The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • How Nigeria undermines patriotism

    How Nigeria undermines patriotism

    In the late 80s, the Nigerian football authorities mounted pressure on Nigerian-born English Premier League player, John Fashanu, to play for the country. The lanky striker was then plying his professional trade with Wimbledon FC, a London suburb club with which he won the English FA Cup in 1988. As with other footballers in similar circumstances, he also reserved the eligibility and opportunity to play for England.

    Media reports at a time when the pressure was intense, quoted Fashanu as saying that he would rather play for the Three Lions because that would serve his “business interests” better. Curiously, this did not stop the authorities from organizing a red-carpet reception for him right from the airport when he came to the country on a private visit. As apparent to discerning minds, the Nigerian, who was later to betroth himself to the country after his soccer career, ultimately played for England.

    Meanwhile, fatherland-conscious players, risking their limbs voluntarily for the country, like current and immediate past Super Eagles chief coaches, Stephen Keshi and Samson Siasia, were being subjected to some treatment that was less than flattering. Many wondered then why the one who had his heart elsewhere and had yet to kick a ball for his fatherland deserved such honour and glory of royalty while Earnest Okonkwo’s “elastic” Henry Nwosu and “gangling” Rashidi Yekini, the epitome of humility and patriotism, were taken for granted and treated as such. Issues such as these more often than not got “Big Boss” Keshi fuming.

    One Nigerian professional who, during his brief spell with the national team, genuinely deserved royal treatment was Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji. He imported into the country the gracious spirit of steaming patriotism which he, like Yekini, unambiguously caused his foreign clubs to appreciate and accommodate.

    A qualified lawyer and holder of a master’s degree in International Law from the University of Rome, Okwaraji would arrive for national assignments well ahead of schedule. Unfortunately he was taken for granted. On the pitch, despite being deployed most often, in roles at conflict with anything close to his best, Sam would discharge his duties, without complaints.

    Only a few months ago, the country’s 1994 Africa Nations Cup-winning goal-keeper, Peter Rufai, at a sports/media forum, lamented the non-fulfilment, up till date, of the official promise of goodies, including housing units, made by government to that great team which also did the country proud at USA ’94. A patriotic member of the team who ultimately did not make it to that year’s continental and global shows, Rueben Agboola, paid a heavy price for donning what, in our clime, would pass for an over-sized garment of patriotic zeal. The fair-skinned intelligent cool operator lost his limbs, flair and place in his club, Swansea City, and by implication his means of livelihood, on account of his unalloyed commitment to Nigeria. Keshi, over a long time, shouted himself hoarse on Agboola’s predicament to no avail.

    Sunday Oliseh, another former captain of the Super Eagles, under twice-humiliated world record holder of sort, Shuaibu Amodu, led the team to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in dramatic fashion. What a raw deal he got for his unrepentant insistence on coming clean on patriotism! Osaze Peter Odemwingie over the past one decade, laboured to give commitment and dedication refreshing definition and reassuring meaning, asking not what his country could do for him but what he could do for his country. Unfortunately for him, his country has, in her character, a legendary penchant for stage-managing the rubbishing of her most committed patriots!

    As a diversionary tactic, however, as exemplified in the Fashanu drama, patriotism-inspiring official obligations, too often, are shoved aside for comic jamborees, hip-hop theatricals and owambe showmanship in high places. Some members of the House of Reps, before their last recess, were reported to have amused themselves with the “dance, dance, dance and forget your sorrow” idea of hosting Mikel Obi to a reception for his “excellence” in winning the European Champions League with Chelsea FC of England. One would naturally expect that such a revered national institution would busy itself with feats of excellence that bring direct honour and glory to the Nigerian flag. The green-white-green symbol of Nigeria was not hoisted when Mikel got his medal for his “excellence” with his foreign club.

    The consequence has been the progressive growth, in the psyche of the people, of an imagery depicting theirs as a country not worth dying for. The fearsome monster generates massive psychological disillusionment in virtually all national institutions and sectors, including sports and football in particular.

