The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • NJC’s decision on Naron, others most welcome

    NJC’s decision on Naron, others most welcome

    SIR: The Committee on Justice on behalf of the House of Representatives hereby expresses delight over the suspension and recommendation of compulsory retirement of Mr. Justice Thomas Naron of Plateau State High Court and Justice Archibong of the Federal High Court.

    Although this action should have been a normal exercise of in-built disciplinary mechanism for the judiciary to cleanse itself, previous leaderships of the Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC) have condoned too much and spared so many corrupt judges to the detriment of the judiciary. It is in this light that we commend the person of the Chairman of the Council, Justice Mariam Mukhtar, GCON. Nigerians now believe her declaration a few weeks ago that internal mechanism would be utilized to tackle corrupt judges.

    As it takes two to tango, we call on the equally new leadership of the Nigeria Bar Association to take a cue and utilize its own internal mechanism to send strong message to very senior lawyers who are used as conduits in soiling the judiciary. By reining in its own, the NJC’s action constitutes a strong challenge to the NBA.

    Furthermore, we believe the investigation of Justice Abubakar Talba must be comprehensive involving every official that handled the matter. Nigerians want to know among others, why the convict was charged under the worn-out Criminal Code rather than more recent laws of EFCC, ICPC or money laundering laws. This seems like deploying one-edge sword or gun powder in a modern battle when you have bombs in your arsenal.

    This Committee has been singing it for long that the EFCC and ICPC alone cannot fight corruption in this land; it is the duty of every person and every institution. The new NJC has begun its own, the NBA must not be left out. We salute the Chief Justice of Nigeria and assure her of support of the House in her future actions in this direction.

    • Tunde Akanbi

    Ilorin

  • It’s Anambra North’s turn for governorship

    It’s Anambra North’s turn for governorship

    SIR: In the interest of fairness, equity, egalitarianism and justice, the next governor of Anambra State should come from Anambra North Senatorial zone. Since the new Anambra State came into being in 1991, no person from Anambra North Senatorial Zone has ruled the state.

    Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, who ruled the state between 1991 and 1993 hails from Anambra South; Dr Mbadinuju, who also ruled the state from 1999 to 2003 is from Anambra South; Dr Chris Ngige from Alor in Anambra Central Senatorial Zone, was in the saddle of leadership in the state between 2003 and 2006. The current governor, Peter Obi comes from Anambra Central. He has been ruling the state since 2006.

    Proponents of strict adherence to democratic ideals and ethos insist that the contest for the governorship post should be open to all people in the state. They argue that it is undemocratic to shut out people from outside Anambra North from the next governorship contest.

    But, in order for us to achieve peace and unity and attain great economic and technological heights, we should evolve democratic ideals and ethos to suit our cultural peculiarities. Imitating the western models of democracy sheepishly and foolishly won’t augur well for our development. Rather, we ought to adapt western models of democracy to our cultural and social realities in order to guarantee peace and progress in our home state of Anambra.

    In order to ensure the continued existence of Nigeria as one indivisible entity, northern interests and other kingmakers helped Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to become president in 1999 on the ticket of the P.D.P. to assuage the South-west, whose son Chief M.K.O Abiola, was denied the post in 1993 after he had won the June 12, 1993 Presidential election.

    So, in the interest of fairness and continued unity and cohesiveness of Anambra State, it is imperative to give the people of Anambra North the political platforms on which they will actualize their dream of producing the next governor of the state in 2014. The zone has seasoned and tested politicians who can lead the state to greatness if they’re offered the opportunity to lead the state. Among them are Joy Emodi, Margery Okadigbo, Oseloka Obaze and other great politicians.

     

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Uruowulu-Obosi Anambra State.

     

  • Does anyone still doubt Jonathan’s 2015 ambition?

    Does anyone still doubt Jonathan’s 2015 ambition?

