The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • The eagle on Iroko has flown home

    November 16, this year Chinua Achebe would have been 83 and so the yearly celebration to mark his birthday, an annual ritual for the literary world would at least assume a different form from this year. From primary school at St Phillips Central School Ogidi, Anambra State and Central School Nekede, Owerri, Imo State, Achebe left his footprints as a very brilliant student having obtained full scholarship to Dennis Memorial Grammar School Onitsha and Government College Umuahia. At Umuahia he completed his secondary school in a record four years instead of the five, passing the Cambridge ordinary level with five distinctions and one credit. The credit ironically was in English Literature. For a student nick-named “Dictionary”, he must have felt disappointed.

    He proceeded to University College Ibadan through a nation-wide entrance examination. At Ibadan, he was admitted to study medicine but changed to the arts at the expense of losing his bursary scholarship and had to pay tuition. After graduating, Achebe moved on and commenced a career with the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) in 1954.He moved rapidly up the ladder and was appointed Director of External Broadcasting. Whilst at NBS, he utilised his spare time in writing.

    The turning point however was an encounter at Ibadan with his English professor who told him that his entry in a short story competition” lacked form”. Achebe declared thereafter “it dawned on me that despite her excellent mind and background, she was not capable of teaching across cultures, from her English culture to mine. It was in these circumstances that I was moved to put down on paper the story that became Things Fall Apart.

    Yet, Things Fall Apart, the epic ground-breaking novel would have been lost to the world. Achebe himself told the story of how in his naivety he sent the original and only manuscript of the novel to a typing agency in London for an expert touch in typing and preparation for publishing. Strangely the agency went to sleep after receiving full payment of £32 (thirty two pounds) from Achebe. In 1956, this was a lot of money. Anyway by some fortuitous turn of event, his colleague at NBS, an English lady, Angela Beattie’s intervention saved the day and the agency returned to Achebe a typed and well prepared work ready for publishing.

    Achebe once reminisced “I look back now at those events and state categorically that had the manuscript been lost, I most certainly would have been irreversibly discouraged from continuing my writing career.” And the world never would have read such intriguing, captivating and enthralling stories of not only Things Fall Apart where Achebe expressed himself in naked gratitude to his Igbo culture and history but also No Longer At Ease, Arrow Of God, A Man Of The People, Anthills Of The Savannah etc. Nigerians especially would probably not have known Achebe’s perspective in what is arguably the most lucid diagnosis and remedy of the Nigerian problem in The Trouble With Nigeria. And indeed a most revealing account of the Nigeria-Biafra war may also have been lost in There Was A Country.

    Achebe was not just a great story-teller; he was a literary Pan-Africanist. Through his writing he contributed immensely in redirecting the orientation of the rest of the world on their dim perspective of African culture and history. He was literally saying particularly to our colonisers – before your arrival, we had a story and are proud to tell it. One of the more common features in the barrage of tributes and eulogies following the news of his death is that he was a patriot apart of course from his obvious literary feat. This is just as well because in his essays, lectures, interviews, books etc he had continued to engage the Nigerian question by not only pointing clearly at what the problem is in “The Trouble With Nigeria” where he put the problem squarely on leadership but also by suggesting remedies. His now famous rejection twice of the national honours was not as disrespect to Nigeria but as a protest of inept leadership. Similarly when he ignored sometime ago an appointment to the board of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) made over the radio, he was simply telling the government that things are not done that way.

    Achebe’s long sojourn in the USA following a road accident which consigned him to the wheel chair for over two decades until his death did little to limit his intellectual contribution to the Nigerian project. Not long ago he gave a reverberating keynote address via video-conferencing at the 25th anniversary of The Guardian newspapers in Lagos, also his son Chidi Achebe delivered on his behalf an address at the Rainbow Book Club literary conference in Port Harcourt. Only recently, at the 2012 Achebe Colloquium on Africa held at Brown University Rhode Island USA December 2012, the large gathering of intellectuals brainstormed on the theme “Statecraft in the African Renaissance Amidst Regime Change”. His Excellency Babatunde Fashola, governor of Lagos State personally delivered a much acclaimed paper.

