The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • At last, Ebonyi’s somnolent governor stirs himself

    At last, Ebonyi’s somnolent governor stirs himself

    Governor Martin Elechi, 72, of Ebonyi State is the oldest governor in Nigeria. His predecessor, Dr Sam Egwu, facilitated his election as governor in 2007. But either because of the mystery his advanced age evoked or of the obscurity he has dragged both himself and his persevering state, he managed to win reelection in 2011, thereby creating a paranormal phenomenon that no one inside or outside the state has been able to explain. For the about six years he has been in office, all we get from Ebonyi is perfect, inscrutable silence. In fact, it seems the governor and his cabinet have an antipathy towards news of any sort, and would rather that no news, good or bad, be written about them or the state. Since 2000 there has been only improvement in that silence, with more silence overlaying grosser silence until there is deadness.

    Well, not anymore. Ebonyi’s dry bones are rising. Governor Elechi is breaking loose, and is stirring himself for the state and nation to feel his presence. He had been accused of not being in the news either in the past or present. Now, after firing four traditional rulers, he is definitely in the news. That forceful act has got the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) hopping mad. The party alleged the governor did not follow laid down procedures, and did not also give the victims of his executive action fair hearing. In the days ahead, the state may want to respond to the opposition’s allegations and present the true facts of the case to bemused Ebonyians. Perhaps the governor can after all justify his action; perhaps the four chiefs’ sins were grievous and inexcusable. What is of interest to Hardball, however, is that he of whom it was said could neither stir nor speak, nor yet act with vigour, has finally conjured an earthquake.

    Cynical Ebonyians would probably have preferred their governor to conjure volcanoes in government policies and put some life and substance in enunciating a coherent developmental paradigm for the state. But since they asked for action without specifying what kind of actions would please them, they must be contented with the sacking of chiefs. The problem Ebonyians and those who expect more from the governor are having is that they can’t in fact seem to understand the man they voted for. They should have known that apart from the permanent avuncular grin on his face, the man is simply impenetrable, even indecipherable. He has initiated some building projects and continues to wring hands on those begun by his predecessors, but it is an irony that this graduate of economics seems destined to leave his people poorer than he met them.

    It is not for nothing that when he wanted a university education, he chose the Lovanium University of Congo in the Democratic Republic of Congo, at a time (1963) when that big, endowed but underachieving country was seething with discontent and chaos. He must be among the very few Nigerians who went in an unexpected direction to receive tertiary education from an unlikely country. It is all the more startling that though he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics (with distinction) in 1966, he has baffled his subjects by ruling as someone who read building technology. Ebonyi is rated as the poorest state in the Southeast in spite of its rich and indescribable agricultural potentials, but Elechi has blissfully elected to concentrate on white elephant projects than to build the capacity of his people. It is indeed a puzzle that he doesn’t feel what the rest of us feel: that Ebonyi seems to be in another country, its people and potentials unknown, and its governor even more mysterious.

    In helping the election of his successor in 2007, it is possible Dr Egwu felt Elechi would be a safe pair of hands. Indeed, he is characteristically a very safe pair of hands. But there are times when safety may prove detrimental to progress, for it is easy to confuse safety with caution. Ebonyi may be receiving the second lowest allocation from Abuja, but given its enormous economic potentials, it is a state that should flourish in the hands of a less sedate, less cautious, less insular and more enterprising governor. If Ebonyians decide to vote foolishly and sentimentally next time, they could find themselves ineluctably drawn into the famous black hole in space (spacetime, actually), the graveyard of stars – except that Ebonyi never really shone, notwithstanding Abakiliki, Afikpo and Nkalagu.

  • Social media and My oga at the top

    Social media and My oga at the top

    It used to be thought that newspapers were the main feral beasts tearing reputations apart and destroying careers. But compared with the immeasurable capacity of social media to pulverise and annihilate, newspapers are tame, friendly and adorable communication organs. In the few years since it became probably the most popular means for the creation, exchange and sharing of information and ideas between communities and individuals, social media has trumped everyone, in part because, like terrorism, it is not limited by borders. On social media, news and contents can be created and shared instantly. If the news is positive, and it goes viral, it can help an individual or community reap humungous benefits. But if the news and other contents are negative, the consequences to reputations and careers can be equally swift and destructive. Shema Obafaiye, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Lagos Commandant, is the latest to feel the merciless sting of social media.

