The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Before we embrace tobacco prohibition

    SIR: The debate around the tobacco control bill opens up a broader discussion about law making and enforcement in general. Legislation is passed with noble intentions, for the good of society, and it is often thought that the more severe the law, the greater the effect. That, however, is not always the case, with some legislation turning out to be impractical or even ineffective.

    Harsh penalties have not reduced crime in any country in the world. For instance, serious crimes such as murder are still committed in the 32 American states where the death penalty for such crimes is enforced. Bringing this example back home, it cannot be said that serious crimes did not exist in this country in the days of the firing squad.

    And the 1920s ban on the production and sale of alcohol in the United States, known as the Prohibition, not only turned out to be an enforcement nightmare, it created an entire criminal enterprise around the illegal production of alcohol, generated wealth for the Mafia and fuelled corruption amongst some of the government agencies that were charged with enforcing the ban.

    An esteemed American economist, Irving Fisher, was one of the most fervent champions of the prohibition of alcohol, based on his hard held beliefs about its effects on society. This sounds very familiar to today’s strident calls for strict controls, if not outright bans, on tobacco. The same Fisher later acknowledged the negative consequences of the ban while his colleagues, also eminent economists, counted the cost and ineffectiveness of the “experiment.”

    The modern day economist Mark Thornton, who wrote a policy analysis paper titled ‘Alcohol Prohibition was a Failure’ coined the phrase ‘The Iron Law of Prohibition’, around the concept that the more intense the law enforcement, the more potent the prohibited substance becomes.

    The key points of Thornton’s paper, written for the Cato Institute, a US think tank and public policy research organisation, are in essence that Prohibition failed to eliminate alcohol consumption; after an initial drop, consumption of alcohol rose steadily; illicit production and distribution (bootlegging) continued throughout Prohibition and heightened enforcement did not curtail consumption. Prohibition was eventually repealed in 1933.

    One of the most important points that Thornton made in his policy paper is that “when certain substances are prohibited, they will not be produced and consumed under normal market constraints, and will be adulterated with unknown or dangerous substances.” This is a crucial point that many groups are pushing aside, in their zeal to use the tobacco control bill to shut down legal, regulated producers of tobacco. Once prohibited, unregulated tobacco products will become available to willing consumers via underground channels.

    Instead of using harsh, emotive legislation to recreate the nightmare of the Prohibition, policy makers in Nigeria should be pushing for balanced, rational legislation that will enable all concerned parties to meet their objectives in a realistic way.

    The American experience shows that banning alcohol led to a rise in criminality and corruption, the very opposite of what the well-meaning legislators intended. Looking back at our experience from the late 1970’s to present times, when all sorts of commodities have been banned in Nigeria at one time or another, we have to ask ourselves: what did those bans achieve, beyond making the few individuals and groups who clandestinely made those goods available very, very rich?

    Adopting a prohibitive approach to the tobacco control issue is hardly likely to be successful, given that we face serious challenges when it comes to enforcement, corruption and management of our borders. Let us not be panicked into hastily adopting laws from other countries without first reviewing and considering their effectiveness.

     

    • Alaba Cole

    United Kingdom

  •  Osun: Laurels for Opon Imo 

     Osun: Laurels for Opon Imo 

    At the debut of Opon Imo – tablet of knowledge – on May 13th this year, Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola knew that it would be celebrated within and outside the shores of Nigeria. But he was unaware that it was going to garner laurels across the globe and in quick succession in torrential rapidity. Apart from being applauded by the World Bank, the Speaker of House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, and the Minister of Finance and Coordinating for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjor-Iweala, Opon Imo has become a metaphor as an e-learning device of all time.

    Ogbeni was right on point when he said: ”We are breaking a yoke of nothingness; the yoke of irrelevance that our continent has been under for a long time. Nobody expects anything from our continent but we are sending signals to the world that the Africans have arrived; that we no longer accept the tag of the a continent without a future. To me, that is the statement we have made with the launch of this hand held device.

    ”The idea of an electronic tablet is not our invention and we make no such claims.  But we have made something completely new and there is none like it in the face of the world.  Other tools do not have pre-loaded materials like this; you must get to the internet to upload.  It is a complete system that does not need to interface with others. It was commended by Harvard University. It is the first major learning device for self study.”

    Thus a science student, who has interest in literature and does not offer it, can still dip into literature texts at his leisure. In the same way, an arts student can learn about scientific concepts that intrigue him purely for knowledge sake, while the other modules in the Opon-Imo application are largely worked on by WAEC and JAMB examiners with the Osun State Teaching Service. In other words, the contents are all locally-sourced. Opon Imo, which was made to go through various levels of mechanical stress test, as this can be verified from UNIOSUN ICT Department, is the first of its kind ‘’stand-alone e-learning tool’ in Africa and arguably in the world.

