The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Jonathan and his ethnopolitical zanies

    Jonathan and his ethnopolitical zanies

    It is not known whether President Goodluck Jonathan appreciates the unusual and fanatical commitment of both Kingsley Kuku, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, and Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), to his cause, especially his masqueraded interest in seeking re-election in 2015. But since he has not publicly denounced the two gentlemen’s remarks, it makes sense to say that he probably connived at their extreme, almost ethnocentric, and quite provocative remarks. The president could do with brilliant advisers. If he had a few around him, they would have counselled him to distance himself from the ethnopolitical zanies that surround him, men who specialise in waving red rag to a bull, and who are adept at instigating ethnic and political animosities.

    On April 25, Hon. Kuku aimed for the country’s jugular when he made a thoughtless and inflammable statement in the United States suggesting that Nigeria’s peace and security depended on Dr Jonathan continuing in office. With his characteristic speciousness and exaggeration he declared: “It is true that the Presidential Amnesty Programme has engendered peace, safety and security in the sensitive and strategic Niger Delta. Permit me to add that the peace that currently prevails in the zone is largely because Jonathan, who is from that same place, is the President of Nigeria. That is the truth. It is only a Jonathan presidency that can guarantee continued peace and energy security in the Niger Delta…I hope the US is aware that with peace and stability in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economy will remain buoyant enough to empower the Federal Government to contend with terrorism and other forms of insecurity in other parts of the country. However, if we allow anything to hurt the peace in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economy will be endangered and energy security in Nigeria and even America will not be guaranteed. The attention and interest of the US in Nigeria must remain the stability of the Niger Delta and the easiest way to ensure this is to encourage President Jonathan to complete an eight-year term.” Absolute, disgusting piffle.

    Hon Kuku made these ludicrous remarks at an interactive session with senior officials of the US State Department led by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (Bureau of African Affairs), Ambassador Donald Teitelbaum. It is of course not anybody’s fault that Hon Kuku’s befuddled mind elevates the Jonathan factor as a component of regional peace above the humongous and pacifying payouts to individuals in the name of pipeline security contracts and amnesty projects. Irrespective of what anybody thinks, the special adviser has made up his mind what to believe, and no one, no matter how sensible and logical, can dissuade him. But as he prated along like a schoolboy, he unwittingly gave his bewildered American hosts a disturbing impression of the hollowness and spuriousness of the Nigerian mind.

    It never rains but it pours. Just when commentators thought no one associated with Aso Villa could make a more nonsensical comment than it was the dishonour of Hon Kuku to make, another hysterical entertainer stepped out. Alhaji Asari-Dokubo, a security contractor for Jonathan’s government, boastfully threatened Nigeria with venomous statements suggesting that Nigeria could disintegrate if Dr Jonathan was not given a second term. Of course, the NDPVF leader does not set great store by performance or competence. Hear the grandiloquent closet militant: “Recently, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsely Kuku, made a statement in the United States of America that the peace being enjoyed in the Niger Delta would not be guaranteed if President Goodluck Jonathan was not returned in 2015… I want to go on to say that there will be no peace, not only in the Niger Delta, but everywhere if Goodluck Jonathan is not president again by 2015, except God takes his life, which we don’t pray for…We must have our uninterrupted eight years of two terms…For a very long time, our resources from the Niger Delta had been used to feed and fund Nigeria…”

    Hardball believes that the fulmination by Dr. Jonathan’s supporters does not represent the opinion of the Niger Delta, for there are many in the oil region who have their heads screwed on right. It must indeed be a misfortune of immense proportions that a region which produced eminent thinkers like Professors Tekena Tamuno and E.J. Alagoa also managed in the same breath to concoct human vacuums like Hon. Kuku and Alhaji Asari-Dokubo and inflict them upon the nation. Scientists explain this ‘miracle’ as genetic mutation, indicating that the sensible must ineluctably co-exist with the hallucinative. They are right.

     

     

  • No to military invasion of Azuzuama community, Bayelsa

    SIR: Following the killing of a number of policemen in Azuzuama Community in Bayelsa by armed militants, heavily armed soldiers have been deployed to the locality, where the events took place. According to press reports, houses of suspected militants responsible for the killings have been razed down by invading troops. Residents of the community have fled the town, with the memories of the carnage that the military invasion of Odi, also in Bayelsa state in their minds.

    This is a deplorable situation of onslaught on the democratic rights of working people and the poor. Instead of tackling the fundamental and underlying basis for restiveness and militancy which are mass unemployment and collapse of education, among others, the Jonathan-led regime has resorted to arm-twisting tactics of employment of brute force to quell the militancy. This is also what played out in Baga, Borno State where another military invasion against suspected Boko Haram elements have left hundreds of innocent civilians dead.