    Mr Obafaiye had on a recent television programme performed poorly in projecting the image of his organisation. Though he answered most of the questions posed to him very well and showed mastery of issues pertaining to Civil Defence, he flunked the rather simple question of what his organisation’s web address was. And as he hemmed and hawed, he blurted out a reference to My oga at the top, a pithy part of his wrong answer that would haunt him in the hours and days after. Indeed, because it has now cost him his position as Lagos commandant of the Civil Defence, it seems the reference to My oga at the top will haunt him for the rest of his life, and perhaps in the end cost him his job.

    The gaffe was of course shocking, but not unpardonable. Web addresses are generally pesky little irritations on the memory, especially when they are not the simple dot com or dot co dot uk type. In the pre-social media days, a little gaffe now and again would not kill anyone, let alone bring a person to universal opprobrium. But Obafaiye has chosen to blunder in an age when all communication barriers have fallen, and when nothing is beyond the reach of the web or of the waspish pens and tongues of pernicious fellows. Moments after the Civil Defence officer made the gaffe and gave the public the memorable line of My oga at the top, social media took up the refrain and relentlessly lampooned him. The unsparing ridicule was followed by yet more merciless parodies, caricatures, clerihews, musical compositions, emblazoned tee shirts, and one-act drama pieces. A deeply mortified Civil Defence had to withdraw Obafaiye from his visible office and consign him to obscurity, perhaps to push files, run errands and clean the archives.

    With social media becoming the leading activity on the web, it is now clear that no private or public person can even afford to tell a little, innocuous lie. Once he is found out, ubiquitous and pretentious Mozarts and Beethovens will produce instantaneous compositions to celebrate the lie. Nor, from all indications, can anyone even commit indiscretion bordering on spousal unfaithfulness. Imagine social media to have been very active in 2007 when Robert Mugabe allegedly videoed the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo and critic, Pius Ncube, romping with a married parishioner, Rosemary Sibanda. All borders have fallen, so never rule out what item will next go viral on the web. Today’s safe man may be tomorrow’s endangered man. Today, it is Obafaiye’s gentle gaffe; tomorrow, it could be something much more poisonous and salacious. Many governments have spent incredible amount of time and resources trying to regulate conventional media; let us see how far they can go with social media, where there is little adherence to ethics, and where regulations even by the most vicious governments have proved utterly inadequate.

  • Essential Oshiomhole @ 60

    Essential Oshiomhole @ 60

    Today April 4, the two-term globally acclaimed former President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Comrade Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole marks his 60th birthday anniversary. At its maiden merit award edition recently in Lagos, the Labour Writers Association of Nigeria (LAWAN), among others honoured the Comrade Governor for being a Pride of modern Trade Unionism. It was instructive that Labour writers singled out the governor for the merit award. Indeed the significant part of the citation was devoted to his almost four decades-long trade union career (1971-2007). Undoubtedly the essential and perhaps most critical attributes of Adams Oshiomhole is trade unionism. LAWAN certainly got it right; the life and times of Adams show that his main strenuous preoccupations have been with the improvement in the working and living conditions of working men and women. Not surprising that Adams the unionist, advocate, negotiator, the striker and mass organizer any day captures public imagination rather than Oshiomhole, twice democratically elected governor, (the latest in which he won in all the 18 local governments, being the land-mark 18/18), the statesman, the humorist, peace-maker, pace-setter, the dancer, friend, father and grandfather.

    A decade well before Comrade Adams started his working career in Arewa Textile Mill in Kaduna in 1971, Nelson Mandela (precisely in 1961) had said ‘Struggle is my life’. Looking at the well documented activities of the labour leader in the last four decades one can conveniently conclude that ‘Struggle is his (Adams’) life’.

    As his assistant as well as deputy for years and eventual successor as the General Secretary of the National Union of Textile and Garment Workers’ Union of Nigeria (NUTGWN), I bear witness that thousands of national and local collective agreements on wages, allowances, gratuities, hours of work, etc bear the bold signature imprint of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in the textile industry. The union years of Adams were in a developmental, industrialising Nigeria. In the 70s and 80s, in Kaduna town alone, there were over 10 large integrated textile mills that employed on the average 2,500 workers. United Textile Nigeria alone employed about 5000 workers. The latter group that extended as far as Funtua and Guzau in Katsina and Zamfara states respectively had combined 10,000 workforce. Indeed nationally, there were as many as 200 textile mills with as many as 150,000 workers. Textile industry was the largest employer of labour followed by government. The labour market challenge was not unemployment but ensuring that work was decent in terms of pay, hours of work and security of work. This was where Comrade Adams and his colleagues audaciously made a difference. They courageously and selflessly checked the authoritarian labour regimes of mainly Asian employers from China and India. Instead, textile union under the stewardship of Adams and scores of organisers that included late Muhammed Bello, Alhaji L A Shittu, Alhaji Umoru Muhammed, late Emmanuel Amadi, Andrew Asagbohi enthroned what the Swedish political economists, professors Bjorn Beckman and Gunilla Andrae called Union Power in Nigerian Textile industry(1999) ( the only sector to be so studied).