    As expected, the news has filtered  in that the esteemed Opon-Imo (Tablet of Knowlegde) won a World Summit Award in the e-Learning and Science Category. The World Summit Award (WSA) is a global initiative for selecting and promoting the world’s best electronic media and applications. It sees the bridging of the digital divide and narrowing of the “Content Gap” as its overall goal and, as of 2006, it involves representatives from 168 countries on each continent.

    Putting its focus on cultural identity and diversity, the WSA looks for multimedia projects that effectively and creatively work with quality contents and digitise educational, scientific and cultural heritage. Eminent national experts from more than 100 UN member-states nominated 461 national nominees to compete against each other to win the World Summit Award 2013. There were five nominees of various WSA categories from Nigeria namely; Transparent Nigeria in the e-Government and Open Category, Locate Care in the e-Health and Environment Category, Opon Imo in the e-Learning & Science Category, Efiko Quiz Game in the e-Entertainment and Games Category, TWO TV Network in the e-Media and Journalism Category and i-Teller, Category.

    After careful examination of the entire 461 world nominees by 17 Grand Jury members, who converged for three days in the city of Tallinn, Republic of Estonia, Northern Europe to judge, 40 WSA winners were chosen for 2013 WSA Summit Awards and of the 40 WSA winner Opon Imo was outstanding in e-Learning & Science Category .

    The 40 WSA winners are to be invited to present their projects for the e-Content Creativity competition at the WSA Global Congress 2013 in Sri Lanka (Oct 23-26). Check http://infogr.am/WSA-national-nominees-2013. However, based on the project presentations at the WSA Global Congress in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from October 23rd to 26th, a Global Champion is picked and announced at the Award Ceremony and Gala Night.

    In the same vain, the innovative e-learning devise has also been nominated for the Nigerian Telecom Awards 2013. The Tablet of Knowledge was nominated under the category of African Most Innovative Product of the Year. The award comes up on September 20 at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Onikan, Lagos. Other categories of the awards includes African Telecom of the Year; African Telecom Personality of the Year; West Africa Mobile Operator of the Year; Computer Brand of the Year among others. Besides, in the category of ICT State of the Year, Osun also got nominated alongside Ekiti and Bauchi States.

    The Opon Imo tablet, which was launched on Monday 13th May, provides three major content categories: e-library, virtual classroom and an integrated test zone. The e-library contains 63 e-books covering 17 academic subjects for examinations conducted by WAEC, NECO and JAMB as well as non-academic subjects such as History of The Yoruba, Sexuality Education, Civic Education, Ifa on ethics and morals, enterprise education as well as hints and tips on passing SSCE.

    In the integrated test zone of the device, there are more than 40,000 JAMB and WAEC practice questions and answers dating back to about 10 years and mock tests in more than 51 subject areas, which approximates to 1,220 chapters, with roughly 29,000 questions referencing about 825 images. Other sections of the e-learning device are an average of 16 chapters per subject and 823 chapters in all, with about 900 minutes or 15 hours of audio voice-overs.

    The state saved a whopping N8.4 billion from live textbook purchases and instead, just a sum N200 million was spent by the state government for the purchase of the 56 e-books on Opon-Imo with 150,000 user licenses from a major educational publishing company from the country. As it is structured, Opon-Imo ensures that each student has an e-textbook, not only in all the subjects he is taking, but also on every subject offered at secondary level. This in itself is revolutionary.

    The tablet was distributed free of charge to students of public schools in the Senior Secondary I and II categories in the state. Opon Imo has been commended as one of the veritable tools of advancing and promoting easy learning and democratising education system not only in the state but across the country and beyond wherever it is embraced.

    Opon Imo was the butt of the day at the Edo Information Communication Technology, ICT, Day, a few weeks ago. The State of Osun’s Director of ICT, Mr. Bambo Bashorun, stole the show at this year’s event held between  12-13 of September, in Benin City. Addressing a panel with the topic, “Fostering Governance with Technology”, Mr. Bambo reeled off the advantages of The Opon Imo to the captivated audience that drew applause for the novel initiative of Governor Aregbesola.

    As it stands, Opon Imo has come to stay. We only hope that Governor Aregbesola’s successors sustains the laudable scheme, which was the major fear of Mr. Bambo’s co-panelists and everyone that graced the occasion.

     

    • Ikhide writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

     

  • Anambra’s guber cap fits Ngige

    Anambra’s guber cap fits Ngige

    The November 16 governorship election in Anambra State is being awaited by different interests in that state, like religionists all over the world begin by the starting month of the year to hang around for the month of December to celebrate Christmas. But without a person like Senator Chris Nwabueze Ngige, of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the race, such yearnings and expectations of people concerning the election would have been a boring situation.

    Senator Ngige is a social democrat doing great in strengthening democracy in the country, not minding the brickbats and bickering from political traducers. Keen observers know this!

    As a Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, he is one leader whose crusade is not divergent to the age-long matrix that people should respect their leaders, but not to be afraid of them.

    Senator Ngige is one leader who did not shy away from bringing Anambra State to the front burner for the people to understand that the state had money with which it could develop, unlike in the years, when godfatherism nearly pummelled the state to the soil.