    Achebe’s’ contribution to the Ahiajoku Lecture Series will remain invaluable reference material for a long time in the future. He was a man who naturally respected money and material acquisition but had clearly delineated boundaries which they did not cross. The story is told of a popular American musician who chose to title his upcoming film “Things Fall Apart” and when informed that Achebe had a copyright to the title he bragged that he would pay him off and offered a million dollars which Achebe rejected, informing him the title was not for sale not even for one hundred million dollars. Achebe would be leaving not only a legacy of principle, forthrightness, uncommon courage, classic story-telling etc, but an intellectual family of a wife who is professor of psychology, four children, two of whom are professors of history, one assistant professor of medicine and the other a writer all in the USA. Recognition, honour, awards etc, competed for his attention.”Things Fall Apart” published in 50 languages and selling over 12 million copies contributed enormously in making Achebe easily the most widely read African Writer on the globe. Just to mention a few from the Publisher’s blurb—he received the Honourary Fellowship Of The American Academy Of Arts and Letters, honourary doctorate degrees from more than 30 institutions, Nigerian National Merit Award , Nigeria’s highest award for intellectual achievement. In 2007 he won the Man Booker international prize for lifetime achievement. Many expected he would have received the Nobel Prize for literature; the fact that he did not, never, in any way diminished his stature as the leading African writer in the world.

     

    • Emeana sent this piece from Abuja.

  • A note to my dad on his birthday

    SIR: It is normal and often a cliché for people to address their fathers as mentors, role models and a source of inspiration. This sometimes, is not always true, especially when the values and philosophies of a father are not reflected in the son who claims he is a protégé.

    For me I have actually been mentored, pampered, scolded, molded, instructed, cared for by this man whom I have grown to love and admire.

    A man would have me sleep on him all through the night. One who would always come to pick me up in nursery and primary school despite his schedules. This same man has taken the pain of sending me to the best schools anyone would ask for. This man has brought himself so low at one point that my siblings and I would have the best in life.

    A man who would allow me sit with him on the driver’s seat on our way to the village. One who shouts on me and comes back the following morning to apologise to a five-year- old. Who carries me to bed each time I doze off in the sitting room. This same man made out time to teach me how to tell the time with our wall clock.

    Interestingly, the signature I append today on documents, this man drafted it for me. A man who took me to secondary school and tertiary institutions on my first day in school, stayed with me until I was finally registered. He still came all the way from Eastern Nigeria to Abuja for my visiting days. It is because of this same man that I have been privileged to be who I am today.

    The lessons and values I learnt from him are now what drive and I instill same in my three lovely sisters. To crown it all, this same man is still the same and has not changed one bit. He made out time to teach me how to drive; in fact, he has taken the pain of trying to find a suitable mate for me!

    As he marks another year of his birth, please join me and celebrate this man of integrity, love, care, a leader of people, an indefatigable fighter, an ever loving husband (my mum has never bought a phone), and an inspiration to myself and siblings.

    Happy birthday to Engineer Nicholas Ej. Azubuike Osuagwu.

    •Emeka Davies Azubuike,

    Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State.

  • Tales from a failing state

    SIR: When countries beat their chests about providing adequate security of both the lives and belongings of their citizens, that Nigeria will do so is becoming increasingly doubtful. The doubt arises from the failure of successive governments to deliver basic dividends of responsible governance to the people, from whom they have either derived or seized political power. An implication of those years of neglect of social service delivery by government is the widening disconnect between it and the people it ought to serve. One worrisome result of that ‘disconnect’ is kidnapping, which has become a serious social problem in Nigeria.

    Kidnapping was relatively strange to Nigeria until February 2006. What began with abductions of foreign oil workers by rampaging members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and allied groups has now assumed a dimension that requires crucial, decisive and non-partisan action from the current Nigerian leadership.

    Since then, kidnapping has flourished; it now serves as both a means of making ‘fast’ money and ‘negotiating’ for the release of persons in custody for alleged links with terrorist groups. The spate of kidnap of persons for ransom, and sometimes ritual, has lengthened Nigeria’s presence under the global spotlight that has already fetched her ‘laurels’ for such systemic deficiencies as corruption, electoral fraud and recently, pardons for convicted persons among others.

    All these have spurred keen watchers of events to conclude that Nigeria is showing symptoms of a failing state, if not an already failed one. In June 2012, the Research Institute of Economics and Peace released its Global Peace Index, in which Nigeria came sixth in a list of world’s 10 most dangerous countries to live in. Sadly, all of the surveyed countries are from Africa.

    On February 16, the Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan (JAMBS), believed to be a splinter group of the Boko Haram terrorist organisation, kidnapped seven foreign workers from a construction firm in Bauchi State, only to claim to have killed the foreign nationals a month later. The murder, as the group claimed, followed a perceived planned attempt by Nigerian and British security operatives to secure freedom for the hostages.

    I am drawn to the General Objective in Section 14, Sub-section 2(b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, which is unequivocal about the fact that security and welfare of citizens is a fundamental responsibility of the Nigerian government. The section saddles the Nigerian government with the duty of protecting the lives and belongings of every citizen, from whom it derives all powers and authorities. Universally, governments owe this duty to their citizens and aliens within their territories and beyond. Some nations will freely go to war in love for their citizens!