    The failure of amnesty in the Niger Delta with the renewal of militancy in the region foretells the end result of the current amnesty programme for Boko Haram militants. It also shows the limitations of military solution in resolving crisis thrown up by socio-economic conditions. Pro-working people’s organizations including the NLC and TUC in Bayelsa State must demand the withdrawal of the troops from Azuzuama. Mass organizations and Azuzuama residents must organize mass protests against the military invasion of the community.

    Above all, in order to end this era of sorrow, blood and tears under capitalism, working people and the poor in Azuzuama community and Bayelsa State needs to join and build the Socialist Party of Nigeria as a pan-Nigerian, genuine working people’s political alternative to bring into power a revolutionary working people’s government. By putting the commanding heights of the economy under democratic working class control, it will galvanize the enormous resources of society to put in place every necessary critical infrastructure and meet the urgent social needs of education, healthcare, etc. in ending the restive wave of kidnapping, militancy and terrorism.

    • Ayo Ademiluyi,

    Bayelsa State.

     

  • Pointless single term controversy

    Neither the Senate nor its Constitution Review Committee has confirmed the veracity of the presidential and governorship tenure proposal reportedly under consideration. But since the speculated recommendation on tenure has not been refuted, it is fair to make a tentative comment on it. Last week, newspapers reported that the Senate committee was toying with the idea of recommending a six-year single term for the executive arm of government. The suggested tenure, the reports indicated, would take effect from 2015, and would bar the present set of executives from benefiting from it. By their interpretation of the Senate proposal, the media conclude neither the president nor governors whose term in office would expire in 2015 would be eligible for re-election.

    Though the Senate has not published the final details of its review proposals, the snippets published so far present a basis for animated discussions. Assuming the interpretations of the proposals are accurate, it is hard to see how the Senate can push the provision on tenure through the legislative process. Quite apart from the din it would raise among President Goodluck Jonathan’s supporters, and considering how severely it would abridge their plans for re-election or extended tenure, the proposal stands on very leprous legal legs. When the present set of executives vied for elective posts, it was on the legal and constitutional understanding that those entitled to a second term would exercise their rights to vie for the same office if they wish. No constitutional or legal provision could justify a change of goal post midway into their tenure. Nor is it likely a court could be found to sustain the Senate’s tenure proposal even if it were to be adopted.

    If newspaper reports are accurate, there are indications the president and his men may be rallying against the Senate’s tenure proposal. This is a waste of time and resources. They should understand that the proposal can only stand if it is not applicable to current office holders. Sitting president and governors took office under the 1999 constitution; they will, therefore, exercise their right to seek re-election if they have served only one term. Notwithstanding, the Senate proposal must be seen in the context of the feverish manoeuvres triggered by the president himself when, barely one year into his first term, he began to toy with the idea of a seven-year single term proposal. It was not clear why he embraced that astonishing idea, but many analysts believed it was a selfish ploy to help him navigate the maze around his completion of his predecessor’s unfinished first term.

    The country must, however, not be held to ransom by the president’s and Senate’s tenure intrigues. Proposing changes to the subsisting tenure provision is a misdirected effort and a gross misreading of the political problems of the country. The president’s argument that a seven-year single term provision would eliminate the problems associated with re-election battles and curb the huge cost of seeking a second mandate is as untenable as it is a needless distraction. Re-election battles are doubtless costly and sometimes destabilising, but the need to seek a fresh mandate generally restrains the executive’s dictatorial tendency and gives the public a fail-safe option to throw out an incompetent government before irreversible damage is done. A six-year or seven-year single term is as prone to mindless abuse as any other tenure system. Imagine, for instance, being stuck with an incompetent and dictatorial government for six or seven years instead of four.

    The problem with Nigeria is not its tenure system. While it is okay to review the constitution in some respects, it must not be forgotten that the past 14 years of the Fourth Republic witnessed unrestrained manipulation of the system by a few self-appointed kingmakers who have neither the moral compass nor the democratic credentials to make the constitution, as defective as it is in some aspects, to work. Even if the tenure system were to be reworked and eventually adopted, as long as the said manipulators still have free rein, the system would continue to be undermined.

  • Scarcity amidst plenty in Nigerian tertiary education sector

    Scarcity amidst plenty in Nigerian tertiary education sector

    I have been involved in the administration of mass examinations since 2007 when the Committee of Deans of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (OAU) saddled me with the responsibility of organising the first Post-UME examinations in that university for almost 40,000 students. The experience I gathered from this exercise as well as those I had gathered on admission process a few years earlier as the Dean of my faculty were eye openers which had broadened my views on mass examinations and admission process to universities in a country where each year, more than a million young people experience undeserved frustration as they are thrown into the streets as a result of inability to secure admission into tertiary institutions of their choice.

    Unlike the results of WASCE, GCE, NECO and other similar examination bodies, JAMB results are not valid beyond the session they are meant for. Young people who have the so called O/Level pre-requisites are compelled to do UME/UTME as well as POST UME/UTME in the universities of their choice every year until they gain admission. If the statement recently credited to the minister of education that this year alone, 1.2million young people will not gain admission into tertiary institutions is anything to go by, then one could imagine the quantum of young people that have been roaming the streets for many years back due to the fact that they belong to a country that cannot provide tertiary education to all qualified citizens. The truth is that Nigeria has been throwing potential undergraduates into the streets every year since God knows when.