    Let’s activate our search engine for that citizen who would beat his chest and claim, with the iota of sincerity, that he encourages his footballer son, nephew, brother or friend to go forth and burn himself out for Nigeria. I will trek from Lagos to Maiduguri with Zuma Rock on my head if the search returns as many as one such Nigerian in a million. I am waiting.

    Dele Akinola,

    Ikorodu, Lagos.

  • Whither public health nurses in primary health care system?

    SIR: Public Health Nursing (PHN) is one of the three specialties in nursing. Its scope covers general nursing, midwifery, and public health/community nursing. The entry requirement is almost as stringent as that of medicine. An individual wishing to train as a public health nurse must pass the West African School Certificate Examination or GCE/NECO at credit levels in five subjects including English, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Biology or Health Science in not more than two sittings.

    The person must be a trained, qualified and registered nurse (RN) and a trained and registered midwife (RM). If a male, he must have a second qualification in an area like Psychiatric Nursing. He is also expected to have practiced for at least one year after the second qualification before he is considered eligible for public health nursing training.

    The duration of the course is two years, at the end of which the student sits for the West Africa Health Examinations Board’s (WAHEB) qualifying examinations for the award of the Higher National Diploma (HND) certificate.

    Generally in Nigeria, public health nurses are expected to function mostly at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) level, though they also function at both secondary and tertiary levels and even outside hospital settings rendering community health services.

    The PHN curriculum stands at par with BSc, Public Health Nursing Programme in many parts of the world. Reports obtained from the internet and Nigerian-trained Public health nurses who left the country to practice, particularly in developed countries, confirm this.

    Ironically, despite the stringent entry qualification for public health nursing and the rigorous training involved, the new reform being undertaken by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) quantifies the RN certificate in principle as HND. However, to qualify for entry for the PHN training programme, candidates must hold both the RN and RM certificates or any other recognized qualifications in addition to at least one year post qualification practical experience. And the HND programme runs for two years. What then will be the position or status of Public Health Nurses when compared to Nurses who hold just the RN certificate?

    It is also observed that the roles of the PHN in Nigeria have been usurped by other health service providers and they are no longer recognized in the health care system. Public Health/Community health is today highly regarded all over the world and the opposite seems the case in Nigeria where the role of public health nurses is being relegated in the Primary Health Care of the health sector.

    Where is the government throwing the skills of this group to? This group of nurses formed the bedrock of PHC at inception in Nigeria. There is always room for having more hands on deck as population increases and the work load increases, but this is not enough reason for a group of highly skilled health personnel to be relegated.

    Much may not be achieved at the end of the day in the fight against maternal mortality in Nigeria if the dichotomy in the ranks of public health workers is allowed to escalate. Nigeria has the brains to put things right but unfortunately everything is being politicized.

    Before now, on successful completion of PHN programme in Nigeria, the PHN graduate is automatically advanced to salary Grade level 9 in the public service. Unfortunately, this incentive /motivation is no longer available. Why?

    There is shortage of nurses generally at the PHC level. Is the government planning to remove nurses from this level? A lot of government fund is being expended on different trainings. Are they really spent on the actual target? Where and when is monitoring and supervision carried out?

    The public health nurses of Nigeria appreciate all the efforts being made by the government. However, they are drawing the attention of the functional leaders in the health sector to what is happening and to ensure that a solution is proffered.

    • Yemisi Oluwatayo (Mrs)

    Professional Association of Public Health Nursing Officers of Nigeria, Lagos.

  • Reform of prisons overdue

    SIR: The issue of over congestion of our prisons is no news. In fact, rather than abate, it continues to assume frightening dimensions every day, and has since remained a national embarrassment. Today, the average Nigerian prison is saturated with all manner of persons alleged to have committed one offence or the other, which usually ranges from the usual simple offences to very serious ones referred to as felonies. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 of the Criminal Code, CAP “C38”,Laws of Federation of Nigeria, 2004, ordinarily simple offences are statutorily expected to be attended by an imprisonment of not more than six months or less, which is usually after summary trial in a court of competent jurisdiction. This is followed by the second class of offences referred to as misdemeanours for which the law prescribes a jail term of between six months and three years, which itself should be anchored on a proper trial before a competent court. The last group is that comprising the most serious offences referred to as felonies, which attracts a punishment of three years and above.

