The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • A lesson in religious tolerance

    A lesson in religious tolerance

    SIR: As Christians celebrated Easter, commemorating the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, I will like to call the attention of different religion bodies all over the world to the Scottish church which showed love to their Muslim counterparts.

    According to the Daily Mail of London, a Scottish church became the first in the UK to share its premises with Muslim worshipers. Last month, St John’s Episcopal Church, Aberdeen welcomed hundreds of Muslims to pray five times a day in their building as the nearby mosque was so small that they were forced to worship outside.

    The minister of the church, Rev Isaac Poobalan, handed over part of the church hall to Chief Imam Ahmed Megharbi who led prayers in the main chapel. Rev Poobalan said that he would not be true to his faith if he did not offer to help.

    He said: “Praying is never wrong. My job is to encourage people to pray. The mosque was so full at times, there would be people outside in the wind and rain praying. I knew I couldn’t let this happen – because I would be abandoning what the Bible teaches us about how we should treat our neighbors… It’s a big building and it remains empty on a Friday lunchtime which is when they need the place most as that’s when they are at their busiest”.

    Rev. Poobalan said he wanted the move to help build bridges between Christians and Muslims after some initial resistance from his congregation.

    It’s also worthy of mention that the mosque received the help the church offered in good spirit. Sheikh Ahmed Megharbi reportedly said: “what happens here is special and there should be no problem repeating this across the country. The relationship is friendly and respected.”

    I urge different religious bodies all over the world to learn from this. We must learn to live together in harmony and in love and try to even help another in time of need. I believe there is no religion that preaches violence, therefore the religious leaders must preach peace, tolerance and friendliness among their members so that there can be peace in our world.

    Religious leaders must learn from Pope John Paul ll who was the first Pontiff to visit the Ummayad Mosque in Damascus in may 2001, when he embarked on a pilgrimage that took him from Greece to Syria to the island of Malta. I believe it is the same God who created all of us in different religions; therefore we must love our neighbor as ourselves regardless of our religion differences because our God is love.

     

    • John Tosin Ajiboye

    Osogbo, Osun State

  • The real trouble with Nigeria

    The real trouble with Nigeria

    SIR: Nigeria is burdened with multiple socio-political­ problems that have left many disenchanted. The systemic decay, apart from nauseating, leaves many gasping for fresh air. In the effort to situate the problem, many self-righteous folks trade blames as to where the problem of Nigeria lies. To some, it is our leaders while others hold colonialism responsible. Such naïve conclusion especially the one that holds the hugely corrupt PDP responsible for our woes merely distracts our attention from successfully situating the problem.

    Nigerian problem can aptly be summed up as “frail institutional set-up that thrives on ignoble culture of impunity and corruption”. It is caused by Nigerians, not the PDP.

    Except we want to feign ignorance, we all know that the root of our problem is dearth of morals. Decayed moral fabrics make it possible for us all to break rules of engagement in and out of government.

    While elected/­imposed officials can afford to steal, sycophancy and greed make us hail the criminals. We have all refrained from doing what is right to build our nation. We can and should thus blame ourselves for our socio-political­ woes and not lay it at the door step of the PDP when we have all failed the nation.

    A careful analysis of our problem, shows a collective failure of all to do the needful.

    How is the PDP our problem when we have all failed in our bit of nation building?

    Strong institutions need resolute people to succeed. We are people that want convenient laws…laws we obey when it favours us? Show me the nation that is built up that way and I will congratulate Nigerians for building Nigeria.

    Our estate will nose-dive as long as our collective docility in the face of nation building continues.

    I personally don’t support corruption that the PDP and indeed political life of the nation has come to be known for, but that will not make me situate our problem where it doesn’t belong. Nigerians are the problem of Nigeria. Our ignoble sense of entitlement with zero percent sense of responsibility to nation building is our problem.

