The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Let’s promote peace to transform Nigeria

    SIR: The ants have it right! Over millions of years they have developed and maintained a structured system that enables them grow and prosper even in the face of relentless adversity. There is a lot we can learn from them and some of these lessons are applicable to promoting peace as a precursor to the transformation agenda. The leaders and the led are inseparable partners in the task of peace initiatives and nation building. You cannot lead the people if you do not love them, you cannot save the people if you do not serve them.

    . We can achieve a lot by self-discipline, so let us do it collectively to promote peace in our land. When we sustain peace, all the positive benefits will follow in consonance with the desire of a new image, which is the thrust of the transformation project.

    The task of transforming Nigeria is a compelling invitation to anyone who loves Nigeria as the place where his/her heart belongs. We must absorb the message ofpeace, hope, faith and loyalty as a precursor to transformation. Pick a copy of “THIS IS NIGERIA” to read in admiration of its uniqueness, rich contents, beautiful simplicity and creativity. A sheer force of energy will burst forth to open your mind to new realities. Realities unfold only to the perceptive and reflective minds in a peaceful society

    A Nigerian child Artist demonstrated her conviction to a peaceful Nigeria when she explained how she was inspired to paint in acrylic a white dove flying with the Nigeria’s flag on its beak. She explained further, how she hears on radio and television many terrible things happening in Nigeria. All these, she interpreted as storm and challenges which inspired her to captioned her painting “PEACE IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM”. She won the Centenary Competition which targeted youths by providing them a platform for expression, take leadership role and to share opinions about the Nigeria of their dreams.

    “This is Nigeria” is taking the idea of promoting peace in transforming Nigeria to a higher level by asking Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora to share their thoughts, comments and perspectives on the idea of peace as basis for transformation. “This is Nigeria “explores the idea of peace in transforming Nigeria and track how the unleashing of Nigeria’s potentials will affect its image and people’s perception now and in the near future. To experience change, we need a regenerated mind connected to positive thoughts of promoting peace. The power of positive thinking empowered people who left great legacies on earth. Positive thoughts and attitudes do not only make great people, but also great nations.

    • Comrade Ogbu Ameh Alexander,

    Abuja

     

  • Oshiomhole, bring back Ojirami Dam

    SIR: I wish to bring to the notice of our able Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole of the dire need of water in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area.

    There is no gainsaying to the fact that the governor has been touching the lives of the people of the state, especially the rural areas by providing infrastructure and amenities.

    But our beloved governor has an urgent role to play in resuscitating the Ojirami Dam which the former military Administrator of the then defunct Bendel State, Dr Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia built during his regime. The dam used to serve the well over 20 towns and villages in the area in the past years. For about three decades now, since the damage of the Dam in early eighties, there has been acute water scarcity in the areas that it used to serve.

    It is now a pitiable sight to now see the people who were once enjoying clean potable water go about in the bush in search of water. Because of the rocky nature of some of the communities, most wells being dug have been abandoned due to inability to reach the water level. Some boreholes that were sunk by some individuals and groups have also failed.

    With about 30 towns and villages spanning across the local government, water supply should not be a negotiable amenity for the people. While only Ojirami, Ewan, Akuku and some parts of Igarra sparingly benefit from the dam, other places like Okpe, Uneme-Nekhua, Ugboshi, Ekpesa, Ibillo, Ososo, Lampese and many more are naturally left out.

    According to some investigations by some concerned citizens in the area, the dam still has the capacity to serve optimally if some of its obsolete equipments are replaced. Also, new pipes will be needed to replace the ones laid since 1970s.

    The water reservoirs in some towns in the council are still in good shape, but have remained dry and spider-webbed. One of such is conspicuously located at Ibillo.

    It is disheartening how most people from these communities travel to neighbouring villages for well and stream water.

    With the drive by the federal government under the Ministry of Water Resources, our Comrade Governor needs to pinch the relevant authority for optimal support to see that the dearth of water in Akoko-Edo is assuaged.

    However, palliative measures such as sinking of boreholes will also go a long way in addressing the continuous helpless state of the people in these areas, as this step, by extension, would further reduce health problems which the current administration of Oshiomhole has been pushing for.

    • Toluwa Adejumoh,

    Ekpesa, Akoko-Edo L.G.A

    Edo State.

