The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Taming the unemployment scourge

    SIR: Successive federal governments patently never had foresight to anticipate the exponential population growth that Nigeria had over these years or those that did regretfully failed to put in place concrete and well-articulated measures that will create jobs for the teeming youths of this country. Were Tafawa Balewa/Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kaduna Nzeogwu, Aguiyi Ironsi, Ernest Shonekan and Murtala Muhammed alive, they probably might request to be excused for having very short tenures that made it virtually impossible or impracticable to initiate long-lasting, history-making policies or programmes.

    However,General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General Olusegun Obasanjo, General Ibrahim Babangida, late General Sani Abacha, General Abdul Salam Abubakar, late Umaru Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan are very much culpable. Their regimes cannot be exculpated from the generally execrable situation which Nigeria has found herself economically and consequently the seeming hydra-headed unemployment malady. Apart from the Babangida administration that established the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), it is difficult to recollect any other conscious attempt at getting Nigerians employed. Even then, the Directorate did not live up to its name.

    In those days, jobs were there for the asking. Even school certificate holders got jobs easily. From the benefit of hindsight, it was my senior brother who disallowed my humble self from taking an offer of employment with a bank after school certificate because it might constitute a hindrance to my proceeding for further education.

    Today, virtually local industries in sectors known for massive employment are either comatose or dead; sectors such as textiles, manufacturing and production. The unemployment problem is now so big that we have associations for unemployed youths in states and nationally. Members of these associations are those who still have a glimmer of hope that governments will one day wake up to their expected responsibilities of providing employment opportunities.

    Millions do not have such faith or patience; they have designed other means. Some have taken to armed robbery, smuggling, assassinations, and other vices. It is a pity that young boys and girls in their droves look up to weekly winnings from pools, lotto and football result predictions as major sources of revenue for them.

    To compound the problem of our teeming graduates churned out yearly by the numerous higher institutions, after serving their fatherland, they come out green into the unemployment market only to meet employers asking for years of experience before being employed. Pray, how do you acquire experience if you are not given the opportunity to work?

    These days you do not even get to see job vacancies’advertisements again as employments are surreptitiously done. Where advertisements are made , they are mere formality to legitimize recruitments already done.

    With all these huddles being placed before our youths, can we honestly describe our youths as ‘leaders of tomorrow’? Our youths are not being prepared for tomorrow and it is quite disheartening. Let this administration tackle the energy problem confronting this country to put back on stream our comatose industries. Nigerians are hardworking and industrious people; they would take immediate advantage to create jobs. The Federal and other state governments can take a cue from Osun State where jobs are being consciously created through the‘O YES’ and ‘YES O’ programmes. Unless and until we give our youths a sound today, guaranteeing a future for them will remain a mirage. And a country that does not take care of its young, able-bodied citizens will definitely know no peace.

    • Laitan Akinwwunmi

    Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government, Lagos.

  • APC can rescue Nigeria

    SIR: It is almost 14 years since Nigeria transited from military rule to civilian rule. Democracy we say we are adopting or practising but the features of democracy are lacking in our ruling system.

    PDP has triumphed over every other party since 1999 up to the present even though people said they often rig. Ever then, Nigerians are still struggling to enjoy a bit of the dividends of democracy.

    Democracy in its strongest sense encompasses many things. It cuts across voting in an election day. It requires us to take an active role in helping to solve public problems, which requires us to cogitate critically about what goes on in our country and the world around us.

    Nigeria is on the brink of collapse because of the leadership style and the clueless, selfish and wicked ambition of the so called PDP. The party has failed in several years in its quest and has not lived up to its responsibilities. The responsibilities of any reasonable government is to make life worthwhile for its people through the utilization of its resources to provide basic things that can make life enjoyable and important. Also, is to provide security of lives and properties of its citizenry. Any government who failed in this course however, is an irresponsible government.

    Over the years, the only evident achievement of the PDP-led government is the promotion of corruption. However, I still wonder why they have not introduced corruption as a course in our universities.

    The stewardship of the PDP is still failing. The scandals and atrocities committed by them since 1999 to the present are enough to cripple the country beyond recovery.

    Nigeria is Africa’s leading oil producer and has myriad potentials and resources for economic development but ironically, its majority population is living in abject poverty. There is no certainty for better tomorrow; killings, bombings, kidnappings, armed robberies and other social and political vices have found their ways into our normal daily activities and consequently, exposed us to untimely death.

    Nigeria has become an abode for terrorists. We can no longer sleep with our two eyes closed because of the fear of attack either from the so called Boko Haram or unidentified gunmen as the media normally report.