    Officially, President Goodluck Jonathan has not indicated his interest in contesting the 2015 presidential election. He is unlikely to say anything on the topic in the coming months, for in spite of his harmless look, he is no stranger to political intrigues. On the few occasions he was asked last year by foreign journalists whether he had any interest in re-election, he preferred to prevaricate. He wanted to build an enviable record of achievements upon which to base his re-election campaign, the president suggested gamely. On another occasion, he simply refused to answer the question, pleading it constituted a distraction so early into his presidency. Indeed, he will say anything but give a direct answer. He will leave the country and nosy journalists alone to solve the puzzle, that is, if the matter is really a puzzle.

    In spite of the fog surrounding Jonathan’s 2015 plan, there are not many who are in the dark about his ambition. Everyone thinks he is interested, and also thinks he will do anything to clinch his party’s nomination. If he is not saying anything now, they believe, it is because he does not think it safe to commit himself. Indeed, they think his lack of candour on the matter is simply because he does not judge the moment right. For if he were to commit too early, observers conclude, it could arm his enemies. Better, therefore, to leave them guessing and squirming and fidgeting, and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

    But if readers will forgive this column’s irreverence, he would like to say very forthrightly that Jonathan has really never left anyone in doubt about his 2015 ambition. And who better to give us a lengthy and substantial peep into the president’s mind than the fawning Mrs Kema Chikwe, the National Woman Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and member of its National Working Committee (NWC). Speaking last Thursday in Abuja while presenting the ‘PDP Women-In-Power 2013 Calendar,’ Chikwe gushed that the president would return to office in 2015. If you think her position within the party does not qualify her to make that weighty statement, consider also that in the audience was Jonathan’s recently ‘resurrected’ wife, the boisterous, matchless and straight-talking Dame Patience Jonathan, perhaps maintaining a philosophical calm.

    Considering how Dame Patience openly withstood Governor Rotimi Amaechi in August 2010 when the Rivers State governor stirred some revolt over his waterfront demolition programme in the state, the president’s wife is not someone to listen patiently to anyone making false statements about her husband or any of those esoteric topics that sometimes inexplicably catch her fancy, whether it be demolition in Okrika, her hometown in Rivers, or her elevation to the rank of a permanent secretary in defiance of gravity. While clairvoyant Chikwe rhapsodised Jonathan’s accomplishments and predicted his re-election last Thursday, the First Lady solemnly and indulgently looked on. If Dame Patience has so far not directly spoken on her husband’s 2015 ambition, it must mean she is summoning quite a huge effort to be restrained on a topic that is otherwise capable of rocketing her to the lexical stratosphere.

    As Jonathan’s predecessors showed, including the reclusive Gen Sani Abacha and the irrepressible Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, there will never be an official confirmation of such a risky presidential project as re-election until all the president’s enemies are either silenced, safely out of contention, or heavily compromised. It is possible that on a hypothetical tomorrow Jonathan may develop cold feet; but for now, his feet are warm, and he is in the running. And lo, this is, well, incontrovertibly official.

  • ACN, Ogbomoso North needs Ajimobi’s attention

    ACN, Ogbomoso North needs Ajimobi’s attention

    SIR: This piece is a clarion call on the ACN leadership, and particularly, the governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi to wade into the crisis rocking the party in Ogbomoso North before it is too late. This call becomes imperative because of the disunity, over ambition and personality clash among the leading members of the party. The show of shame between two members of executive council which culminated in fisticuffs on Thursday February 20 and disrupted the meeting calls for urgent attention. As the hotbed of politics in Ogbomoso zone, and with the overbearing influence of the PDP, failure of the party to unite could jeopardize the prospects of the party in Ogbomoso zone.

    Four important factors are responsible for the problem rocking the party in Ogbomoso North. First, there is no leader in Ogbomoso North ACN that can serve as rallying point and provide effective leadership for the party. The decisions that affected the party in Ogbomoso North are being taken by leaderships of other local governments in Ogbomoso zone, which often times are not in the best interest of the majority members of the party. Secondly, the factionalization of the party is so entrenched that any appointment or patronage is distributed on factional basis, while members who belong to no faction are disregarded and excluded from any appointment or patronage. Consequently, the loyalty of party members is not to the party but factional leaders. Therefore, unity has eluded the party. Third, the chairmen of the caretaker committee appointed since the inception of this government are alien to the party. They were not in the party before and during the last election, which would have afforded them the opportunity to know in and out of the party. Consequently, they cannot unite the party but rather finding means of consolidating their power by courting the friendship of the dominant factions to the detriment of the party. Fourthly, very few among those who have been given appointments at the state level attend party meeting at ward or local levels. Instead of coming together to provide effective leadership to the party, they are behaving like the lords of minor and are parochial.

