most of them run personal ventures at the expense of the students they are being paid to teach. Yet, they keep agitating for pay raise. What an irony!

    It is time for Nigerians to wake up and nail the real culprit. One of our major problems is the fact that we don’t take time to analyse issues for ourselves. Rather, we flow with the tide of public opinion which is most often defined by a few opinion shapers. We must tell ASUU that we cannot condone their excesses anymore. We will not allow them to continue to make scapegoats of our bright young minds, who incidentally are our hope and pride, in a bid to satisfy their selfish ends.

    • Issachar Odion,

    mail4issachar@gmail.com

  • Mr President, I am disappointed sir!

    SIR: That President Goodluck Jonathan gleefully commissioned a high class Department of Engineering at Afe Babalola University when the same department in public universities are in shambles is a disservice and unpatriotic! Would Mr. President be so confident to commission such a department in any public university?

    The fact remains that your patronage and contributions to private universities is a clear indictment; it is an attestation that you care less about what becomes of the public universities. You can only correct this notion by doing the needful, that is, implement the agreement reached with ASUU to reposition our universities for a better service delivery. Granted you used to be a stake holder, yet l do not expect you to kill the ‘womb’ that produced you. What would the government lose if the public universities are functional? Allowing ASUU to reluctantly embark on strike is a political arrangement between your government and private universities whose continued sustenance largely depends on high patronage because a smooth and uninterrupted academic calendar in the public universities is a threat to the private ones. Only an insane mind would blame ASUU for going on strike because the quasi development on our campuses over the years was a product of strikes. Apart from paying wages and salaries, there was never a time in the history of Nigerian public university that the government willingly, without prodding, made funds available for effective running of the schools.

    Meanwhile sir, should your administration be in need of a more seasoned and purpose-driven Minister of Education who will not be interested in winning political war, whose mission is to rebuild public education and bring sanity to the sector, l volunteer my services without charge. As it is sir, we cannot all sleep and face the same direction if this deadlock must be broken. l promise not to use public funds to buy armoured cars because my own life is not in danger as l will not act against public interest.

     

    • Tola Osunnuga

    Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State

  • President drowning in scepticism

    In the matter of the National Conference, very many informed Nigerians simply cannot trust President Goodluck Jonathan. In the same vein, they cannot trust the President of the Senate, or the National Assembly. In this very critical development in the history of our stumbling country, the credibility of our whole federal establishment is close to zero.

    The president said this week that our politicians should cease speaking against the conference. But he needs to get the truth loud and clear. It is not only our political leaders across the country that are sceptical about the president’s actions concerning the National Conference – it is most of us Nigerians. Even the ones among us who most strongly support President Jonathan’s re-election bid do not believe that he sincerely intends to get any fruit out of the National Conference that he has initiated. What they believe is that his initiating a National Conference is just a smart move to rally support for his re-election bid – and that, after the election, he will do nothing about the outcome.

    And the reasons for all this disbelief, distrust and scepticism are obvious. We Nigerians are not used to honesty and straight-forward conduct in our government – especially in our so-called federal government. And so we are not used to trusting it. Since independence, the federal government has been no more than a tool for the accomplishment of hidden, special, and even narrow personal, objectives. For most of us in most parts of Nigeria, the federal government is a stranger – an imposition. The fact that we elect representatives to the National Assembly does not make any difference. Our running around at election time in order to get this or that favourite son or daughter elected to the National Assembly is a waste of our time. Once they get to Abuja, they almost invariably cease having any memory of us, or of our desires and expectations. All they do is to focus on their own business – which is to benefit personally from the largess that Abuja controls aplenty. That is the way the system has been deliberately developed. Most members of the National Assembly hardly ever utter any significant sentence throughout their tenure.

    Naturally in the circumstance, the National Assembly has always been easy to manipulate and use by those who come to it with some sectional or other narrow agenda. And the opinions and expectations of the rest of us in Nigeria have not the least chance there. That is why nothing important to the improvement of governance, or important to the welfare of Nigerians, hardly ever passes through the National Assembly. A resolution legalising for all Nigeria the marrying of under-age girls (a practice unique to a narrow part of Nigeria) might pass excitedly and noisily through the National Assembly; but very crucial measures like the Uwais Report on Electoral Reform has no chance of being tabled and debated there for years upon years.