    2015 is drawing near and we have heard the National Chairman of PDP, Bamanga Tukur likening PDP to Barcelona and world best player Lionel Messi. His statement of course means that no party can outdo them. But he should be reminded that Lionel Messi was present when Chelsea defeated Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final in 2012 despite the advantages given to them by the referee.

    This is the right and the best time for Nigerians to wake up from slumber and face the reality. The reality is that, we have waited patiently enough for 14 years and endured enough harsh policy of the PDP-led administration. It is in this regard, that the four main opposition parties resolved and merged to form APC, All Progressive Congress.

    I will like to implore patriotic Nigerians who mean good for the country to rise and stand firm to support the new born baby, APC wholeheartedly irrespective of religion, ethnicity, tribe and race to enable us save our dear country from imminent collapse.

    •Waziri Mohammed

    IBB University Lapai. Niger State.

  • Memo to Okonjo-Iweala and Erelu Olusola Obada

    SIR: I am writing this open memo to the two of you because of the unpaid arrears of pensioners. For the past three years, pensioners have been waiting for the 53 percent increase that is due to them. Needless to say, this entitlement is long-overdue. In view of the intimations of mortality which is the special lot of pensioners, many of these senior citizens have since passed on.

    In respect of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, you may wish to recall that at the King’s College Old Boys’ luncheon where you were the guest speaker, I raised this issue with you in the context of a question and answer session. You promised then that as soon as an audit has been carried out these elderly citizens will be paid. More importantly perhaps, you averred that paying the pensioners is one of those features that will swell the recurrent expenditure of the Federal Govenment. Madam, you may wish to know here that some of these pensioners earn below three thousand naira a month! I repeat-three thousand naira a month. I therefore leave it to you to do the calculation of what the increase of 53 percent will amount to.

    On your own part, Madam Erelu Olusola Obada, in your capacity as Minister of State ,Navy, for Defence, you promised retired military personnel that as soon as the 2013 budget has been passed, the retired soldiers will be paid. Since the 2013 budget has now been passed, I can only hope that the retired soldiers and other pensioners will be paid the long over-due 53 percent.

    At the risk of sounding alarmist, permit me to point out here that when retired soldiers are denied what is due to them, then we have on our hands another source of insecurity.

    All told, the worth of any nation can easily be measured by the way its most vulnerable citizens are treated.

    So please pay the pensioners now. They are a dying breed!

    • Professor Kayode Soremekun

    Covenant University,Ota

    Ogun State.

  • Christians in politics:The Challenge of Transformative Public Engagement

    Christians in politics:The Challenge of Transformative Public Engagement

    Text of the paper presented by Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State, at the Annual Partners Dinner of the Apostles in the Marketplace (AIMP) on February 21.

    Protocols

    Let me start by expressing my heartfelt

    gratitude to the board of directors, central

    working committee and members of the Apostles in the Marketplace (AIMP), for inviting me to share my thoughts with you on a topic that is central to the very objectives that informed the founding of your organization. Looking through the organizational structure of the AIMP, I was impressed to see a number of individuals, some of whom I have the privilege of knowing personally, whose weight in integrity, passion for service and patriotism has been a bulwark of inspiration to me through the trajectory of my life.

    I am glad to contribute to this discourse which I have been intimated is part of a robust framework being developed by your organization, aimed at inspiring more Christians, particularly the youth, to consider active involvement in politics. All stakeholders, particularly those of us on the ‘inside’ have to work collaboratively to figure out how we can sell politics to young Christians in Nigeria as service and sacrifice – core Christian values; and to follow-up with concrete platforms for hand-holding – for those interested – through a terrain that has been avoided by our society’s finest for too long.

    I am also happy to publicly declare, that as one with a strong Christian upbringing and whose faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, has been the basis of my passion, courage and resilience in the course of my activism in and out of public office; that I have no other source of ‘power’. In these days that some go to great lengths, delving into the diabolical to get ‘supernatural’ help from insidious spiritual mediums; it is necessary to reassure my listeners, many of whom might be wondering how I survived the dark military era as an active participant in the pro-democracy struggle at the risk of my life. Some have asked the source of my strength as I faced treachery and injustice for the 3 ½ years that I was denied a mandate freely given to me by my people; ladies and gentlemen, I make bold to say that my faith is built on nothing but the grace and mercy of God.