     

    •Agboola Odesanya

    University of Lagos, Akoka

  • Osun’s changing environment

    I have lived through several administrations since the creation of Osun State and none has had the sort of visible impact that Governor Rauf Aregbesola has had in so short a time. Perhaps what makes the difference is that no governor before him has approached the issue of the environment from a deliberate policy perspective as he is doing. He has developed a coherent policy on the environment, with a focus on health, which he has been implementing since he took office.

    Previously the situation in Osun was characterised by heaps of refuse everywhere, resulting from people uncaringly dumping waste in any open spaces they deemed suitable for that purpose – on roadsides and road median, in streams and rivers and just about anywhere. Another prominent feature of the landscape was the ubiquitous markets that opportunistically sprang up everywhere, with their enormous capacity for generating garbage. It needs little emphasis that we have had to live with the resultant untoward health implication, and we actually lived through the flooding consequent upon silting and blocking of waterways by refuse. Flood-occasioned destruction of lives and properties is one of my most enduring recollections of the reign of the last administration in the state.

    Ogbeni Aregbesola, on assumption of office, declared a state of emergency in environmental sanitation, with his O’Clean programme aimed at ridding our environment of filth and getting the people to have a change of attitude in the way they treat the environment. The 90-day emergency period saw a mandatory weekly sanitation exercise in Osun and the weekly cleaning of markets and places of work. This is strengthened by the daily street cleaning exercise by the O’YES volunteers.

    Obviously, ridding the streets of garbage heaps requires a waste management policy. The government of Aregbesola is no less impressive in this area. Besides getting the people to clean up and gather their refuse, collection and clearing of rubbish have been a fruitful partnership between government and private waste collectors who charge fees, but go into the inner streets where government trucks cannot reach. And there is the fee-free government alternative, but which requires taking one’s refuse to designated collection points for onward evacuation to landfill site for processing. The green-painted garbage trucks – and I’ve seen scores of them – with their peculiar honk are now a part of our daily morning traffic in Osun. The waste management is aimed at achieving an integrated system that will comprise transfer-loading-stations in all the local government areas of the state, from where the refuse would then be carted away to the central landfill site. Recycling facilities that are still under construction are a component of the system. These facilities, meant to enable the re-use of plastic waste, are to be complemented by a buy-back scheme for plastic waste for a more effective control of the hazards constituted by plastic bottles and pure water sachets.

    The environment policy includes the comprehensive dredging and de-silting of the quite numerous streams and rivers across Osun to make for free-flow of water. Anybody who is well familiar with the landscape in Osun State would understand what it means to take up the dredging and de-silting of its extensive network of streams, rivers and tributaries. Yet, this is precisely what the Ogbeni Aregbesola’s government has been doing, and is still doing, even now, because the dredging and de-silting are still ongoing. The exercise has covered streams and rivers extending over large areas, including Ipetu-Ijesa, Ife Ilesa, Ejigbo, Iragbiji, Ode-Omu, Iwo, Ila-Orangun, and Osogbo, the state capital. In Osogbo alone, more than 15 rivers, streams and canals are being dredged and de-silted.

    The effect of all these dredging and de-silting activities has been the safety of the lives and properties of the people of Osun from the devastation of flooding that has been their lot under the immediate past administration in the state. It is on record that there has been more rain since Aregbesola came into office yet there has been no flood, especially in Osogbo, unlike the tragedy that flooding has wreaked in neighbouring states in the South-west.

    Aregbesola’s environmental policy also covers urban development and beautification. Here, indiscriminate market activities are being discouraged, while ultra-modern market complexes are being constructed around the state. Notable among these are Dagbolu, Aiyegbaju and Aje markets, which are all in various stages of completion.

    The beautification project involves the development and modernisation of strategic spaces for public use in a manner that enhances the landscape architecture of our cities. The Hassan Oladokun Park at Gbongan Junction and the Freedom Park at Old Garage Roundabout stand out in this regard. The beautification also involves a massive tree planting exercise, for which some 2.5 million seedlings of different tree species have been purchased. The trees are intended to line the major roads right from the Oyo State border into the heart of the major cities in Osun, including the state capital, Osogbo. The trees will not only serve as beautifiers, they will also serve as checks to erosion, as well as help to limit the negative impact of stormy winds, not to mention their roles in reducing greenhouse gas emission.

    In only two years, Ogbeni Aregbesola’s environmental management is already a legacy that will be better appreciated.

    • Oyeleke writes from Osogbo

  • A people in denial

    A people in denial

    Boko Haram has not committed any wrong to deserve amnesty. Surprisingly the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you (government) pardon”- Abubakar Shekau, the spokesman and leader of Boko Haram speaking to the French News Agency AFP.