    With the situation of ACN in Ogbomoso North, it cannot go into election and make any meaningful impact because many party members are disillusioned. Therefore, the leadership of the party in the state is advised to wade in because a stitch in time saves nine.

     

    •Adewuyi Adegbite,

    Apake, Ogbomoso.

  • Issues in editorship and professionalism

    As members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors converge at Premier Hotel, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, for their biennial conference from February 28 to March 2, there is need to ponder the state of the Nigerian media. It has to be admitted that the media enjoys the accolade of being one of Africa’s most vibrant. Editors have led the media posse, as people’s vanguard, on various occasions to confront authorities when policies are deemed to be anti-people, the most recent example being the media’s strategic role in opposition to increase in the price of petrol, that eventually exposed the fuel subsidy scandal.

    Yet, media performance can be much better. In this regard, the issues which demand attention include fairness and accuracy in the media; rabid political partisanship in editorial content as well as media credibility. There is the issue of poor quality control of editorial content, particularly news stories, which is the flagship product of the media. In all these, the ownership factor is crucial.

    However, as the professional leader, the editor is the pivot of any media establishment, in spite of competing forces seeking control of the media. A key competing force is the media owner – public or private. There is the widespread notion that the media owner, like the person who pays the piper, has the right to dictate the tune in editorial content. This is a fallacy, given the media’s primary mandate as a public trust.

    For the privately-owned media, it is a dual mandate – as a business and public trust. Hence, while the investor has a right to expect returns from a media company as a business, it is for the editor to determine the editorial content that strikes a balance between the investor’s expectations and what serves the public good. It is a responsibility that he should neither abdicate nor compromise. Where the owner is government, such media outfit should function mainly as public service, not business, as is currently the case with the commercialisation of news, particularly in radio and television stations owned by federal and state governments. To surrender publicly owned media to market forces is a repudiation of government’s fundamental service to the people and a denial of their rights to know and be heard as such policy shuts out a significant section of the polity. It is a policy the editors’ guild should contest.

    It is understandable that governments, private owners, special interest groups and even advertisers would seek to influence or control the media in their desire to sell a point of view, to be positively projected to the people through the media or to contain resistance by the masses. The editor is the bulwark against these assaults on the media by power blocs and he can only resist such assaults successfully by imbibing professional integrity. A prerequisite to acquiring professional integrity is to acquire professional training – being a trained journalist with a university degree in mass communication or journalism, a training that emphasizes the ethics of the profession. So, a major challenge for the Nigerian Guild of Editors is professionalising the position of editor and other editorial cadres and their equivalent positions in the broadcast media. A situation where just anybody can get into media establishment, parade himself or herself as a journalist and even aspire to be editor should not be allowed to continue. With over 100 universities, polytechnics and monotechnics offering courses in mass communication and journalism in Nigeria, there is a pool from which to build a class of professional journalists. A concession might, however be given to non-mass communications graduates in the media to undertake a post graduate diploma course in mass communication to upgrade their status. A professional journalist is expected to know the limitations of owners in terms of editorial content. There are studies which support this stand. Scholars, including Peter Golding, Noam Chomsky and James Curran, note that while governments and other media owners are inclined to determine the editorial line in newspapers and broadcast stations, “they exercise these powers within structures which impose limits”. They thus contend with regard to media control that “owners, advertisers and key political players cannot always do as they would wish”. Sadly, some editors, lacking professional integrity, by their obsequiousness give media proprietors the impression that they (owners) can always do as they wish. A trend where some editors tag along, as seeming bag-boys, on the entourage of their proprietors on local and foreign trips diminishes the position of editor.