    The above representation captures the position of our law viz a viz the issue of crime and criminality. However a different scenario entirely suffices in prisons. Rather than follow the due process of the law, what we have is a situation where a man alleged of a simple offence ends up been on awaiting trial for about three years, when ordinarily, if he were to have been duly arraigned and properly tried couldn’t have been more than six months. There are well over a thousand inmates charged of various offences and misdeamenours that are languishing in our various prisons without proper trial, all on the so-called“awaiting trial list”. This is a total aberration, gross illegality, and a reckless violation of the rights of these persons, secured under Section 35(4) and 36(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

    Criminal Justice Administration rests on an assembled tripod made up of the courts, the police, and the prisons, and these three institutions are expected to synergize and form a single chain of transaction in administering criminal justice. Unfortunately the necessary infrastructure for this system has since grown wings. One must therefore commend the recent effort by the Lagos State government at reforming criminal justice administration in the state, one of which is that that instead of keeping offenders on the awaiting trial list unjustly, they could be sent on community work and other social services, as is the case in the developed world. It cannot be gainsaid that the reform of the prison is long overdue, but pending the realisation of this, this could be a step in right direction, one that would open doors for the expected reforms, and restore public confidence.

    • Olusola Adegbite, Esq.

    Kubwa, Abuja.

  • The latest dimension of terror

    SIR: The recent attack on the Command and Staff College, Jaji near Kaduna frightened me a lot! I was frightened not because I fear death to that level but because the evil Boko Haram sect is gaining upper hand daily in their quest to annihilate the nation. If the sect can freely and easily manvoure to outwit the supposedly most powerful army base in Jaji near Kaduna, then I wonder where this sect cannot operate successfully again! To me, it is just a matter of time before the sect will enter the Aso Rock.

    While ruminating and mediating about the cause and solution to this incessant and ugly situation in Nigeria, a psychological theory of reinforcement occurred to me as a panacea and a viable option to checkmate the various allied criminalities currently and concurrently going on in the nation. The theory posits that ‘an individual or group future behavior depends on the consequences arising from the proceed behaviour’. The fall-our from this theory is that Boko Haram has been striking continuously for almost two years with impunity. What are the consequences, measures in terms of either reinforcement or punishment that the government put in place to decrease or check the increase in probability of occurrence of their nefarious behaviours or actions? If the national security outfits including the judiciary, the law makers and government can be so weak and naïve in colluding with the sect and releasing them from jail or delaying their sentences, then that action is tantamount to rewarding the perpetrators and thus increasing the probability of occurrence of their (Boko Haram) actions.

    Now, it is clear to everybody that the state of insecurity has reached unmanageable proportions. What are we going to do? Should we begin to pack our bag and baggage and flee Ghana or Togo? It is high time our government wake up, take decisive, sincere and pro-active steps to tackle this unfortunate situation head-long. Chinua Achebe said in “Things fall Apart”: “When a hand-shake is going beyond the elbow, one should prepare for a duel”.

    The situation on the ground is getting out of hand, the government is confused, security operatives are in disarray, the law-makers are latent and the rest of us live in jeopardy. Let us wake up and defend the cause of living and un-born generations so as to avert the wrath of posterity.

    • J.Adebayo Ipadeola

    Department of Pyschology,

    University of Ibadan.

  • Kano renaissance

    Kano State is now under repair, having been battered politically, socially and economically by the preceding administration. Equipped with his blueprint toolkit, Gov. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso came into office well-prepared to tackle the daunting challenge of oiling the rusty economy, hammering the squeaky infrastructure, welding the ripped till, powering the street lights, fertilizing the soil, laying the water pipeline and erecting a lasting pillar of youth empowerment.