    Way out? We must stop finding help where there’s none because such would amount to an exercise in futility. We must see beyond the PDP and be willing to selflessly build the Nigeria of our individual dreams. Fixing our socio-political­ woes in Nigeria must go beyond political groupings. Until we experience mental shift that will birth to attitudinal change in us all as Nigerians, the circus of ineptitude in governance and impunity in the society will continue.

    For if we gather under any guise with same mind-set that has led us to this sorry state of affairs, we are of all men most miserable. Political grouping not people oriented, can at best, bring about cosmetic changes that will mock essence of the real change we all yearn in our polity.

    We must thus soberly come to that point where we will say, enough of the mess we have plunged our dear nation Nigeria. Until we are ready to come to the table of nation building with patriotism in our wings, can we actually get to the promise land when we ply the wrong route? Attitudinal change is the way out!

    • Oyejide Victor,

    University of Ibadan

  • Chinua Achebe, a tribute

    Chinua Achebe, a tribute

    SIR: I first encountered Professor Chinua Achebe in the Literature class handled by Basorun Seinde Arogbofa at the African Church Grammar School, Oka-Akoko via Things Fall Apart, which, with Julius Caesar, Mayor of Casterbridge and West African Verse, were the compulsory texts for the 1974 May/June examination. But I met the man himself at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he had just returned from the United States as a Professor of English with a new Mercury Monarch that was the cynosure of all eyes on campus.

    Achebe defined my world as a youngster, especially as a literary scholar, though I studied and taught History all my post-secondary life. He defined for virtually all non-Igbo, the Igbo personality, precolonial Igbo agricultural/rural life and the parameters of social mobility, definition of wealth, influence and power in that society. His role in inaugurating and sustaining the Heinemann African Writers Series, which is now defunct, made him the Father of Modern African Literature. That feat made literature by Africans accessible to young readers of my generation and sustained the reading culture that is practically missing among the youth today.

    He cemented his place in history as one of the two all-time leading literary figures out of Africa, the other being the Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka. Even in death, Achebe will continue to define the African literary landscape, being (I presume) the most widely read novelist from Africa. He was far less successful as a politician or pan-Nigerian social critic, but he won respect and praise, and empowered the dwindling number of academics with a social conscience, by spurning the poisoned chalice of tainted national honours presented by successive bankrupt Nigerian governments. His place in history is secure as there cannot be another Chinua Achebe.

     

    • Professor Ayodeji Olukoju, FNAL,

    Vice-Chancellor

    Caleb University

    Imota, Lagos State

  • Jonathan’s punctuated Easter message

    Jonathan’s punctuated Easter message

    By some reckoning, President Goodluck Jonathan spoke for less than 10 minutes during the Easter Sunday service at Our Saviour’s Church Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos. As usual he spoke extemporaneously, and whenever he does that, he delights the media with simple homilies or egregious political howlers. But on this day, the first time he would celebrate Easter in Lagos since he assumed office in 2011, there was no egregious political statement delivered, nor was there any homily. Perhaps frustrated by comments and criticisms that often followed his quaint political philosophies and dreamy exegeses whenever he attended a church service, he decided to play safe this time. It must dismay the faithful that the president’s short message and that of former military head of state, Gen Yakubu Gowon, superseded the sermon of the day. Most newspapers indeed glossed over the sermon, noting only that the vicar of the church, Igbein Isemede, remarked that Nigeria’s colonial governors-general worshipped at the church.

    By contrast, United States President Barack Obama worshipped at the St. John’s Episcopal Church, a few blocks from the White House in Washington, D.C. If Obama made any remarks at the Easter Sunday service, this columnist missed it. Instead what made the news was the tone and stridency of the sermon by the Rev. Luis León. “It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back … for blacks to be back in the back of the bus … for women to be back in the kitchen … for immigrants to be back on their side of the border,” the preacher said, knowing full well he would draw flak. Sometime soon, the culture in Nigerian churches will change to debar a visiting president from mounting the pulpit and talking shop, for it is neither spiritually appropriate nor even politically wise.