    The presidency is not better. In many respects it is even worse. No person holding the position of Prime Minister or President of Nigeria since independence has ever treated all Nigerians as his people or all of Nigeria as his country. Partly pursuing the agenda of his ethnic group or the religious agenda of his faith, partly pushing the narrow, and sometimes criminal, objectives of a party, usually treating some Nigerian nationalities as enemies that must be disrespected, marginalised or even subdued, and always engaged in sordid schemes of personal aggrandizement, the top executive of Nigeria’s federal government has usually been like a spoilt conqueror ruling over a conquered country. Even on those few occasions when citizens from the marginalized and subdued parts of Nigeria manage to sneak, providentially, into the position of president, they too cannot resist the temptation to operate like conquerors, and to behave as if only they know what is good for Nigeria. That is why, to most people who knew General Obasanjo and the place of his origin in Nigeria, his eight-year presidency turned out to be a shocking betrayal and disaster.

    And that is why, as things stand today, President Jonathan needs to be told an unpalatable truth – namely, that most Nigerians just do not trust him. Providentially, he found his way to the presidency from the most brutalised and most abused corner of Nigeria. Countless youths of his home area have sacrificed their lives in the fight against the excessive powers that have been grabbed for the federal government, and against the excesses of the manipulators of federal power. Naturally, as he stepped into the presidency, the expectations were very high that he would lead Nigeria onto the path of change. Countless citizens were poised to back him on that path of change. But all we have seen in him for about four years is just another typical Nigerian president sunk in the excesses of federal power and money.

    Admittedly, by announcing his decision, on October 1, to initiate a National Conference, President Jonathan suddenly upped his chances of being better assessed by a lot of Nigerians. But all these people have become used to not trusting him and, therefore, their attitude has been mostly to wait and see. Even though what he was convening was not the Sovereign National Conference that most people have been demanding, a lot of citizens were still willing to wait and see.

    However, sadly, a few days ago, President Jonathan made the staggering statement that his intension was that the report of the National Conference would be submitted to the National Assembly, so that the National Assembly may use it to amend some sections of the Nigerian constitution. As far as most Nigerians are concerned, that is limitlessly bad news. Its effect on the president’s credibility and image are simply disastrous. For President Jonathan to rise out of the hole into which that statement has tossed him, he must urgently revise his plans concerning the National Conference and inform our country without delay. Nigerians know what the National Assembly, as it is today, will do with the report of the National Conference. The leaders of the National Assembly will put it away in a locker, where it will gather dust for years and years to come – or perhaps even forever.

    In the characteristically Nigerian presidential super-wisdom (which most Nigerians have always detested, and which has always poisoned Nigeria), President Jonathan turned down the Sovereign National Conference that most Nigerians asked for. To now insist on putting the decisions of the National Conference in the death-dealing hands of the National Assembly will just be too much for most Nigerians to accept. Nigerians want, at least, a National Conference of the Nigerian nationalities which, by its rounding-up resolution, will specify the fate of its own decisions. And most of us would insist that that rounding-up resolution must be obediently adhered to by the Federal Government of Nigeria. For a change in Nigeria’s history, the dog refuses to be wagged by the tail.

    President Jonathan must stop giving the impression that he is playing tricks with the National Conference issue. It is too late in the day for most Nigerians, as individuals and as nationalities, to tolerate such a game.

  • Reality of Rice Revolution

    Four decades of Nigeria’s food balance sheet history were filled with rhetoric, regrets and rots arising from a decline in local food production profile while the food import bill was on the rise. Rice, a food commodity, initially occasionally consumed by households, mostly ceremonially, soon became a daily household staple, a first choice at public gatherings and a common food item in our growing fast food outlets. What governments and individual consumers have failed to reckon with, over the years, was the insidious destruction the growing appetite for rice has caused to Nigeria’s economy, especially when two-third of the rice consumed is imported.

