The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • When corruption meets impunity

    Nigeria’s lawmakers had long mastered the fine art of farming out a chunk of the national treasury for their personal well-being which deservedly earned them the singular ‘honour’ as the most money guzzling legislature in the world. But before The Economist comes up with yet another survey on the most corrupt executive cabinet in modern time, Hardball would want to put it on record that the Goodluck Jonathan administration will have no rival in this regard either. The reason is that corruption in this era now co-habits with impunity giving forth a wanton and licentious result.

    Over one week ago, a national newspaper had run a front page story about a female minister in President Jonathan’s cabinet who travels by chartered jets and who has run up a bill of over N2 billion in the last two years. The story itself emanated from a civil society group, Crusaders for Good Governance, CGG, which had deposited a petition at the office the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, exactly two weeks ago. Even though the details of the petition are gross and highly unsettling, not a word has come forth from the Presidency, the EFCC or even the minister in question. Mum has been the word from all the concerned quarters, perhaps in the full knowledge that Nigerians are not only inured to the bad ways of their leaders, but that they also have a very shot attention span and will soon forget about this one too.

    That may be so but the report is grievous and damaging: to this Presidency, to the minister and to the image and essence of Nigeria. According to the co-ordinator of CGG, some of the allegations include, one: that a parastatal maintains a private jet, Challenger 850 Visa Jet, at $500,000 per month for the minister; two: that every trip she makes abroad she does with a chartered jet at the cost of $300,000 per trip. Even in trips with the president, this minister would rather cruise a private jet instead of flying in the presidential jet. They cited some of the presidential trips to include those to China and South Africa. Three: during the last Easter break, the minister was said to have also flown her family to Dubai in a chartered private jet as the cost of $300,000.

    As a proof to its allegations, CGG directed the EFCC chairman to verify its claims through the records of aviation regulatory bodies like the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN; the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA; and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA. There are numerous other allegations against this minister but these few are mind-blowing enough. In most other countries of the world, such a minister would have been suspended promptly while a public inquiry would have been empanelled to investigate the allegations. But condoning corruption and shielding corrupt officials has become the hallmark of the Jonathan administration to the ruin of his administration and the utter dismay of the international community.

    There are over a dozen examples to prove that the president is quite comfortable with unbridled corruption going on in and around his cabinet. First the EFCC was defanged at the outset of this administration by strapping it to Office of the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice who himself seems not only quite cozy with, and unperturbed by financial malfeasance around him but has clearly lost any sense of umbrage and moral sufferance towards official corruption. In over half a dozen cases, officials of multinational companies doing business in Nigeria have recently been tried and convicted in the U.S and France for offences committed in Nigeria. But their partners in crime in Nigeria have all been shielded. And when corrupt activities go on for years unchecked, impunity sets in. It is a damaged society in which government officials assault the treasury in this manner.

     

  • Okupe’s attack on G5 governors

    SIR: Where does one begin, is it his incessant reactions to every bit of constructive criticism of the present administration or his clear lack of understanding of the political platform that gave him one small opportunity to have been unfortunately appointed as Senior Special Assistant to the President?

    Let me quickly consider very recent developments credited to Doyin Okupe, the presidential assistant. His rage on whoever supported Governor Amaechi’s re-election as chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum is very fresh in our memories. He is in the class of the uneducated who believe that the number 16 is greater and larger than the number 19. He is an assistant in the presidency that needs the like of late Chike Obi, the mathematician to teach him the rudiments of arithmetic.

    Does one need to be told that the flurry of his responses to every spate of condemnation of the presidency’s wilful acceptance and its latent provision of funds to open a new Governors Forum Secretariat in Abuja with taxpayers’ money for an organization that is not backed by law or supported by the principles of appropriation by the National Assembly?

    Even if Dr. Okupe does not believe in democracy which pitifully places a cup of garri on his table today, he should be conversant with simple Mathematics at least enough for him to know that David Jang’s 16 votes cannot make him superintend over 19 votes cast by honest, intelligent and great men even with his presidential handshake.

    Medically, when a man suffers from the disease known as tantrum, it means the man has reached the unfortunate stage of “uncontrollable rage or temper” over anything less than his expectations.

    In this direction, any matter that is not perceived to be favourable to Okupe is deemed to be very offensive and must be angrily reacted to without fear or favour. After all, he is the most senior of assistants in the line of duty to his paymaster.

    Is it wrong in democracy for four governors to visit their chairman? Can they not travel to Port Harcourt at will to see how their leader is faring? Are they indigenes of Rivers State for Okupe to suspect they went to campaign for Amaechi? Did they reveal to him that their mission was to forcefully make Amaechi take over the president’s seat?