    This singular all-time record achievement in textile union eminently qualified Adams, deputy President of NLC to become the fourth President of NLC where his impact was even more globally felt in areas of improved minimum wage, serial resistance against persistent fuel price increases and bold engagement with private sector employers against casualisation of labour force.

    A look at the issues that preoccupied Adams and his comrades show that what labour unions do are as all-inclusive as they are diverse; wage increase, decent jobs (anti-casualisation), petroleum pricing and deregulation, privatisation, education (ASUU/Government conflicts), democracy (electoral bill, probity among politicians), anti-corruption, nationalism (Bakassi) national unity, organizational and capacity building. Significantly, the forms of struggle employed by Adams were knowledge-driven. Indeed it was the quality of knowledge that Adams brought into the struggle that marked him out among other NLC leaders after Hassan Sunmonu and Ali Chiroma, (the first and second Presidents of NLC respectively).

    Interestingly, Adams the unionist was not as politically partisan. Indeed compared to unionists like Frank Kokori of NUPENG and Pascal Bafyau, the late former President of NLC, (the most partisan unionist) Adams was political party-shy even as he ideologically insisted that unionists cannot be apolitical. Today it is a great paradox that Comrade Adams remains the most successful politically-exposed trade unionist, winning two keenly contested elections including landmark judgement that validated his first victory. The spontaneity, passion and mass enthusiasm that trailed Adams’ political datelines from his dramatic declaration of gubernatorial interest in Edo on the platform of Labour Party (LP) in 2007, to the court verdict electoral victory in 2008 as well as electoral triumph in 2012 has commendably rekindled the nostalgia of the wonderful political tradition of popular leaders like Zik, Aminu Kano, Abubakar Rimi, Balarabe Musa as well Awo at their respective political rallies. Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN did a “friendly fire” when he raised a fraternal objection to Oshiomhole’s governorship aspiration on the account that his pan-Nigerian credentials eminently qualified him for the presidency.

    As Edo State governor, even his political opponents bear witness to his unprecedented transformation in primary healthcare facilities and the building of new hospitals across the three senatorial districts and the 18 local governments. His administration witnessed unprecedented improvement in education infrastructure, mass renovation of public schools, provision of learning aids and instruction materials, adequate deployment of teachers and model schools.

    He also provided jobs through public works with thousands of youths employed and secondly through industrial development as witnessed by the recent monumental investment of over $2billion by Alhaji Aliko Dangote in the fertilizer plant at Agenebode. Adams has shown that comrades could be effective state actors just as well as they are effective non-state actors.

    His greatest strength is even on the soft issue; he has demonstrated that being in public office does not necessarily change one’s loud advocacy for good governance. On the contrary, Adams has been as loud in demanding for accountability and transparency in governance just as when he was a labour leader. As regular interventionist in national discourse, he is never on the fence. He had at several times interrogated the assumptions of neo- liberalism ,insisting that contrary to the received wisdom, government has business in business and that governance cannot and should not be left to market forces. Some of his interventions made a positive difference such as his decisive mediation in ASSU/Federal government protracted industrial crisis of 2010! Some interventions were understandably controversial such as his moderated position on fuel subsidy issue in 2011. In all, his voice was loudly counted! The Essential Oshiomhole is commitment to what you believe in. A participant of Course 9 in 1988, he is a member of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). Happy birthday comrade governor!

    • Aremu, mni, is Secretary General of Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI)

  • Hail Ekweremadu, the 13th Apostle

    SIR: Somewhere in Udi Local Government Area in Enugu State during the last Easter, the 13th Apostle was unveiled. Ladies and Gentlemen meet the 13th Apostle, His Excellency, Deputy Senate President Distinguished Senator (Apostle) Ike Ekweremadu.