    Senator Ngige has been tested in these areas when he was a governor and is trusted that he is one leader who does not take pride in seeing the led suffering.

    He is so important for the health of the country’s democracy and the development of Anambra State, without dividing opposing views and not seeing such views as anti-Ngige.

    He is not a dictator in a democrat’s garb, coercing people to his personal belief. He believes that the most enduring democracies burgeon from recurrent and people-oriented projects, and not by personal-oriented projects.

    It is time for Ndi-Anambra again to bring back Senator Chris Nwabueze Ngige to the Government House, Awka, to make sure that the projects he started, when he was governor, but was prejudiced by the court, are completed.

    Senator Ngige believes in the ballot and not in the bullet. He sees the latter as an enemy of the people and democracy and the features of tyrants. And he is not a tyrant. He has shown that the wealth of the people should be judiciously used to enable a modest system.

    He knows the tenets of modern democracies. Under him, Anambra people did not suffer and will not face difficulties again, because he shows that he knows how to tackle challenges tweaking to globalisation, and acclimatising to the aging world.

     

    By Odimegwu Onwumere

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State

    E-mail: apoet_25@yahoo.com

     

  • Another Apo killings

    Please when solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves. If I can go back in memory, it was in 2006 a similar incident happened, whereby six innocent Igbo traders lost their lives in the same way these seven were also killed last weekend by a combination of SSS and military personnel. Well, I support government’s effort to defy terrorism and overcome it but caution and diplomacy should be applied especially at the current democratic dispensation. We must be thoroughly democratic and patronise everybody without distinction of class.

    One important area one should look into is, these people have been living in that place for more than two years and there was no report from any citizen or neighbours of any security threat from these squatters. Also, according to reports, they are charged some stipend and they live there with the consent of the care-taker and the owner of the building. Please why were they attacked in the night and branded as Boko Haram without proper arrest, investigation and confirmation that they are members of the group? Or is it because they are from Bauchi, Zamfara, Katsina etc? This is a total blackmail, intimidation, victimisation, humiliation and deprivation. Now, the ASUU is on strike, and some of these squatters are students, you expect some of these youth to stay at home idle? Coupled with hard economic situation and unemployment palaver, they need to struggle for their daily bread.

    This issue borders on human rights, the rule of law and the inviolability of human life. To be candid, the law enforcement agencies should stick to their role under the constitution. These people should not be attacked and gunned down in the first place. Those concerned should be arrested, interrogated, if found guilty they should face the book. Because every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal.

    Lives were lost, many were injured, a certain group of people were blackmailed. We are calling for justice on this issue because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. It is better to have war for justice than peace in injustice. Also the owner of the building should not be spared because he may be the brain behind this barbaric act. Going by the third Amendment of Human Right Act, which forbids the government (security agencies) from quartering soldiers in private residences during peacetime without the residents’ permission, and during wartime only according to law.

    At this junction, I’m appealing to NASS, Human Right, Civil Society and all stake holders to make sure they follow this issue to the end. I also appeal to NASS to come up with modalities to minimise all these forms of extra judicial killings, deprivation, humiliation, victimisation and intimidation, which are inhuman. But this one cannot stop us from having consequences (penalties) for those who violate rules and regulations in the land.

    By the way, to put a stop to this, the law makers must follow and maintain laws; those who interpret the law must also follow and maintain it. The law enforcers should as well follow suit. Government should embark on training and re-training security personnel in order to operate professionally and effectively. Also their welfare should be attractive. Prisons and police cells should be equipped with all the necessary basic amenities. May God help us.

    Adamu Muhd Usman

    Kafin-Hausa, Jigawa State

    amu3333@yahoo.com

  • A President without balls

    A President without balls

    Permit me to begin this contribution by reproducing a portion of an essay that I wrote on 26 September 2011 which was titled ‘’On Goodluck Jonathan, David and Goliath’’. The essay reads as follows.

    ‘’A few days ago from the sacred pulpit of the hallowed chambers of the National Christian Centre in Abuja and in the prescence of the entire leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan proclaimed as follows- ‘’I am not David….I am not a general…..I am not a lion…..I will defeat the Goliaths in our land’’. These are deep and instructive words yet I do wonder whether Mr. President understands the spiritual and practical implications of what he is saying.

    If he says that he ‘’is not a David’’ how can he then possibly slay the ‘’Goliaths in the land?’’ If he says that he ‘’is not a general’’ how can he be an effective Commander-in-Chief who commands the respect and confidence of his army and his officers? If he says that he ‘’is not a lion’’ how can he overwhelm the animals in our jungle that seek to destroy and ravage our land? The lion is a noble and courageous animal that defends it’s pride and family and protects it’s own. That is why it is known as the ‘’king of the jungle’’ and that is why our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself is known as the ‘’Lion of the Tribe of Judah’’.