    Then why was he calling them names?

    A man who has never proffered any solution to any Nigerian problem but enjoys criticizing those who have enough experience going by history to affect situations as they occur gives him sleepless nights. If a man has nothing to say at a particular moment in the history of his time, he should learn to keep his mouth shut.

    Again, these governors visited President Obasanjo; Okupe saw nothing wrong with the visit to Ogun State, but when they visited Generals’ Babangida and Abdulsalami in Niger State, it became an offence. Patriots who left their busy schedules in search of solutions to new and emerging threats to our democracy caused by undue silence of the presidency over a state’s sensitive matter that could lead to a national challenge have now become his latest target. He said there was no cause for alarm is River State in spite of all the breaches of the constitution by a few constitutionally illiterate legislators.

    This TANTRUM must be urgently cured.

    • Emmanuel Musa

    Minna, Niger State

     

  • Ezekwesili’s flight of fancy

    SIR: There appears to be no let-up in the crave by former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili to get back into national consciousness, simply by randomly throwing pot shots anchored on misplaced aggression, in the ardent hope that such mudslinging would elevate her to the status of a moral crusader.

    As an institution, we ought not to be responding to the tirades of Ezekwesili, especially as they are anchored on wrong deployment of figures, weird generalizations and outright falsehood.

    But as elected representatives, we owe it a duty to Nigerian people to always seek to conduct our affairs in an atmosphere of openness, candour and a fidelity to the truth. Indeed, if there is any point we are agreed upon with Ezekwesili, or anyone else for that matter, it is the promotion of transparency in governance and ensuring that democratic institutions of state function optimally for the benefit of all.

    On the basis of this shared vision, the 7th House of Representatives wholeheartedly welcome her request for a public hearing on the stated ideals. In doing so, however, the former Minister must be ready to comply with some basic ground rules, so that we may all not be fooled by the guerrilla tactics of someone plagued by an out-of- office syndrome.

    Nigerians would remember that in the course of a similar misadventure, in January, Mrs Ezekwesili had made wild claims bordering on the alleged frittering of $45 billion of the country’s external reserves, and $22 billion in the excess crude account.

    While she is yet to fully justify those allegations, the former minister is this time seeking a fresh sparring partner in the legislature.

    If it were not so, why would an address which centred on a “cost of governance in Nigeria” be curiously limited to an inquest into the operations of the National Assembly, leaving out the other two arms and arriving at the rather simplistic suggestion of the introduction of a unicameral or part-time legislature as the panacea of all Nigeria’s problems?

    What is the percentage of the National Assembly’s N150 billion allocation in a budget of N4.9 trillion? Is it right to insinuate that the budgetary allocation for the National Assembly is for “members salaries and allowances”, while deliberately leaving out capital projects component, salaries of legislative aides and the bureaucracy, as well as allied institutions such as Institute for Legislative Studies, NILS?

    What is the total disbursement to the executive and the judiciary over the same eight-year period? If she was not mischievous, why would she elect to believe The Economist, rather than the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC over the issue of salaries of Nigerian public officials?

    Indeed, answers to these posers are necessary in the build-up to Ezekwesili’s anticipated incarnation as an activist; else she would once again embark on spontaneous flight of fancy, whose major destination is mere ruffling of feathers.

     

    • Hon. Victor Afam Ogene

    Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs,

    National Assembly, Abuja

  • Open letter to Governor Ahmed on Erin-Ile/Offa crisis

    SIR: As an aftermath of the recent crisis between Offa and the Erin-Ile communities, we are aware of the following decisions by your government through radio broadcast, news paper publications and a letter from the white paper implementation committee, even when the government white paper is not out: the proscription of NURTW in both communities; the removal of garages from Idi-Igba in Erin-Ile and at the Ajegunle saw mill in Offa.

    Also that the garages be 5km apart from each-other; that both communities recognise the Unity Road as a buffer zone-even when there is copious evidence that Erin-Ile community at no time accepted the road as a boundary, and finally that government take steps to ensure that both communities co-exist in peace permanently, etc.

    This letter serves to express our community’s gratitude to your government for her relentless efforts to ensure peace in our communities. However, we wish to point out that no peace can be attained without justice. For the umpteenth time, we wish to state that our community has no problems with Offa nor do we have a boundary dispute with them. Prior to Adaramola Commission, we had a boundary with them. They disputed it, hence the commission. That commission, after exhaustive investigations involving visits to farm sites, family compounds and interviews of many witnesses, affirmed the boundary to be the PHCN sub-station at Idi-Ogun at the southern tip of Offa.