    The paradox of religion in Nigeria

    Ours is a very religious society. This is a reality that we can all affirm anecdotally but which is absolutely empirically verifiable. Consider some facts and figures. There are more Anglicans in Nigeria than there are in England, the church’s mother country, or anywhere else in the world. The Anglican Church in Nigeria boasts some 18 million members and is the world’s largest Anglican congregation. The largest Roman Catholic seminary in the world is the Bigard Memorial in Enugu which has about one thousand students – five times the number enrolled in the largest U.S. Catholic seminary. No other seminary matches this prodigious intake. Vast cathedrals and mega-churches with tens of thousands of attendees and hundreds of thousands in membership dot our major urban centres. The Living Faith Church (also known as Winners’ Chapel) possesses the largest church auditorium in the world, the 50,400-seat Faith Tabernacle in Lagos. The Deeper Life Bible Church’s headquarters congregation in Lagos had 150,000 members as at 2004 and had planted more than 6,000 branches across Nigeria. In Nigeria alone, the Redeemed Christian Church of God claims 14,000 branches with 5 million members.

    But these figures are just a prelude. Nigeria is at the centre of one of the most fascinating role reversals in history. She has become a missionary-exporting nation and now sends hundreds of pastors to the West, carrying with them a unique brand of spirituality. Some of these pastors lead the largest churches in Europe and Africa.

    Christianity as we know it on our shores is no longer the bequest of foreign missionaries but has become a genuinely Nigerian brand of religion. Indeed, some scholars now argue that the epicenter of global Christianity is no longer in the West, but has moved to the southern hemisphere, and that Nigeria is its new hub. To back up this assertion, they cite the proliferation of churches and professing Christians at a time that western Christianity is in steep decline. Christianity has become one of Nigeria’s main cultural exports. Huge church conventions held at the end of every year draw pilgrims, academics, reporters and tourists from the world over who want to observe and participate in the festivals of spiritual recrudescence. At first glance, Nigeria is enjoying a glorious springtime of the Christian faith.

    There are, however, other aspects of our social, economic and political realities that provide a sobering portrait against the backdrop of this spiritual boom. Even as we exult in our country’s potential emergence as global Christianity’s centre of gravity, we must also acknowledge other less salutary facts. We are beset by a host of plagues: hunger, chronic conflict, terrorism, disease, corruption and various portents of weak statehood. Official graft is particularly endemic. Conservative estimates indicate that between $4 billion and $8 billion is stolen from public coffers annually. 70 percent of our population lives in poverty.

    The landscape of our country is pockmarked by institutional dysfunction and infrastructural dilapidation. All of us here bear the burdens of working and producing without basic infrastructure such as power supply or of securing our families given the weakness of the formal security apparatus. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 32.5 million Nigerians are unemployed. The economy is growing but not fast enough to absorb the jobseekers emerging from our schools each year. The axiom that an “idle mind is the Devil’s workshop” goes back to the 14th century and it shows that societies have always recognized a link between unemployment and social chaos. In our case, that link is certainly obvious, considering the now chronic incidents of conflict, insecurity and terrorism.

    However dreary the statistics are, we find the more worrisome omens in the intangible socio-psychological trends that cannot be readily measured. Almost every day, the news headlines scream with reports of some terrorist outrage or yet more news of fraud or theft in the government, deepening a rampant collective pessimism about our society’s prospects. There is a pervasive sense of uncertainty, anxiety and near-hopelessness about our common future. Most dangerously, a lot of people no longer see a clear, scrupulous path to a decent and fulfilling life. Many of our young people are entranced by the possibilities of upward mobility inherent in fraud and a variety of get-rich-quick schemes that reflect our societal bias for instant gratification. Others have been initiated into terrorism and political violence.

    It is not just high-level graft that ails us. We must reckon with the various instances of low-level corruption that are everyday experiences. From the almost customary example of uniformed men soliciting bribes to other episodes ranging from genial requests for “help” or “assistance” to outright extortion that characterize our contacts with bureaucracy and with each other, oddly enough with people who are avowedly religious. These instances in which we are often compelled to negotiate compromises with our consciences are so frequent that it is no understatement to say that corruption is assuming cultural proportions in our society. Just from commuting on our roads, there is evidence that our society is contemptuous of rules and order, and that as a people we no longer have any regard for the norms of civility and mutual respect. All that matters seems to be the individual’s quest to get ahead at any cost.

    All these suggest that the defining contradiction of Nigerian life at present is the coincidence of increasing religiosity and declining public morality. We are witnessing a universalization of religious syntax and symbolism across various domains of society, ranging from politics to the popular culture, at a time when our ethical capital is being depleted. Churches are proliferating in the midst of social and moral squalor. Nigerian Christians live in a bipolar reality. On one hand, as Nigerians we share in a common social experience marked by decadence, while on the other hand, we function as believers in the controlled environments provided in our churches. In effect, the values and virtues imparted by our faith are hermetically sealed off from social reality. Consequently, the society persists in its ethical freefall despite what appears to be an ongoing religious revival.