    But notwithstanding the inappropriateness of inviting the president to say a word or two, Jonathan, as he is wont, chose something fairly noteworthy to speak on. Apparently, he recognised he must give newspapers something worthy of their front pages and headlines. However, through no fault of his, circumstances beyond his control pushed the story in a direction he could not have imagined. He had begun his Easter remarks with these harmless words of encouragement: “I promise that I will do my best. I will not disappoint Nigerians, within the limitation of our resources, to fix our infrastructure. Our rail system is coming up. We promise to fix our roads so that Nigerians can move freely. We promise to stabilise power in this country.” Ignore his idiosyncratic syntax; but as soon as he spoke of electricity, and as if on cue, there was a power cut. A flustered Jonathan made light of the hitch by switching gear. He said: “I believe they (those behind power supply) know that I am here that is why they took light; at least, to remind me that I must not sleep until we stabilise power. God willing, next year, they will not take light again.”

    The power cut predictably became the peg of the following day’s news reports of the president’s visit. Under the military, the outage would have been considered either treasonable or deliberately intended to embarrass. But the country is so inured to power cuts that no one, not even the president, bats an eyelid anymore. Jonathan’s promise that next year would witness the end of power cuts is significant. Next year is virtually around the corner. But it will not be the first time the goal post had been shifted. It was shifted repeatedly during the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo presidency so much that it was impossible to believe the goal post was still in the field of play. And just as deadlines were shifted, so, too, notoriously were output targets shifted. Today, neither deadlines nor targets are realistic.

    The president must, therefore, consider himself lucky that the said power outage rescued the triteness of his remarks. Considering the humdrumness of the president’s message, reporters would have had little or nothing to take back to their editors, and the venerable vicar would have been at a loss why the media glossed over the epoch-making presence of the president at a church service the like of which colonial era governors-general used to dignify with their stately presence.

     

  • Let’s put an end to these senseless killings

    SIR: Life no get duplicate’ is a popular saying here. Yet our land is literally soaked with blood, mostly of innocent citizens. Since independence we have staggered from one bloodletting to another. Our history is one litany of butchery. Countless lives have been violently extinguished through mob attack, extrajudicial killing, assassination, ethno-religious violence and now terrorism. How do we react to these deaths?

    After every terror attack, the police and other agencies swing into action but never come up with the accurate number of casualties let alone their identities. One can now almost quote in advance, government’s press release after an attack. It usually condemns the dastardly act while vowing to bring the perpetrators to book– I’m still waiting for anyone to be tried let alone convicted. After government’s condemnation come those of prominent citizens. Then ordinary folks wish that the souls of the departed rest in peace and again pray God to intervene. Thereafter life goes on as usual until the next incident.

    As expected the recent attack on a motor park in Sabon Gari, Kano, elicited a barrage of condemnation. But that is where it ended. Till date no one is sure of the number of casualty or their identity. Besides those personally affected, I doubt how many of us still spare a thought for that very tragic incident.

    How many still remember the gruesome murder of the ‘Uniport Four’ at Aluu, how many are interested in, or wonder what has become of their murderers? How many have been tried for the atrocities perpetrated in Plateau State, or for the riots in other parts of the North? Besides the condemnations what practical measures have been taken to forestall a recurrence of these tragedies?

    I can’t help but decry our, to a large extent, indifference towards the murder or suffering of our compatriots. Is it that by nature we accept tragedies with philosophical calm or that we have become rather insensitive from repeated experience of violence? I think the latter is the case. We are becoming used to violent deaths that news of it only catches our attention briefly after which we shrug and move on. This is dangerous, in fact a sign of a failing society.