    It is the stated calling of apostles to plant churches and last week, our man fulfilled that call by building a church in his state. This was an epoch event and to show its importance, the presiding bishop of the republic, His Excellency Goodluck Jonathan was present. He had to come. Apostles have no purse, they depend on the provisions of the Lord to plant churches, they depend on the goodwill of the mission areas and to a large extent on the hospitality of the bishop of the province in which they plant the church, and to succeed they have to enlist in the good books of the bishop. Hence, Bishop Goodluck had to be present to bless the apostle’s work.

    In a nation without proper centres for skills acquisition for the youth, in a nation where health centres are death rooms, in a country where you shed tears at the penury of people living in slums, we have leaders who weekly pander to religious sentiments by going from one mosque or church to the other making donations for more and more churches and mosques. It shows they understand the effect religious sentiments have on people especially Nigerians. It is important that there is a change in the way religious issues are championed by political leaders. It is either one governor donates a mosque or the president is sourcing funds for a church or one senator is donating another church.

    Gentlemen, just for a reminder, we do not need more churches and mosques in Nigeria. We need hungry people to have access to food, youth need access to jobs, children need access to a decent life in their fatherland, pregnant women in the remotest villages from Yobe to Akwa Ibom to Osun to Ebonyi needs access to prompt and quality healthcare.

    Some have opined that there exists a conspiracy between the religious groups and the state. Politicians make reckless decisions as regards the future of the country and then call on their religious counterparts to help prepare the sick to die and meet the Lord, to offer hope where there is none; hope that paralyzes faith that numbs, to convince the helpless population that gather in multimillion naira mosques and churches that all will be well even when the hospital behind the church records several deaths per week.

    This is the calamity that has befallen us and indeed we need more apostles to show us the way to heaven. The problem is that we have apostles who bring the message of salvation and also apostles who prepare us to meet God faster by not providing security and healthcare to us but donating religious structures so that at least you can die in peace! Sincere congratulations to the 13th apostle.

    • Ojinnaka, Kelechi C.

    Port Harcourt.

  • How realistic is Minna’s motorcycle ban?

    SIR: On February 26, the self-styled the Chief Servant of Niger State, Dr Babangida Aliyu Muazu announced the ban on commercial motorcycle and gave three weeks ultimatum for its enforcement in Minna metropolis and its environs. As a result, residents of Minna were thrown into confusion, dazed, agitated, and helpless.

    Indeed, tricycles were introduced as replacements for commercial motorcycles, but at what cost? How many a commercial motorcycle operator can afford N400, 000 for a tricycle to pay in installment for 18 months?

    By design, the tricycle requires smooth terrain to operate efficiently. However, most areas in the Minna metropolis lack adequate road network. Except for the streets off the major ‘Chanchaga-Maikunkele’ expressway (that passes through the heart of Minna town), which had their roads constructed, most adjoining areas and new settlements along both western bypass and eastern bypass have no good access road, and the terrain is too rough for tricycle to have a smooth ride. Ironically, these areas are inhabited by many residents who have no cars of their own to serve their transportation need.

    It is a known fact that majority of the unemployed youth in Niger State take to motorcycle business to earn a leaving and cater for their families. Personally, I don’t see how snatching bread from a hungry man could solve any problems in the society.

    Of course such ban was enforced in a few conflict-torn states in North-west and North-east Nigeria as a measure to curtail insecurity and brutal murder of innocent lives, many of which were perpetrated using motorcycles. For crying out loud, Minna town is relatively peaceful. If commercial motorcycles still operate in states facing more serious security challenges, the ban in Niger State is simply uncalled for.

    Frankly speaking, running from a problem is no way to solving it.

    Transportation is a great necessity in every modern society. It is a driving force as well as linking machinery that propels a nation’s economy forward. Just a few hour of the expiration of the three weeks ultimatum, business activities and movements were nearly disrupted in the state capital but for the suspension on the ban. Although commercial motorcycles still operate in Minna metropolis for the time being, this has not allayed the fears of Nigerlites of imminent enforcement.

    • Fatima Abdulkadir Gana

    IBBU, Lapai, Niger State.

  • Re: Self from self

    Re: Self from self

    Sir: I think the real shame, of Wole Soyinka’s and Chinua Achebe’s counter-criticism of each other’s achievements lies in their failures. Neither of them had attempted, to date, to maintain the necessary call for the critical development of any and all of our grossly inadequate local or indigenous ‘languages’ into full and proper ones.