    Every king worth his salt must have the spirit of the lion and the warrior in him to a certain extent. It is a fundamental pre-qualification for good quality and inspirational leadership and that is what distinguishes the pretender and the usurper from a real king. May the spirit and weakness of Ahab not be our President’s portion even though his words seem to have ensnared him. History proves that weak kings and weak leaders always pull down and destroy great empires and strong kingdoms.

    If you have any doubt about that consider what happened to the Roman Empire under Nero, Claudius or Caligula. If you still have any doubts after that then read up on Russian history or watch an excellent old film called ‘’Nicholas and Alexander’’ about Tsar Nicholas the 1st, the last Tsar of Russia and how his strong-willed wife and his consistent display of weakness shamed and brought down imperial Russia, destroyed the 300 year old royal dynasty of the Romanovs, led directly to the First World War (which in turn led to the Second World War and then later the Cold War), caused the communist revolution, led to the Russian civil war, resulted in the murder of his whole family and ended in the establishment and creation of the most evil and godless empire that has ever ruled half of the world- the cold and all-powerful Soviet empire.

    That is what weakness, prevarication, inconsistency, cowardice, emotional slavery, inexplicable fear and the celebration of indecision can do. Worst still you don’t boast about such qualities because there is nothing to be proud of in them. Always remember, whether you are a king or a subject, that courage is the greatest of all the virtues. This is wisdom. Would someone please tell our President’’.

    Once again, please take note that the contribution that I have reproduced above was first written by me and published on 26th September 2011, almost two years ago to the day.

    With the killing of 62 children by Boko Haram in Damatru yesterday morning, the slaughter of 140 Nigerian troops by Boko Haram in Borno State last friday, the massacre of 41 school children in Borno State by Boko Haram two months ago, the mass murder of no less than 7000 thousand Nigerians by Boko Haram in the last three years and the raging war that is going on in the northern eastern part of our country between Boko Haram and our military today, those words and that counsel that was offered two years ago seem even more relevant today than it was even at that time.

    The carnage that we are witnessing in our country today has come as a direct result of the manifestation of weakness at the top. When a President tells the world that Boko Haram are his ‘’siblings’’ whom he ‘’cannot move against’’, as he did earlier this year, he is asking for trouble. When a President keeps offering Boko Haram amnesty even when they kept rejecting it and whilst they were murdering his people, as he has been doing for the last three years, he is asking for trouble. When a President installs and supports a party National Chairman who describes Boko Haram as ‘’freedom fighters’’, as he did earlier this year, he is asking for trouble.

    When a President announces to the world that he is ‘’not a lion or a David’’, as he did exactly two years ago, no-one should be surprised when his people are killed like flies before his very eyes. May God bring us a real leader that can save our nation and may He take away this one who feels no pain and has no empathy when Nigerian blood, nay even the blood of innocent children, is shed with impunity. Under the tenure of our ‘’lamb’’ President more innocent Nigerians have been slaughtered by terrorists than at any other time in the history of our country except during the Civil War.

    What a mess, what a record. I continue to ponder about one thing though- would the President have been so unperturbed and detached from the whole thing if the children that were killed in their school yesterday morning had been from his Niger Delta area or from the east. It appears to me that simply because those kids were northern muslims this President just ’’doesn’t give a damn’’. What a tragedy. Whether Christian or Muslim, northern or southern, these are only children and they are NIGERIAN children each of whom is entitled to the full protection of the Nigerian state. I have said it before and I shall say it again, Nigeria has become an abbatoir of human flesh and blood under the tenure of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and all those who support him should bury their heads in shame. The blood of all those innocent people is on his hands because he swore to an oath before God and the Nigerian people to protect them from such evil. Instead of getting on with his job and doing so, he has spent the last few days boasting to the world about ringing the bell in the New York Stock Exchange and receiving irrelevant, illusionary, self-serving and absurd commendations for absolutely nothing from President Barack Obama. May God deliver us.

    Permit me to end this contribution with a painful observation. I was thoroughly appalled about the fact that when our lamb President was asked about the latest round of killings during his live ’’Presidential Media Chat’’ programme on Sunday evening, he not only told a lie to the world by claiming that only ’’21 or 22 students were killed’’ at a time when the BBC and CNN had confirmed that at least 45 bodies had been found (more were to be discovered later) but he also failed to express his condolences to the families of those that had lost their loved ones. He made the same omission when he failed to commiserate with or express his condolences to the families of the 140 soldiers that were killed in Borno State last friday whilst fighting Boko Haram simply because they ran out of bullets during the course of the battle.

    By way of contrast, not only was he quick to offer his condolences to the government and people of Kenya for the terrible carnage that was inflicted on them by Al Shabab last friday when 68 people were killed (I guess that to him Nigerian blood is not as expensive or as important as foreign blood) but he was also quick to offer, the Kenyan government military assistance. If President Uhuru Kenyatta decides to accept his offer let us hope that our lamb President will give enough bullets to the soldiers that he will send. Our boys are deeply courageous fighters and they certainly deserve that much. They also deserve to have a Commander in Chief that inspires them, that watches their back and that gives them the very best. May the souls of all those that have been killed by Boko Haram in the last three years rest in peace and may the Lord take the leadership of this nation from the lamb and give it to a lion king.