    It’s time we reclaimed our humanity. The senseless sacrifice of humans on the altar of religion or tribalism must be utterly rejected; it must never be tolerated as is presently the case. There should be an immediate stop to mob ‘justice’, extrajudicial killings and unresolved assassinations. No death must be left unexplained and on no account must anyone get away with murder. This is the only way to demonstrate that really we consider life precious.

    •Nnoli Chidiebere

    Aba, Abia State.

  • Panacea to Nigerian graduates’ global irrelevance

    SIR: Robert Kiyosaki in his book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” asked the question, “Does school prepare children for the real world?” “Study hard and get good grades and you will find a high-paying job with great benefits”, parents used to say. But gone are those days!

    There has been a paradigm shift from focus on paper qualification to skills acquisition in the last couple of decades. But rather unfortunately, Nigeria and other African nations are waking up to these realities rather too late. It is absolute disillusionment for a twenty first century student to have a mind-set that a first class degree is sufficient to land him that plum job when he knows next to nothing about how real corporations are run. It is a saddening reality that prompts me to address this anomaly as leaving the status quo spells doom for the Nigerian future.

    The University of Lagos only recently had its convocation ceremony where over six thousand graduates received degrees in different categories. Every year, our ivory towers of higher learning churn out tens of thousands of graduates into the labour market which is already heavily saturated. It is no news that job availability is a mirage but even if there were more jobs than job seekers, the quality of these job applicants leaves more to be desired, constituting one of the main challenges of employers.

    So much noise has been made to have our educational policies reviewed. The ministry of education has been incessantly called upon to embark on a comprehensive overhaul of our curricula and make them relevant to the real world of work. Our students in higher institutions cannot see the gap between what our lecturers teach and what prospective employers would require from them. Hence, they just sit tight with books of the 1950s and ‘60s with no bearing on post-recession economy. The quality of academic staff in these ivory towers is another conglomerate of disturbing issues. It is a pathetic situation!

    So much as I concur that the bulk of the restructuring lies on the government, we cannot sit back and wait for a government. The private sector has got to come to the rescue because standing aloof would only be to the detriment of their future business concerns. Many thanks to corporations and organizations which have invested relentlessly to salvage the menace of skill gap existing in our graduate set. It is high time we shifted to a sixty-per cent-practical, forty-percent-theory system of teaching. This would avail our students in higher institutions the exposure to application of learnt theories to real life situations. It is my belief that the present administration is aware of the defects in the educational system more than any before and should be better poised to living up to its responsibility. And this responsibility involves the upgrading of the theory-focussed system to one with a healthy balance between theory and practical applications.

    •Joshua Oyeniyi

    Lagos

  • UN ‘offensive’ brigade in DRC not the solution

    Last Thursday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved the deployment of about 3,100 peacekeepers in the restive eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The peacekeepers, according to a report, have received orders “to carry out targeted offensive operations and attempt to neutralise armed groups.” The approval anticipates that the intervention force or offensive brigade will be stationed in the North Kivu province in the eastern part of the country where government forces have so far unsuccessfully tried to pacify a rebel group there called the March 23 Movement or M23. The war in the region between the army and rebels has led to the displacement of over a million people, while an additional 300,000 in the southeastern province of Katanga have also been displaced.

    The DRC has for long been a seething cauldron of rebellion, chaos and death. Barely a few months after independence, Joseph Mobutu, then a colonel, exploited the power struggle between President Joseph Kasavubu and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and helped it to degenerate irretrievably. The ensuing crisis created room for foreign intervention and eventually led to the death of Lumumba at the hands of a coalition of Belgian, American and Moise Tshombe-led Katangan separatists. After a long, brutal and exploitative rule, Mobutu was overthrown during the First Congo War (1996-1998) by a rebel coalition led by the late President Laurent-Desire Kabila. He was helped in no small measures by Ugandan and Rwandan forces.