     

  • Nunc Dimitis for PHCN

    Be gone! Away with you harbinger of darkness. No tears for you Tormentor-in-Chief of the Federal Republic. For several decades you be-straddled the land and like evil incubus, you would not yield to light, casting deathly shadows over the land. Like a swarm of locusts you left the farmlands bare, voiding our harvests. Be gone! Away with you harbinger of woes.

    Power Holding Company of Nigeria, (PHCN) is no more. It ceased to exist on September 30, 2013 when a swarm of private owners took over bits of its businesses. Adieu PHCN, the abiku who came in different guises and stole the spark in our eyes. PHCN the scion of amadioha that turned out cold as a mucous; nary an ember flickered in you! Would a lion sire a snake? Be gone with thee and may you never reincarnate; yes, may you never return here. We have nailed you to the iroko tree so that you will end up at the middle of no where. We have impaled you deep in the ancient forest. Let the crows pick you clean. Be gone you swathe of darkness.

    Should you return, we shall arraign you before the court of sango, the one who is thunderous of speech and breathes fire on felons. The one whose wrath is dealt in megawatts wired through the sinews of the gods. You who blinkered the light of our great land he will make you swear by the waters of the Kainji. May I come back a turbine if I caused grief by willfully inflicting darkness on the people; may I be as decrepit as the egregious Egbin thermal plant if I fiddled with figures.

    Away and be gone with you! Go the way of the ogbanje on his seventh journey of no return. Now that you have been marked and diced up (like that restless fetal spirit) we shall inter you with the analogue meters of your creation so that we might erase your foot step of folly. We shall also throw in a brigade of that stalwart little gasoline tiger, the rascal Chinese wonder as a fitting memorial to your tumultuous sojourn among us. May you enjoy their noisome company even in the hereafter and may you be ensconced in the company of a vengeful multitude of our fume asphyxiated souls wailing for justice.

    Be gone, unbundled behemoth that we may pick the pieces of our dark wasted years; be gone that we may retool the power plants of our lives and re-augment the megawatts of our existence. You will never have to hold the power of our company anymore; not even the candle of our lives. Your Lugardian transformers which remind of torture chambers will sooner be sent after you. Please keep them as mementoes of your anachronistic tradition.

    Hardball bid you farewell, mirthful that I witnessed this day of our epiphany I sing you this nunc dimitis. I shed nary a tear for you, no fond memories either. Anything else will do; anybody else but you. I join in sweeping the streets after you; I will lend a hand in clearing the cobwebs of those dreary decades. We will make new dungarees and acquire fresh sets of hard hats. We will change our logos and slogans. We will clean out and revamp your jaded edifices. Most of all, we will retool our mind and unlearn our trade. We will forever sing and dance on the grave of your infamy and leave you in the hoary shadows of the past as we march into the horizon of our new sun – and our un-flickering power.

     

  • FUT Minna’s N25,000 acceptance fee

    SIR: I wish to draw attention to the exorbitant fee imposed on the newly admitted students of the Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State in the name of “Acceptance Fee”.

    Newly admitted students are required to pay N25,000 as an admission acceptance fee. Don’t forget that the fee is not part of the school fees. The university is a Federal University.  So, what is the purpose of the acceptance fee?

    The students if they were not interested in the admission would not have chosen the Federal University of Science and Technology Minna not talk of their being subjected to the rigour of JAMB/Post-UME and their associated fees.

    I call on the Federal Government, the Senate and House Committees on Education to call the authorities of the university to order and to ensure that the fee which border on exploitation is reversed.

     

    • Pius Awunah

    Mpape, Abuja

     

  • Why are state-owned varsities on strike?

    SIR: As Nigerian students get set to mark amidst wailing and gnashing of teeth, wasted time, ruined future and delayed destinies of the 100 days of the ongoing nationwide strike embarked upon by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), I wish to ask that why lecturers on the payroll of states owned universities are out of their classrooms?

    Why did they join the ongoing strike to wage war against the federal government leaving the states that employed them out of the battle of supremacy?

    ASUU is demanding the payment of  earned and responsibilities allowances totaling N87billion to her members.  ASUU is also clamoring for conducive environment for teaching and learning, total implementation of UNESCO recommendation on education, etc. A total of N400billion is being demanded by ASUU for these.

    The federal government  has offered ASUU N30 billion for her earned and responsibilities  allowances while the sum of N100billion has been disbursed for the provision of infrastructures in public universities with a pledge to pay the rest for the next three years.