    I often cite the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) as an example of a credible government-owned media, largely due to the professionalism and integrity of its pioneer Editor-in-Chief, Femi Adefela, a tradition that has been sustained by NAN’s current managing director, Remi Oyo, a former NAN staff, even when she had served in the politically partisan position of media aide to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    An important issue with editorship is accountability. If editors hold officials of governments and other institutions accountable to the people, if they decry impunity, they also must be accountable to their audience – readers, listeners and viewers. Freedom of the press cannot be freedom to be irresponsible in their editorial content. In this regard, newspaper editors need to subject themselves to the arbitration of the Nigerian Press Council when aggrieved members of the public petition the council on alleged media excesses. Treating summons from NPC with levity does not accord with media ethics.

    A key function of the editor is quality control of media content to ensure fairness and accuracy. It would, however, seem that this function has been largely abandoned given the many embarrassing errors of fact, spelling and grammar in media fare, even on the front pages of newspapers ! In this regard, the media needs government intervention to assist with capacity building for the overall public good. I will end this piece by returning to the issues of professionalism, integrity and monetization in the media with a quote from the 1947 report of the U.S. Commission on Freedom of the Press, headed by Robert M. Hutchins: “Whatever may be thought of the conduct of individual members of the older, established professions, like law and medicine, each of these professions as a whole accepts responsibility for the service rendered by the profession as a whole, and there are some things which a truly professional man will not do for money”. The Nigerian Guild of Editors need to make a ‘truly professional man’ of editors and other cadres of journalists by initiating a peer review on qualifications and a mechanism to bring erring editors and other journalists to order. Editorship is a distinguished position whose prestige and authority can only be enhanced where ethics, professionalism and integrity rule.

    • Dr. Olawunmi, Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors lectures at Bowen University, Iwo,

  • There was, indeed, a country

    There was, indeed, a country

    “Human memory awakens and extinguishes at will. It dulls and sharpens actions, enlarges and shrinks those who perform them. It humbles and exalts as it desires. When summoned, it slips away, and when it returns, it will do so at the time and place that suits it. It recognises no chief, no overseer, no classifier, no ruler. Stories mix and mingle, facts sprout new shoots.”
    -Meir Shalev, a Russian writer

    I have just finished reading Prof. Chinua Achebe’s There was a Country: A personal history of Biafra. Since the publication of the memoir last year to a welter of controversy over what the writer wrote or failed to write, I have declined to enter the fray because I didn’t want to fall into the same line of thought that I always accuse people of – that is judging a book only by its cover or blurb.

    Although I got the book almost as soon as it was off the press in Nigeria, but I never got to read it until recently because I already had some books lined up for reading before its publication. However, I read the excerpt published in The Guardian of London which led to the hail of controversy that subsequently made the book become such a hot cake that it instantly became the first book in Nigeria, at least to my knowledge, which though not a recommended text was pirated in the first few weeks of its publication. In Lagos traffic today the pirated copy is the most hawked and available book apart from the ubiquitous ‘pure water’.

    Although many reviews of the book have been written both in local and international newspapers, I feel that as a reader and as someone who grew up reading the respected writer and regarding him as a role model and no doubt one of the early influences that made me chose my line of career, the book under consideration falls short of what he has, for me, stood for in all his other books, most especially The Problem with Nigeria.

    There is no doubt that Nigeria is a country in search of heroes and role models and intellectuals such as Achebe and the rest of them should at the twilight of their lives look for things that would unite rather than further divide their country of birth.

    In reading There was a Country, I came away with the impression that despite the fact that the civil war ended over four decades ago, people like the much-respected Achebe still, feel the war against his people was still on. This siege mentality must stop and those in a better position to stop it are the Achebes of this world. But if people like him still feel the way he wrote about it in the book, then we have a long way to go.

    I was barely five or so when the war started and I was living in the north then, and though it was not the centre of the war I can, however, attest to it that the pogrom was real and those not killed there died while running back to the East just as it has been happening of recent with the incessant ethno-religious crises that have gripped the North in recent past.

    However, as the Yoruba say, “if you don’t forget yesterday’s shortcomings you will never get one to play with.” It is high time we put the war behind us and think more of how to move beyond our present challenges. The unfortunate civil war has become a sort of industry for many who use it as an excuse to be aggressive and ride roughshod over others and feel sidelined (the siege mentality).