    Offa community challenged the verdict of the commission whole-sale and headed for the High Court of northern states. They filed a 10-point ground of appeal and argued nine, voluntarily withdrawing one. Offa lost all grounds of appeal at the High Court and even had costs awarded against them.

    Not satisfied, Offa appealed to the Supreme Court which also unanimously affirmed the commission’s findings. It was only after then, that the KWSG spent tax-payers’ money to fix boundary pillars along the delineated boundary.

    For peace sake, Erin-Ile is prepared to consider land requests for Offa’s development once they formally recognise the sanctity of the Supreme Court boundary.

    A few detractors of our principled stand argue that land is a natural endowment not worth fighting for. We see the argument as illogical and shallow. Land is not the only natural endowment; life itself, wealth, power and beauty are. Almighty God endows these to individuals or a people as He pleases. It is a sin against God for a people or an individual to wish to deprive those endowed of these forcibly. Humanity also makes such forcible deprivation a crime hence the offences of murder, criminal trespass, malice and malicious damage and treasonable felony are created.

    Finally, we seek clarification as to the location of motor parks. We are confused about the 5km distance between the garages. Where will the epicentre of the 5km be? We suspect that the Unity Road should be, based on your decision on that road. This means there should be no garage 2.5km north or south of that road. What arrangements shall be made for intra and inter community movement within the 5km corridor?

    • Gp. Capt. M.O. Salami & Barr. Kunle Alabi

    Erin-Ile, Kwara State

  • OBJ’s pontification on leadership

    SIR: Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s name has become synonymous with betrayal, subterfuge, corruption and above all, abuse of human rights.

    Today, Obasanjo is at daggers drawn with all those who helped him become president in 1999 after spending their fortune. He betrayed Generals Danjuma and Babangida; ditto Solomon Lar, Lawal Kaita, Adamu Ciroma, Alex Ekwueme, Orji Uzor Kalu, late Bola Ige and Atiku Abubakar. In 2003, it was the turn of South-west governors who worked for his re-election as president even though they belonged to a different party from his. Bola Tinubu was the only man standing after the election. Obasanjo’s party rigged the gubernatorial election in all the six South-west states and installed his party men as governors.

    He committed genocide at Odi and Zaki Ibiam in Bayelsa and Benue states respectively. Obasanjo caused to be destroyed entire families, communities, trees, plants, farms and animals.

    Recently, Obasanjo caused to be sacked a Lagos community called Igbogbele in Badagry West Local Government Area. Indigenes of Igbogbele village in Badagry numbering about 200 were rendered homeless by thugs allegedly hired by Obasanjo’s Bells University of Technology. On June 16, the hoodlums in the presence of the police demolished all the houses, mosque, church, and pig pens at Igbogbele sea-beach and set everything ablaze including the personal effects and livestock of the villagers.

    His Bells University-illegally acquired 255 hectares of land and gave some villagers and Badagry chiefs 400,000 naira as the purchase price. The owners of the land went to court in 2004 and sued both Bells University and Lagos State government at a Lagos High Court sitting in Badagry. The trial judge, Hon. Justice E.A. Adebanjo, ordered the parties to maintain the status quo ante-bellum.

    In violation of the order of the court, Bells University of Technology in November 2012 erected fence walls round the 255 hectares of land. The claimants rather than take the laws into their hands went back to court and reported the new development. Hon. Justice O.H. Oshodi granted an interlocutory injunction on Monday, February 11, restraining the defendants/respondents from digging trenches and/or erecting fence walls or any structure whatsoever on the land or in any manner whatsoever commit any further acts of trespass or interfere with the subject-matter of the suit.

    This injunction was not respected as the events of June 16, amply demonstrate.

    What Obasanjo and the Nigeria police committed comes within the meaning of crimes against humanity.

    • Naa Mensa

    ADC-Law

    Ghana.

  • Ezekwesili versus our lawmakers

    There is a wacky Igbo saying that if a man undertakes to single-handedly devour a snake (out of greed of course), the slithering serpent would simply regenerate and live in his tummy happily ever after to the greedy man’s eternal discomfort. This seems to apply to our legislators’ ‘gerrymandering’ with our treasury. Remember Hardball had stated on this space that it would not let up on this issue until our compatriots in the National Assembly come to terms with us on what they truly earn.