    Now, I wish to ask : why are lecturers in states owned varsities on strike? Are they supposed to benefit from the fund being released by the federal government? What’s the business of the federal government with the rot in infrastructures in state-owned universities? Why are ASUU members in state owned universities fighting federal government for the poor infrastructures in their institutions? Were they employed by the federal government? Is President Goodluck Jonathan, as visitor to the federal institutions also the visitor to the state-owned  universities?

    Should it be the business of federal government to pay lecturers in state institutions’ earned and responsibilities allowances? Is it its duty to pay those serving as Deans, Directors, Heads of Departments, supervisors of Masters and PhD Students, course advisers etc in state-owned universities earned and responsibilities allowances? Are we no longer in a federation? Were they employed by the federal government? Are they working for the federal government?

    My candid advise to ASUU members in state owned universities is to pull out of the on-going strike like their counterparts from Adamawa State University and Rivers State Science and Technology with immediate effect. They should start negotiating with their respective state governors over the poor state of infrastructures in their ivory towers and for the payment of their earned and responsibilities allowances.

    Furthermore, it was stated in the status update of the negotiation between federal government and ASUU that lecturers from state universities are not going to benefit from the N87 billion being demanded for by ASUU for earned and responsibilities allowances. It is simply a matter between federal government and its employees.

    Let me submit by urging that ASUU members in state varsities go back to classroom now.

     

    •Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye

    Magodo, Lagos

     

  • Incessant strikes and future of education

    SIR: It is no secret that Nigeria has been racked by a series of strikes and the various government agencies and ministries have resorted to trading accusations with labour unions as to who is at fault – the latest being the on-going strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) .

    Much as it is a thing of shame that the Nigerian Government routinely signs agreements that they have no intention of honouring, the other part of the problem is that our labour laws are such that the government is sometimes handicapped and most of these agreements are entered into under duress with the labour unions holding the entire sectors they control hostage.

    The educational sector is not made up of only tertiary institutions and recent studies indicate that one of the problems facing our nation is the over-reliance on tertiary education which is in any case substandard. If we must revolutionize the educational sector, it is my view that we must as a matter of grave importance start from the primary school level where the basic framework is imparted.

    Nigerian universities have become notorious for producing graduates that cannot even converse in proper English language much less display proficiency in whatever area they have been issued degrees in. This boils down to the lack of basic framework – we cannot continue to complain about universities when we neglect the primary and secondary schools which supply students to the universities. The universities do not maintain the facilities they already have and do nothing whatsoever with the allocations they currently receive which begs the question – “If you cannot use the funds you have already received to develop the sector, how can we reasonably believe that you will judiciously utilize the funds you are advocating for?”

    Nigerian lecturers must stop playing to the gallery and concentrate on making judicious use of the facilities they have already been provided before blaming their failure on a lack of infrastructure. They are quick to compare themselves with lecturers in the developed countries but they fail to understand that in those countries lecturers do not seize every opportunity they can to miss classes and abdicate their duties like we see in the Nigerian universities. They have failed to do their job in the manner they should, and more funding will not correct their lack of commitment or detract from the fact that they like all other government employees consider their jobs secure and as such do as they please.

    Nigerian lecturers must embrace their place as architects of the future and do all they can to impact on their students in the best way they can. This might prove difficult because some of the lecturers are products of the Nigerian university system and half-baked graduates themselves but nothing prevents an individual from developing his or herself through personal effort.

    If they can do all of this and engage in meaningful development, then the Nigerian people will back their calls for improved funding from both the government and the private sector. This is because where proper research is conducted in the educational institutions, private companies and institutions are always willing to sponsor such research and reap the practical benefits.

    • Omene, Pius Ejeoboghene

    Abuja.

  • National conference: Hurdles ahead

    The endorsement by President Goodluck Jonathan for the convocation of a national conference that would put in place an acceptable constitutional architecture to mediate the challenges of nation-building confronting Nigeria is most auspicious. This is attested to by the outburst of spontaneous expressions of happiness and support for the project by a vast majority of Nigerians that reverberated across the nation following the presidential proclamation. The critical mass that drives this conference and the need to provide a platform for citizens to freely engage themselves with a view of deepening national cohesion and evolving of acceptable governance modalities promises to enhance the content and quality of our federalism.