    By 2001, however, Laurent Kabila was assassinated, but not before the misunderstanding with his backers, particularly Rwanda, had degenerated in 1998 into the Second Congo War (1998-2003). He was succeeded by his son, Joseph. This latter war cost an estimated five million or more lives, reportedly the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II, and millions more displaced. It sucked in nine African nations and more than 20 armed groups. For a country of more than 75 million people and an untapped natural resource endowment estimated at some $24 trillion, it is no wonder that the struggle for the country’s rich mineral resources is partly responsible for its instability.

    One of the factors that triggered the Second Congo War was the struggle between Hutu and Tutsi armed groups who made themselves available for proxy battles between Kinshasha and Kigali. The eastern part of DRC, particularly North and South Kivu, is destabilised by the Banyamulenge, who are ethnic Tutsis. The Tutsi-led Rwandan government has always found it convenient to support the Banyamulenge armed group, the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD), against Kinshasha, especially in view of the activities of the defeated and weakened Hutu-led Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). The Hutu militias threaten Rwanda with cross-border raids. Apart from the restiveness of Kasai-Oriental Province, particularly the Ituri region, there is also the uncontrollable Mai Mai rebel group created by Laurent Kabila in northern Katanga.

    In effect the DRC is unsettled by a combination of economic, ethnic, domestic and international political factors, though the country is predominantly Christian. Until these factors are resolved, it is hard to see how the UN’s offensive brigade can pacify the eastern part of the DRC. It must not be forgotten that many peace deals had been signed and had collapsed under the weight of ethnic tensions and foreign intervention and meddlesomeness. It is recalled that the very first peacekeeping operation Nigeria was involved in was in the Congo. Incredulously, Chad, a smaller country than Nigeria, has shown keener interest in the DRC, had even once sent troops to intervene there, not for peacekeeping but as combatants, and had also shown interest and intervened in Central African Republic (CAR). Nigeria is perhaps too preoccupied with its own troubles to attempt to match South Africa in CAR, and Chad in both CAR and DRC.

    If the UN hopes to make any headway in the DRC labyrinth, it must actively go beyond the February 2013 peace deal signed in Ethiopia by 10 or 11 countries (Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania) to bring peace to the DRC. A brigade may prove unable to resolve the long-running Congo crisis where peace deals are routinely broken because of greed and deep-seated domestic and foreign mistrust. The country’s potential wealth and ethnic pastiche are simply too explosive a mix to respond quickly or easily to a brigade of offensive peacekeepers.

  • Understanding Bayelsa’s anti-rumour law

    We read with interest Dr. Olatunji Dare’s comments on the stand of the Bayelsa State government to curb rumour-mongering as a serious social issue in the state. In his March 26 column, he reviewed the recent establishment of a committee by the state government to manage public information in which he expressed reservations about the possibility of curtailing freedom of expression by such development. With a bill soon to be sent to the state House of Assembly for a law punishing rumour-mongers, the columnist went as far as comparing such a law with anti-press laws in draconian colonial and military eras. We disagree with his position.

    Essentially, Dare’s treatment of the inter-related issues in the scope and implication of the proposed law vis-à-vis rumour-mongering is fundamentally misplaced in conception, an outright oversimplification, and of course the fear of draconian tendency is not true.

    The intention of the state government is to have in place functional structures where information can be easily accessed by members of the public as well as quickly disseminating information on current issues of public concern to the people, detailing what is true or false, thereby nipping in the bud such dangerous information capable of causing disaffection and indeed reducing the incidence of blatant misinformation among the people. The idea is to avoid the bureaucracy in the ministries but have many centres so localized that you can easily find out the truth about anything relating to the government and the public. Here, people can contact or meet officials for quick response to whatever may be their concern or interest on the flow of information, including any rumour that may also affect the interest of an individual or organization in the state. This is important because of the pervasive nature of rumour-mongering among the people with inherent social crisis if not curtailed or addressed so frontally. What Dare failed to note is the peculiar nature of the society where such falsehood is politically motivated to create pure mischief and blackmail which could be dangerous to proper functioning of the government and socio-economic activities in the state.