  • Those who seek Suntai’s job

    SIR: The political crisis in Taraba state revolves around only one thing- who becomes the governor of the state in 2015. The thinking among politicians and some pundits in Taraba state is that Governor Danbaba Suntai’s stay abroad for medical treatment would have altered the political arrangements and block some people’s political ambitions. So, those most likely to be affected made sure Suntai was brought back home, regardless of its implications on his health and that of the state’s polity.

    Politics in Taraba is similar to that of some states in north-east and central Nigeria: Faith, geography, ethnicity and powerful politicians determine who gets what. Since its creation on 27 August 1991, those who became governors in Taraba have shared the same attribute with Nigeria’s presidency of finding themselves as governors without having planned to be.

    Rev Jolly Nyame was an aide in the then Atiku Abubakar campaign organization, when Atiku wanted to be governor of the former Gongola State. When Taraba state was created out of the former Gongola state and Atiku was among the politicians disqualified by IBB. Atiku supported Nyame to contest for the governorship of Taraba state, and he won.

    In 2007, Governor Danbaba Suntai was not in the political equation. Danladi Baido won the governorship ticket of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), but he was denied the ticket. Suntai was eventually given the ticket and he won the governorship election. Same goes for Acting Governor Garba Umar; he was not in the calculation at all, then suddenly the then deputy governor Sani Abubakar was impeached by the State House of Assembly. Suntai picked Garba as Sani’s replacement. Then tragedy struck, Suntai was involved in an air mishap in Yola, on October 25, 2012. Garba assumed the Acting Governor position, following a resolution by the State House of Assembly.

    Those alleged to have spearheaded Suntai’s return are said to be claiming that the governor promised to champion the course for power shift to southern Taraba. Senator Emmanuel Bwacha is representing Taraba South in the Senate. It is believed that he has a strong ambition to be governor.

    Taraba South, has never produced a governor. Taraba North has produced a governor- Rev Jolly Nyame who was governor for nearly 10 years. While Tabara Central has produced Suntai, who is in his second term. Taraba South has produced three deputy governors (Uba Maigari, Saleh Usman Danboyi and Armaya’u) during Rev Nyame’s reign.

    With the current happenings, it appears providence would again keep away the governorship position from Taraba South. Taraba South comprises five local government areas- Wukari, Takum, Ussah, Ibi and Donga. Taraba north comprises six local government areas of Jalingo, Zing, Karim Lamido, Lau, Ardo Kola and Yorro, while Taraba central has five -Sardauna, Kurmi, Bali, Gashaka and Gassol. There is a historical political and cultural affiliation between Taraba Central and North.This is because most parts of the two zones are areas that formed the historic Muri zone. Majority of areas in Taraba south are parts of the Wukari division which is mainly dominated by the Jukun and Kutep tribes; these are factors that may not be in favour of Senator Bwacha, who is from the minority Nshi tribe.

    Another potential contender for the governorship of the state is Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan; she represents Taraba North in the Senate. She has strong grassroots and women support, but she is from Taraba North, same zone with Acting Governor Garba Umar.

    The centre point of the entire crisis is acting governor Garba Umar- just like President Jonathan- Garba was catapulted to his present position just by destiny, nothing else. He was not in the limelight even before becoming the deputy governor. Garba is from Karim Lamido local government area– Taraba north.

     

    • Zayyad I. Muhammad

    Jimeta, Adamawa State

  • Kogi State we never dreamt of

    SIR: Upon the declaration of the new state carved out of Kwara and Benue states on August 27, 1991, the tripartite kingdoms of Igala, Okun, Ebira cum other minorities became citizens of Kogi State. Myriad of dancing steps announced the new nomenclature that binds different ethnic groups together, masquerades in their numerous colours and entertaining display beautified the atmosphere of joy permeating the land.

    Dreams were high up, ambitious were thrown up for strategizing, the struggle for survival of the wittiest, the smartest, and the best workable political philosophy reigned supreme.

    Let us talk about the Kogi of today in comparison to the one we celebrated, the one we so trumpeted, the very one we cherished and loved upon inception; let us quickly fetch from the river of our expectations of then and see if it can match with the existential issues in our state today.

    Is this really the Kogi of our dreams? Is this supposed to be the state we planned for, the state we fought for, prayed and bargained for?

    Our patrons could not have given us a state that plays the role of a melting pot to corruption. Our heroes past could not have fought for a state that is a refuse dump, where hotels and filling stations have become the business of the day, where certified and well educated civil servants who are not connected to the source of power are relegated to the background and the privileged-fake-certificate-holders and political rogues are made to occupy high offices and to receive undeserved robust salaries.