    And it isn’t only Hardball who is aggrieved seemingly. Since after the damning survey by The Economist of London, which ranked our lawmakers as the highest paid in the world many Nigerians have expressed their bitterness at NASS’ obduracy in the face of unspeakable rapacity. They are worried that the members have elected to live in denial of a situation most of us know as a matter of fact. Last week, the crusade (that is what it has become) got a boost from no mean a personage than Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili who weighed in that NASS members have spent N1 trillion in 8 years. “Since 2005, the National Assembly members have been allocated N1 trillion,” she said noting that “82 per cent of Nigeria’s budgetary cost goes for recurrent expenditure.” She also suggested that: “Things will improve through part-time legislation. It will reduce the number of people who will go into the National Assembly. You must have means of livelihood so that you won’t have to depend on public funds,” she surmised.

    Of course, the NASS would not hear anything of a part-time tenure and they had promptly shut down the idea in the budget amendment debate but that will be a matter for another day. Now we must dam the river of waste flowing through the legislature. Mrs. Ezekwesili is no attention-seeking rabble-rouser; she was a minister twice in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration and former World Bank vice-president for Africa. She spoke at a public lecture and she has a reputation for being rigorous and facts-driven.

    Senate Majority Leader Victor Ndoma-Ebga has described Ezekwesili’s statement as “blackmail” while Victor Ogene, Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs provided more obfuscation than clarification. But the facts of the matter are public and inviolable; a tally of the budgetary allocation to NASS since 2005 amounts to a little over N1 trillion just as Ezekwesili had pointed out. The lawmakers have also tried some finger-pointing by comparing themselves to the executive arm of government; they talk about the fleet of Presidential jets and excessive overhead and we say that we know and we agree but neither the executive nor the legislature is allowed to run loose and licentious over our national treasury.

    Besides, NASS has a bounden and statutory duty to keep a keen eye over our national treasury and do all that is within its powers to see that it is not violated. We do not need The Economist to tell us that we are being utterly profligate with our resources and that our current expenditure profile is not sustainable. Indeed, we do not need experts to prove to us that there is a direct relationship between the unbridled wastefulness, especially in the executive and legislative arms of government and the incipient social upheavals and grinding poverty in the land today. There is no running away from it that the NASS has no choice but to surgically purge itself of the serpent that has curled up in its tummy. It must start on a clean slate. This is the only way it can earn the moral authority to check the recklessness that goes on in the executive. In as much as Hardball loathes to sound apocalyptic, if the NASS would not take the initiative to make amends, the people would have no choice than to force the change someday soon.

  • Romanticisation of Babangida

    Former military ruler General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) must have done some soul-searching on his 72nd birthday, August 17. It is likely that he wondered about his place in history, considering his undeniable mortality. Interestingly, however, some well wishers lightened the moral burden he brought upon himself 20 years ago when he crushed the people’s will by inexplicably and inexcusably annulling the country’s historic presidential poll of June 12, 1993, which endorsed Chief MKO Abiola.

    The public display of warmth toward him through sponsored congratulatory statements   in some newspapers was indeed food for thought.  It was not only a reflection of the fickleness of human nature; it was also an indication of shocking revision. One statement described Babangida as “The People’s General.”

    It said, “You remain a great Nigerian statesman that is least understood, appreciated and celebrated in terms of your numerous contributions to the socio-political and economic re-engineering of the Nigerian state.”  Furthermore, it added, “All that you modestly started during your regime, and were rejected by your critics, have today become the head of the corner. You are indeed a leader who has been vindicated by history during your life time.”

    Another praise singer called IBB “A leader of leaders.” His own statement described IBB as “a bridge builder, a patriot of no mean stature, who loves this country of ours without reservation.”  He called Babangida “an unusual lover of his friends,” saying, “you always courageously take responsibility in every circumstance.” He added, “Your contribution to the development and emancipation of this country cannot be over-emphasised.”  In one more example of this curious re-branding of Babangida, yet another statement referred to him as “a national figure to be toasted.”

    Irrespective of the country’s undulating political landscape and its perhaps unpredictable features, these attempts to idealise  Babangida’s time in power surely  leave a sour taste in the mouth.  However, much more unsettling is the trivializing falsification that, regrettably, accompanies such experimentation. Although it is 20 years since Babangida’s epic betrayal of the people and the country’s consequent loss of epochal opportunity, the logic of dynamism, constant flux or perpetual motion should not promote selective perception or, even worse, wilful forgetfulness.

    By a fascinating coincidence, Abiola would have been 76 on August 24, just a week after IBB’s birthday, had he survived the brutality he suffered in the course of asserting his popular mandate. His controversial death in 1998, under a different military administration that nevertheless owed its perpetuation to IBB’s original sin, still haunts the polity to this day. It will always be a question to ponder whether the country, indeed, lost a positive turning-point opportunity by IBB’s inscrutable indiscretion, considering that Abiola’s “Hope 93” campaign was full of motivational energy and the majority eagerly bought his promise of constructive change.