    The theology of disengagement

    What is responsible for this profound dissonance between our extravagant religiosity and our alarming deficit of public virtue? Regarding the phenomenon of high church growth and nose-diving public morality, we can agree with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who once warned, “We must not be tempted to confuse spiritual power and large numbers …An increase in quantity does not automatically bring an increase in quality. A larger membership does not necessarily represent a correspondingly increased commitment to Christ.”

    To a large extent, the flagrant contradiction between our religious and social conduct is the result of the dominant strand of theology over the past three decades. Widespread pessimism about the prospects of the Nigerian project has found expression in a theology of non-engagement. It has roots in the wave of ‘Holiness’ churches that emerged during the mid-1970s. Preaching an austere spirituality that prioritized personal moral rectitude and spartan discipline as the hallmarks of righteousness, these churches depicted the world as a field of profanity. Entanglement in secular affairs posed the risk of subverting one’s salvation. The only legitimate sphere of social engagement was the fellowship within the church itself. The larger society was a lost cause. All efforts were to be directed at fulfilling the level of righteousness required to qualify for heaven.

    This dichotomy between the sacred and the secular is essential to understanding the bipolar approach to business, politics and public life. Beginning from the early 1980s, the austere ‘Holiness’ movement was displaced by a more buoyant Christian movement that advertized God’s relationship with individuals in more material terms. According to this new theological narrative, God is committed to blessing the individual in the here and now and not just in the afterlife. This commitment is expressed in miracles, healing, financial advancement and the guaranteed general wellbeing of the Christian. This brand of spirituality became more salient from the mid-1980s following the end of the oil boom, the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme and the consequent near extinction of the middle class.

    In a climate of recession and economic uncertainty, a theology that cast salvation as a route to divinely underwritten upward mobility resonated and it fuelled a proliferation of churches across the country. The increasing popular resort to faith was accentuated by the political instability and repression occasioned by a succession of military dictatorships right up till the late 1990s. The essential dichotomy of the secular and sacred remained. The new churches that emerged from this movement are largely not conceived as centres for projecting the gospel’s redemptive properties into their communities but rather as cities of refuge where beleaguered citizens flee from the depredations of a dysfunctional state.

    The theology of this movement which is loosely described as the ‘Prosperity’ movement interprets salvation in overwhelmingly personal terms. It has little conception of society or the common good. Rather, the individual is spiritually primed to achieve material success in spite of the society. Indeed, the subtext of this theology is that events in the society are inconsequential to the fortunes of the individual believer. The individual in a very specific and personal sense is at the centre of God’s love, grace and redemptive plan. It is not surprising that what has emerged is a highly compartmentalized religiosity; one that perceives no moral obligation in the public space and in which the happiness of the individual is paramount. This is a broad brush description of the Christian scene in Nigeria. It does not apply to all churches but it is a fairly accurate portrait of the general complexion of Christianity in Nigeria.

    Between God and Caesar

    Historically, Nigerian Christians (like our contemporaries worldwide) have had to debate the extent of their social and political engagement in the context of the biblical admonition to render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar. The axiom comes from the incident in the New Testament when Jesus was asked whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. He replied by asking for a coin and questioning his interrogators as to whose image and inscription the coin bore. “Caesar’s,” they replied. Well, Jesus said, since the coin bore Caesar’s imprint then it was lawful for those who lived in Caesar’s domain to render back to him his rightful taxes and to render to God what belonged to God. Traditionalists construe this dictum as an injunction against Christian involvement in politics. Indeed, it has been seized upon by opponents of Christians’ active participation in public life, to argue that religion and politics do not mix. It has become the kernel of a theology of non-engagement.

    On the other hand, advocates of Christian public engagement offer a richer and more nuanced understanding of this principle. Since Caesar himself was made in the image of God, it follows that his humanity, his empire and taxes, and therefore the politics of running the empire and administering the taxes, must be submitted to God who wields ultimate sovereignty over creation. This is supported by scripture that expressly declares that “… the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men…” One of the ways the Almighty demonstrates His sovereignty in the affairs of men is through the activities of regenerated men and women in public life – men and women who fear God and submit to Him as vessels through which His will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

    The conundrum for Christians who desire to engage constructively in the workings of their society and are yet wary of confusing the domains of Caesar and God can be summarized thus: are holiness and social responsibility mutually exclusive or complementary? Can we live out both ideals or does one have to nullify the other? Is it possible to be holy and be socially engaged? Is it possible to be deeply committed to the faith and to be an active citizen?