    Every qualified candidate thrown into the streets either due to low JAMB score or inability to score above cut-off mark for the chosen course has the chance to write JAMB the following year. As Dean of my faculty in OAU, I saw people who had written JAMB up to four times and had passed but scored below the cut-off mark for their chosen course, frantically looking for admission. As vice-chancellor in a private university, I have seen these group of candidates expressing interest in my university (and other private universities) but unable to honour the admission because their parents could not pay tuition fees.

    Until recently, students in tertiary institutions owned by government (federal or state) hardly pay tuition fees because of the lip service claim by our hypocritical governments to “Free Education”. Many vice-chancellors, provosts and rectors had to look for ingenious ways of introducing ‘fees’ to enable them run academic programmes. I know a university where it is called “Departmental Charges” but this was not after the vice-chancellor had been brutally and physically assaulted by unruly students.

    On September 22, 2010 a newspaper publication revealed the amount NUC disburses to federal government-owned universities every month. It is easy for one who knows the population of students in each of these universities to know what the federal government was spending on every student every session. My calculation reveals that it spends not less than N500,000.00 on every student in these universities for payment of staff salaries alone. If other recurrent expenditure and capital expenses are added, the figure may jump up to N1m. Therefore, it does not take special reasoning to realise that any privately owned university that is not charging up to N1m in this country is getting subsidy on tuition and infrastructural development from the proprietors.

    The next logical question to ask is: Why is the federal government not subsidizing tertiary education in privately owned institutions? Are students of private tertiary institutions not Nigerians? As I write this piece, no private tertiary institution has benefited from this fund in any form whatsoever since it was established in 1993.

    The target of this write-up is to suggest ways by which every qualified Nigerian gets placement on one of our 128 Universities. There are constraints which are based on our socio-cultural situations that may not make a candidate prefer not more than a few of these universities. Take for example, the new federal universities in Otu-Oke in Bayelsa and Wukari in Taraba. How many Nigerians in the South-west will like to send their children to these geographical locations given the prevailing circumstances in the country? How many candidates from the South-east will like to send their teenage children to Bayero University in Kano after the bomb attack of Monday March 18? Even indigenes of Maiduguri who can afford private university education will rather send their children to the American University in Yola than the federal government-owned University of Maiduguri for security reasons. The truth is that the choice of most young Nigerians out of the 128 universities may not be up to 10. Reasoning further, those 10 will be from their catchment area where they can easily escape to their parents when hell is let loose by political hoodlums, insurgents and area boys as the case may be.

    For the Nigerian state to survive, it is not only the problems posed by militants, insurgents and area boys that were created by the ineptitude of successive governments that should be addressed; many other problems which include providing adequate education for young Nigerians should also be addressed. A situation where every qualified applicant gains admission is the least we desire. If facilities in existing government-owned universities cannot be expanded due to reasons I have already stated, let government empower her citizens to attend the private universities approved by government. Only a handful of the private Universities in this country have up to the number of students that their facilities can cater for. My university has enough facilities for thrice the number of students on enrolment, and so is the situation in majority of private universities. Those who pass UTME out of the 1.2million young Nigerians who the minister has given up on due to lack of facilities in Nigerian universities should be empowered by government through a well organised “Revolving Students Loan Scheme”. There is enough money in the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to fund a Revolving Loan Scheme that every Nigerian student should have access to.

    For the avoidance of doubt, every Nigerian deserves to know that TETFund which was established as an intervention agency under the TETFUND ACT in 2011 and charged with the responsibility of managing, disbursing and monitoring the Education Tax to public tertiary education institutions in Nigeria automatically supersedes the Education Trust Fund (ETF) which was established as Education Tax Fund under Act No. 7 of 1993 and was eventually amended by the Act No. 40 of 1999 with the sole aim of improving the quality of Education in Nigeria (not in Public Institutions only). The vision of ETF was “To be a World-class Public Sector Interventionist Agency in the Education Sector in Nigeria”. All the Acts (1993, 1999 and 2011) imposed a two percent Education Tax on the assessable profit of all registered companies in Nigeria. The Federal Inland Revenue Service is empowered by all the Acts to assess and collect this Education Tax. The Decree which authorized the establishment of private universities by individuals or organisations (Decree No 9 of 1993) came a few months after the establishment of ETF in 1993. Private universities have on various occasions made a case for the need to extend the operations of ETF to private universities on the basis of lack of categorization on the distribution of the fund at federal, state and Local Government levels along the lines of public and private operators. The 2011 Act is obviously an attempt to exclude private universities from benefiting from tax imposed on the private sector. This discrimination in the level and magnitude of attention that the Federal Government is paying to innocent and young Nigerians in tertiary institutions in this country defies all logic. This issue deserves to be addressed by aspiring political office holders in 2015.