    I was born in the North and lived and schooled there for over three decades, I have also lived in the East and now live in the West. so if anything, I can claim to know Nigeria and Nigerians as much as I know the back of my hand, if you permit the cliché.

    There are so many claims and assertions in There was a Country, which should not have come from a writer with the standing of Achebe. Take for instance this, “There are many international observers who believe that Gowon’s action after the war were magnanimous and laudable. There are tons of treatise that talk about how the Igbo were wonderfully integrated into Nigeria. Well, I have news for them: The Igbo were not and continue not to be integrated into Nigeria, one of the reasons for the country’s continued backwardness, in my estimation.”

    I beg to differ. What I can deduce from this claim by this respected writer is that only the Igbo hold the key to the development of this country! I am afraid; it is this kind of thinking and frame of mind that is holding our country down and responsible for our predicament. This is ethnic supremacy and nonsensical dismissal of other ethnic groups as backward and only meant to be gatemen, gardeners and cooks.

    That is not all; the respected writer believes the decision by the federal government to ban the importation of stockfish and second hand clothes, “two trade items that they knew the burgeoning market towns of Onitsha, Aba and Nnewi needed to re-emerge. Their fear was that these communities, fully reconstituted, would then serve as the economic engines for the reconstruction of the entire Eastern Region.” How can the use of second hand clothes and consumption of stockfish achieve this? Come on we must grow up.

    By my own reading, one of the major pitfalls of the book is that the writer with the role he played as an envoy for the late Chukwuemeka Ojukwu to the former President of Senegal who himself was a distinguished poet and writer, shows that he (Achebe) was a close ally of the late Ojukwu, and based on this premise, a reader like me expected that he should give us a more accurate and detailed portrait of the late Biafran leader.

    But what do we have? Just passing comments that in no way pointed to the mind of the chief planner and executioner of the plan to take his part of Nigeria out of the federation.

    In this memoir at least, we know where the writer stands where the issue of the war, the federation known as Nigeria, General Yakubu Gowon and most especially the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo are concerned, and to some extent, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. But what does he think of the late Ojukwu? He was dodgy and unclear where the late Biafran leader was concerned. This is not the Achebe I grew up to know and admire. Many things were left unsaid while some of those things said were done with a forked tongue.

    There was, indeed, a country and a war memoir.

  • Walter Carrington and African-Americans

    Walter Carrington and African-Americans

    I think Ambassador Walter Carrington was right when he urged US blacks to trace their roots. This call has become imperative in view of the incontrovertible fact that all blacks are sons and daughters of Africa whether they choose to hide under the nomenclature of African-American. I understand the feelings and reasons though some may not understand.

    It’s a pity that at this age, some African-Americans still live in irredeemable delusion. They try to separate themselves from Africa and even prefer to be called Americans. Most times when we tell them to trace their roots, they say to us that they can’t because of insecurity. Yet they live in a nation where agents of sudden deaths invade schools, home and movie-theatres with automatic guns to kill and destroy. How are these agents of doom different from armed robbers and even kidnappers which sometimes carry out their nefarious trade in Africa?

    If we tell them to trace their roots, they will be quick to submit that Africa is nothing but a garden of injustice. Yet they forget that America would have been the most dangerous jungle in the world if not for the selfless sacrifice of the likes of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Marcus Garvey, Jesse Jackson and W.D. Dubois. These men were African-Americans and they laid the solid foundation for justice, equality, peace and progress in America. Some of them even forgot that if not that their forefathers were stolen out of Africa via slavery, they would have been home with us.

    Tell them to trace their roots; they will say Africa is under the spell of corruption. Yet they live in a nation that is home to looted funds from Africa. Most of them even live in rented apartments and work in companies which belong to corrupt African leaders. Yet, they forget that if we must defeat the force of corruption, the ‘West’ must stop being a virgin soil on which looted funds are kept safe and invested.