    On his birthday, IBB would most likely have remembered the tough stain on his years in power, even in spite of himself. Such is the force of reflex recall, especially in a birthday situation, which usually prompts retrospection and reflection. With the benefit of hindsight, could he have wished he had behaved differently, more specifically, that he had respected the wish of the electoral majority?  It is probable that he has not had a truly happy birthday in the last two decades since his infamous defiance of the people, never mind the conventional greetings wishing the celebrator happiness.

    It must still hurt him that he left the stage broken and humiliated by the popular resistance to his display of raw power, leading to his rushed and unceremonious exit, even though he installed a puppet civilian administration in a futile face-saving terminal move. Not surprisingly, seeking the elusive perfect ending, he indicated interest in the presidency two years ago, only to learn, to his extreme chagrin, that he was generally considered a defective product that could not benefit from even the most creative promotional stunts. In a manner of speaking, he could not be made to smell like a rose.

    Nevertheless, he has managed to maintain a status of political relevance that is unimaginable in the light of his track record in power, or in spite of it. His political stamina is an intriguing study in the sociology of power. Instructively, on two recent noteworthy occasions, he arrived in Lagos from his glitzy hill-top mansion in Minna, Niger State, to offer condolences to Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the influential arrowhead of the political opposition in the country, on the loss of his respected mother, the late Alhaja Abibat Mogaji; and not quite long after, to sympathise with Lagos State Governor Raji Fashola on the death of his father.

    These instances of physical expression of sympathy by IBB took many people by surprise. After all, he remained a card carrying member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and could well have stopped at issuing statements to commiserate with the two politicians who belonged stoutly to the  opposition. Indeed, there was a hint of collaboration, which was reinforced by the unfolding political realignments across the country ahead of the all-important 2015 general elections.

    It is fascinating that the retired soldier who held the country captive for eight years, and so dictatorially aborted perhaps its most promising opportunity for democratic transformation, desires the image of reformation and, evidentially, would love to be seen as a change agent.  Indeed, he should be regarded as a champion of change, specifically, of the negative and counter-productive kind.

    In the final analysis, Babangida represents a metaphor for historically challenged leadership. The enduring lesson, particularly of his power years, but also of his pathetic struggle for relevance outside power, is that political leadership ought to be history-sensitive.  Perhaps the fundamental guiding questions in the context of power should be: “How do I want to be remembered?”  ”How will I be remembered?”

    • Macaulay is on the editorial board of The Nation

  • Echoes from ‘girl marriage’

    To say I was “horrified” is to put it mildly, after watching a Channel Television news report on Senator Yerima’s passionate appeal to his colleagues in the senate on the need to retain Section 29(4) b which stipulates that: “Any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age”.

    Since 1999, the National and State legislatures have made attempts to strengthen Nigerians’ ownership of the constitution, which has widely been perceived as a product of the military with little or no input from the Nigerian population. Nigerians have welcomed these processes, identifying them as opportunities for positive change and the deepening of our democratic processes. Besides, global best practices identify several opportunities presented by constitutional reform processes. They include, entrenching provisions and values missing from earlier constitutions and/or adopting appropriate new values; instituting proper checks and balances, and strengthening the rights of citizens to demand accountability. It also includes, developing adequate forms of facilitation and participation in the constitutional process itself, and, deepening the people’s political and civic education. (The Sixth Assembly: Making Democracy Work 2010).

    Constitutional Reform processes in Nigeria have been froth with intense efforts by the leadership of both executive and legislative arms of government to hijack the mechanism by either excluding qualitative and quantitative participation of the Nigerian people or terminating the processes completely. They did this by diluting the core issues of reform with issues based on their whims and self interests.

    This was true of the process between 2005-2007, when President Obasanjo attempted to turn the constitutional amendment process to that of tenure elongation. Again, in 2007/2008, the Electoral Reform Committee’s Report which was widely accepted by Nigerians was watered down by a Federal Government White Paper and as a result the key popular demands were never implemented. Now in 2013, after widespread attempts to hamper effective participation of Nigerians in the constitutional amendment process, issues that were never advocated for by the people are being propounded and promoted.

    Senator Yerima is, no doubt, using religion as a ploy to cover up his obsession to legalize child marriage in Nigeria. His marriage to a 13-year Egyptian girl in 2009 was widely publicized and condemned in the media. If Yerima is truly a devout Muslim as he claims to be, then he is certainly not informed. It should be noted that even Saudi Arabia is worried by today’s social problems of child marrige and addressing them through legislative reform.