    To this extent, it becomes imperative for a responsible government to find a legal means to deter such misbehavior which in all intents and purposes is inimical not only to individuals but indeed the government saddled with the responsibility of protecting lives and property. Agreed, peace and tranquility and orderly conduct of the society is threatened when there is deliberate peddling of such terrible rumours that border on criminality. Thus government must respond by spelling out what constitutes a decent citizenship and why it is not a right to engage in conscious actions to create social crisis and looking at the strategic position of Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta, then taking legal means to have stability is a legitimate action of any serious government. This is what the state government has done and will continue to impress it on the people to be law abiding as responsible stakeholders in the current mission of restoring Bayelsa State to its deserved glory in leadership and development.

    Yet, it has to be understood that we are in a democracy where the rule of law is critical. So the Bayelsa State government does not intend to make the proposed law a draconian one but a law to correct social misbehavior and enhance peace and stability in line with the freedom of Information Act and the consolidation of the law. Enforcing the proposed law will therefore have much to do with recreating our values via education as the people will have a better understanding and appreciation of the power of information and why rumour-mongering is not in the best interest of anyone, least the government. For instance, people will find it unprofitable to wake up one day and begin spreading the rumour that the state government had been sacked by a court in Port Harcourt and in the process causing panic among the people in their numbers lamenting the future of the restoration programme of the Dickson administration. This kind of insensitive jungle behavior has serious implication for the mood and temperament of the people, with consequences if not well managed.

    We further draw Dare’s attention to the composition of the State Public Information Management Committee which is largely of eminent journalists chosen for their integrity and credibility not only in their individual and professional lives but also to give credence to the good intentions of the state government. By this gesture, then rail-roading the law for ulterior motive is ruled out. Of course, its implementation will also be guided by such patriotic mind to have enlightened citizenry that are not encumbered by political manipulations but rather conscious of where we are coming from and amends we must make for a prosperous future. Instead of reverting to the locust years of the recent past, we have to move forward. These are the issues we must understand to clear our minds of any distortions. Peculiar circumstances in any political or social formation will invariably demand some clear-headed answers but to the extent that such ameliorating mechanisms conform with the basic ethics of leadership and constitutionalism. We believe we are on track for a saner society that is focused and determined to make a difference.

    We draw further corollary to the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) which we have all appreciated as a necessary component in our democracy. Nigerians are already clamouring for greater application of this law among journalists by doing more of investigative reporting and we sincerely believe this is the way forward. But as much as the journalists will have to do their investigations, this has to be within the confines of the law by strictly doing stories based on facts as a canon of the noble journalism profession. Thus anyone who writes falsehood under the guise of FoIA is subject to punishment by the same law because truth had been sacrificed. In similar vein, we can see a variant of this law as applicable to the proposed law in Bayelsa State that will alert an individual or organization to the need to say what is true otherwise you are a problem to the state with serious concern and possible sanction.

    The last two points in the column we need to address are Dare’s query on the contents of the rumour or propaganda and his doubts about the efficacy of the proposed law. We can boldly say that not only are the contents of such rumour spurious and ill-informed, they constitute nuisance to the sanity of the society. They are inimical to peace and progress and must be checked forthwith. Importantly, the innuendos contained in the concluding paragraphs have no relationship or semblance in Bayelsa State where accountability is taken seriously and institutions of government strengthened to perform their duties for the greater good of the people of the state. Yet if Dare is contemptuous of the proposed law or its workability, he should at least acknowledge the pace of development in Bayelsa State in the last one year even as we are poised to do much more and indeed make the proposed law work to the dismay of doubting Thomases. We can always make a difference.

    • Akono, Chairman Bayelsa State NUJ sent this piece from Yenagoa.