    In the midst of the foregoing development, Ra’ayi Initiative, a nongovernmental organisation emerged with another blueprint that will put Kano on a solid socio-economic pedestal. The document was carefully framed and vetted by Kano Renaissance Think Tank, an array of intellectuals – at home and in the diaspora – who are passionate about the development of Kano State.

    Presenting the report to Governor Kwankwaso recently, the eloquent vice chairman of Kano Renaissance Think Tank, Malam Yakubu Musa said KRTT report “contains a set of realistic but visionary recommendations that would contribute in effectively addressing Kano’s challenges in the four main areas of Education, Energy, Healthcare and Public Transportation.”

    With Professor Abba Gumel breaking every lump of idea into chewable pills, Yakubu Musa injecting progressive ideas into the report, Hussaini Jibrin giving powerful presentation, Auwal Sani Anwar ironing the wrinkled portion, Dr Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u giving academic finesse, Dr Shuaibu Dambatta analyzing ideas as complex as central nervous system, Alhaji Uba Danzainab and Dr Umar Tanko Yakasai treating the political implications, the KRTT report can pass as a wide range of recipes that will satiate Governor Kwankwaso’s hunger for achievement.

    The economic transformation taking place in Kano State today is unprecedented. For the first time in the history of Kano State, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state is making inroad into reaching N2 billion mark. Urban and rural renewal are taking place at the same time with equal commitment. The cost-cutting principle of the present administration had no previous instance as the budget ratio always goes 2:1 in favour of capital expenditure. Governor Kwankwaso now literally sits on the till, making pillaging of public funds in the state almost impossible. In order to bring an end to unplanned layouts and their associated problems, construction works are currently taking place in the new cities established by the present government. And unlike before, Kano is now a haven of development agencies because of the government’s judicious application of resources.

    Kwankwaso’s frugal management of public resources is manifest in the way he treats every memo, brief, proposal, etc with utmost care and speed in order to see the justification before giving approval. No file remains on his desk for more than 24 hours without treatment. In Kano State today, even the (in)famous security vote is never set aside by the present administration as every kobo spent on whatever venture is duly appropriated not “reciprocated” in a “Reciprocal Arrangement”.

    Worried by the chaotic transport system of Kano State, Governor Kwankwaso established Kano Road Traffic Authority (KAROTA) with a view to having an agency with legal backing that will bring sanity into the system. Buses and taxis are also provided, just as brand new Amana Taxis are about to start plying the roads. Thousands of youths who were hitherto idle are now empowered by KAROTA. Already contractors building the first-ever metropolitan flyover have moved to site after creating link roads to bypass the project site.

    Rural development is another concern of Governor Kwankwaso. For the first time in the history of Kano State, a whole village (Warawa) is to be built by government in order to provide good shelter for them and reduce the effect of perennial fire outbreak associated with thatch-fence surroundings. While new houses are built in Warawa, construction of five kilometre roads with accompanying infrastructure is taking place in each of the 44 local governments of the state.

    Healthcare delivery is another focal area of this administration as new hospitals are either built, or existing ones re-equipped or rehabilitated. The metaphor that hospitals in Nigeria are as slaughter-house is disparaged by Kano State government under the present government. During the governor’s recent trip to the United States, he negotiated the supply of tens of containers of hospital equipment to Kano State ex gratia. It is gladdening to note that some of the containers have arrived Kano. Mobile clinics are also established to cater medical service to the teeming citizens, just as more ambulances were purchased to bolster emergency healthcare delivery in the state. Commitment to polio eradication and reduction in maternal mortality of the present administration is evident in the free ante natal treatments and consistent campaign against polio.

    But the governor seems more concerned about education as modern classrooms are build across the state, scholarships awarded, teachers trained and recruited. So far there are 21 training institutes operating and graduating students and trainees across the state. Additionally, craft schools in all the 44 local governments were also established. While Kano State University of Science and Technology is resuscitated from coma, a brand new university, the Northwest University, Kano will begin its maiden session this year.

    Even the Independent Power Project (IPP) is one aspect that is dear to Governor Kwankwaso’s heart as formal arrangements toward having the nod to utilize the dams in the state to generate hydro-electric power is at advanced stage.