    A language does not become one, truly, until it may be able to depict the vast majority of the things and concepts existing in the Universe, with its vocabulary. How would we improve the efficacy with which indigenous electronic technology would be developed if we do not have

    words, for “infra-red” or “ultra-violet”, nor be able to distinguish between the colours red, yellow, orange, and pink, with which the rural man may be able to internalise the concept of the naturally occurring and universal spectrum of light that underpins that technology?

    Isn’t this one of the major reasons behind the fear and trepidation with which our children perceive these concepts when, at first, they come across them? An awe, quite far beyond their ‘inability’ to understand the concept, borne, purely, out of the lack of the depiction of the word in our “mother” tongues?

    How do we internalise the reality of construction technology if we do not have a word to describe the concept of “trigonometry” or “algebra”, or “mechanics”, nor are able to distinguish between an “isosceles” and an “equilateral” triangle, as well as the myriad other realities that underpin the complete understanding of same, in a local language?

    Chinua Achebe, once upon a time, gave a lame excuse for writing in English alone and not in Igbo. I can’t ever remember Wole Soyinka giving any excuse for this similar career characteristic.

    I don’t begrudge either of them their literary career choice of language. It is a prerogative they have exercised to great personal successes. No doubt! And I celebrate and remain thankful, with, and for, them, even as a Nigerian!

    I do question the lack of a clamour, from either of them, for the deliberate development, by State Government setup committees, of erudite linguists and traditionalists, saddled with the critical development-economic task of turning any and all of our local creoles into proper languages.

    They might not have ever traded these criticisms should they had shared the vision of the great roles and impetus they may have occupied and given this burning national crisis of

    language as a crucially neglected development-economic tool!

    In fact, I ‘see’ them having collaborated comfortably as ‘Professor Booker’ and ‘Professor Nobel’, to give a double-colossal national and Diaspora impetus to the fundamental Cause!

    • Tajin Olusegun Taire

    Tinapa, Calabar.

  • From the cell phone

    For Dare Olatunji

     

    Dare, when the rumour legislation is passed, will I be arrested and charged if I spread a rumour to the effect that His Excellency is unarguably the most handsome governor in Nigeria with a pointed nose and least inclined to steal state funds, or that Bayelsa has 48 local government councils and not eight? Anonymous

    What a waste of time! The Constitution provides for freedom of speech, and the Constitution is superior to any other law that goes contrary. A professor who was accused of being a spy and deported from Nigeria once said that, in Nigeria you do not need spies if you want to know what is going on in Aso Rock. All you need do is to go and listen to what the market women are discussing. Why is he so worried about rumour mongers? Could it be because the rumours are true? Besides, no law can kill rumour mongering; it is our national past-time and near impossible to prove. Anonymous

    Journalism in other parts of the world have been used to expand the boundary of development and civilization. But, in Nigeria, it is a tool for power struggle and ‘give me chop make I promote you’. Today, politicians masquerade as journalists to hit the media with propaganda just to get attention at all cost. Some of them deliberately promote falsehood against the government because they are out. I stand with Governor Dickson to criminalise ‘dem say, dem say journalism’. From E. H. I.

    Rumour mongering or what they termed ‘dem say, dem say’ medium is another source of information gathering which genuine and people-oriented government can tap into to gauge people’s opinions and direct its affairs. It, sometimes, contains an iota of truth. Only an elitist government would be jittery of this important source of information. From K. M. Bello, Osun

    Re: Beware, rumour monger. The last five paragraphs of your write-up depicted that, despite the objectivity in the obvious sectional development of Bayelsan towns and villages ala Aso Rock influence in favour of Otueke or Otuoke of Mr. President, Governor Dickson was trying to muzzle the public and press opinions. Courts are there to seek redress even if Bayelsan legislators sheepishly pass such draconian bill! Without working, an absentee permanent secretary would be transacting a ‘free fund’. The rumour should go on. From Lanre Oseni

    Dickson should, first of all, prepare a bill against rumour mongers in his parlour before the public. Mr. Dickson, life itself is a rumour. When they discovered oil in Niger Delta, it was a rumour in the first instance, but people peddled it and it became real. Without peddling rumour, we will remain in darkness. By peddling rumour we will understand what is going on around us. If you want to remain viable, listen to rumour mongers and make use of your sense. Dickson, listen to ‘dem say, dem say’ so that you will not fall unaware. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa Lagos