    Nigerians seem either unaware or nonchalant on the health, security and economic implications of such importation. Foremost, no exporting country will keep old stocks in store while exporting fresh harvests. As such, the first-in first-out principle of stocking food applies, wherein such nations push out stocks of five years and above as exports, while retaining new harvests. The health implication to importing nations can be better imagined, especially when the quality of old stocks may have deteriorated, or when we consider the impact of storage chemicals on consumers, where such chemicals are used, or when the nutritional values have deteriorated due to long years of storage.

    Secondly, the security of any food-importing nation is questionable due to the vulnerability associated with economic and environmental shocks, shortage of supplies and deprivation of local farming population who become jobless and constitute social threat to their own country. The economic implication, not only derives from the security (social) implication, but also complicates it. What is gain to the exporting nation is a commensurate loss to the importing nation. This needs some elaboration.

    The annual foreign exchange outflow goes to enrich the producer and exporter nations. Farmers in importing nations are deprived of incentives to produce in a competitive way. Thus, a vibrant farming population is discouraged and displaced from farming.

    To the discerning, an annual expenditure of $11 billion on food importation is alarming enough, with rice importation alone constituting about N365 billion ($2.4 billion or one-fifth of total annual food import bill), meaning that nearly N1 billion has been spent daily for rice importation for so many years. For how long then can we, as a country, afford to tie our food needs to importation, with a population growing at a geometrical rate? At what point should we stop, ponder and change the rising and seemingly irreversible but undesirable trend that is digging a big hole in our national treasury?

    Under the Transformation Agenda of the Jonathan administration, it was decided that Nigeria, as a nation, cannot afford to continue to toe this line ever so blindly. This paved the way for the rice transformation agenda, an intervention that led – within the past two years – to a massive reduction in Nigeria’s dependence on rice importation. The flood of 2012 became a blessing in disguise as it served as a springboard for possibility thinking, involving the inputs of local and international experts assembled by the Minister of Agriculture to think through on how to produce massively to make up for whatever food shortage was occasioned by the flood.

    Ten states of northern Nigeria were systematically and methodically selected for the dry season incentivised irrigated rice production, a project that committed 264,000 hectares of farmland to dry season rice production, yielding about 1.1 million metric tons of rice within five months, keeping the farmers busy at a time of the year they were traditionally idle, and putting more money into their pockets. The experiment arising from the flood of last year, has led to a policy direction of entrenching the dry season rice farming into Nigeria’s agricultural calendar, now to do massive production in 20 states, going forward.

    The dry season intervention, being the first of such an attempt, arose out of the panic scenario that was painted by many economic analysts after the flood. It was an emergency response then, with limited time to plan and execute, a chosen line of decision, taken instead of succumbing to self-serving suggestions coming from traders who would rather that Nigeria imported food to make up for perceived losses arising from the flood. If 10 states, on an experimental and emergency basis (as it were), could produce about a third of what is yearly imported, and done in response to a disaster, then let us think of what more states would produce under a deliberately planned and systematically implemented programme.

    It is premature for any pundit in the comfort of an office to cast aspersion on the agricultural transformation programme implemented in rural communities simply because it has not done a magic, or because its results are not felt everywhere yet. The confounding variables in agriculture are more complex, more complicated and more far-reaching in implications than in other sectors.

    Let us think about it: we are talking about agriculture, operating under harsh logistic environment, supporting resource-poor farmers, tilling the ground, reaching farming population in remote areas, dealing with unpredictable weather, building trust, persuading the financial institutions to play in the sector they hitherto avoided and regarded as risk-prone, and restoring confidence in doubting farming population who have been used to years of deceit from previous governments, government interventions and government officials.

    The journey to make Nigeria a global powerhouse in food production is ongoing. The results achieved in just two years give a signal of progress and a cause to cheer. The flood plains of River Niger, just outside Lokoja, have been there for years, unutilised, until Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State, working with the federal government’s team, turned the area to a massive rice-growing field during the past dry season.

    Large-scale commercial rice producers are already expanding their production of rice locally. Fourteen large-scale integrated rice mills have been established by the private sector in just two years, producing international quality long-grained parboiled rice. Arising from the recent dry season rice production, local large-scale millers now have access to locally-produced raw paddy as could be attested to in Bakolori scheme in Zamfara State, Argungu plains in Kebbi, Wamakko or Tambuwal local governments in Sokoto State, the Eko Rice, coming from Kebbi paddy fields in Suru, exposing the futility of requests for waivers to import rice, which President Jonathan turned down.