    Such is the synopsis of economic policies of the present administration, which others are copying warts and all. The policies, dubbed Kwankwasonomics, have become a development model for many states in the country. Its little wonder that in no time, uncountable laurels, garlands, plaques are by the day knocking on Governor Kwankwaso’s doors.

    The governor, who is on the track of fulfilling the four thematic areas of the KRTT report, will certainly use the document toward having a smooth journey to his development destination.

    •Jaafar is Special Assistant to Kano State governor on Media and Public Relations

  • Robbery, kidnapping replay colonial history

    Robbery, kidnapping replay colonial history

    In the space of one week, the mother of the Finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the wife of a former military governor of Western States, Brig Oluwole Rotimi (rtd), were kidnapped. Their abductors put a ransom of N200m on each head. Both abductions have accentuated the nightmare kidnapping has become, growing from a seemingly casual petty crime in the Niger Delta to a fairly sophisticated and robust industry encompassing nearly the whole of Nigeria. Perhaps, we have our genes to thank for this criminal tendency. Indeed, going by our history, some things never change. Or, more accurately, like the French say, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

    Historians poetically and poignantly describe the colonisation of Nigeria as “the forcible possession of our land replacing the forcible possession of our people.” They were saying, in other words, that the transatlantic slave trade of the 16th to the 19th centuries, which cost west and central Africans more than 15 million lives by some very conservative estimates, gave way to outright colonialism that cost us, more perniciously, our minds, our identities and our pride. This is not to forget that the trans-Saharan slave trade (10th-19th centuries) also cost West Africa an estimated nine million people. There is in fact no agreement which of the epochal events cost us the more: the damage of slave trade (Atlantic and Saharan) which lasted for more than nine centuries, or the damage of colonialism which lasted for less than a century. However, less than half a century after the end of colonialism, and not even minding the effects of neo-colonialism, Nigerians have managed to blend in themselves all the fiery and evil elements of slave trade and colonialism in one harmonious whole.

    Consider the price put on the head of Mrs Okonjo, the Finance minister’s mother, and ignore the security overkill going on in Delta State. By the kidnapper’s preliminary estimate, she is worth N200m. If the kidnappers succeed in their nefarious venture, expect the price to be negotiated downward. It is too demeaning to hazard a guess what price the kidnappers would not go below. The hapless Mrs Okonjo is not the first notable kidnap victim; and she won’t be the last. Kidnapping has become so lucrative and carries less risk than robbery that it is hard to see the death penalty curbing it. Mrs Titilayo Rotimi, going by the kidnappers’ perception of her family’s ability to pay, may even fetch much less than Mrs Okonjo. But there is no doubt that what is indeed taking place is modern slave trade, not human trafficking. Capital punishment did not curb robbery; that extreme punishment won’t curb any other aggravated crime.

    What is remarkable is that the robberies and abductions perpetrated by our forefathers in those many centuries have been passed on exquisitely to the present generation of Nigerians. This generation didn’t discover its adeptness at these crimes early, one half of the twin crimes having lain hidden for so long, but with the conducive environment triggered by economic and social dislocations, including general governmental incompetence and leadership failings, many of our young have unconsciously acquired, nay inherited, and begun to display the criminal habits that made slave traders and colonialists the villainous henchmen of our historical past, and made our forefathers the perfect criminal accomplices.

    Our land and people were not safe from slave traders and colonialist; now both are not safe from modern-day robbers and kidnappers. Of all the things we chose to inherit, it is a scandal to humanity that we ineluctably chose to inherit the talent for robbing one another, and kidnapping and merchandising our people. Nor should our consolation be that only a few of our people have opted for this atrocious way of life. Before we sanctimoniously dismiss the kidnappers as vermin, let us consider that since independence, our undisciplined governments at all levels have behaved even worse by officially killing, maiming, executing, robbing and dehumanising those nature have entrusted into their care. It will take some doing to repair the genetic damage that has burdened us for more than 10 centuries, a damage that has turned our people, both the governed and the government alike, into a band of robbers and kidnappers.