    Important as this conference is to our dream of a modern Nigeria, it would be naively presumptuous to conclude that it will be given the much desired cooperation and support by all and sundry, and that there are no roadblocks on the way to the actualization of its mandate. These roadblocks are complex in configuration because they cut across theoretical, conceptual, structural, organizational and operational issues and as such are desiring of urgent attention and remediation. It is important to stress that these forces are driven by a myriad of interests and ideological leanings that are at the heart of our nation-building travails. It is therefore important, for us to raise these issues as part of the processes to set the ball rolling for the conference.

    One, the time frame of one month given by the president for the advisory committee to come out with organizational modalities for the conference is too short for any meaningful theoretical and conceptual framework to be designed. One month means that by the first week of November the advisory committee’s life span is over. The committee should be given three months: October to December. Within this period it will consult widely with all relevant stakeholders-traditional rulers, the leadership of ethnic socio-cultural organizations, socio-political organizations, community and opinion leaders, academics, etc-and call for papers and memoranda from interested members of the public. All these could be done in October, while the analysis and propositions of policy options and frameworks of organization is done in November through December, culminating in the submission of the committee’s report. Anything short of this three month time frame may likely compromise critical inputs and rigorous thought in the design of the operational framework of the conference.

    Two, there should be no restrictions on the issues or matters to be discussed at the conference, whatever name it will be called, sovereign or national. From my readings of the responses to the proposed conference, two pathological tendencies are clearly decipherable: the southern tendency of placing all issues on the table for discussion versus the northern tendency of restricting issues to be brought to the discussion table. This dissonance in the philosophical conceptualization of the conference between the north and the south is a major sore point that needs to be decisively handled and addressed if this conference is to succeed. I am of the opinion that everything should be tabled and discussed without let or hindrance. The situation whereby once mention is made of ‘sovereign conference’ it sends down jitters and fears down the spine of some of our country men and women is totally and completely unfounded and misplaced. Is there something we are afraid of letting each other know about ourselves? Do we have a horse and rider federalism in Nigeria? Can any ethnic group claim to be the custodian-in-chief of our sovereignty? Nonetheless, the advisory committee should identify the ideological foundations of these pathologies and address them properly for the conference to take off smoothly.

    Three, the decisions arrived at the end of conference should be implemented. This could better be done by the president proposing a bill to the National Assembly to provide legal framework for the existence of the conference and its outcome. This bill could be undergoing parliamentary deliberations while the conference is on course. The bill should have anticipatory powers assigned to the outcomes of the conference, the understanding being that; once passed as an Act of Parliament, the deliberations and recommendations of the conference only require the signature of the President after due consultation with the National Council of State to come into effect. This issue of legal framework to secure the outcomes of the conference is a fundamental requirement if truly we intend that this conference is not to be a mere talk shop.

    Finally, there should be the political will to make this conference a massive success by rallying all the relevant stakeholders-institutional and extra-institutional-to support it so that we can at least for once address the national question that has lingered with us for a long time. This constructive and critical engagement is the only veritable way of realizing what Oronto Douglas, the presidential egghead on research and strategy calls: ‘a we the people’s agreement’. President Goodluck Jonathan has by the convocation of a national conference that draws its philosophical inspiration from the foundational and structural crises besetting the Nigerian federation demonstrated his commitment to charting a path for the realization of the dream of a just and equitable modern Nigeria where no one is judged based on his ethnic, religious and social affiliations.

     

    • Pine writes from Makurdi, Benue State

  • Jona, Ama, the hunchback and the witchdoctor – a fable

    Once upon a time, when Hardball was not born, the fable goes that a certain hunchback, being weary of backing his life’s burden like a rusack, started to seek a cure for his condition. He had travelled the length and breadth of the land to no avail until he met this wily witchdoctor. Upon diagnosis, he opined that the hunch was not ordinary, that the mortal baggage was the result of the sin of his fathers now stacked on his back by the gods as a living testimony. There was antidote, of course, but precedent upon the condition that unlike his father, he was a good man.

    I am a man of honour, he said promptly, you will find corroboration in the entire clan and beyond, he said frantically. Hold your peace, the medicine man said gently, the gods of the land do not seek corroboration they are the story, from the beginning to the end. Was it not your fathers to the fifth generation who gathered this evil load you now have to lug about? Why is it your lot to carry it? Though you look innocent and benign, would you be one of those who have a good face and dark heart? Would you kill in the bush and dash to the foot path and ask who has killed? If you are not double-faced, do you forgive? Are you low and mean-spirited like a rapscallion?