    Tell them to trace their roots, they will say oh no, development is far from Africa. Yet they forget that America was once imprisoned by under-development. I know, no matter how hard Carrington tries to appeal to them to trace their roots, many will never care to listen him.

    I want to place on record that whether they trace their roots or not, Africa will one day rise above its current challenges. In this month of Black movement, let us remember to always say silent prayers for African-Americans and indeed Africa.

    God bless Africa.

     

    Godfrey Ehi,

    Benin City, Edo State.

     

  • Open letter to Aregbesola

    Open letter to Aregbesola

    The plan by the Osun State government to move students of Ikeji-Ile High School SSS (Classes) I – III to another school should be given a second thought in order to save the Ikeji-Ile community and the students from hardship.

    Time was when there was no post primary school in Ikeji-Ile Ijesha (presently in Oriade Local Government Area). This made the indigenes that were yearning for higher education to embrace Ipetu-Ijesha Grammar School and the Local Authority Secondary Modern School located in Ipetu-Ijesha after the completion of their primary education.

    Unfortunately, because this period was when the availability of commercial vehicles in this area was sparse, coupled with the poor financial standing of the farmer-parents, indigenes, which made the tedious daily journey to and from the schools (about 13 kilometers) hard.

    This tradition was passed down by several generations of Ikeji-Ile Ijesha indigene-students until succour came in 1976 when the then Military Governor of old Oyo State, Major General David Jemibewon, established Ikeji-Ile High School, with the first set of students coming from various cities and towns of the federation .

    The public announcement of this long expected creation of a saving grace in the name of a grammar school was welcomed with spectacle which culminated in mass street dance by the entire indigenes.

    However, the community saw in the establishment of the school a great relief from the pains and anxiety of parents anxiously waiting and praying for the safe return of their loved children from the neighbouring community schools without coming home hurt from scuffles along the roads (which usually ensued then over frivolities).

    While the likes of High Chief I. O. Akinmokun, late Pa J. O. Oluwatudimu, late Chief George Esan, Chief Olabode Akinyele (an ebullient principal of several notable secondary schools), late Chief T. A. Awe, High Chief I. O. Morakinyo (the current Orisakeji of Ikeji-Ile), Pa Philip Fagunleka and Mr. Olubayo Ijaseun, among others, provided firm leadership, the community rose into action like a wounded battalion to contribute ‘hugely’ as to the capacity of each one to put the gargantuan edifice that was the pride of the community in place and which is still standing there today anyway, but with dilapidated structures. The community also procured for the school a brand new Toyota Coaster Bus which was the envy of all the schools within Ife-Ijesha axis of the then Oyo State; being one of the first to acquire that wonder-on-wheels as against the then popular Austin/Bedford Lorries which most of the secondary schools in the state were noted for.

    In October last year, a Save-the-School letter for the rehabilitation of the school buildings together with adequate provision of teaching staff and security personnel was written to the state government by the Old Students Association; a copy of which was acknowledged by the Governor’s Office.

    It is based on efforts of the community and the old students that I appeal to Governor Aregbesola to have a rethink on the ‘rumoured’ proposal to move some students of the school to Ipetu-Ijesha that has about five government owned secondary schools as well as private ones.

    What could be ideal at the moment is for government to set in motion machinery to rehabilitate the decaying infrastructure within the school and to expedite actions in providing the school with adequate qualified teachers. With these in place, one can be rest assured that many Ipetu-Ijesha parents as well as those in other neighbouring towns will again start to send their children to Ikeji-Ile High School; which was the practice during our time there because we were always on top in academic, sports, debate and cultural competitions, among others.

    Therefore, I join other well meaning sons and daughters of the community both at home and in the Diaspora to appeal to our Ogbeni Aregbesola to live up to being the first true Omoluabi of the state by sparing us the pains and anguish of subjecting our children to the unpleasant voyage of trekking several kilometres on daily basis to and from Ipetu-Ijesha all in the name of becoming educated citizens of the state.

    Osun a dara!!