    Whilst our President is still busy offering amnesty to those who have rejected it and whilst the Nigerian people and intelligensia are involved in a barren and futile debate about the merits and demerits of granting amnesty to terrorists, Boko Haram continues to kill, maim and destroy. It is clear to me that our people are in denial and that our government is deluded, irresponsible and insensitive. As we are busy debating about amnesty or no amnesty for Boko Haram, the Niger Delta terrorist organisation known as MEND have quietly given us notice about their sinister plans for our country. After killing 14 policemen in a ruthless attack just last week they have told us through their spokesman, one Jomo Gbomo, that it is their intention to “start killing muslims and attacking mosques as from 31st may, 2013 in order to protect and save christianity in Nigeria”. This was warning and statement of intent was published and reported in the American website magazine called Bloomberg.com on the 14th April 2013.

    Yet despite all these troubling signs and signals the Nigerian people and the Nigerian Government, in their usual manner, are still napping and pretending as if all is well. Perhaps we all deserve what is coming. A people that do not even have the guts to courageously demand that their government rise up to the occassion and do their job by protecting the lives and property of its citizens deserve prayer and pity. When Boko Haram and MEND finally face one another in a terrible war of reprisal killings and bombings that is when our people will understand the implications of tolerating a government that is incapable of doing its job and confronting terror with a firm and decisive hand.

    It is very clear to me that Pastor Tunde Bakare’s assertion that President Goodluck Jonathan’s destiny is to “bankrupt and balkanise Nigeria” and that he is merely “dancing to the drum beat of his destiny” may will be prophetic. Meanwhile Nigeria continues to bleed and die as many of her citizens are bombed to pieces, maimed and have their throats slit open every day by islamist terrorists who do not know, or care to know, the meaning of peace, restraint, decency or dialogue. President Goodluck Jonathan has handed our country over to a bunch of butchers who have no value for human life. Under his watch our people continue to die and die whilst he sits in the Presidential Villa and drinks champagne.

    Worst still is the sheer irresponsibility and shameless behaviour of one or two of our northern governers who, instead of attempting to provide more security for their people in their respective domains, are besides themselves trying to either get on the lucrative gravy train known as the Boko Haram Amnesty Commitee or are actually speaking for Boko Haram and explaining their actions. If the latter were not the case how do you explain the illogical and frankly absurd contribution from my old friend Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi state who said that ‘’the real Boko Haram will accept amnesty’’ and that ‘’it is their criminal and political sect members that are rejecting the offer?’’ (Leadership Newspaper, 15th April, 2013).

    I have three questions here. Since when has a democratically elected governor of one of the largest and most important states in northern Nigeria and a man that was a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under President Obasanjo’s government for almost eight good years become the official spokesman for Boko Haram? How come he appears to know who is who within that terrorist organisation and the attitude and nature of each of it’s factions and why does he seek to absolve his preferred faction of the evil that they have collectively visited on the Nigerian people in the last two years? The third question is this- since when has any part or faction of Boko Haram not been criminal and political? I daresay that every part and every faction of this wicked organisation of heartless men and women is not only criminal but they are also political and religious.

    Boko Haram is an islamist organisation who are dedicated to imposing and establishing an islamic fundamentalist state in northern Nigeria through the use of violence. They also wish to wipe out christianity and true islam in the north and they reject the idea of living in a country where christians can take any position of leadership let alone be President. Yet these are the type of people that Governor Isa Yuguda and a number of other northern leaders is now speaking for and trying to absolve? A vicious group of people that have slaughtered no less than 4,200 Nigerians and non-Nigerians in the last two years and that have burnt down and bombed virtually every church that existed in some commiunities and states in the north? If anyone doubts that they should find out from the catholics what happened to 50 of the 52 churches that they established in Borno state.

    The implication of Yuguda’s contribution is that there is a faction of Boko Haram that is wholesome and righteous. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Every single person and group that is a part of or is in any way associated with Boko Haram is evil, is destructive and has blood on their hands. And anyone, no matter how highly placed, reverred or distinguished, that tries to rationalise their actions or absolve them of their murderous ways is equally evil and equally guilty of murder. Nigeria is a country in denial where leaders are always ready, willing and able to rationalise, defend and forgive the actions of beasts. Yet this has not always been so. Remember the public beheading of Gideon Akaluka in Kano in the 90’s by an irate mob of islamists for allegedly using a page of the koran as toilet paper and General Sani Abacha’s decisive response to such madness?

    When Abacha was in power he knew exactly how to handle the islamist tendency that plagued Kano in his time, including those that organised and incited the mob to kill Akaluka. He had them killed quietly one after the other until the problem was solved and the plague of islamist terror was abated. One of the leaders of those that killed Akaluka, as a consequence of his royal connections, survived and escaped death only because he was hidden in a Sokoto prison for two years whilst Abacha was told that he had been killed. That individual certainly came bouncing back into the public space and the circles of power and has now reached ‘’high places’’ but that is a story for another day. How I wish that the present leadership of our country could learn a lesson or two from General Sani Abacha’s approach to the islamist rebellion that we have been confronted with. They can also learn a lot from the approach of another moderate muslim by the name of Kamel Attaturk who was the founder and father of the modern Turkish state. He knew what to do to the islamist terrorists in his midst and he did it without thinking twice or batting an eyelid.