    We have become citizens of a state where education is not considered worthy of attention. As a result, children are condemned to remain at home due to protracted strike action. Faced with the detestable wrath of abandonment, pensioners die of delay of payment; retirees have their gratuity shattered into pieces upon the rock of administrative mismanagement. Promotion in service is earned by those who know who and not by merit.

    What can be said of a state that is richly endowed with geographical sites but at the same time renowned for being a colossal betrayal and a caricature of tourism?

    Ours have become a tragic story of fools in paradise. Blessed with abundance but languishing in emptiness, rich in quality personnel but ruled by a group of untrained and selfish fellows, surrounded with myriad resources but trapped in the maze of maladministration and mismanagement, privileged with multilingual convergence but tormented by division and ethnic discrimination. It is indeed a saga of travail, a mixture of joy and pain for that matter.

    I am confident that we shall get to the Promised Land. But how can this be as we constantly witness degeneration in governance? How can we ever have laughter in our mouths when the ugly stories of previous regimes suddenly become beautiful stories to tell in the face of the present decay in our state?

    We stand in dire need of a turn around. We need to pray and work for a better Kogi State where we shall judiciously maximize our natural gifts/resources to become an enviable tourist centre. We have to carry the broom of transparency, honesty and accountability in our hands so as to sweep away the debris of embezzlement, corruption, insensitivity, sectionalism and segregation.

    Let us learn from our neigbouring state, Edo. We can definitely borrow a leaf from Lagos. We’ve got to turn and learn wisdom from those states where things are working out well. We can go forward, we can be clean as a state, we can make progress, we can be selfless, we can be disciplined, and we can surely unlearn the culture of retrogression so as to relearn the habit of unity of purpose, which will go a long way to enhance socio-economic development.

    • Rev. Peter Adeiza Ariko,

    Lokoja, Kogi State

  • 53 years of hypocrisy and systemic failure

    Perhaps more than ever before in Nigeria’s history, we live in a society which is aware of its vulnerability, but is deeply not too worried about it. That is to say, in spite of the worries that Nigerians would ordinarily have, the government seems not to worry in a particularly intense way about how things are out of control. Since 1960, nothing much has changed. It is somehow unthinkable that the colonial era which was characterised by plundering of the country’s resources and divide-and-rule politics of the British is still manifesting; an indication that the leadership of Nigeria has slept for so long and driven by greed and blurred vision. The founding fathers of Nigeria did not contemplate such a slow motion growth that we celebrate every year, rather they engineered a virile nation that was endowed with all it needed for a catalytic growth in all ramifications of life. They sacrificed their future and well being to jumpstart a country that was designed to bring succour to the suffering people of Nigeria. Fifty three years on, we are on the same spot!

    Granted, every year and perhaps every day in the history of our nation brings a new test. Sometimes our strength as a people is tested and in recent times it has been our security. And it is not just security of life but of food, jobs and good leadership. Those human rights that are commonly referred to as fundamental are no longer sacrosanct. The right to worship has become fearful and dreadful as worshipers now attend religious gatherings with their hearts in their mouths. It is disheartening however that as many as these challenges are, successive governments have not been able to tackle at least one of the nation’s challenges successfully. The effects of inept leadership have hit people so hard in the past 53 year such that Nigerians have nothing good to remember about their severance from British rulership.

    Sadly, since the nation’s independence and through 2013, we worried so much as nation about the state of infrastructure such that we got used to eating, reading and sleeping in the dark as a result of continued underperformance of PHCN or NEPA as I still call them. The roads are still death traps while education is degenerating. We worried about our continued existence as a nation during the last general election when zoning almost caused ‘war’ within the ruling party. The attendant killings and maiming were heights of insecurity in the land. The worries were too many to live with and they might be the fears of coming years. The story is not different at the moment going by how the polity is being heated by selfish ambitions.

    As we opened our eyes to see October 2013, there is no shortage of things to be genuinely worried about: we still worry about livelihood; whether we will be able to meet our daily expenses in a country where there is no social support from the government. We still think so much about our health considering the status of the public hospitals and the influx of improperly regulated private hospitals. Young men and women of marriage age do not only worry about, but fear relationships. The number of single women who desire marriage is alarming because of lack of wherewithal on the part of the male counterparts to enter wedlock. Married couples and single parents worry about children – and still fear whether they will be able to keep them safe and how they will turn out in life because government, at all tiers, keeps depriving them of the instruments of leadership such as access to quality education. Parents whose children have graduated fear that the children might not get jobs because of cronyism. Many young children roam the streets and hawk when they ought to be in school. What then does Nigeria’s independence signify?