    •Prof Badejo is Vice-Chancellor, Wesley University of Science and Technology, Ondo (WUSTO).

  • Of physics and economic growth

    SIR: If we have an economist, Dr.Ngozi Okonjo Iweala as the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinator of the Economy, then perhaps we should experiment with a physicist as minister of a related ministry with the job of chief creator of economic growth.

    I recall that in his Inaugural Lecture in 1973, 40 years ago, Professor Muyiwa Awe, first President of Nigerian Institute of Physics affirmed that physics is the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs. Interestingly, Professor Awe was “Best Man” to the economist, now late, Professor Ojetunji Aboyade , who had served all Nigerian heads of government from Balewa to Babangida.

    Professor Aboyade referred to economics as the life blood of the nation. But which comes first? Physics or economics?

    On the technological chess board, mathematics is king, physics the queen and the diverse branches of engineering, the knights in shiny armour.

    Physics has given rise to a whole new range of technologies that have contributed trillions of dollars into the global economy. One of these is nanotechnology. World sales of Nanotechnology-enabled products by 2008 were estimated at $234 billion. This figure is expected by the US National Science Foundation to climb to $3000 billion by 2020, increasing the number of jobs in nanotechnology-derived industries from, 400,000 in 2008 to six million in 2020. Last year I read in the papers, Professor Segun Adewoye, secretary Nigerian Academy of Science, lamenting the fact that Nigeria is yet to have a policy on nanotechnology.

    If there are no golden eggs, there might be little of an economy to co-ordinate.

    Physicists have given rise to hydro-electricity, nuclear power, radio, television, mobile phone, microwave oven, laser CD and satellite and in the area of health-care as it concerns the imaging, screening, diagnosis and treatment etc. which many of our politicians and the elite go to “enjoy” outside the country.

    We must reinforce the notion in Nigerians particularly our elected representatives that physics is not only” the queen” but also the foundation of modern society.

    • Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth

    London, England

  • Jonathan partially right

    SIR: President Goodluck Jonathan was reported to have told the Labour leaders to caution the workers about stealing, when the latter told him to fight corruption seriously. Jonathan was partially right, because at times, those in government cannot steal without the cooperation of some civil servants, such as permanent secretaries and accountants. Some or many workers also steal and frustrate the positive efforts of some leaders.

    Nevertheless, if a leader, director, or head of department is honest and diligent, those under him or her can hardly getaway with stealing. Thus, it is crucial to have good leaders in government offices to minimize stealing and misappropriation of public funds. Good leadership was what the labour leaders were asking Jonathan to provide in himself and his ministers. That could put the legislature and the judiciary as well on their toes.

    Corruption shrunk drastically during the regime of General Murtala Mohammed, because he truly had zero tolerance for it. Ditto Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Babatunde Idiagbon declared War Against Indiscipline (WAI). Hardly any public official felt safe to indulge in corrupt practices during those two regimes. Hence I appeal to Nigerians to insist on having Buhari in 2015.

    The record of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu is also there for anybody to see. I would recommend him for the position of Vice-President, or Finance Minister, considering how he successfully managed the economy of Lagos State, despite his being denied allocation from the federation account by President Olusegun Obasanjo. What is more, he has been cleared by all the PDP-controlled anti-graft agencies.

    Any Igbo person who would like to contest for presidency in 2019 may not push to be Vice-President in 2015, because Nigerians may not tolerate anybody who will spend more than eight years in the presidency, either as President or Vice-President. Although Bill Clinton did well, his two-term Vice-President lost the bid to succeed him as America’s President. It is mother of selfishness and abuse of good luck to intend to stay more than eight years in Aso Rock, even as Secretary to the President.

    President Jonathan is incapable of fighting corruption or engendering peace and order, because his presidency is a product of destabilization and corruption. Reasonable Nigerians should not expect peace and progress in the absence of order and justice. Where corruption thrives from head to toe, any boast about positive transformation is empty and a sheer propaganda. We are told that everything will be okay in 2015. That means some deceptive measures have been designed to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians for another round of four wasteful years.

    All the negative campaigns against General Buhari must be dismissed for what they are: resistance to positive change. The opposition leaders that are decamping into the PDP should be regarded for what they are: opportunists who are not concerned about the good of Nigeria, but chop-I-chop.

    • Pius Oyeniran Abioje, Ph. D,

    University of Ilorin.

  • Lost in the global radar

    A bold foreign policy has become major mishap in the face of grave internal problems confronting Nigeria today. As they say in Latin, FUIMUS TROVES – we were once Trojans but TROY is no more.

    Though we recently hosted the South African President, the Polish Prime Minister, and even the Ghanaian President was in Uyo recently and we can still boast of an experienced foreign Minister who spent almost his entire public service life in the foreign affairs ministry, but the fire for which Nigeria was known in the foreign scene, has extinguished.