    Yet sadly Nigeria is not blessed with such leaders today. Instead we are saddled with a President who, only a few weeks ago, described Boko Haram as his ‘’siblings’’. We have a President who does not appreciate the fact that it is his job to provide security for our nation and to protect the Nigerian people from the enemy within and the enemy without. We have a President who is on his knees morning, day and night begging the islamist terrorists to accept an amnesty that they never asked for in the first place and which they have consistently rejected. We have a President and a people that just don’t know what they are up against. We have a President and a people that are suffering from the worst form of denial. May God save Nigeria and may He send us a deliverer.

  • Still on gay marriage

    Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife remains Nigeria’s cum Africa’s foremost centre of learning. The University is reputed to be among the best designed estates in the world, and no human being no matter how biased ever visits the Great Ife, without coming out with a special kind of feeling about the university’s exquisite beauty and candour. However, beyond and beneath the physical beauty of OAU is a strong tradition of scholarship that has continued to hold its own anywhere in the world. Little wonder the university was recently ranked the best in Nigeria by the popular webometric university ranking organisation.

    Not that the ranking in itself says anything new about the university, but in a country bedevilled by a myriad of negatives, the well-deserved ranking serves as a pointer of hope for the nation. As a Great Ife alumnus, one is quite confident everywhere one goes. This has led many people to erroneously believe that Great Ife Alumni are unnecessarily proud!

    It is against this background that I read with trepidation a piece in The Nation on Sunday, April 7, 2013 in defence of gay marriage written by one Arthur Anyaduba, who claims to be of the Postgraduate School, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. In the piece, Mr Anyaduba launched into endless diatribe against Mr Femi Fanikayode and other protagonists of the marriage institution whom he nebulously categorised as ‘Religionists’. He went wild claiming that no ‘God or deities ordained at any time one mode of sexuality’ and therefore, ‘no one pattern must be enforced for people to follow’!

    Indeed, in a relatively free society like Nigeria, it is assumed that people should express themselves as one of the fundamental rights of humans. However, even in the expression of one’s opinion there are boundaries because where one’s right stops other’s begin.

    In his defence of gay marriage, Mr Anyaduba vehemently argues that gay marriage is a norm the world over, therefore we must necessarily toe that line. I then begin to wonder where his facts emanate from and even if that be the case, must we, Nigerians, necessarily join the bandwagon. Again, it baffles me that the protagonists of this set of people suffering from the gay disease base their argument upon that ‘others’ are doing it, why not Nigeria.

    In his definition of family, Mr Anyaduba posits that ‘family is a social unit of biologically related people’ and I wonder why he should bring in biology when all the gay people in this world are as a matter of fact anti-biology. This is because, the nature or biology (for those like Anyaduba who don’t believe in God) already cuts out the roles of man and woman sexually. Not done, Mr Anyaduba goes on to tell us that ‘gay marriage is not a threat to marriage (as we know it) and family’. This greatly contradicts all that gay disease is about because one of the natural offshoots of heterosexual people is procreation and that only happens when a man’s semen fertilizes the female egg. This is irrespective of all the breakthroughs of modern science. And the society is peopled by products of man and woman relationship!

    In one breath, Anyaduba argues that no society should determine how people should live, yet in another breath he says that ‘all marriages are products of socio-political and religious situations’ yet he and his ilk are vehemently denying the majority of the Nigerian society the right to determine how we may live in our own land.

    The university community, and especially the Great Ife is a place of progressive research to harness the powers and resources of nature to better the lot of human societies, it’s appalling when some sick people now want to use the rights given them by society to work against nature. The motto of OAU reads: For Learning and Culture. And to all its content the Great Ife has abided by this solemn declaration. As an undergraduate and a campus journalist at OAU. I once interviewed Dapo, a notoriously ‘proud’ gay young man who traversed the OAU campus then, and after a long chat with me I could not but have pity on him as he came off as a young man that was irredeemably sick. After wandering in the wilderness of gay community that took him from Ife to Lagos, London and other European Cities, Dapo a few months ago had a sex-change surgery and today carries herself as a woman somewhere in the Netherlands. The moral of Dapo’s story is that nature and biology have designed human beings in a finite way and have apportioned biological roles accordingly. So, if anyone contracts the gay disease and decides to take the role of a man or woman as the case may be, science now has a lee way-Go do sex change!