    I believe that this synthesis of civic and spiritual tasks is not only possible but absolutely necessary. As John Wesley said, “There is no holiness but social holiness.” Every Christian has two responsibilities. The first is to put on the mind of Christ; the second is to carry that mind into the public square – into whatever is public, whether that means the media, the marketplace, the academia, the trade union or parliament.

    My view on this issue has been forged over the course of a lifetime spanning my upbringing and my lifelong reflection on the place of values in shaping society. I was born into the Catholic Church in which the belief that the church must be an active agent of social justice and political transformation was rife. This belief found expression in the social activism of Catholics in various nations and in the liberation theology movement in Latin America. The defining principle of my moral upbringing is that emulating Jesus Christ is not just a spiritual endeavour but a revolutionary posture that expands the frontiers of justice in society. It is about serving a higher purpose in the public square and locating the right vocational channels through which to actualize one’s spiritual commitment. This understanding of the faith has guided me through my years at the frontlines of pro-democracy activism in exile and my service in public office.

  • PDP needs prayers? Why not try truth and justice

    PDP needs prayers? Why not try truth and justice

    Chief Tony Anenih is not known to be flippant. When he responds to reporters’ questions, he is seldom expansive, preferring instead to be straight-faced and laconic. On Wednesday, when cheeky reporters asked him what role he expected the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT) to play in resolving the multifaceted crises afflicting the party, he spoke and behaved true to type. “Prayers, prayers, prayers,” he intoned. “This is what we need.” He wasn’t, of course, saying the BoT would do the praying, nor was he suggesting that our self-satisfied rulers lumbering about in the corridors of power knew how to pray. All he was telling reporters shortly after emerging from a meeting with the party chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, was that in the general sense those who knew how to pray should feel free to render that service copiously to the party. If we didn’t know better, we would think that in the PDP, whether under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo or under any other leader, politics and prayer were compatible.

    But just as Anenih was advocating prayer to resolve self-inflicted tragedies – a typical indulgence in these parts – his party was also busy enacting bigger and more pernicious unfairness and parochialism. First, President Goodluck Jonathan, exercising the powers conferred on him by the party’s constitution, directed that six governors be inducted into the party caucus. The six, grumbled some PDP governors, were the arrowheads of the president’s campaign to fracture the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF). And two of the six, the grumblers moaned further, came from the president’s geopolitical zone, almost as if he had forgotten how to be president of Nigeria or even leader of the entire PDP. Second, other grumblers chafed at the president for causing three ministers to be invited into the same caucus without any consideration of spread or federal character, with the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, top on the list of their complaints. (She was listed among the three ministers, thereby bringing the number of those admitted into the caucus from the president’s zone to three in one fell swoop). Surely, the grumblers wailed, there must be a better and less offensive way of stacking the cards against the enemies within.

    However, Jonathan’s caucus manoeuvres are simply a manifestation of the president’s and his party’s inattentiveness to details and to the cause of fairness. The party has an unenviable history of bitter infighting, oppression of the weak, and promotion of injustice at regional and national levels. These vices are what Anenih quaintly believes prayers could help exterminate. Alas, someday, we will understand what naïve doctrines and philosophies motivate the BoT chairman. But for now, it is unnecessary to analyse his theology or to question the beliefs of members of the BoT. We already know that prayer represents for them a charming perfunctoriness. They will advocate it half-asleep or half-awake, notwithstanding the severity of the unfairness they are meting out to their victims.

    But if the PDP and Anenih can manage to view God less as a commercial device for the satisfaction of party ambition and more as an avenger of injustice and unfairness, perhaps they would be more guarded in their actions and more balanced in their worldview. Perhaps, too, they would run a more efficient party bureaucracy and offer the country the visionary leadership Nigerians desire, but which the ruling party lacks the discipline and ethical soundness to actualise. We cannot tell whether sometime in the future the PDP will embrace prayer more reverentially and move God into hearing them. But for now, let the party try embracing truth and justice in order to restore peace within its fold. This latter option is even less costly, less demanding, and does not addle the wit of the party’s Brahmins nor tax their knowledge of God as much as the complicated theology of prayer.

  • Uduaghan: Rewarding teachers on earth

    In the words of Dan Rather, a famous American author, ‘every dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs, pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth’. The emphasis here is on teachers. Teachers are dream moulders. They have the power to make or mar an individual’s dream.

    Greek Legend, Alexander the Great understood the power of a teacher when he quipped: ‘I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well’. Indeed, parents can give a child life, but it is the teacher who makes the child’s life meaningful through quality education. All over the world today, it is almost impossible to find successful people who will not make reference to certain teacher(s) who impacted their lives.

    Like the father of the Great Alexander, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, the Governor of Delta State, certainly understands the powers of a teacher. He knows that the power to build the kind of future we desire rests with teachers in whose care we entrust our children. Hence, he invests massively in teacher’s welfare with a mindset that a well motivated teacher will ultimately lead to a great future.