    The Senate and Nigerians cannot afford to be blackmailed by the likes of Yerima who hide under the blanket of religion to abuse and destroy the future of other people’s daughters. The consequences of legalizing underage marriage in Nigeria are too grave socially, economically and politically. The sustainable development of our dear country is under threat; the future of our children hangs in the balance if we give in to this blackmail.

    The Nigerian government has taken some positive actions such as Nigerian Child Rights 2003, adaptation of a gender policy in 2007, establishment of the Ministry of Women Affairs since 1983, women development centres in 36 states, adoption of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition), Law Enforcement and Administration Act, Establishment of a National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons; the adoption of a national policy on HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and female genital mutilation.

    With all these international, continental and national efforts, it would be ridiculous if not absurd for our senate to fall for such cheap blackmail by Senator Yerima.

    Child marriage is one of the worst forms of violence against the girl child marked by harmful physical, sexual, psychological or emotional and social consequences. Many girls are uninformed about their bodies, sexuality and reproductive health before marriage and are thus unprepapared physically and emotionally for motherhood. Several researches, especially by Population Council and AHIP (2007), have reported girls’ embarrassment and lack of resources as barriers to reproductive health services. Key among the health implications of child marriage are the cuts, bruises and tears inflicted on the girls during forced sexual relations with their so-called husbands.

    Child marriage exposes girls to Visio-Vaginal Fistulae (VVF) which causes involuntary dripping of urine. Through VVF, a girl’s presence can become a nuisance to all around her since she always smells of urine. She is no longer desirable and wanted by the husband. She becomes a social outcast. In some areas they are given special black uniforms and are seen on the outskirts of villages begging for food. Malnourished, anaemic, divorced and rejected, she travels long distances to seek modern treatment (Farhang Tahzib, 1989).

    According to a recent statement by the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, Nigeria has the highest incidence of VVF put between 400,000 and 800,000 cases with 20,000 new cases reported yearly, mostly in the north.

    Child marriages account for a high percentage of maternal and prenatal deaths in Northern Nigeria. With a maternal mortality ratio of 704 to 1000 per 100,000 live births, Nigeria continues to have one of the highest levels of maternal mortality.

    The root cause of child marriage is probably due to poverty rather than religion. Population Council/AHIP (2007), found that child brides come from poorer families and have lower levels of education compared to girls who marry after adolescents. Poverty seems to play a role in girls’ marriages in the north-east and north-west. 67% of girls classified as poorest on the wealth index were married by 15 years compared to 46% of “richer” girls, and 25% of the “richest” girls. Additionally, low levels of education were associated with high rates of early marriage.

    Marriage has a significant impact on the quality of a girl’s life, shifting her focus increasingly to family life and motherhood rather than exploration of work world or continuation of education. Marriage confers upon girls a new and different set of expectations, pressures and risks. Girls are treated as objects by men old enough to be their fathers. They are denied their innocence and childhood, straddled with responsibilities, intrigues, complexities, expectations of husbands, and in-laws that come with marriage, but unfortunately, girls, being growing children, are incapable of handling these challenges.

    Child marriage denies girls access to education. This is especially so in northern Nigeria where girls are withdrawn from school for the purpose of marriage.

    This scenario would no doubt have grave consequences for the sustainable development of Nigeria economically and socio-politically. When the gifts, talents and capacities of half of the population of Nigeria are not fully utilized and maximized there can be no development and a vicious cycle of poverty continues.

    The National Assembly and State houses of assembly should recognize the present constitutional amendment process as an opportunity for positive change. They need to look beyound their personal interests and put Nigeria and Nigerians first. The future starts today. Clearly, section 29(4)(b) which stipulates that: “Any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age”, should be deleted from our Constitution because it is not only ambiguous, it also contradicts Section29(4)(a) of our constitution which provides that: “Full age means the age of eighteen and above” and Section 23 of the Child Rights Act which makes it a criminal offence to marry a girl under eighteen years and prescribes a penalty of five years imprisonment. If Section 29 (4)(b) is not deleted, it would be used by pedophiles and rapists to violate Nigerian girls, Muslim girls, inclusive.

    All women and men of good conscience in all spheres of human endeavor must rise up and protect the future of Nigeria. Child marriage is a threat to the future of our girls, to the sustainable development and transformation of Nigeria, socially, economically and politically.