  • What does Obasanjo want again?

    SIR: Of a truth, we all need somebody in life to help us realise our dream and vision. Therefore the only thing President Goodluck Jonathan owes the Ota farmer is to tell him thanks if he thinks the man was instrumental to his present political status. Nothing more and nothing less. The Ota Farmer must be in deep and irredeemable slumber if he thinks his assistance to the President gives him ever-lasting political licence to always ‘remote-control’ him at any given time.

    I do not know whether the President intends to vie again in the next general election, but I do know that he has the unquestionable constitutional right to do so. Consequently, I urge him not to worry about the venomous ranting of the Ota farmer because it is on record, that the man can be defeated anytime, any day. Ask Chief Bola Tinubu who has since shown the world that the man is not immune to defeat. I urge Nigerians to resist any attempt for him to resurrect from the political sarcophagus Tinubu sent him to since 2011.

    President does not need the Ota farmer to win any election in the South West; rather he needs men like Tinubu, the great political leader of the Oduduwa nation.

    Wonders, they say, will never end. How can a man who could not conduct a free, fair, credible and accepted election in Nigeria during his days at Aso Rock suddenly became fit to participate in Ghana’s electoral process as a monitor? His electoral legacies includes the transmogrification of ballot boxes into magic boxes with clear capacity to disappear from polling unit and only to re-appear at collation centres. God-fathers announced election result instead of INEC from their bedrooms. Hired species of ‘gallow birds’ invade polling units distributing death certificates to prospective voters with materials of war on election day. This was the same man who was in Ghana as election monitor. Poor Ghanaians!

    Those who know the Ota farmer should please advise him to proceed on compulsory retirement from politics because he belongs to the generation of men who have failed us. I think the youth should be allowed to sail the ship of leadership. Those who have ears let them hear.

    • Onehimare G. O.

    Benin city, Edo State.

  • Diarchy in Mali: Nigeria has no business in that country

    Diarchy in Mali: Nigeria has no business in that country

    It seems all but clear that Mali is quietly but agonisingly slipping into diarchy. This is a traumatic transformation for a country that in 1992 transited into full and stable democracy with the election of Alpha Oumar Konare. His re-election in 1997, and the peaceful transition to another elected president, Amadou Toumani Toure, in 2002 convinced the world that Mali had become a democratic trailblazer for the region. Unfortunately in March this year, a few months before Toure passed the baton to a successor, the army under Captain Amadou Sanogo staged a coup d’etat. Even though international pressure and ECOWAS muscle-flexing compelled Sanogo to transfer interim presidential power to the Speaker of the Mali National Assembly, Dioncounda Traore, and head of government business to Cheick Modibo Diarra, a former Foreign minister, effective power has remained with the coup leader who continues to enjoy the perks of leadership without the corresponding responsibility. The latest evidence of this anomaly is the sacking and detention of Diarra, a famous astrophysicist, by the military and the appointment of a replacement, Django Sissoko.

    It is instructive that Diarra was forced to resign because of his support for the ECOWAS intervention force being assembled to help Mali regain control of the northern part of the country currently under the control of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). MNLA declared the independent state of Azawad in April, one month after the March coup. The military, sources within Mali say, prefers financial and logistical help, not ECOWAS troops. It will also be recalled that the pretext for the March coup was that the deposed government of Amadou Toure was ineffective in fighting the rebellion in the north.

    On November 13, Hardball had warned Nigeria not to be a part of the intervention force until Sanogo and his fellow military adventurers were forced out, and Algeria, which shares some 1,400km border with Mali, was persuaded to go along with the ECOWAS plan. The columnist argued that whatever help Mali got to defeat the secessionists would simply achieve the paradoxical result of entrenching the military in power, rather than restoring democracy. The forced resignation of Diarra has proved that point eloquently. More than ever before, Nigeria now has a sound excuse to re-examine its support for the intervention force, and to insist on Captain Sanogo’s complete relinquishment of power.