    You know the gods would forgive anything, even murder and serial adultery (which by the way has grown to a scourge around here), but not an unforgiving nature and meanness of heart. Not to forget is to play god and no man is god and our gods abhor any man playing god. To be mean and ungracious is to assume eternity. Only god is eternal and man, miserable man, will always come and go like the seasons. What is man to go to bed with grudges, with bitterness and ill-will towards another man? Who does he think stir him back to life each day? Ah, man! Fleeting breath, morning dew, blooming flower that exfoliates in splendor and majesty only when its end is nigh!

    Anyway, never mind the digression, I am no god myself, I only bear message. I will give you antidote to your hump but there is a caveat: if you are not the good man you pose to be, you will end up suffering double jeopardy because as you cure your hunch back, your stomach will protrude until… so do you still want the herbs? Yes indeed I want the herbs, the hunchback replied, the whole village world can attest to my obvious good nature. Well then, replied the witchdoctor, here you are, take this bunch of herbs, warm it in an earthen pot and dab three times on your back in the morning and at night. Do it for seven days and present yourself let us see whether you are as much a good man, as you claim.

    Hunchy promptly set about his treatment, but he had a ‘lump’ in his heart. Ten years ago a dainty young man had made off to town with the only woman that ever flashed him a hearty smile. He had never lived it down. The ‘sore’ had festered in his heart all these years and he would harm the young man the instant he sets his eyes on him. He is convinced he has justification to retaliate against this impudent young man. He kept soothing his back with warm herb. By the third day he could feel enormous relieve on his back … but his stomach has become discomfiting. By the fifth day he could barely rise to his feet… the hunchback’s troubles it seemed, had been brought forward. He could never present his self to the medicine man. Never again… MORAL: be quick to forgive, shake hands, make up and move on because you are not god.

  • Leadership lessons from the church

    The Methodist Church started in Nigeria on September 24, 1842, more than 170 years ago. The Roman Catholic Church has been around for more than 2000 years. Leadership experts have always pondered the question as to how and why, beyond the issue of spiritual anchor, these two organizations have survived challenges that other organizations did not survive. How have they been able to survive a world order where the constant is change? How did they survive countless insurrections and revolutions? How did they survive the world wars? How did they survive Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and other dictators?

    What leadership lessons can political leaders and other churches in Nigeria draw from their longevity?

    The critical lessons are embodied in the recent elections of the leadership of the two Christian organizations. In 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as the new Supreme Pontiff of Roman Catholic Church following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. On September 1, His Grace, Most Rev. S.C.K. Uche, the Archbishop of Enugu was elected as Prelate of Methodist Church Nigeria to take over from his Eminence, Dr. Sunday Ola Makinde.

    The first survival lesson is that the Methodist Church and the Roman Catholic Church, by conducting successful leadership transition processes, confirmed that they have truly matured into non-personalized institutions that are bigger than their individual members. Lesson number two is that the transition processes are built around enduring constitutions or procedures that are not subjected to whims and caprice of individuals.

    The election of the new Prelate of Methodist church was done by an Electoral College that relied on section 470 sub-section 3 of the constitution of the church. Pope Francis was elected by a conclave of 203 cardinals from 69 countries. It is near impossible for individuals, however powerful, to bend or tinker with the transition processes of the two Churches. Even the Pope as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church seldom tempers with the laid down meticulous processes of electing a new Pope.

    The third critical lesson is that election of new leaders in these churches, despite being political democratic processes, are deeply anchored on the strong spiritual foundation that the emergence of any leader is always a manifestation of fulfillment of divine will of God. Both churches emphasize guidance by the Holy Spirit. The emphasis revolves around the doctrine that God appoints specific leaders to fulfill His Mission at specific periods in history.

    Both churches have demonstrated over and over that survival or extinction rests with leadership question. Once the leadership issue is successfully addressed, the organization survives and moves forward. This lesson is of critical importance on the effort to build enduring institutional framework in Nigeria. To establish sustainable institution requires that the leadership question be successfully settled. The world is littered with stories of countries, organizations, churches and institutions that failed on the altar of shaky leadership processes.

    Lesson number four flows the transparent and due process nature of electing the new leaders. Both churches reached deep down to bring forth leaders that are well prepared to confront current realities and challenges irrespective of where they come from. Pope Francis is the First pope from Latin America. The impact is already obvious. In just seven months in office, he has succeeded in navigating attention away from the crippling scandals of priestly sexual abuses in the Catholic churches to the core value of church which is social justice.