  • The war is not over

    SIR: Each time an Igbo person is killed in ethnic crisis in the North, it reminds us that the Biafra war is not over. The sentiment that led to the civil war in Nigeria is still alive. The same fear that the Igbo will take over the country politically, socially and economically and control the resources of the nation for its selfish use continues to cause the North sleepless nights.

    The North in their own rationalization believes they were born to rule. The Igbo, on the other hand, is so democratic in nature that the only leadership it understands is the one that gives it the freedom for enterprise. This ideological difference could prove the conundrum of the Nigerian situation. Whereas in the North a few elites dominate the ruling class, in Igbo land everybody has equal chance of being a member of the political class. All that is required of an Igbo is excellence in his or her field of endeavour. For example, a child of a security guard could grow up to become a leader if he or she works hard to acquire sufficient wealth. Hence it will appear the Igbo worships success, for better or for worse. In that token, the North venerates their leaders. . The typical northerner cares less for economic, political or social ambition.

    Nigeria will be better if it exploits the strength of its ethnicities. The unparalleled natural beauty of the North should be reserved for their simple living. The aggressive nature of the Igbo should be promoted for their enterprise. The key being a common respect for any Nigerian to be the best he or she can be. The killing of the Igbo in the North will not extinguish the burning desire for him or her to make money. The unfortunate rumour was that after the recent Kano bus bomb blast, some thugs in Head Bridge, Onitsha started what appeared to be a reprisal attack only to overrun northern goat dealers and extort money from them.

    The slaughtering of the Igbo in the north is totally insensitive. There is no good sense in taking an innocent life. Such an act must be considered the highest form of evil. On idealistic note if you take out the difference in language, there is only a human being. One hopes the Igbo do not go on a reprisal attack. This will demonstrate to the North, according to an Igbo proverb, two do not get mad. It is easier said than done to advice for peace to reign. The recurrence of these attacks on the Igbo makes it unbearable. Imagine if ones relative is among the dead. One pleads for the Igbo to take heart and consider it a blood sacrifice one makes for Nigeria unity.

     

    •Pius Okaneme

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

     

  • Getting the best out of Lagos

    Lagos is a paradox in many respects. It is the state with the smallest land mass in the country and yet the one with the highest population. Over the years, its growth has been phenomenal, both demographically and spatially. From a population of about 25,000 in 1866, Lagos reached 665,000 by 1963, covering 69.9 (km2). It became over 10 million in 1995 thus attaining, by UN definition, the status of a mega-city. It is projected to become the third largest mega-city in the world by 2015 (UNCHS, 1996). Its population is presently about 21 million according to the State Bureau of Statistics. Lagos is currently estimated to be the fifth largest city in the world. But interestingly, almost half of the state’s limited landmass is covered by water, a situation that makes land a very scarce and highly coveted commodity.

    Its huge population and limited landmass have brought a huge pressure on the state as its sheer human population puts serious pressure on infrastructure in the state. For instance, the number of heavy duty vehicles that ply Lagos roads on a daily basis is more than those that ply roads across the country in a month. This is aside the number of pupils and students from other states that attend Lagos public schools in addition to patients that visit its hospitals on a regular basis. Consequently, the state spends more on infrastructural upgrading and provision of other basic life necessities than any state in the country.

    Despite being relatively hospitable, the state, like all other governments world-wide, has a set budget designed to aid implementation of its programmes and activities based on available resources. In the health sector, Lagos State, without discrimination provides free health care services and drugs for Nigerians in Lagos from ages 0-12 and 60 and above. Free ante-natal care is also provided for pregnant women. These services are available at healthcare centres that transverse the state with additional Eko Free Health Mission which is carried out at intervals by the Ministry of Health to take care of the people by offering test and treatments on eye care, blood pressure, diabetes , dental care, etc.