    I am not surprised at Dickson’s ‘patriotic’ zeal to curb the ‘strange’ development of rumour mongering and propaganda threatening to rubbish his good works, or even dismember his government. Who would blame him? He was considered the best for the job by Mr. President on account of which he was imposed on Bayelsans as the governor. He in turn must go to any length to prove to the presidency that he is capable, even if it means going to the ridiculous extent of constructing policy somersault to prove that. The only mistake the ‘action’ governor has made, I think, is, while he was dutifully interested in the avalanche of severe punishments that will be handed out to the rumour mongers and propagandists when found guilty, he forgot to let us also know the handsome rewards that await those whose rumours will eventually turn to be the reality about the happenings in his government. From Emmanuel Egwu, Enugu

    Dear Sir, I see you as a dogged fighter, but what about terror conspiracy on the nation! However, I wish to congratulate you in advance – Your Excellency, Governor, Kwara State. Anonymous

     

    For Segun Gbadegesin

     

    Sir, the article, ‘the clash …’ is an intellectual masterpiece, but the recommendation is deficient. From Nkan E. G.

    Please, when did Jesus tell his disciples not to call anyone on earth father but God? Can you elaborate, please? Anonymous

    Akinyemi’s clash of civilizations is a masterpiece. But can Nigeria be part of MINT with its high level of corruption? Until we implement the National Conference, Nigeria should not pretend to belong to MINT. Anonymous

    Sir, thank you very much for serving every reader of The Nation a sip from your barrel of vintage wine. Clashes of civilizations are not only supranational, regional and international crisis-engendering phenomena; they underlie civil unrest and the urge by a part to always produce the head of state within many a country. Recent happenings in Afghanistan, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria and Pakistan are illustrative of this fact. From Adebayo Adedayo, Akure

    Your write-up this Good Friday reveals that there is nothing good about Good Friday in Nigeria. You are absolutely right. Thanks! Anonymous

    God bless you sir. Honestly, you caught the bull by the horn and you hit the nail on the head. One thing stands: Truth is better! I have always said it; Nigerians love good but do bad things. The mammon called Money is the bait the devil is using to control our life even the Christians. Thanks! From Bro Esan Olabisi

    I read your interesting piece in The Nation ‘The clash of civilizations revisited’. Nigeria can not belong to either BRICS or the emerging MINT blocs because we do not have any direction, be it economic or political, countries in these blocs are serious in all they do. Let us look for corrupt-ridden countries and form a bloc of corrupt countries with no sense of direction. Anonymous

    Jesus was maltreated by his accusers, he was mocked, there was a palpable miscarriage of justice, yet he was calm and cool. I believe it is quite a good example for us believers to follow. Anonymous

    No one expects, but someone is preaching it. What are the elements of the perfect column, Jesus Christ, born-again, etc. Log onto www.1520istheideal.com/perfect. Anonymous

    Re: What makes this Friday good? To Humans, what makes this Friday a good one is the tender nature of Beings who want enjoyment only. They ought to know what Jesus passed through. Let us hence shun corrupt-tendency, poor leadership, and be kind to the Poor. The sermon in this write-up is for all adults above 18 years. May we imbibe the culture of commitment, sacrifice and love for Nigeria. From Lanre Oseni

    The Christians in Nigeria should use this Easter period to pray against insecurity. Let them read their Bible and teach what they read to the people. They should preach salvation not prosperity, because preaching prosperity would bring corruption and insecurity in the country. Let them emulate Christ. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Docyard, Apapa Lagos

    May the Lord bless you on this auspicious season of Easter, and may it be a new beginning of greater prosperity, joy, success and happiness. Wish you and your family happy Easter. From your son, Peter Ogbewo

     

    For Tunji Adegboyega

     

    Re: ‘Dem say, dem say governor’, (your column of March 31). A wonderful article as usual. But Tunji, one governor you have failed to add is the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio (although a performer unlike his colleague). From Dapo Lagos.

    Governor Dickson is working hard to carry everybody along to move Bayelsa forward, despite the fact that some appointments made by the governor are unnecessary. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

    I know that no matter the punishment that the Seriake Dickson’s committee on rumour mongering may plan for the perceived offenders, the judiciary/courts will serve as redeemers for the same perceived offenders. This is a democracy. How will there not be ‘dem say, dem say’ where a First Lady was dashed the position of permanent secretary whereas she ought to have earned it! Dem say, dem say will continue where the same free-funded permanent secretary would not do the work! Dem say people want to know the practicability of permanent secretary who is eating without working! Dem say people, ride on, o jare. Also, concerning your ‘Re: ‘Mr President remember January 2012’, I think Mr President was just sensitising Nigerians to what he has for us and what suggestions we have to move Nigeria forward on the proposed fuel price hike. We are all glad that you reminded the President of January 2012 because ‘a word is enough for the wise’. We are all too sure that the era of fuel price increase is gone. Rather, we want to see the end of the fuel subsidy scam. From Lanre Oseni.