     

    • Odah, is of the Centre for Gender Education

  • PDP’s tantrums on Osun’s urban renewal

    THE recent baseless diatribe by Ayo Aluko-Olokun, spokesman for Senator Akinola Olasunkanmi Akinlabi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), against Osun State’s United Nations supported Urban Renewal Project and the “sincere” way he signed it off compelled me to take up the space and raise the standard. Strangely, Aluko-Olokun threw caution to the winds by taking swipes at the separation exercise carried out in the state to remove obstructive structures on the major highways.

    Indeed, he refused to advert his mind to the fact that Osogbo and our major cities in Osun should and ought to be re-designed to meet modern standards.

    Investment and investors all over the sane world move in the direction of sanity, peace, orderliness, harmony and communal peace. A situation whereby our capital city is inhabitable for business and investment requires practical steps that the present administration has taken to correct the unwholesome growth of these illegal structures in Osogbo. The people, who are the direct beneficiaries of these innovative city re-designing and planning projects are grateful for the bold step, first since 1991 when Osun was created.

    Interestingly, the PDP administration at the federal level has done it without apologies and compensation to the victims. The Abuja master plan was doggedly implemented to ensure that the mistake made in not properly planning Lagos, the former Nigerian capital city, did not re-echo in Abuja.

    The Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Law, 1992, stipulate the specific distance as the Right of Way and the penalties for different categories of violation.  Alignment for federal roads usually covers 47.5m across or 23.75m to either side from the middle of the road. Once the actual width of the road is taken out, the rest is termed road setback. The space from the edge of the road is reserved for public usage like laying of service pipes for water and gas supply, telecommunications and underground electricity transmission and distribution cables among other public purposes. Apart from this, the Right of Way also serves as an important buffer in a situation whereby vehicles veer off the road in case of auto-accidents, mechanical faults or even momentary stoppage by motorists.

    Any structure standing within this space on any side of all major highways anywhere in Nigeria are stricto-senso, illegal and should be removed. The Federal Ministry of Works and Transport, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had always drummed this into the hearing of all that it would not tolerate illegal constructions within the Right of Way. The campaign had been on several years ago.

    Only ignorant politicians would go to town with the story that offenders of this Federal law are crying and not our people who are supportive of the Governor Aregbesola’s drive for a better State of Osun. The fact of the matter is that those affected by the Right of Way law were served removal notices by the immediate past administration of retired Brigadier Oyinlola. They were told in clear terms to remove the illegal structure since then.

    All illegal structures including mosques, churches, schools’ fence, office extensions, shopping complexes and kiosks that were affected were clearly marked with maroon-red ink with dates of notices on them. Many of such structures are still carrying the marks and are to be removed if the owners refuse to remove them.

    It started with the popular Ajegunle spare parts market in Osogbo which was largely affected by the ambitious dualisation of Osogbo-Ikirun-Okuku-Ila-Odo- Kwara State boundary that has been moving at accelerated pace. Governor Rauf Aregbesola not only met with these traders and explained the programme, he provided them alternative site for them to develop and compensation. The same was the case with Alekunwodo plank market and MDS traders who were provided alternative sites.

    Within the entire city of Osogbo, the only recalcitrant group that have refused to see what was good in the urban renewal project of the Aregbesola administration is Osun PDP.

    Rather than obey the federal law, the PDP decided to erect a huge billboard for President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 re-election bid on the federal right of way.

    It is instructive that former Governor Oyinlola lost the moral courage to carry out the removals after the enumeration and marking exercises out of fear of reprisals arising from the burden of stolen mandate until the courageous men and women of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan, booted him out of office.

    The Holy Bible holds as sacred the fact that it is sinful for a man to know that a thing is good and refuses to do that good. Governor Aregbesola knows what is good for the State of Osun and her people and he is doing it with courage because he derives his mandate from the people. The story is akin to a Medical Doctor who must perform a painful surgery to remove a malignant tumour. If the surgeon should hold back his blade just because the patient would complain of pain and fails to do his duty, he will run foul of the Hippocratic Oath he took. Our people know that after this temporary discomfort, Osun will become a haven of prosperity, peace and plenty where all will live happily, long and meaningfully.

    What the administration is doing is right and just and the people are appreciative of the bold, courageous steps taken by the administration to set Osun on the path of irreversible progress and development. Abuja has been cleaned up. Those whining should comment on the massive demolition of whole housing estates for standing within the green zone in violation of the Abuja master plan before offering their diatribe.

    PDP chieftains have been engaging in the frenzy and frenetic of confusion and windy but deceitful diatribes as we move towards Osun 2014. Lies, damned lies do not help any cause. The people will revile, loathe and scorn a liar once his high jinks have been exposed and they are parked in the troubled PDP’s house of commotion.