    Aside from the pressure on infrastructure, the growing population equally complicates urban development. In an attempt to live in Lagos at all cost, in view of its several fascinating offers, many people live in disorderly manner as well as in disorganized settlements that make nonsense of the state’s urban planning. Before long, most of these settlements become slums that constitute serious socio-economic threats to the state. It is in quick response to this that the government has been making conscious efforts to achieve infrastructural development and environmental renewal, initiating several programmes to reverse the ugly trend that could cause us all the Lagos that we so love dearly. Given the earlier absence of any strategic vision to manage the urban environment, government should be commended for making new efforts.

    One way through which government is trying to promote a new Lagos is to engage in a passionate drive to attract foreign investors to participate in the infrastructural and urban renewal drive in sectors such as transportation, roads, waste management, water provision, power, tourism, property development and establishment of bus assembly plants. Essentially, the project involves providing infrastructure, mass housing and tourism, as well as developing the adjoining town of Badagry and linking it to the rest of the state with a modern transportation system.

    Other notable features of government’s current effort in turning around the lot of the state include beautification and landscaping projects across the state: loops, medians along highways, setbacks and development of recreational parks in identified locations, construction of new roads and a light rail system , construction of jetties and development of more water routes to facilitate marine transportation, construction of housing units, reconstruction and expansion of the Lagos-Badagry expressway into a 10-lane conduit with a light rail, a trans-regional route to link Nigeria and neighbouring countries, the inauguration of the Eko Atlantic City among others.

    In view of the on- going efforts of the state government to make Lagos a better, safer and more prosperous place to live, it is essential that those who have chosen the city as their business as well residential hub should be more passionate, caring and friendly when it comes to protecting and preserving its environmental aesthetic values. Considering its strategic position in socio-economic prosperity of the country, we need to treat Lagos like a beautiful bride whose beauty and pride must be kept intact. It is by doing this, that we all would get the best out of our Lagos.

    Undoubtedly, a renewed commitment to the preservation of Lagos represents a major way forward for the socio-economic renewal of the country. For one, Lagos is home to about 2,000 industrial complexes, 10,000 commercial ventures and 22 industrial estates. It contributes 30% to the nation’s GDP and is the leading contributor to the non-oil sector GDP (2011 statistics). It accounts for over 60% of Nigeria’s industrial and commercial activities; 70% of national maritime cargo freight, over 80% of international aviation traffic and over 50% of Nigeria’s energy consumption.

    All the banks in the country are not only located in Lagos, but actually have their headquarters in the state, while over 40 per cent of telephone subscribers’ base networks are also in Lagos. Aside from this, Lagos consumes about 45 percent of the petroleum products in the country. Similarly, the state accounts for 20.2 percent of Nigeria’s nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 50.7 percent of non-oil GDP.

    Also, the two seaports in Lagos account for 70 percent of the sea trade in the country while the two electricity distribution companies Eko and Ikeja Districts account for 50 percent of PHCN’s transmission power. Similarly, about 80 percent of international air travels arrive in and depart from Lagos. Equally, Lagos is a private sector-driven economy. Therefore, growth in Lagos would have spiral effect on Nigeria as a whole.

    Equally worthy of note is that, there is hardly any part of the country that is not represented in Lagos. Progress in Lagos reflects in parts of the country, because people who live in Lagos make their money here and go to their states to invest same. All these point to Lagos as the economic nerve centre of the country. So, if Nigeria is to be rated as one of the major players in the emerging markets, Lagos truly holds the key.

    It is, therefore, imperative that we embrace positive attitudinal change with regards to our handling of the environment which offers us unlimited possibilities for economic development and advancement. It is, for instance, unacceptable that spare parts traders at the popular Ladipo market, Mushin, should always wait for the state government to use the full weight of the law before they comply with simple environmental regulations. Same goes for our driving culture. The saner we make the roads to be, the better for us all. Despite its many geographical constraints, we could all live happily in Lagos if only we respect and abide by the rules and laws of the land.

    • Ibirogba is Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lagos State