    Ours is a nation where a few people who run the state continue unashamedly to plunder public resources while the escalation of poverty and the civil service structure become bloated. The social service delivery and the productive sectors of the economy have crumbled at the hands of gross mismanagement. Yet, we are celebrating! As it is, apart from the astronomical hike in the prices of petroleum products, we have no idea of exactly what we will experience in the next few years. Whatever we think we will experience is only a projection from the awful past experience foisted on us without justification. And for the worries of the past 53 years not to constitute the fears of the future, there is an urgent need to bring on board fresh brains who can proffer selfless solutions to the myriads of problems that have confronted the nation. The older ones who have featured prominently before and after independence up till now should give way for the younger generation to enable them chart their future as quickly as they could. Granted the old broom knows the corners and might sweep cleaner yet, in our instance, the old broom has always swept just its own side ignoring the need for other part of the room to be clean.

    The government should get the right young people to fast-track job creation for the teeming unemployed in order to forestall crisis. The elderly should be supported to live the remaining part of their lives in dignity. National Assembly should enact law to enable local councils establish old people care trust. The lingering crises in education sector at all levels should be meaningfully and purposefully addressed with a view to bringing back the schools to life and relevance. If the worries and fears would reduce, government must act fast and create an enabling environment that will give people a better lease of life as against the present the-rich-have-it-all system of government. No doubt, our leaders’ smugness and disconnection is personified in the government and its ragbag of officers. At the moment, Nigeria, for certainty, is plagued with avalanche of problems that cripple us as a nation and our common priority should be how to fix some of these avoidable and self-inflicted problems. A good manager would not be expending billions of naira yearly on a ceremony that has no bearing on the people while the staggering amount could be used to fix part of the problems.

    Instead of celebrating, we should be cataloguing our failures and begin to fix them. We should look back and see where and how we derailed. We should take stock of our woes and bring to book those who took us to this point. We have no basis to roll out the drums if many of us could not afford average and decent living, when our young men and women are jobless, when both old and young are sickly and malnourished. What is the basis of the celebration when the government lacks the will to turn things around for better?

    The inaction of the poor cannot continue forever; they will soon get to the brink!

    • Osunnuga writes from Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.

  • Wanted for Jonathan: a refresher class on corruption

    Wanted for Jonathan: a refresher class on corruption

    President Goodluck Jonathan should act as an example on corruption. He should not add to the problem. Recently rather than be the moral authority in chief, he clouded matters by saying that corruption is not Nigeria’s worst problem. What did he mean by that? As a PHP holder, even if not in the English language, we expect him to understand the power and nuances of the language. He has undermined the power of corruption to destroy any positive thing in this country.He made the assertion in the lackluster presidential chat. But he seemed to have surrendered to gaffes in the matter of corruption. Not long before that, precisely on the verge of his bell-ringing visit to the United States, he said that the issue of corruption was not his responsibility but that of the Nigerian people. He probably forgot that he has a tag to his office, and it bears president and commander in chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.He even asserted that on the issue of corruption, private and public sectors were culpable, and he confessed that he had his foot in his mouth. He did not possess the audacity to mention names because, according to him, the same culprits who bastardised this nation would attack him. He confessed to fear. He confessed to being the comamander in chief who could not guarantee his own security, so how could he guarantee that of hardball or any other person in the country?How do you tackle corruption without courage? Nowhere in the world can we do that. The first institutional prop to fight corruption is the rule of law. That guarantees that no one is above the law, and that means, whether president or governor, civilian or general, the law takes an equal look at the citizen, and consequences fall on violators without fear or favour.If the president, who is supposed to be the first guarantor of that institution has a foot in his mouth, can we say we are surprised that the corruption sore is at its most festering today and the battle against it at its nadir?Are we surprised that he extended a pardon to his kinsman and former boss Diepreye Alamieyesiegha, former governor of Bayelsa State? He insisted on that in spite of international outrage and condemnation. Are we surprised that he presides over a party that an ex-convict on corruption, Bode George, still preens as a big and influential party apparatchik. George carries himself, especially in southwest politics, when he should shrink in penitence and rejig his sense of duty to his fatherland.Jonathan may need a refresher course on corruption, so he can know how to talk about it and actually tackle it.

  • Junaid Mohamed’s threat over national conference

    Most Nigerians must by now find it puzzling that, any time any change in the structure or direction of the Nigerian federation is proposed or even mentioned, Dr. Junaid Mohammed comes out threatening war. Is this some sort of personal weakness in Dr. Junaid Mohammed, or is it really the way the Fulani leadership, whom he often claims to represent, think of Nigeria’s affairs?

    I can’t believe the latter. After decades of the existence of our various nationalities together in Nigeria, most of us educated and exposed Nigerians can claim that we know our Fulani compatriots fairly well. They certainly are not the sabre rattlers that Dr. Junaid Mohammed often makes them out to be. Every one of our nationalities brings some asset into the building of Nigeria. As for the Fulani, I would say that one of the greatest assets they bring is a capacity for calm and focused consideration of issues. As a young Nigerian in the 1950s, I was friend to Hausa-Fulani youths of my age in college. Later, in the Second Republic, when I was a Nigerian Senator, I had northern friends in the Senate as well as in President Shagari’s executive government. I would rate people like Senator Jalo Waziri, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of Senate (to whom I was vice-chairman and frequent companion on international assignments), and my close friend, Adamu Ciroma, Minister in the Shagari presidency, as among the best statesmen who have ever participated in the governance of our country. In spite of our political and policy differences, President Shagari won admiration across party lines because of his calm, warm, and friendly leadership qualities. Therefore, when he came visiting my part of Nigeria as President, I very gladly led the welcome committee in my Senatorial District – and very proudly helped him to put on, in front of an enormous welcoming crowd, the big Yoruba agbada that a king in my Senatorial District presented to him.