    Although Dr. Uduaghan keeps getting accolades from home and abroad for his achievements in health, economy, transportation and other sectors, what he has done for teachers in Delta State in rarely mentioned.

    It was therefore a delight to see him honoured last week in the ancient city of Abeokuta when the 18th Annual Thisday Awards held under the auspices of a former President of the United States, Mr. Bill Clinton. The governor was duly rewarded for his investments in teachers, especially those in the nursery, primary and secondary sectors.

    Beyond the glitz and excitements of the award, what Uduaghan has done for teachers in Delta State deserves commendations not just from the organisers of the Thisday Awards but from everyone who knows and appreciates the work of a teacher.

    As Thisday publisher, Nduka Obaigbena noted during the presentation, ‘teachers in Delta State are handsomely paid’ that is why they are committed to creating a good future for the pupils in their care. They are inspired to give their best because the government led by Uduaghan, leaves no stone unturned in giving them the best financially and morally.

    Those who know what used to be before Uduaghan came on board will readily attest that he deserves all the commendations has gets when he comes to teacher’s welfare. Unlike those who say a teacher’s reward is in heaven, Uduaghan ensures that teachers enjoy the fruit of their toil here on earth. He doesn’t just pay them promptly and handsomely, he creates a standard environment for work and productivity.

    Delta State is one of the few states in Nigeria where infrastructures in public schools can compete favourably with those in privately owned schools. It is also one of the few states where teachers rarely drop tools over unpaid wages and allowances thereby depriving innocent pupils of the education they deserve. It is only in Delta State that pupils from government owned primary schools blaze the trail in National Common Entrance and other external examination.

    Right from his first tenure in office, Uduaghan has shown an unwavering commitment towards improving education and human capital development. Under his watch, derelict schools have been revamped, laboratories have been built, teachers have been sponsored to trainings and scholarships worth millions of Naira have been doled out to deserving students at all levels.

    Aside from these, the Governor is also spearheading partnership initiatives with private organisations aimed at improving teachers and students in the state. Earlier this year, he signed an agreement with DAAR Communication to promote academic excellence in the state through direct broadcast of educational programmes on radio and television stations across the state.

    Uduaghan also began an initiative to decongest classrooms to a minimum of 40 students in a class. This initiative gave birth to an avalanche of infrastructural projects in all the primary and secondary schools across the state. In every school in Delta State, new class rooms have either been built or presently under construction.

    Judging by these worthy investments in human and material resources, it was not a surprise that Chief Dibie Ossai, a teacher from Delta State was one of the 15 teachers honoured with the prestigious Thisday award from a pool of teachers nationwide. Like other teachers in the State, Chief Dibie epitomises the success that can be achieved when government creates an enabling environment that inspires teachers to work.

    The most impressive thing about Governor Uduaghan love for teachers is that it does not end with those in primary and secondary schools alone, lecturers in tertiary institutions also benefit. Delta is one of the few states in Nigeria where state university lecturers earn as much as their counterparts in federal schools.

    With all that Uduaghan has done for teacher in Delta State and the result it is yielding, one cannot but agree that a teacher’s reward is here on earth.

  • Open letter to Ifako-Ijaiye LG chairman

    SIR: It is no gainsaying that the administration of the incumbent chairman of Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area of Lagos State, Hon. Toba Oke, will be remembered for embarking on massive road rehabilitation. This issue was one of the cardinal promises he made to voters in the local government area during his campaign for the local government election that eventually brought him to power in October 2011.

    However, residents of Oguns Street are yet to enjoy this important aspect of dividends of democracy as the ever busy street that links with Agbado Road from Iju Ishaga has consistently remained an eyesore and impassable to residents and road users during rainy season. This is due to total absence of gutter on the right and left side of the street. The street that is wide enough to accommodate a good drainage system runs parallel to Iju-Ishaga/Agbado Road between Toko-Taya and Olusesi bus-stops. It also links Aliyu Adeshina streets together at the tail end of Aliyu street while approaching Iju-Ishaga/Agbado Road from Balogun Bus-stop via Oguntade street.

    Though several appeals were made to past chairmen for provision of drainage on the street since the return to democratic governance at council level in Nigeria in 1999, all of these fell on deaf ears despite the fact that residents and business owners on the street have remained good citizens by meeting up with their civic responsibilities through contribution to the internally generated revenue of the local government.

    It is hoped that the administration of Hon. Oke will embark on provision of drainage on Oguns Street so as to prevent further hardship to the people. The rainy season is here and residents are already apprehensive because of the flood and the fact that the road is rendered impassable after each rain.