    In the past when Nigeria spoke the world noted and when Nigeria led the rest of Africa followed not because of population or resources but because of bold global foreign policy initiatives.

    But no more.

    It is either we lack the initiatives now or we are now hostage to our internal problems.

    In the global scene we have become very inert and supine.

    No doubt, we still attend regular global summits, regional meetings, presidential inaugurations, foreign burials, ceremonies and events but not in an active capacity but as onlookers, bystanders and mere back benchers.

    Passive is the word.

    Even Nigerian students who in the past, used to be very operative and dynamic on foreign affairs particularly on African affairs to the extent that they marched along with the government, have now been submerged with internal contradictions.

    Bad and negative stories have become part of our foreign exports.

    From 1960 till date, this country Nigeria has contributed in 25 peace keeping operations.

    In 1960 just before Nigeria’s independence, Nigeria signed a military pact with Great Britain so as to safeguard Nigeria’s security in the absence of full-fledged Nigeria army, Nigerian students demonstrated against the signing of the pact and the protests led to the cancellation of the pact by the Nigerian government.

    On February 13, 1961 on the eve of the African Summit in Casablanca, Morocco, France tested an atomic bomb which contained Plutonium and had an explosive force equal to 10,000-14,000 tonnes of TNT half as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb, in the Sahara desert in the French Polynesia.

    The radioactive fallout of the bomb affected people living in the remote part of the Sahara desert. The initiative on the protest against France was led by the Prime Minister of Nigeria, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912-1966). Nigeria expelled France ambassador to Nigeria, closed Nigeria’s ports and airports to French ships and planes. Sudan, Ghana, Egypt followed Nigeria’s step.

    In April 1964, the third battalion of the Nigeria Army led by Lieutenant Colonel Pam was air lifted to Tanzania to help President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania to train a new army following the dissolution of the Tanzania army after the mutiny.

    The arrival of the Nigeria troops allowed the British troops to depart. Between 1963 and 1965 world leaders were romancing not only our national leaders but the regional leaders in Nigeria as well. For example, Arch-Bishop Makarios of Cyprus (1948-1977) was a personal friend of the Premier of the Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Michael Iheonucura Okpara (1920-1984) while the Premier of the North Sir Ahmadu Bello (1909-1966) was so popular in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states that a few days before he was assassinated, he was given access to Prophet Muhammad’s very tomb. When the President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Francis Kofi Nwia Nkrumah (1909-1972) visited Nigeria in 1962, he slept in the personal house of his friend, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909-1987) in his Okebola’s residence in Ibadan. Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe(1909-1996) was a personal friend of the former President of Haiti, Francois Duvalier (1907-1971) alias Papa Doc. We all aware of the relationship between Balewa and the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson. So loved was Balewa by world leaders that the day he was assassinated, there was a letter in his Babariga from Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia (1913-1978), the then leader of opposition in Ghana, alerting him that there was to be a coup in Nigeria. Even after the coup of 1966, General Gowon built personal friendship with other world leaders including Emperor Haile Selassie (1892-1975), Haman El-Hadji Diouri of Niger Republic, Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo (1935-2005).

    However it was between 1975 and 1979 that we had dynamism in our foreign policy. In 1975 there was a pre independence struggle in Angola. On one side we had the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) led by Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto(1922-1979), on the other side was the Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola) (FNLA) led by Holden Alvaro Roberto (1923-2007) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola(UNITA) led Jonas Savimbi (1934-2002).

    Both the FNLA and UNITA were sponsored by the apartheid South Africa along with the Western world. In November 1975, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed (1938-1976) flew to Addis Ababa for the OAU conference and announced that “Africa has come of age it is no longer under the orbit of any continental power. It should no longer take orders from any country however powerful. The fortunes of Africa are in our hands to make or mar”. To the surprise of everyone he announced Nigeria’s recognition for the MPLA as the legitimate government in Angola. On February 4, 1976, he dispatched his then deputy General Olusegun Obansanjo along with Chief Ebenezer Babatope to reassure the Angolans of the support of the government. Nine days later he was assassinated on his way to the office in Ikoyi, Lagos and General Obasanjo who succeeded him soldiered on with the execution of very bold and dynamic foreign policy.

    In fact Nigeria’s foreign Minister at that time Major General Nanveh Garba(1943-2002) was so active during that period that my then boss Chief Abiodun Aloba alias Ebenezer Williams, Pioneer General Manager of Nigeria Herald dubbed him “the foreign Minister of Africa”. During those years Ikeja airport correspondents like Dapo Aderinola, Seinde Dagunduro, late Kola Adeshina, Toye Akiyode, Tayo Falade, Mike Edemeyo, late Richard Amayo, Femi Ogunleye, Francis Emelefoun, Andre Diojemao, James Bello, Bisi Oloyede, Babson Adeyemi, Kunle Egbeyemi, Jimi Aderiokun, Alhaji Adio Saka and others were in the super cadre among journalists for their daily coverage of world leaders visiting Nigeria.