    As Hardball put it on November 13, “Before going into Mali, Nigeria must insist on the coup leaders surrendering effective control and retiring from the military…It is no use risking the lives of our soldiers for a cause that is doubtful…Nigeria must also examine how far the transitional government has gone in restoring civil rule, especially when the ECOWAS mandate given to the Interim President to organise presidential and legislative polls will expire in five months.” The ECOWAS intervention force is now clearly endangered. Much more clearly is that Nigeria now has absolutely no business going into Mali until Sanogo and his colleagues do the proper things, and until the budding diarchy in that blighted country is extinguished.

  • What exactly does Ubah want?

    SIR: The hearing that the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions scheduled for Thursday, December 6, could not hold. The absence of two very relevant parties in the petition filed by Chief Ifeanyi Ubah, chairman and chief executive officer of Capital Oil and Gas Limited, which necessitated the public hearing – Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, minister of finance and Mr. Aig-Imokhuede, managing director of Access – forced the House committee to reschedule the hearing for Thursday, December 13.

    Ubah wants the National Assembly to determine if it is morally right for the Access Bank chief to head the presidential panel on the oil subsidy probe, when his bank is an interested party in the exercise. He says the bank is also an interested party because it funded the fuel importation business that his company and the Coscharis Group jointly executed, which has now become a subject of litigation.

    From what transpired at the botched public hearing last week, it was obvious that the House committee was not properly briefed on what the Capital Oil chairman wants. For, it was clear that the lawmakers were trying to discuss a matter that is already in court, a point that lawyers representing Maduka, made clear. The law makers have asked for all the relevant papers on the tripartite transactions involving Capital Oil, Coscharis and Assess Bank, apparently to guide them in their deliberations. The same papers are currently with the courts.

    If indeed Ubah wants the legislative arm of government to determine the appropriateness or otherwise of having Aig-Imokhuede preside on a panel that handles and assignment in which he is an interested party, the question arises as to what business Maduka has with the House committee, as far as his petition is concerned?

    The Coscharis chairman did not set up the presidential panel, nor did he appoint the Access Bank managing director into the panel. If Ubah has any issues with Aig-Imokhuede’s membership and headship of the panel, is it not proper he makes the cause of his grouse very clear?

    At the hearing last week, Ubah repeated his orchestrated allegation of a gang-up for the purpose of taking over his business. So, what is the House committee expected to deliberate on – the inappropriateness of having Aig-Imokhuede on the panel?

    Is it the supposed attempt to take over his business? Is it the freezing of his company’s assets ordered by courts of competent jurisdiction or the fuel shortages being experienced in the country, which he claims the continued closure of his company’s premises has engendered? (On-the-spot assessment of Capital Oil facilities by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria [AMCON] showed that the company is capable of supplying Lagos for only one day).

    Is it the payment of his subsidy claims?

    Does he want the committee to ask AMCON, which bought over his toxic loans, to forget about the matter?

    What, really, is Maduka’s interest in all this? Or, put it the other way round, who is the aggrieved party in what has come to be known as the Maduka/Ubah feud, for which the latter wants the intervention of the lawmakers?

    I thought that if there was one person who should cry blue murder, that person is Maduka. He, it was, who took a loan to finance a fuel importation business that sailed into troubled waters. He, it is, who is currently fighting to extricate himself from a debt burden that sees him cough out almost 400 million naira as interest every month, with the debt profile now in the region of 21 billion naira. It is an issue that courts in Nigeria and the UK are trying to resolve. This makes one wonder how far the House committee can go in the task that Ubah has saddled it with.

    • Lilian Onajide

    Abuja.

  • Where-to-be-born Index’s distressing verdict

    I am deeply saddened by the content of 2013 Where-to-be-born Index which was recently released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a subsidiary of The Economist magazine. Nigeria, according to this unflattering report is the worst country to be born. Eighty countries were assessed by EIU but Nigeria came at the bottom. This survey is shattering because real people were actually sampled and all the respondents agreed that Nigeria is the least or the last place they would want to be born based on ten criteria.

    From the figures, Nigeria scored 4.74 points which placed her on the 80th position, the foot of the table while Switzerland came out with 8.22 points as the best country to be born in.