    Archbishop Uche as Prelate elect has already made history as the first Prelate of Methodist Church from the South-east geopolitical zone of Nigeria. He was ordained Priest in 1982, became a Presbyter in 1990, elected Bishop in 1998 and Archbishop in 2009. He has held leadership positions within and outside the church including chairmanship of Christian Association of Nigeria, Kano State and membership of Imo State Secondary Education Management Board.

    The important lesson here, especially for Nigerian political leaders, is that in choosing new leaders to confront current and future challenges, the institutions of Methodist and Catholic churches did not pigeon hole their scope and span of choice to particular geopolitical areas, regions, race or ethnic group. They spread their net far and wide and allowed God to make His choice. Elections or no elections, both churches understand that God neither holds nor depends on popular votes. If he does, Saul would never have become Paul and Saint Peter would probably never have become the first Pope.

    The fifth important lesson is that the choice of new leaders inevitably comes with some degree of controversy. Some Roman Catholics hold the view that a Jesuit should never have been elected pope. The Jesuits were a militant order founded in 16th century by Basque soldier Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The leader of the Jesuits is referred to as Father General. Just before the convening of the conclave that elected him Pope, Cardinal Bergoglio celebrated his 55th year as a Jesuit. No Jesuit had even been pope. He is the first. This school of thought also believe that a Cardinal reputed to have cooked his own meals, rode public transport to work, paid his own hotel bills, gets his own coffee from vending machines should never have been made pope. They believe that he will compromise the aura and dignity of the Pontificate. That the Pope washed the feet of an imprisoned non-Catholic Serbian felon during the traditional washing of feet during the holy week and gives ordinary people rides in his Popemobile have added fuel to the controversy.

    In the case of Prelate S.C.K Uche, there have been remarks to that his election breached some constitutional provisions. The leadership lesson is on how the post election controversies are handled.

    The matter is neatly handled in the Catholic Church. Anything that happened in the conclave during election of a new Pope is a matter of utmost secrecy. All Cardinals, members of the election conclave and all staff associated with the processes swear to oath of perpetual secrecy. Once the white smoke announces the birth of a new pope to the world, all controversies related to the election are regarded as academic exercises and personal opinions. Most importantly, all issues, real or imagined, are regarded as family disagreement and treated as such. No member of the conclave comes out to circulate press statements on whether or not he agrees with the result of the voting or the process that led to the emergence of the Pope.

    It is unthinkable that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will one day circulate a press statement, addressed to person in particular, to the effect that that the election process that produced Pope Francis was flawed. This post election spirit of unity, love, peace and the belief in the divine will of God if not fully observed becomes a fatal flaw that nullifies all the gains and benefits of the leadership lessons enumerated above.

    The leaders and Trustees of Methodist Church Nigeria should therefore learn from the Catholic Church in terms of addressing post election controversies and take pro-active steps so that the church does not fall victim of this fatal flaw.

     

    •Onyechere, MFR is the founding chairman, Exam Ethics Marshals International

  • Nigeria, the crawling giant

    SIR: The lowering of the British Union Jack and hoisting of the Green, White, Green flag on October 1, 1960 symbolically marked Nigeria’s attainment of independence. Upon the announcement at midnight of September 30, 1960 by Sir Emmanuel Aghanjuebitsi Ewetan Omatsola, OON, an ace broadcaster and radio commentator who died last year at the age of 83 that “Nigeria is a free, sovereign nation”, many then had thought it was the beginning of good things to come for the country.

    Fifty-three years down the line, we cannot beat our chests and say we are where we should be as a nation, especially when one considers the abundance of natural and human resources Nigeria is blessed with.

    Nigeria is like a man who has everything and lacks nothing, yet, he is still seen to be suffering and in serious pains. Corruption, bad leadership and outright mismanagement of our God-given wealth have kept us crawling, even though we have since been released from the clutches of colonialism through the actualization of

    independence. We have become more like a crawling giant.

    I call on our present crop of leaders to do everything within their reach to get us out of this quagmire, which is a product of our handiwork. They must leave no stone unturned to renew the confidence of the people of this great country called Nigeria.

    This is the time for them to put in place all necessary machineries that will make us to stop crawling and start walking as a truly self-respecting nation. Our leaders must go beyond their lamentation on the state of affairs in the country and use their good offices to help change the situation in the interest of all Nigerians.

    •Michael Jegede,

    Abuja.