    In 1976, there was the Olympic in Montreal, Canada; Nigeria led 22 African countries to pull out of the games because of New Zealand’s links with apartheid South Africa. The IOC had earlier banned South Africa from participating in Olympics because of its racial policy. Nigeria also pulled out of the Edmonton commonwealth games in Canada in 1978.

    In 1980 Olympic games held in Moscow, President Shehu Shagari refused to heed the America request to boycott the Olympic games in spite of the America delegation including the famous Muhammed Alli that visited Nigeria and begged Nigeria not to take part whereas Niger, Mauritius, Malawi, Liberia, Ghana, Gambia, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt and Gabon participated.

    In 1986, General Ibrahim Babangida led 36 African and Caribbean leaders to pull out of the Commonwealth games over the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s dealings with apartheid South Africa.

    The last time global focus was on Nigeria was when President Olusegun Obasanjo was elected President of the African Union, chairman of the Commonwealth and chairman Non-aligned nations in 2004. Since then our status has reduced.

    If we have been active, President Barak Obama of the USA would not have flown over our air space to visit Ghana on July 10, 2009.

    Dante (1265-1321) wrote in his book inferno” there is no greater sorrow than to recall in misery the time when we are happy”.

    • Teniola, a former Director in The Presidency lives in Lagos

  • Baga saga: a postscript

    Baga saga: a postscript

    Even with copious clarifications from Defence Headquarters on what transpired in Baga, Borno State, it is still very unlikely the controversy over that military engagement will abate so soon after. The tone for the festering controversy was by default, set by President Goodluck Jonathan when he approved independent investigations into the alleged killings irrespective of the findings of the military high command. He had also promised that where there are any established misconduct, the federal government will not hesitate in ensuring that due sanctions are enforced and justice done.

    With these, there is everything to suggest that the president has not foreclosed the possibility that the report of the military high command may not have told the whole story.

    One thing that is certain from the presentation of the government is that earlier reports were largely blown out of proportion. And the blame for this is being heaped at the feet of the media both local and foreign. The government is finding it hard to decipher the source of the figures that have been bandied in the media regarding the number of the dead; number of houses burnt and those responsible for the burning.

    It is also piqued by reports that the military in Baga refused aid workers access to the area when in reality they had been on the ground rendering assistance to the displaced before the arrival of the defence team on fact finding mission. The incongruity between media reports and government’s account seem to suggest there must be more to the Baga debacle than ordinarily meets the eyes.

    How did the media come about the killing of 185 people; the burning of over 3000 houses and mass graves when the military authorities only found 32 fresh graves while the total thatched roof houses in that community are not up to 1000? How and from where did Senator Maina Maiji who represents Borno north senatorial district get the figure of 228 fresh graves he claimed to have personally counted and in whose presence did he do the counting? These are some of the issues that should be troubling the federal authorities.

    But more importantly, the uncanny coincidence between the setting up of the amnesty panel on Boko Haram and events in Baga is another major issue for concern. Not unexpectedly, there have been suggestions from some quarters that the incident questions the commitment of the government to the amnesty programme. There is also the feeling in government quarters that the high wire negative publicity that attended the Baga confrontation was not for nothing. The negative international concerns it generated even from countries that should ordinarily be in sympathy with the war against terrorism were some of the issues that must have rattled the Nigerian authorities. Could it be that the incident was simulated and hyped to ridicule the amnesty programme and the commitment of the government to a peaceful resolution of the crisis? Or was it an act of sabotage to draw international attention to the negative side of the war against the terrorist group?

    Whichever the case, that singular incident did considerable damage to the rules of engagement by the government since the war against terrorism commenced some two years back. And when it is recalled that there have been persistent allegations of mistreatment of the civilian population anywhere there is an infraction, it becomes difficult to sweep this one under the carpet whether or not it was carried out by the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF). Before now, allegations have been rife that whenever there is an attack on the JTF, their usual response is to cordon off that area and level down anything that is found there.

    Apparently, this strategy had been sustained by the inability of the military to precisely say who the real insurgents are. The military has recorded severe casualties as those they thought were innocent citizens turned round to inflict mortal harm on their members.

    Faced with increasing risks to their lives in the face of inability to differentiate between Boko Haram members and ordinarily residents, there is every thing to expect that some innocent people are bound to suffer, albeit in error.

    It is obvious from all accounts that this realty may have contributed to whatever excesses that were carried out by the MNJTF that have been credited with the Baga operation. The military spoke of the heavy presence of Boko Haram insurgents in Baga community. It is also an entry point into the country which makes it susceptible to all manner of influences from outside our shores. The military got information on the activities of the sect but each time they confronted the local leaders with it, what they got were denials. Yet a soldier was decapitated there.