  • Almajiri education: Engaging the civil society

    Almajiri education: Engaging the civil society

    Developing the mental and social abilities of the nation’s over nine million Almajiris is one of the key promises that President Goodluck Jonathan has kept. There is a popular saying that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Put in another way, people who are idle are easier weapons to be manipulated by mischief makers and ill-intentioned politicians.

    It has been stated severally, but it is worth repeating that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on campaign tour for the 2011 Presidential election committed himself to addressing the age-long Almajiri challenge that has bedevilled the North, posing threat to the social cohesion of the region. The promise has been kept and the administration is deepening the process to ensure that the states and other non governmental institutions drive the initiative to achieve a complete turn-around, which will benefit the entire nation.

    There are critical reasons why the President drove this programme of addressing the Almajiri challenge to a logical conclusion. First, the Almajiris constitute over 9million out of the estimated 10.5million Nigerian children who are out of school. At present, the nation has the highest in the world. Therefore, ensuring that the Almajiri are in school, goes a long way to critically tackling the root of the nation’s out of school problem.

    Furthermore, if the Almajiris are continually left out of the educational and social system, the national development will remain stunted as a large chunk of the population will be socially excluded, with this population serving as a threat to other citizens. Already, Nigerians are witnessing the disadvantage of them being out of school.

    Fundamentally, tackling the Almajiri challenge cannot be an issue for the Federal Government alone. It was for this reason that the Minister of State for Education, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike met with leaders of 40 prominent civil society groups on August 15 to solicit their cooperation in the implementation of the Almajiri Education Programme and other Federal Government programmes aimed at addressing the nation’s out of school challenge.

    The civil society groups were drawn from different parts of the country, with the aim of ensuring that the effect of the interactive session gets to all the nooks and crannies of the nation. The objective is very clear. To engage the groups who represent different aspects of the society, outside of government, so that they can contribute their quota towards putting to rest the social problems that confront the nation because some children are not in school while their mates are in class learning.

    Already, the Federal Government is directly engaging the Mallams who are custodians of Almajiris. The engagement with the Mallams is being implemented by technocrats from the Federal Ministry of Education and the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC. This is being done preparatory to the September commencement of academic activities in the schools. These Mallams who will play key roles in the success of the programme. The interaction between the government’s technicrats and the Mallams has been fruitful. The successful take off of the historic programme is certain.

    For the Federal Ministry of Education, this is the beginning of a process to undo years of neglect of the education sector by previous administrations. On this note, the Federal Government says it will continue to intensify work on increasing the school enrolment of less privileged out of school children across the country to improve the living standard of these street kids being used by politicians and other religious bigots to cause unrest and derail the development process. This was the commitment made by Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike who spoke at the interactive session with civil society groups.

    In his remark, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. MacJohn Nwaobiala said that the ministry adopted total transparency to ensure that the projects are delivered according to specification.

    Farouk Umar of the Transparency Centre Network, stated that the direct engagement between the minister and the civil society groups signified that the Federal Government was keen to partner with all interest groups in its quest to reach the less privileged.

    Another northern based non governmental organization, Northern Peoples Agenda, represented by its executive secretary, Mohammed Zannah, pointed out that the fact that the management and officials of the Federal Minitry of Education are directly engaging the Mallams indicates that the administration is committed to the overall success of the programme. He believes that since the Mallams have been involved in the execution of the project, they will actively work towards its success.

    The National Coordinator of Human Rights Writers Association, HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said that the President’s programme for Almajiris and other less privileged children deserves commendation. He said that the civil society will continue to engage the government for better results in the people oriented programme. Prince Elias Odoemena of African Network for Peace Progress and Development shared the same view.

    It is imperative to note that some civil society groups raised questions about the sustainability of this historic project. To this, the minister outlined some measures taken by the Federal Government to ensure that the programme survives the teething challenges expected as it takes off. First, a memorandum of understanding between the Federal Government, states and traditional rulers has been signed. This spells out the responsibilities of each party in the project. For now, it is being followed religiously. The Federal Government has also committed itself to continuous advocacy to ensure that the states and other institutions increase their investment in basic education.

    Most important is the fact that the new Almajiri Education Programme does not in any way affect the Qur’anic education that the Almajiris are currently exposed to. What it brings to the table is the assurance that the Almajiris will have access to quality basic educaction in a conducive environment backed by an adequate feeding programme and quality educational resource materials. The Almajiris will also be exposed to skills that will enable them participate more actively in the society, other than beg for survival.

    They will also be housed in their respective hostels with facilities that are of high societal standards. Simply put, the Federal Government has put in place several measures to ensure the retention of these Almajiris in the schools.

    Simeon Nwakaudu is the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of State for Education.