    I am intensely worried by these negative rankings. I remember sometime in October, African Insurance Organisation, another watchdog described Nigeria as kidnap/ransom capital of the world. The October ranking was particularly distressing because the thought of kidnap and ransom had set my mind racing to Somalia but I was wrong. According to the report, Nigeria accounted for 25 per cent of global kidnappings. Earlier, in June, the Global Peace Index had also ranked Nigeria as the sixth most dangerous African country to live in. These rankings leave an impression and calls for deep reflection.

    For me, this latest EIU verdict may not be a true representation of our situation really, but it still manages to remind us of how terribly bad we have drifted as a country. The survey, I understand, “earnestly attempts to measure which country will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead” but that is not all that led to this regrettable verdict. There was also the issue of security, the standard of family life and trust in public institutions which were all considered. But if we are to sincerely consider these criteria, how far have we fared?

    How can Nigeria which was once the black man’s pride suddenly become the worst place to be born? We have played significant roles in the African continent and our brothers and sisters within and outside our sub region can attest to that. It may not be auspicious here to cite an example of our support but the truth is that we had at various times intervened both with resources and militarily to save fellow Africans in their moments of grave challenges. But if really Nigeria is so terrifyingly bad and we are truly the worst country to be born, then we must all begin the process of saving our country. It is a collective responsibility that demands utmost urgency.

    The good in the EIU verdict is the fact that we are again reminded to wake up and think. For too long, we have dissipated a lot of energy trying to dispel some well known truths about us. One of these truths is our usual spirited efforts towards wooing foreign investors without first ensuring that conditions at home are favourable to investment, whether foreign or local. This time I must say, seriously requires that we all look inwards for solutions. And until we address our decrepit infrastructure, protect our vulnerable citizens, provide security, change our attitude and redouble our efforts towards genuinely re-building our nation, we may still expect more troubling verdict from the world.

    Agreed that President Goodluck Jonathan is desirous of transforming Nigeria but we must speedily move beyond the comfort and soothing effect of this philosophy and rhetoric. Change only comes to those who are truly prepared and this country will really not experience the desired transformation if she continues at this pace. The leaders and the led both have a responsibility in this direction.

    I had asked earlier, what is the state of our public institutions today? How confident are we in these institutions? Beyond the general clamour to strengthen them and make them relevant for the 21st century, what manner of legacies are we living through these institutions?

    My worry unfortunately, is that Nigeria has remained largely a country of potentials. Sadly, we have not been able to take the long over-due leap that we had all waited for these long and difficult years. Everybody agrees today that security remains our major challenge and except something urgently is done we will continue going in circles. A few forward-looking governors know this and have taken steps to get it right.

    This urgent need to address security came in focus recently. Professor Ibrahim Gambari, frontline diplomat and former Nigerian permanent representatives at the United Nations shared his thoughts with Nigerians on our their nation’s worsening security problems at the first annual Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial lecture on leadership and good governance in Abuja. Speaking on Boko Haram, Gambari had warned “in this regard, I do not want to sound alarmist and wish to speak with the highest sense of responsibility. As a diplomat with two and half decades experience you know that it is not in my nature to raise the alarm where none is needed. However, as we sit here today is there anyone among us who has an absolute assurance that a bomb will not explode anywhere in the North of Nigeria today or, in this city or that innocent lives will not be violently terminated? If you feel any immediate unease, or even suppressed panic about this possibility, then imagine the terrifying experience of our compatriots who have lived everyday in the last few years under the fear of imminent terror.”

    This is a timely warning from a respected diplomat and I want to believe that we must all heed this wise counsel. We cannot accuse the leadership for ever because as far as I know, we are all going to sink together if our worst fears happen, but God forbid! This is therefore an auspicious moment to think. Our leaders must come together and reject this path to perdition because it will do no good. They should act and speak out irrespective of political affiliations, after all there must be a Nigeria before the political elite can aspire.

    • Peterside, a member of the House of Representatives is Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resourced (Downstream)