    The issue is not that insurgents were killed. Because they are evil, they should be dealt with wherever they are found. But care must be taken to sift innocent people from the terrorists. The furore generated by the Baga incident stems from allegations that the civilian population was largely the victim of that onslaught. There were allegations that soldiers deliberately supervised and aided the killing of innocent people fleeing the confrontation. Some foreign media even gave chilling reports of the throwing of some children into the raging fire. How these reports were generated still remains a matter of conjecture.

    But Human Rights Watch HWR added another dimension to the raging controversy. It said that satellite images of the Baga conflict do not tally with the findings of the military high command. It went further to demonstrate that contrary to claims by the military, the arms credited to the insurgents do not possess the capacity to cause the large scale fire and destructions recorded in that fishing community.

    There are clear gaps in the story by the military. It does not seem very convincing that the large scale burning of houses is the sole handiwork of the insurgents. It is also very unlikely that the 30 dead people the soldiers claimed were all members of Boko Haram is a correct representation of the matter. And since it was difficult for the soldiers to differentiate between the insurgents and civilians, how did they arrive at the conclusion that the dead were solely insurgents? It is unimaginable that such a high level destruction could take place in a residential area without a heavy toll on the civilian population. The attempt to pin down as civilians, those discovered dead near Lake Chad, a distance of about six kilometers away did not help the case of the military. There is therefore every indication that the military is either very economical with the truth or deliberately covering up its flanks.

    But more fundamentally, the Baga saga has exposed the increasing risk in the tactics of the insurgents who use civilian population as cover. The local population must resist this and cooperate with the soldiers by offering them useful information on insurgents even at the risk of reprisals. It is very probable that out of frustration, the military did not bother to make a difference between the insurgents and the civilian population.

  • Osun cleaner under Aregbesola

    SIR: As a resident of Osun, there is a noticeable difference in the condition of environment under the current government of Governor Rauf Aregbesola compared to what obtained under the Olagunsoye Oyinlola-led administration.

    In the last two and half years that Aregbesola has been in the saddle, much material and human resources have been invested in improving the state of the environment and sanitation. One recalls with relish that immediately after the governor was sworn in, he declared a state-wide 90-day emergency on environmental sanitation and waste management. This was to clear the Augean stable of a filthy and unhealthy environment that he met on the ground.

    Today, all markets across the state are cleaned every Thursday while general sanitation is held twice monthly. Street sweepers and highway managers have now become regular phenomena on our roads. This is complemented by the selfless efforts of the O’YES sanitation czars who are youth volunteers who joyfully render community development service while they are engaged as part of the O’YES scheme. In order to ensure a purposeful implementation of this environmental renewal programme, the government has encouraged the private sector participation (PSP). The PSP operators, working in tandem with the government, manage the many highway managers and the numerous refuse trucks that were purchased by the government. This, expectedly, has provided employment opportunity to many otherwise unemployed citizens of the state.

    The effort of the government to fight filth and dirt and thereby build a clean and healthy environment has, no doubt, yielded a positive return. The environmental sanitation drive as well as the distribution of treated mosquito nets to pregnant women, the young and the aged have helped in reducing the people’s exposure to the common tropical killer disease – malaria.

    Two programmes of the government, however, deserve special commendation – flood control and the beautification and upgrading of roads. Every citizen of Osun will recall the massive devastation that flood wrecked on many parts of the state during the raining season in 2010. However, the Aregbesola administration, in the last two years, has made sustained efforts to turn the situation around. In different parts of the state, extensive work has been on-going towards the dredging and de-silting of major rivers, canals and streams in the state. This timely intervention has brought great relief to the people of the state. It was something akin to a miracle when last year, despite the unprecedented national outlook of the cases of flooding, the State of Osun was spared. Thus, in addition to the prevention of damage to social and physical infrastructure, our people were spared the health hazards that usually come with floods.

    It is, therefore, a thing of joy that the Aregbesola administration recently scaled up the O’Clean Programme to O’Clean Plus. If the achievements of the O’Clean programmes are anything to go by, one can only foretell that O’Clean Plus will signal a better deal for our people.

    • Idowu Ajani,

    Osogbo, Osun State

  • BDIC: Economic roadmap for new Bayelsa

    BDIC: Economic roadmap for new Bayelsa

    Driven by the likelihood that the next 20 to 30 years may usher dry oil wells all across the Niger Delta, which portends very dire consequences for the nation, particularly the oil bearing states, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State only recently took the bull by the horns to begin the process of planning for a future without oil by setting up the Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC).

    In the wisdom of Governor Dickson, with the advances in science and technology in the major oil consumer economies, it is imperative that we take the issue of diversification of our economy seriously. So BDIC was set up to drive investments, create skills and develop a robust economic base that can withstand the shock that will come the day after oil.

    The BDIC initiative is an integral component of the new Bayelsa that Governor Dickson often talks about. Speaking at the Inaugural Board Retreat of BDIC in Yenagoa recently, Governor Dickson pointed out that the new Bayelsa can only be founded on prosperity and security. “Government is building roads and bridges, schools and so on, but in vain do we do all of this, if these activities do not translate to economic prosperity and opportunities for our people”, he declared.