    It is a fatal and escapist at best for people to argue ‘rights’ in the defence of illness as a way of life!

    By Mazi Moses Idika

    Maitama, Abuja.

  • Pain, anguish at ATM

    When most banks across the world deem it wise to introduce the use of automated machine teller, otherwise known as ATM, most people welcomed the noble idea of fast withdrawal of money without hitches.

    Nigeria did key into such high technology to bring the country at the same pedestal with other countries using the ATM.

    Nigerians also welcomed the use of the ATM to enable them have easy way of money collection as the case worldwide, but the case has been of pain and anguish before collection of money for some time now.

    When Nigerians approach most of this machines to withdraw money, it’s always one form of disappointment or the other, sometime :unable to dispense cash or network problems. This has to stop to enable Nigerian feel the impact of easy way of collect money.

    Formerly, Nigerians always experienced hardship buying petroleum products before they embarked on holidays to see their loved ones during any festivities, but the case now is spending most of their times at ATM machines to secure money to meet family needs in their various homes.

    If urgent steps are not taken, the much talked about cashless policy of the Central Bank would be a mirage, with the way most of the ATM machines are not properly being maintained for the benefit of their customers.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive of stopping the charge of one hundred naira for interbank withdrawal has gone a long way to bringing relief to many customers, whose joy is now being hampered with most of the ATMs not dispensing cash to their customers

    Equally, the Central Bbank of Nigeria should as matter of urgency direct all commercial banks to update their ATM machines to ameliorate the sufferings of bank customers.

    We hope those banks whose ATM machines have not been functioning would overhaul them for the good of the customers transacting business with them.

    By Bala Nayashi,

    Lokoja, Kogi State.

  • Labour aristocracy in Osun?

    Labour aristocracy in Osun?

    Quite an interesting proposition. In view of recent events in Osun State, South West Nigeria, the time has come to define the nature of the trade union movement there. The trade union movement anywhere can move in tandem with two structures. One option is to fight tenaciously to protect the interest of working people and their families.By taking this option, the union movement focuses on the protection of and then the gradual elevation of living standards. This way, there is an alignment with those forces which concentrate on providing such a thrust.

    Incontrovertibly,the present government in Osun State is such a force. This is why it defies rationality that a key part of the union movement in the state appears to have taken a confrontational attitude towards such a progressive government. The answer lies in the following position: A part of the trade union movement in Osun has simply become a labour aristocracy.

    Acting as a labour aristocracy, it has detached itself from the long term interest of both the workers as well as the interest of the mass of the people. Instead,the motivation has become self-seeking and against the interest of the workers. This is why in defiance of reason and common sense,they have seemingly aligned with the PDP in the state. Wonders of course will never end. For the maladministration of the PDP government is still fresh in the mind.

    We recall that for seven and a half years under the Oyinlola administration, it was all motion and no movement. In Oyinlola’s infamous ‘state of siege, there was no developmental agenda of any kind. Inevitably,living standards plummeted. Virtually no jobs were created in the state.

    This is not surprising. For with 70% of the budget expended on recurrent expenditure, the capital vote was simply too inconsequential to make a job creation impact. Furthermore, the ‘state of siege‘ simply scared off any sane potential investor. We must not forget all of these too soon.

    In contradistinction,the Aregbesola administration has created employment. It has impacted skills to the youths,as a way of tackling youth unemployment. In addition,by reducing the recurrent expenditure,it has undertaken a fundamental re-direction of capital towards achieving long term sustainable development. For the reasons stated above, investment is now coming in. And of course, the inward inflow will continue to grow. This is because the social and physical infrastructure is being invested in, at an unprecedented scale.

    This is why a real labour movement as opposed to a labour aristocracy would have aligned with this liberating progressive government. Any opportunistic alignment with the forces of retrogression which the PDP represents, will be a fundamental set-back for the labour movement; it will be a return to a discredited past.

    This is certainly not what the people of the state want. The people have seen two types of governance and are unambiguous about which one they prefer. They will express their position in next year‘s election. They are also politically astute enough to appreciate that there is no gain without pain.

    This is partly because of the region‘s historical experience. Those old enough recall that in the path- breaking 1950, tremendous sacrifices had to be made to give the Yorubas a head start. For this reason, the Obafemi Awolowo-led government suffered electoral slippages. Nevertheless, by sticking to its position, superb achievements were recorded for history. There will never be a forward movement without some temporary hiccups. People go through this in their everyday lives. He who feels it, knows it.

    This is why the union movement must not allow itself to be used to foment trouble by the Osun State PDP. They have nothing to offer other than a return to the old way of mass poverty. On the contrary, Aregbesola‘s administration represents redemption and the positive result is already manifesting itself.