    • Alhaji Mutiatu Olaideinde

    Oguns Street, Ifako-Ijaiye LGA

    Lagos State

  • Why Bauchi is model of executive/legislative harmony

    SIR: Even though it may be too early in the day to hazard a conclusion, Bauchi State may yet win a prize or trophy as a state where Executive/Legislative relationship has defied all odds to give birth to a child of harmony, peace and tranquillity. So far the relationship between the executive and the legislature is so cordial that the people of the state are wondering the magic behind that rapport. Actually,there is nothing magical about it. It is just a question of obeying the constitution and being transparent in handling the affairs of the state. Apart from obeying the constitutional provision regarding the function of the executive and the legislators,Governor Isa Yuguda has also brought a personal touch to bear on the Legislatures.

    With the 31 members of the State Assembly comprising of 26 PDP and six CPC members, the state has witnessed stability and productivity.

    Which ever side of the divide one belongs,the ultimate truth lie more with the unique leadership style of Governor Yuguda and the political skills and ability of the speaker Alh. Yahaya Miya in the coordination of the legislative affairs of the state.

    Before the emergence of Alh. Yahaya Miya as the 11th speaker, the state assembly had passed through several speakers this includes; Alh. Maigeri Yerima Bappah 1979-1983; Alh. Garba Norma 1983-Dec.1983; Alh. Yau Nababa and Barr. Ahmed Almustapha 1992-1993; while Rt. Hon. Bappah Haruna Desiena was speaker in 1999-2003; Hon. Auwal Jatto and Tanko Jalam served from 2003-2007; Haliru Jika,Babayo Garba Gamawa and Ahmed Ibrahim Faggo from 2007-2011 and now Alh. Yahaya Miya 2011-till date.

    But before the election of Alh. Yahaya Miya as speaker,the leadership was usually foisted on lawmakers by the strong men in the state in collaboration with the cabal in the ruling party.The House was consequently under remote control as godfathers called shorts from the outside.

    However,for the first time, the state assembly was left alone to freely chose its leadership without interference from the executive. Today, Miya’s sterling leadership qualities has provided an essential stability in the House and has greatly helped deepen and strengthen our democracy. His wisdom,fairness and dedication to duty have earned the respect and confidence of all of his colleague and the executive.

    • John Akevi,

    Nitel Qters. Bauchi.

  • Still on Maku’s governance tour

    SIR: In the name undertaking tours and other ingenious devices, public office holders often empty the public coffers. It does not matter that for all intents and purposes, the tour has no direct, indirect, immediate or future relevance. It does not matter either if it is at the expense of basic infrastructure for the people. What matters most is what they stand to gain individually or collectively as we have witnessed in the character of many public office holders.

    Though Nigerians have suffered for so long from the malaise, it appears the culture is not about to be retired.

    A case in point is the round-the-country good governance tour being undertaken by Minister of Information, Labaran Maku alongside over 120 others. The absurdity of the whole exercise was recently brought to the fore when Edo state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole told a bewildered audience in Benin City, the state capital, that the minister sent him a proposal to the effect that the state should bankroll the expenses incurred by the group on its cameo trip to the state.

    As it is in Edo State, Nigerians, so it is in other states where the people are already aware of what their governments have done or failed to do in terms of good governance. Beyond the possibility of reaping substantial financial largesse from all the states toured, what other impact does Maku’s good governance tour intend to have on the people?

    Despite being harassed by debilitating challenges, Nigerians have not lost sight of the fact that Maku is a federal subject on a federal mission. They are aware that the mission cannot be of any more benefit to the states other than for the federal government using it as a publicity stunt for its vaunted transformation agenda. The federal government is not known to undertake altruistic projects; certainly not for states governed by opposition parties. Nigerians are therefore wondering why it is not only undertaking this unnecessary tour but also coercing the states to fund it.

    Maku ought to have answered this question first before sending funding proposals to state governments.

    It is no surprise that Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka expressed profound happiness that Comrade Oshiomhole dismissed Maku and his good governance funding proposals. The time has come for public office holders to stop being frivolous in the manner they handle public funds. The Oshiomhole example is heart-warming and Nigerians expect other state governors who have not swallowed the good governance bait to distance themselves from committing their state resources to fund it.

    • Ernest Omoarelojie,

    Benin City

  • PDP choristers and the nation

    I read a couple of newspaper reports including a piece in The Nation early in the week that left me wondering about the future and the quality of our politics. The more I have tried to shrug it off, the more my mind has continued to insist it is one occasion that silence can’t be seen to be golden.