    As the visioner and brain behind the BDIC, Governor Dickson was very clear about his expectations of the role of the body: “We will like the BDIC to turn Bayelsa to the new Dubai of Africa and we can do it because we are a resilient and resourceful people,” he said

    Even more profound, Governor Dickson did not mince words when he said that the restoration government under his watch is a believer in free enterprise –that the private sector is best suited to promoting enterprise, creating wealth, sustaining development hence government should have very little business in running businesses. He believes from the work of BDIC that the people of the state will experience sustainable growth and development.

    Giving insights to his conviction in setting up the BDIC, Governor Dickson stated: “the actual job of creating wealth, developing skills, that has to be driven by a body of people put together in a way that can enable it to compete and do business is a private sector driven initiative. That is why we have come up with this body in this state. We have instances of the Odua Group, Ibile Holdings by the Lagos State Government, the NNDC of old and other similar bodies in this country. Outside the country, you have sovereign entities like the IDC of South Africa, the one in Rwanda and so many others; those models exist and that is where we want to take our state to.”

    In what may appear as setting a clear agenda for the BDIC, Governor Dickson said, going forward, all capital investments that have a business element will be undertaken by the BDIC. For example, it will be the duty of the BDIC to see how we can attract funding to projects that can add value to us, which is also an investment in nature.

    Elucidating on the economic and financial requirements of needed infrastructure and benefits in the new thinking, the governor said, for example, if we want to complete the Tower Hotel in the state capital, the BDIC is in a better position to go to the market and talk to people and see how we can also attract expertise and blend the two to ensure that the project is completed on terms that are acceptable and fair.

    Citing another example, the governor noted the importance of constructing such strategic roads like the one linking Brass which, he said, is long overdue. Already three companies have been assigned to do the estimate and the least cost is N90 billion; that is from Nembe to Brass. He hinted that there is no way the state can be taken seriously unless the road link to the Brass LNG is developed. And getting the LNG started; expanding its opportunities for our people is another ball game. He explained that these are areas where the BDIC will be best suited to handle the inter-related issues. With respect to the road to Agge, where the state intends to have a deep sea port, there is already an application for a free trade zone in that area.

    Governor Dickson took time to clarify the status of the BDIC with respect to its function vis-a-vis the role of government: “Let me state for the records that the BDIC is not intended to take the place of the ministries in this state. The BDIC is not a body we have set up to be higher than the government of this state. The BDIC’s role is not policy formulation because that function will continue to reside in the state government and its formal organs. But it will be the duty of the BDIC to drive those activities that are investment related. So the BDIC, if you like, is an investment organ. The BDIC is an instrument for driving, attracting investments and also directly investing.”

    It is instructive to note that BDIC is a creation of our laws, wholly and fully set up as a distinct corporate entity devoid of the control and undue influence of government. It has a duly constituted board and management made up of some of the finest professionals in the country, some of whom have worked at the topmost level of management in very reputable blue chips companies in Nigeria and abroad.

    BDIC is coming into the market as a big player. It currently enjoys the capital injection of N10 billion from the Government of Bayelsa State to enable it take off in earnest. According to Governor Dickson, the BDIC is not intended to be a paper tiger. Perhaps to underscore the sheer worth of this corporate entity, Governor Dickson has authorized the transfer of key assets owned by most of the other agencies and subsidiaries of government to the BDIC.

    Also, it is interesting to note that some of the recent acquisitions that government has made since coming into power, for example, the 53 percent stake in Linkage Assurance and other similar acquisitions have been put under the control of the BDIC and it is the responsibility of this corporate body to see how all these companies will be put to maximum advantage.

    The BDIC is expected to leverage on existing assets that the state has in addition to the new acquisitions that will be made as part of its mandate to chart a new economic future for Bayelsa State to guarantee its economic prosperity and security going forward.

    The BDIC has already opened offices in South Africa, one in Johannesburg and the international head office in London. Yesterday May 5, Governor Dickson led a high powered delegation from Nigeria and having graciously gotten President Goodluck Jonathan to accept to perform the official commissioning of the BDIC office in South Africa along with President Jacob Zuma. The opening of this office is to encourage BDIC to look at opportunities in the major markets, major economies with a view to establishing a formidable base for the state.

    Governor Dickson’s dream of the BDIC is to chart a robust economic future for the state as well as use it as vehicle to re-create a road map that will birth the new Bayelsa, not anchored on oil and gas but investment in agriculture and tourism, among other investments.

    The BDIC’s vision is to be an enabler for transforming Bayelsa State into one of the top economies not just in our country but in Africa. Its mission is to protect, stimulate and grow the wealth of all Bayelsans through responsive, innovative and sustainable investments while acting as a catalyst for socio-economic development of the state.

    • Iworiso-Markson, Chief Press Secretary to Bayelsa Governor, sent this piece from Yenagoa.