    Taraba is another state worth mentioning, wherein a single investor, working with a cluster of out-growers, embarked on large-scale rice production on 30,000 hectares. Working with state indigenes, Dominion Rice Farm is embarking on what promises to bridge about 15 per cent of imported rice through a local production.  Olam, another private firm, is expanding its rice cultivation by 6, 000 hectares for the same reason. And just last month, a Nigerian investor commissioned Quarra Rice in Kwara State, a mill with capacity of 30,000 metric tons per annum, with commercial rice farms on thousands of hectares.

    To further build the resilience of our food system, the government has completed a total of 10 new silos for strategic food reserves within one year, expanding Nigeria’s silo capacity by 400 per cent. These silos are now being provided under concessions to the private sector, for the establishment of world-class agricultural commodity exchanges.

    Times have changed. Considering the dynamics in Nigerian agriculture, especially in the past two years, the jinx has been broken. Nigeria will soon be free from rice imports and will produce, not just enough for local consumption, but will have excess to store and even export! Nigerians need to be patient and see the positive side of the changes taking place on the fields, translating to improved rural economies, rising volume of locally-produced rice stock and freeing our economy from the stranglehold of decades of import-dependency.

     

    • Dr. Oyeleye is Special Assistant, Media & Strategy to Agriculture and Rural Devt. Minister.

  • Gov. Aliyu’s gondolas

    Last Wednesday, Hardball cottoned on to Governor Babangida Aliyu’s boast that his mother is his guardian angel and avatar; warning his (political enemies) to beware. “My mother is still escorting me,” he had said. “So go and do whatever you want to do against me,” he warned detractors. However, Hardball returns to Niger State today not to troubleshoot or test the might of Mama Aliyu, far from it. On the contrary, Hardball is an ardent worshipper at the altar of motherhood. This return to Governor Aliyu’s empire was triggered by the picture of an armada of long, open boats – you may call them gondolas – used for ferry services on the River Niger near the Kainji Reservoir area where Kebbi and Niger states meet.

    The bold, colourful picture captures a row of about a dozen of these large, wooden open gondolas all moored at what is obviously a ferry station. The picture also shows that some of the boats are already full to tipping point with men, women and children, their colourful attires defying the murky water and perilous environment. If it were the scene of a traditional boat regatta it would have been awesome as the boats bear so much beauty and aesthetics even in their obsolescence.

    It isn’t a regatta but a mass transit ferry service, which probably moves thousands of people daily at a point across the great River Niger between Zamare and Yauri in Kebbi State and Kokoli to Ulakami in Borgu, Niger State. It is this oddly beautiful picture of mass transit in Nigeria in 2013 that caught our eyes. It is the picture of forbearing and long-suffering Nigerians, deprived, abandoned and exposed to the perils of the elements that stopped Hardball in his track.

    Hardball had of course read about the incessant carnage on this ferry route. Recall that in September and early October two major boat mishaps happened on this route, which could have claimed over a hundred lives. On September 3 , one of the gondolas cramped with about 70 passengers (imagine a large wooden boat bearing this number of people) heading to Ulakami village from Kokoli market capsized and no fewer than 30 people died, mainly women and their children.

    An eyewitness account said most of the victims were from Ujiji, Tugan Liman, Kanshi Bawa, Dunga Sarkawa, remote settlements around Ulakami village. Another survivor said the boat split into two about half way into the journey and drowned all the passengers on board.

    Curiously, while some of the indigenes thought the frequent accidents on this side of the River Niger is because the gods are angry over their annual sacrifice; others point out that the boats are often overloaded and therefore cannot withstand the strong current occasioned by the heavy rainfall of the season. Government, on its part, reacted differently: Governor Babangida Aliyu immediately banned the use of old boats for ferrying passengers across the Niger River. “The action,” according to an official statement, “is intended to ensure that old and rickety boats do not continue to kill valuable lives in the riverine communities.” The Ministry of Transportation was mandated to ensure full compliance with safety standards.