    Sadly, it is the president saddled with responsibility of governing Nigeria and taking her to the land of promise who is at the centre of it all. Of course his war, if it is real, is allegedly against those that the loquacious governor of Akwa Ibom State refers to as Judases within the governors’ forum. I will come back to this later.

    The press has even quoted the President as saying he does not want to work with Amaechi. This is in addition to other emotional remarks that I have no intention to reproduce.

    As Nigerians follow unfolding developments – the move to remove Amaechi as the head of the Governors Forum, the invitation of PDP governors to the Presidency and the emergence of what is today seen as the PDP Governors Forum – one is at a loss to understand why there is a deliberate attempt to personify what in real terms is obviously the existence of differences between the Federal Government and the States.

    Why is Amaechi the target? What has he done? Why is there a desperate effort to pull him down, using all kinds of strategies as well as the famed EFCC?

    Amaechi for those who know him is blunt. He is a man who says it as he sees and that is why what he utters resonates. He is not one to treat any one with disrespect.

    Jonathan may be at the helm of affairs, but this doesn’t in the main suggest he is the government of the Federal Republic or that any attempt to restructure the administrative, political or social structures of state amounts to an affront too.

    Amaechi as chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum may have spoken severally on a number of national issues. I think there is need to differentiate between what he says as chairman of forum and what he says as governor of Rivers State.

    Most of the comments for which he has apparently been placed on the slaughter slab are decisions reached by the governors forum and no governor has said to the knowledge of Nigerians that those views are Amaechi’s.

    The Presidency however, has a grouse against Amaechi for privately addressing his own people over the row between Bayelsa and Rivers States in the wake of the sudden take over of oil wells belonging to the Rivers people.

    What would he have done? Keep quiet and be loyal whilst that which belongs to Rivers people is taken away with impunity and given to their neighbor under the watch of this president? Given the history of past attempts to snatch those oil wells, can the president ever imagine his name would not be linked to it?

    Is it possible to imagine that the Vice President who presides over boundary adjustment matters could have acted without briefing the president? When did the bugging of our public functionaries become the norm?

    George Owen warned of the intrusion into man’s life of Uncle Sam. It does appear for Nigeria those days are here.

    For me, the points at issue are very clear. They are issues of state that require reason to deal with. They are not issues for the sledge hammer and certainly not issues that should be left to sugar-tongued sycophants.

    Let us take the issues one by one. Every one agrees there are serious defects in what we have come to inherit as our brand of a federalist state. Many equally agree that there is a need to redefine the relationship between the federal government and the states as well as the relationship between the ethnic nations whose consent the nation needs to thrive.

    These internal contradictions, including how revenue accruing to the nation should be shared, who should control what and how power should be shared has led to years of agitation for a sovereign national conference.

    Some of these issues explain why on the floor of the National Assembly, moderates who believe such a conference is not necessary at this time are calling for constitutional amendments.

    Viewed from this perspective, it is clear to a great number of Nigerians that what the governors seek as much as possible is to mobilize public opinion in favour of changes that might cure the ailments introduced by the imbalances that threaten our federation.

    There may exist differences on the political level over who should lead when 2015 comes, especially given the power rotation clause that is embedded in our constitution. This shouldn’t generate the kind of furor and bad blood that we are witnessing.

    I have always wondered why those who seek to lead us at the highest level fall prey to primitive instincts, why more often than not they demonstrate how very little they have learned to exhibit maturity.

    Nobody packs the kind of punch that the US president carries about and around him. He is the world’s strongest man and the controller of an arsenal that should naturally ward off opponents at home, not to talk of abroad.

    We all watched the US elections and the extent the opposition went to deride President Barak Obama. Obama took all kinds of knocks, including personal insults from Republicans and their allies. But he kept his cool and remained presidential until the very end. That’s what leadership is all about – the ability to control self, the ability to lead by example and demonstrate that the frontiers of free speech and indeed democratic ideals can be extended for the benefit of society.

    It is saddening that in our setting, the issue of political succession has become the source of growing tension within the polity, to the extent that a serving governor can afford to describe his colleagues as Judases.

    His comments remind of the Crucible and the excesses of the puritan fathers whose holier than thou attitude shook the very foundation of American society years ago.

    I refuse to believe that President Jonathan could have said publicly that he has no desire to work with Amaechi. That would be rather unprecedented and unpresidential, if you ask me.

    For the avoidance of doubt and without joining the ranks of those regarded as being insolent, especially to the President, Amaechi was elected to work for Rivers people and their interests and not the president’s.

    What Rivers people look forward to is performance or what as a nation we have come to see as the dividend of democracy. And the records show Amaechi has done that to the glory of God.

    • Hon Nwuke is member, House of Representatives