    ‘ ‘

    By Samuel Oloyede Oriowo,

    Ikeji-Ile, Osun State

     

  • Lent, springtime for centenary renewal

    Just as the seasons manifest the changing course of the earth’s life of soul, the Christian festivals meant to honour the coming of Christ are to be celebrated, essentially to witness the Passion and appropriation of the Risen Christ. The cycle of Christian festivals begins at Advent and passes through Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Ascension. These spiritual rhythms of the year are experienced and observed in and with sacred practices, which have their places in human and national life. Out of a spiritual and natural understanding, Christians have not failed to weave the web of their redemptive life on the loom of the year’s rhythm of time and the Passion of our Risen Saviour, especially the Easter celebration.

    The authentic purpose of Lent starts with Christ as a season of fasting, self-denial, spiritual growth, conversion, and simplicity. Lent, which comes from the Teutonic (Germanic) word for ‘Springtime,’ can be viewed as a spiritual spring-cleaning: a time for taking our national inventory and then cleaning out those things which hinder our corporate and personal relationships and service to God and others. It is fitting that the season of Lent begins with personal/national repentance; a yearning to do what is true and an openness to change as Nigeria will be 100 by January 1, 2014. Nigeria’s Centenary celebration (double Jubilee) without national renewal may amount to windows of looting, corruption and jamboree.

    The 40 days in Lent is a symbolic number in the Hebrew scriptures which signifies an irreversible event, outside the daily/weekly, religious, and national routines. Lent is a season of spring, renewing, soaring and emerging, a most promising period of Nigeria after 100 years of the British amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates. Lent as the ‘Springtime’ for Nigeria is more than the ‘Autumn of Nations,’ the revolutions of 1989 that swept through Eastern Europe or the ‘Arab Spring’ revolutionary waves of demonstrations, protests, and wars that began on Dec 18, 2010 in the Arab world. The ‘Arab Spring’ was the aftermath of the unannounced United State of America’s shift in foreign policy to the states of the Arab world. However, the amalgamation challenges including our democratic policy and other economic and religious problems in Nigeria, go beyond civil resistance bearing in mind that ‘Arab Spring’ demonstrations have meet violent responses from authorities, including pro-government/ethnic militias and counter-demonstrations. Lent 2013, as the ‘Springtime’ for Nigeria Centenary renewal must not just be an annual liturgical traditional chore, but a time of personal/national soul cleaning, a renewed sense of order and purposeful lifestyle of leadership and followership. It is a time to lift our nations’ spirit, sweep out the bad corrupt habits and create a holy space in our lives for God regardless of the hypocrisy and lies of today’s and yesterday’s men. Nothing will change in the fortunes of Nigeria unless we are first transformed by the renewing work of the Holy Spirit who renews everything.

    Just as in other biblical prophecies, God has foretold Nigeria’s amalgamation, leadership, religious, and democratic crisis, ‘her princes (political, traditional, and religious leaders) in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortal, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, thus says the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy; yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully’ (Ezekiel 22: 27-29). The latest reports by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU’s) naming Nigeria as the worst place for a baby to be born in 2013 points to excessive leadership not different from the colonial masters.

    Using the first idea of the letter of the word LENT, Lent is about proclaiming liberty to the amalgamated captives of a distress nation. The majority of Nigerians are captives to the 00.1% of its ‘Extractive Elite Class’ leader/prophets. Nigerians are captives to legalized robbery including ‘GSM networks,’ petrol marketers, and spiritual consultants. Obiageli Ezekwesili, a former Nigerian Minister for Mineral Resources and Education aptly explained that ‘the poor in our land (Nigeria) have paid the highest possible price for being born into the world’s best example of a paradox.’ Nigerians are groaning under intergenerational poverty based on what economists call the ‘resource curse.’

    According to Ezekwesili our ‘economic evidence shows that the answer which we must all ponder deeply is that oil wealth entrenched corruption and mismanagement of resources in government and warped the incentive for value added work, creativity and innovation in our public, private sectors and wider society.’

    Lack of an incentive for value added work puts people into the captivity of corruption. Nigeria is not just under a ‘resource curse’ but most importantly, a ‘spiritual curse’ entrenched by the violent and corrupt political amalgamation coupled with the ‘cycles of disastrous and destructive choices promoted by older generations.’ The solution goes beyond ‘arms of flesh’ bearing in mind our leadership wreckage and superficiality of the followership undisciplined lives and religiosity.