    It is nice to note that Niger State has such a thing as Ministry of Transportation. Hardball would be interested to know its functions. There is no doubt that a large population of people live in the riverine communities of Borgu and Yauri, both in Niger and Kebbi states. Over the years they have developed giant local boat to ferry themselves. The onus is now on the governments of these states, especially the Chief Servant of Niger State, to provide this mass of people with modern water mass transit system; if not to completely change but to supplement this dangerous and obsolete mode of mass movement, including the supply of life jackets. Governor Aliyu can do better than banning old boats.

     

  • National Conference as jamboree

    SIR: The proposed National Conference will not succeed beyond Aso Rock and other selected venues where it will take place. For the avoidance of doubt, the proposed exercise shares striking similarities with the previous charades by the leadership of this country as part of their usual grandstanding and thoughtless bids towards addressing the myriad problems dogging Nigeria since the 1914 Amagalmation.

    When in hisOctober 1, Independence nationwide broadcast, President Jonathan Goodluck announced the proposed National Conference, which according to him, is targeted at finding solutions to Nigeria’s many challenges, some of us were sceptical about the effectiveness of such exercise in the light of the barriers imposed by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) on its outcomes. Accordingly, that cynicism has been justified by the President’s recent remarks on the proposed exercise, where he was reported to have said that the decisions of the conference would be sent to the National Assembly for ratification and possible incorporation into the on-going Constitution Amendment exercise.

    It is important we do not lose sight of the position of our extant laws on the proposed exercise, however attractive this option (National Conference) might appear. We need to draw our attention to the provisions of Section 4 (2) and Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). To be sure, the said provisions empower the National Assembly and their counterparts at the 36 state Houses of Assembly to make laws as well as alter any part of the Constitution in manners clearly stated therein. It is my firm submission, with regards to the foregoing provisions, that any outcome reached at the proposed conference MUST receive the endorsement of the lawmakers before it can become implementable.

    Meanwhile, it is germane to note that the proposed conference is no different from the previous ones. The Ibadan 1950, Lagos 1952, London 1957 and 1989 conferences yielded no consequences in finding solutions to the problems and challenges confronting the country. Similarly, the 2005 National Dialogue convened by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo is worthy of mention here. The outcomes of that exercise suffered fatal rejection from the National Assembly, which relied heavily on the aforementioned sections in refusing to deliberate on the proposals. There is no guarantee that the proposed conference would not suffer similar fate like the previous exercises, as much as the decisions reached at the conference would have to pass through the lawmakers for implementation.

    Much as one is not averse to Nigerians coming together to brainstorm on the way forward for the country, it needs be expressly stated that such discourse must be conducted within an appropriate platform and with the highest degree of sincerity from the conveners. If the Presidency is serious and strongly desirous to finding a lasting solutions to the country’s challenges, then it must convene a Sovereign National Conference. He can invoke Section 14 (2) (a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which confers sovereignty on the Nigeria people, to do this. The country can also learn from the experiences of Benin Republic (1989) and Congo Brazzville (1991) respectively, that successfully convoked sovereign national conferences to address problems and difficulties confronting their countries at those periods.

    Rather than embark on this wild goose chase and further deplete the nation’s already leaned national purse, the outcomes reached at the previous (as suggested by the APC National leader, Senator Bola Tinubu) conferences should be dusted and forwarded to the appropriate authorities for possible implementation until such a time when we are prepared for the people genuine discourse-the Sovereign National Conference.

     

    • Barrister Okoro Gabriel,

    Lagos

     

  • FG should give lecturers their due

    SIR: The ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), strike has, indeed, shown the federal government’s carefree attitude to education. The Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said Nigeria’s economy will collapse if the federal government implements the 2009 FG/ASUU agreement.

    But the question is; if the economy did not collapse with the huge salaries being earned by political office holders, why should the economy collapse because of the peanuts the lecturers are asking for?

    If the federal government insists that there is no money to meet ASUU demands, I suggest that they slash the salaries of political office holders by 50%, at least, in the interest of students.

    Not only that but the unnecessary appointments made by the President should also be terminated. All these appointments are only meant to keep party members on payroll thereby wasting our resources. Also, the ministry of police affairs is uncalled for since we have the ministry of defence and the police service commission.