    What Osun needs today is a labour movement working in tandem with a progressive pro-working people’s government. A government that puts the development of social capital and the human being above all else. The last thing the people want or need is a self-centred labour aristocracy out to feather its own nest. Politically astute, they will resist such a labour aristocracy in what they know is their own self-interest.

    As the governorship election in 2014 looms increasingly larger on the horizon, there is a need for the labour movement to become more circumspect. This is because the self-seeking politicians of the PDP are going to use every trick in the book to get back to, not power, but the largesse that accompanies the access to power and the treasury of the state. This is the fundamental area of departure from Aregbesola’s policy thrust. And frankly, the difference is disconcertingly clear.

    The issue for the labour movement is therefore very clear. How will this benefit the workers? The previous incursion into government in Osun State by the PDP was so bad that any reasonable trade unionist should be scared stiff of a reenactment of the nightmare. The PDP in Osun State want to reenact the years the locusts eat by ‘capturing’ some labour aristocrats to do its bidding!

    If this happens, what is in it for the workers? It will be back to square one. If the gains that have been achieved under Aregbesola are reversed, who gains and who loses? The fact of the matter is that the PDP simply does not have the fiscal discipline to continue Aregbesola’s determined investments in pro-people policies as well as the social and physical infrastructure.

    The PDP as it is presently constituted in Osun State does not provide a viable alternative and are certainly not prepared or fit for the rigours of sensible governance. We have seen for example in the last few days how the successors of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez won in Venezuela. This is instructive because the people know instinctively who is on their side. Their voice as the Roman’s will says is the voice of God. In next year’s governorship election, a landslide re- election is Aregbesola’s for the asking. And it will come to pass. It will come to pass because the ‘Symbol’ (as he his referred to) of good governance in Osun State has performed. His economic and social policies and initiatives have given succour to a hard pressed population. For this reason, the people have very reasonably said, NEVER AGAIN!

    They have said Never Again to the ineptitude of the PDP! They have said NEVER AGAIN to fear and discord, to blood and thunder. For to paraphrase ST Francis of ASSISI, where there is discord, Aregbesola has brought harmony. So where on earth will Aregbesola’s inevitable re-election leave the labour aristocracy?

    The time for a retracing of steps is now. The labour movement must be in tandem with its soul mate – the progressive government in Osun State is the same as that of the labour icon, Adams Oshiomole in Edo State. So, how can there be a problem? For this reason, it is very important for the labour movement to stoutly prevent itself from being turned into a mindless marionette by ‘come and chop’ PDP jolly good fellows.

  • Capitalising on our new-found dawn

    Capitalising on our new-found dawn

    The heroic victory of the Super Eagles at the recently concluded 2013 African Nations Cup, will continue to dominate national discourse for a long time as commentators on public affairs address issues connected with it from different angles and perceptive.

    From what has been said so far, everybody seems to agree that the feat of the Super Eagles has ushered in a new dawn in the country. Observers also agree that Football as a platform is the greatest rallying point for Nigeria. It is also seen as our most precious national asset and a potent social leveller.

    The veracity of this claim can be attested to from the way Nigerians irrespective of their station in life trooped out enthusiastically to welcome their heroes. Unlike our other national assets such as oil which drive groups apart, football provides a veritable rallying point in true love and friendship.

    The question on the lips of concerned Nigerians, therefore, is whether the heroism of our worthy patriots will sufficiently motivate and challenge policy makers and the rest of us to scale off our old skin or, it is going to be business as usual given our characteristic unwillingness to learn from history?

    It is needless to say that any country that fails to learn from history is doomed to repeat the same mistake with disastrous consequences. God forbit it. We shall not have dusk at dawn this time around.

    The Federal Government has a critical role to play in this process as the prime mover of actions. Evidence abounds of promises made in the past but only kept in the breach. If our lads can defy all odds to conquer Africa, the rest of us too can do our best even if our best is not good enough.

    The tendency is to feel that since we have lavished cash gift and other benefits, including national honour, on our worthy soccer ambassadors, our duty to God and man is done. Far from it, we shall be all eyes down looking and will not hesitate to call offenders to order. It is a new dawn and everybody must imbue the spirit.

    This is why this writer is happy that the Governor of Plateau State, Da Jonah Jang, captured the real essence of football being the greatest unifying force when he pointed out with a sense of nostalgia and pride that as many as five members of the victorious Super Eagles namely, Mikel Obi, Ahmed Musa, Onazi Ogenyi, Victor Moses and Sunday Mba, had their football roots in Jos.

    Until very recently, Jos was, indeed, the soccer destination for Nigerian players. Apart from the beautiful weather, Jos was famous for its peaceful co-existence, where Nigerians lived together in peace and harmony irrespective of their ethnic and religious differences. We all yearn for the return of the status quo.