    Lent 2013 calls for a national sober repentance and social responsibility ‘to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound’ … ‘to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke’ (Isaiah 61:1, 58:6). Lent is a time to proclaim deliverance upon Nigeria from visible and invisible symptoms of corruption and leadership prodigality, mediocrity, and delusion.

    The greatest obstacle to Lent, as the springtime for Nigeria’s Centenary renewal is the problem of corruption, inordinate love of self, power, and wealth. This inordinate love of self has the potential to obstruct the love of God and the people and eventually often destroys. The power of self-love is turning Nigeria into individualistic empires, killing our community, and its spiritual, and cultural bonding. Self-love in the form of different political, religious and societal honours, and the care of one’s ‘good’ name/dignity has increasingly introduced its own disorder into most of our national, cultural and denominational acts, even to the highest order when directed towards natural satisfaction instead of toward God and people. The Lenten season offers a sober opportunity for repentance and responsibility to overcome these diseases that are spreading and bleeding throughout the whole of our national, religious and interior life. Love of God urges a soul to generosity, inordinate love of self, power, gratification, and pleasure urges a soul to avoid all inconvenience, self-denial, effort and weariness. Self-love is the window to self-idolatry that is destroying our soul/nation, a love of God and our neighbor because of mortal sin which follows from it. Lent is a call to overcome the dangerous deceit of self-love and idols that can easily be concealed even among Christians through a pride of life, concupiscence (lust of the eyes and flesh), anger, disunity, greed, and materialism. Lent 2013 provides a platform for Nigeria’s Centenary renewal.

    • Very Rev Dr Okegbile, is of Methodist Theological Institute, Sagamu, Ogun State.

  • The President should sign the budget now

    SIR: When President Goodluck Jonathan presented the 2013 budget proposal to the joint sitting of the National Assembly in October 11, 2012, everybody was happy that the 2013 budget will be signed on time so that there can be full implementation unlike previous years.

    It is unfortunate that as at today, the 2013 budget has not been signed by the President due to differences between the executive and the legislature which they both claim is in the interest of the general public.

    Some of the issues said to be causing delay in signing budget include: personnel cost, capital cost, the exclusion of the budget of Security Exchange Commission (SEC), and the inclusion of constituency projects by the National Assembly. There is also issue of oil price benchmark. While the executive had predicated the budget on $75 per barrel of crude oil, the National Assembly increased it to $79.

    Since the both parties are claiming to be working for the interest of the Nigerian people, there is need to shift grounds, reach a compromise so that the Nigerian masses they are trying to favour will not suffer too much before they settle their disagreement.

    The National Assembly must know that this is not the time to flex muscles; they should refrain from misusing their power of appropriation in forcing into the law, huge allocation for constituency projects for the 360 federal constituencies and the 109 senatorial districts. Lawmakers must be reminded that it is the duty of the executive to articulate and implement governments’ programmes and projects and if they are really sincere about executing projects in their various constituencies, they should reduce their jumbo pays so that they can use the part of it to execute their projects.

    On its part, the executive must also be sincere about its plan to better the lot of people by moving fast to sign the budget.

    Since Arunma Oteh, the embattled Director General is not bigger than SEC or the whole of Nigeria; she should be removed as a matter of urgency so that the staff of SEC and Nigeria Stock Exchange as a whole will not suffer the consequences of the exclusion of the SEC budget.

    Moreover, the unconstitutional N4billion allocation for the construction of First Ladies’ Mission House in Abuja must be removed from the budget and the money allocated to more important projects. The so called project is nothing but waste and misappropriation of public funds.

    On the oil benchmark price, since both parties must have considered average price in the international market, I suggest that they both shift ground and adopt $77 per barrel price.

    Nigerians want result not disagreements, therefore the differences between Presidency and National Assembly must be resolved urgently and amicably so that the budget can be signed this month for Nigerians to start enjoy its benefits.

    God Bless Nigeria.

    • John Tosin Ajiboye

    Osogbo Osun State