    I think that Dr. Junaid Mohammed is being unfair to the Hausa-Fulani leadership of Northern Nigeria by presenting them often as people who have only war to offer as solution to Nigeria’s problems – or as people who can think only of war as the way to get their position upheld in the politics of Nigeria. What we often witness in him – his almost invariably threatening war – can only be a personal weakness, even though he always comes posing as a significant leader among his Hausa-Fulani people. There are people who, even though they are intellectually gifted, have a natural predilection, when considering difficult issues, to jump lazily or impatiently over all available options and go straight to the last, and least sensible, option. In the history of societies, such characters might be useful when conflicts have actually started; but when society still has the chance of sorting its problems out in calm and civil ways, such characters simply do not belong.

    Among the present generation of Nigerians, Dr. Junaid Mohammed deserves to be regarded as one of our country’s intellectuals. It is therefore shocking that he would dismiss something that very important segments, and probably most of the leaders, of Nigeria have openly endorsed and are openly demanding. Nobody reading Nigerian news in the past three weeks can fail to see that a Sovereign National Conference is an idea whose time has come among our people. Admittedly, a strong groundswell of support for an idea does not necessarily prove that it will succeed, but leaders of society should not simply reject such an idea off-hand. Nigerians have a right to expect a prominent citizen like Dr. Junaid Mohammed to examine deeply and dispassionately this major development concerning our country. The idea of a Sovereign National Conference may have its risks, but if we are united and determined to make a success of our country, and if we are determined to use a Sovereign National Conference for that purpose, we can do it. Since we all accept that our country is buffeted by terrible problems, any individuals or groups among us that choose to resist change stubbornly are, in effect, saying that the collapse of our country is acceptable to them.

    It is shocking too that Dr. Mohammed seems to say that national sovereignty conferences always fail. He may be right that it failed in some countries. But there are very many countries where, in spite of the risks inherent in it, it has succeeded. The 13 American colonies rebelling against Britain in the late 1700’s used a National Sovereignty Conference to forge themselves into a new country – to produce a Declaration of Independence and a federal union. In Britain, a Sovereign National Conference produced the agreement that allowed the Republic of Ireland to come out of Britain in1921. In more recent years in Britain, it has produced agreements that have given Scotland and Wales their own national governments inside Britain – what the British call “Devolution”. In India in the 1950s (after Pakistan had seceded from India), a Sovereign National Conference produced the agreement whereby Indians restructured their federation, made the linguistic nationalities the basis for their states, created 28 states, made the federal government weaker and the state governments stronger than before, and allocated a lot more revenues to the states together than to the federal government. In Indonesia, Sovereign National Conference is now producing the effect that the Indonesian government has abandoned the practice of automatically declaring war against provinces seeking to secede, but, instead, now pursues a policy of granting them local autonomy. In the Union of South Africa in the 1990s, National Sovereignty Conference created the agreements whereby, surprisingly, Black and White South Africans amicably became one country. There are tens of other examples in various parts of the world. A Sovereign National Conference can be a very powerful instrument of nation building – if it is sincerely pursued and carefully organized and managed.

    Dr. Mohammed repeats the old cliché, often heard from the North, that all who are demanding a Sovereign National Conference are really seeking to dissolve Nigeria. Wow! When will the proponents of this camouflage give it up? There might be some who want Nigeria dissolved. But all? Isn’t it time we began to deal in sincerity with one another in this country?

    Finally, Dr. Mohammed says that a Sovereign National conference cannot solve Nigeria’s problems such as illiteracy, corruption and poverty. But certainly, he must know that the real argument for a Sovereign National Conference is that it can solve the fundamental problem of Nigeria – namely, the awful uncertainty about the basis of our nations’ relationships in Nigeria, resulting in a chaotic federal structure and instability. If we sort this out and have a stable country, we will increase our chances of beating our country’s secondary problems.

    The temptation to hold resolutely to narrow ethnic ambitions is strong in Nigeria. If it does not yield, we will have to part – even if that involves, as Dr. Mohammed says, wars. Dr. Mohammed loves saying that his own nation is not afraid of war. Well, I don’t know of any Nigerian nation that is afraid. I know that most Nigerian nations think, rightly, that wars are needless. He also loves to say that, in war, his North has advantages over the rest of Nigeria. Well, Hitler was sure that his Germany had irresistible advantages over the rest of Europe. Such thoughts are always expressions of folly.