    With the benefit of hindsight and history, notable players who had come from the Plateau football stable included famous names like Sam Garba, Christopher Udumeze, Austin Power, Mathematical Segun Odegbami, Garba Lawal, the three Atuegbu brothers, Lai Olagbenro, Sule Kekere, Nda Liman and Baba Otoo Mohammed.

    Others were Akale Dafe, Okey Isima, Arthur Egbunam, Shola Popo, Sunday Daniel, Sani Ibrahim, Nakande, Batande and Adeyemi. The list is by no means inexhaustible. These players were either playing for the famous Mighty Jets, Pen Powers, Dynamos, JIB Rocks, JUTH or the Plateau Highlanders. Many of them also played for the senior national team or in the age grade categories.

    Jos has also produced coaches who made and still making their mark at the national level such as James Peter, Garba Lawal, Bitrus Bewerang, Goalkeeper Dualong and Innocent Ogbe.

    Many of us who also had our career roots in Jos share the sense of nostalgia with Governor Jang, and hope and pray that the glory days would return for Jos to regain its fame as a soccer haven and home to all Nigerians.

    As people comment on various aspects of the Super Eagles’ example in the days ahead, it is difficult to ignore the arrow-head, Steven Keshi, the man of the moment. Frankly speaking, this is the finest hour in his coaching career.

    The elements seem very well mixed in the personality of Okechukwu. His decision to quit when the ovation is loudest, is very bold and courageous. His decision to rescind his resignation in defference to wise counsel, is even more soothing and hilarious.

    •Mr. Attah was the Chief Press Secretary to the late Head of State Gen. Sani Abacha

  • When not to celebrate a centenary

    SIR: Since the amalgamation of the country 99 years ago, Nigeria has had different leaders under different circumstances- from colonial administration to civilian-military and back to civilians. One unending question on the lips of citizens is why Nigeria, among the developing countries of the world seems to be locked into a cycle of dysfunction?

    Why is it that of all third-world countries, Nigeria seems unable to convincingly get its foot on the economic and political ladder?

    Are Nigerians universally more incapable? Are Nigerian leaders genetically more venal, more ruthless, more corrupt?

    Are Nigerian policy makers more innately feckless?

    What is it about Nigeria that holds it back, that seems to render it incapable of joining the rest of the world despite the huge mineral deposit, conducive climatic condition, good arable land, availability of both skilled and unskilled manpower?

    These questions demand answers as the people of Nigeria did not in any time yearn for a government that serves only the interests of narrow ruling elite, governance drenched in corruption, patronage, favoritism, and abuse of power.

    Our governments have been scandalously incompetent and hopelessly ineffective in tackling the myriad of social ills confronting the nation; compromised by corruption and hobbled by cronyism.

    Even why the country is facing the biggest challenge of insecurity today, our leaders are obsessed with cultivating and acquiring power without care to the needs and welfare of citizens and are even more disturbingly unconcerned about the rule of law.

    Their promises of, and commitment to good governance during the electioneering campaign in 2011 is turning out to be vacuous soothing words, feckless rhetoric, and hollow gestures as the people are completely losing sight on the direction of their leadership.

    In a society where men are truly free, they need not seek salvation in their leaders; but in Nigeria today, the people are earnestly in need of democratic salvation because either by ignorance and inefficiency if not by complicity, the political scene in the country today has taken on an air of surrealism, a weird and almost frightening atmosphere. Our Christians and Muslim brothers and sisters have deserted their places of worship for fear of being attacked by the dreaded Boko Haram sect and kidnappers; schools have been razed, pupils and teachers maimed, commuters bombed at the park and various security outfits have been attacked, resulting in the death of many rank and files in the security agency today.

    As a result of these unfortunate situations in Nigeria today, disenchantment is widespread, cynicism is epidemic, and disillusionment has become a way of life among the electorate.

    In spite of these, our “Ogas at the top” are in blissful mood for the celebration of the country’s centenary existence.

    What will be the justification of this celebration when after 100 years our academic institutions are structurally and intellectually ineffective, after hundred years there is still endless phalanx of unemployed graduate on our streets to the extent that both the B.Sc and the PhD holders are slugging it out for truck driving jobs?

    After 100 years, looting of public treasury is not seen as a grave crime as those who loot walk freely with retinue of security personnel.

    After 100 years, preventable diseases like malaria are still killing our children on daily basis.

    After hundred years we are still importing toothpicks and cannot refine our crude oil locally. What are they celebrating? We need to look at how we can reset our values in regards to a better economy, we need to work with all civil societies, government and expert to work out better way forward.

    A nation that generates billions of dollars from crude oil should be creating six regional state-of-the art hospitals for all Nigerians; instead of our people trooping abroad for treatment.

    •Onogwu Isah Muhammed

    Kogi Youth Coalition for Good Governance, Lokoja