    Idowu Esho Jamiu,

    Eruwa, Oyo State

     

  • Don’t kill the man who tells you the truth

    SIR: I write in respect of the current/ongoing strike embarked on by Nigerian universities. I am an academic with deep passion for the development of Nigeria in all its facets and sectors – education, health, water, roads, housing, transportation (infrastructure in general). I am saddened that education which is the most vital sector of our economy is allowed to decay monumentally. For example, in the University of Calabar the same set of hostels we used in my school days Halls 4, 5 and 6 for males and 7 and 8 for females are still the hostels we have for students 34 years after. I am ashamed as a Nigerian that things have not improved as it should in the education sector.

    ASUU is on strike not because of earned allowances but because of infrastructural decay and the inadequacies in our tertiary institutions. Matters have been made worse by the federal government’s refusal to honour the agreement it willfully entered into with the union four years ago. When President Jonathan came on board as a former constituent of the ivory tower, we rejoiced that the dawn of a new era for education sector have set in. In fact, President Jonathan was the only contestant in that year’s election I voted for. I feel very much frustrated that with him also education will not receive a new lease of life. I expected him to wade in in a decisive manner to honour the said agreement.

    On Monday, ASUU University of Calabar was prevented from embarking on its scheduled enlightenment campaign around Calabar metropolis. Government Police (hordes of them) were mobilized to nip this campaign in the bud. I am asking: is Nigeria now a police state? Have we abrogated from our constitution freedoms of speech and movement? Then, if this is so, whither the Nigeria of our dream?

    To have been denied of three months salary is enough sacrifice and shows that ASUU is serious with her present cause. We call on the federal government to show more commitment to the agreement not just by releasing money to the universities, but by ensuring that the monies are used for the infrastructural development for which the money is meant.

    – We are asking for more decent hostels for our students.

    – More lecture halls, auditoria in our public universities.

    – Better equipped laboratories for our science based disciplines.

    – Constant power supply.

    – Comfortable offices for lecturers and a conducive learning environment in all our tertiary institutions.

    Of concern to me is the studied silence (conspiracy of silence) observed from the members of the National Assembly. Could it be that they are incensed that members of the Ivory Tower have been exposing the jumbo salary and allowances they are receiving? It is only fair that they fight along with us because what is good for the goose is good for the gander. They are elected to mediate in all critical matters that concern our nation. They seem to have failed woefully in this respect.

    They are enjoined to wake up from their slumber before the present imbroglio escalates beyond manageable proportions.

    Government should show sincerity and honest commitment. They should also monitor and supervise projects in the universities to avoid the money going down the drains. ASUU is not insisting that all the money should be provided in one fell swoop but that genuine commitment should be made by government as they mobilize to start work in our universities to stem imminent collapse.

     

    • Prof. G. O. Ozumba

    University of Calabar

    Calabar – Nigeria.

     

  • What manner of National Conference?

    SIR: President Jonathan has said his administration will forward the deliberations of the proposed National Conference to the National Assembly for ratification. The National Assembly promptly supported his stand arguing that there can be no two sovereigns at the same time, but we want to believe that the President and the National Assembly either do not know what they are saying or they simply misfired because the National Assembly or even the government of Nigeria itself is not really the sovereign. The true sovereign is the Nigerian people, for as the constitution says in section 14, subsection 2a; “Sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this constitution derives all its powers and authority.” It did not say that sovereignty belongs to the government of Nigeria. As a result, we would have the President and the National Assembly know that they are only first among equals and that they hold power only in trust for the people; for without the Nigerian people, they are nothing.

    The Nigerian people do not need a National Conference whose work must be vetted and validated by any part of the moribund status quo. To that extent, whatever comes out of the proposed conference, if it did eventually hold must only be ratified by a referendum of the Nigerian people. Anything short of that will be unacceptable, and we might just as well forget it.

    The President and the National Assembly must be reminded that if the structure of Nigeria as presently constituted is that good, and if they who are in government have been governing functionally, there would be no need for a National Conference, and the Nigerian people perhaps won’t be calling for one.

    Therefore, we the people do not need a National Conference if its deliberations will have to be subjected to an unhelpful National Assembly that is part of a stagnant status quo.

     

    • Conscience Reports,

    Onikan, Lagos