    Tunji, thank you for yet another good outing on March 17 titled “Mr President, remember January 2. It may interest you to know that NNPC is the reason why our refineries may not work even at 50 per cent capacity! Government is using it as a conduit pipe. Anonymous

    I agree with you that Nigerians are not ready for high fuel prices. I ask: which class of Nigerians? The exploited, yes! Well, the whole truth is that the existing social system is based on exploitation. What is more, the exploited have the right to build a government of their choice. Thanks. From Amos Ejimonye, Kaduna.

    They have started oiling and assembling their rigging machinery. Very soon, they will begin to visit governors, chiefs, emirs with money in the name of consultations for 2015. The money is raised through phoney contracts, oil blocs, fuel subsidy, tax and import waivers awarded to some characters in the rigging machinery. That is where real rigging starts. I urge you editors (NGE) and journalists generally to remember how you people fought Gen. Abacha, and do the same to the PDP government’s misrule. Nigerians are ready to join in the fight; all we need is leadership and direction from the professionals, civil society groups and labour. From N. Ndubuisi.

    Tunji, you wrote well, your pen will never dry in Jesus’ name (Amen). Where is the SURE-P money to cushion the oil subsidy withdrawal? Nigerians are not feeling the impact of the so-called SURE-P funds. What went wrong? Time will tell. From Chika Nnorom.

  • Kudos to Globacom

    Kudos to Globacom

    SIR: Permit me a space in your widely read news I wish to commend Globacom for complying with the Nigerian Communications Commission’s directive to reduce the tariff for sms across all the networks.

    It gladdens my heart to note that NCC can take such a bold step to save Nigerians from the exploitative tendencies of some of the service providers by intervening in the increasing cost of sending sms. I have done my calculation and I am particularly delighted to note that Globacom did not only comply with the directive, but it have gone a step further. Instead of charging the recommended N4 per sms, it charges N3.81 per sms. This is a good demonstration of nationalism. Please keep it up.

    This singular act goes to show that beyond profitability, which in any case is the essence of any business concern, Globacom cares more about the people as a truly indigenous company. We cannot forget teh fact that it is the same Globacom that started the lowest tariff and the issue of per second billing in this country.

    I also wish to ask that other GSM operators in the country should as a matter of urgency, further review their sms charges as Globacom did; reason being that if Globacom can do this, others can equally follow; after all, they all face the same infrastructural challenges in their operations.

     

    • Adewale Omolere,

    Ijegun str., Alapere,

    Ketu, Lagos.

  • Fayose redefines politics

    Fayose redefines politics

    Mr Ayo Fayose, former governor of Ekiti State, may be a little subdued now, but when he was governor, he was a boisterous and easily excitable politician. His innate populism, everyone recalls, drove him to extremes of hyperactivity, even if the activities were specious and misdirected. He talked loudly when gentle talk would do; he jumped on any bandwagon because he lacked the sophistication to draw a distinction between nobility and plebeianism; and he showed absolutely no depth on the few occasions he attempted to grapple with issues. Some six years ago, he was untidily impeached by his own party for acts incompatible with his oath of office. Now he is back attempting to regain the office he lost in October 2006. He believes the same populist credentials that brought him into office in 2003 will serve him well when Ekiti goes to the poll in 2014. And he is back talking political and philosophical shop, posturing as an intellectual, pinpointing historical significances where there are none, and interpreting and redefining the science of politics.

    According to an interview he granted the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Fayose said he would be the next governor of Ekiti in 2014. He is entitled to dream. However, he anchors this dream on two things. The first is that the former governor has casually stringed together a group of dates on his Ouija board to achieve a desired outcome; and the second is that he has clumsily redefined the meaning of politics by simply ignoring common dictionary definitions and embracing his own self-generated, streetwise understanding of politics. He had apparently been asked what his agenda for 2014 was. “There is no agenda for 2014,” he shot back, “I am the next governor of Ekiti State.” The reason Fayose is so cocksure is because “…the State House of Assembly sent (me) packing on October 15, 2006, and Segun Oni was also sacked by the courts on October 15, 2010, while the incumbent Kayode Fayemi was sworn in on October 16, 2010. So the issues are very clear. The historic importance is very clear: my exit date marks the end of every government in Ekiti State.” Consequently, he romanticised, Fayemi would leave office on October 15, 2014 and a new government by him (Fayose) would start on October 16, 2014, “exactly eight years, after I left office.”

    In Fayose’s vast, tempestuous and superstitious mind, the dates he mentioned carried “historic importance.” Were all of us to begin harvesting coincidences to underscore our messages, policies and meaning in life, where would that leave science? But much more galling is Fayose’s definition of politics. Said he in reference to the crises in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP): “Forever, there will be internal problems, it will never end, that is the hallmark of politics; that is why we call it politics, it is a game of interest and intrigues.” Now, we definitely understand how the fatalistic Fayose got the licence for ruthless machinations. And there are obviously many more like him in Nigeria. For them, politics is essentially about intrigues, about fomenting problems, about crises, about the kind of bitter infighting tearing the PDP apart everywhere. Now that it is clear he defines politics in terms of its worst connotations, and has set out what seems to him to be an intellectual foundation for his brand of politics, if he regains office, he will intrigue far worse than he did between 2003 and 2006, when he almost wrecked the state.

     

  • Lingering crises at Nigercem

    Lingering crises at Nigercem

    SIR: Well meaning Igbos have watched with sadness and dismay at what is going on at Nigercem Nkalagu. Nigercem is one of the earliest cement companies to be built in Nigeria, but while those built around the time it was established and the ones built much later are still waxing strong, generating employment in thousands, developing the economy of the areas they are domiciled and contributing significantly to the internally generated revenue of the host states, Nigercem has become moribund and cannibalized.

    During the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the federal government formulated a policy of gradual ly phasing out of cement importation. Consequent upon this, licenses were granted for greenfield plants while moribund cement plants were sold to investors that would redevelop them. In this vein, Bua Cement bought over Edo Cement Company Okpila, Eastern Bulkcem took over Nigercem Nkalagu while while Dangote group bought Benue Cement Company Gboko. Regrettably, while Bua and Dangote group where able to turn around Edo Cement and BCC Gboko respectively, the same could not be said of Eastern Bulkcem. It later became apparent that Eastern Bulkcem does not have the resources and capacity to revitalise Nigercem. Dangote went ahead to develop two other green field plants at Obajana in Kogi State and Ibeshe in Ogun State as well as in other African countries like Zambia, Senegal etc. Curiously, Dangote avoided the South-east in the siting of his plants.

    As a geologist, I know that limestone is a major raw material in the production of cement and most major plants are situated close to limestone deposits to facilitate production and save cost. Based on this, well meaning Igbos were disappointed that no investor would deem it fit to establish cement plant in the South-east, despite the preponderance of huge limestone deposits located in the region, especially at Nkalagu in Ebonyi State and Arochukwu in Abia State among others. So it came as a welcome development when Ibeto group bought over the shares of Eastern Bulkcem with intent on revitalising Nigercem, but the ovation had hardly died down when discordant tunes began to emanate from Ebonyi State between the core investor and the state government. Surprisingly, it became obvious that Ebonyi State government led by Governor Martin Elechi was not excited about Ibeto Group’s take over of Nigercem and appears bent on frustrating them. This is shocking because multitudes of Igbo youths are moving out en mass to other regions in search of jobs and worse still, majority of Ebonyi youths in particular are all over the major cities of the federation engaging in all sorts of strenuous and demeaning jobs.

    A well functioning Nigercem has the potential to provide thousands of direct and indirect jobs, boost the state’s internally generated revenue, improve the economy and lead to the establishment of other allied industries and services.

    It is worrisome and appalling that while all other regions of Nigeria has at least one cement factory, it is only the South-east that has none.It is enough cause for concern that a move to change this appalling situation is being frustrated by those that ought to encourage it. From what can be gleaned in the ongoing media war involving the Ebonyi State government and Ibeto Group, it seems that the debacle is becoming intractable with each passing day, considering the politicization of the issue and polarization of the state’s federal lawmakers as well as the dethronement of traditional rulers in the host communities.

    One hopes that the Ohanaeze ndi Igbo, South-east governors and other stakeholders will wade in with a view to resolving this crises and for the governor, Chief Martin Elechi, as an elder statesman to see the bigger picture and encourage Ibeto Group for posterity and overall interest of his state and its people.

    • Nwankwo Tochukwu,

    Aba, Abia State.