The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Let’s remake Ekiti State University

    Let’s remake Ekiti State University

    SIR: Of recent, the Ekiti State Government has been beaming its searchlight on primary and post-primary education in the state, an effort that has, in no small measure, pitched members of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) against the Kayode Fayemi administration. However, my observation of education and its minders in the State has shown me that the rot and celebrated mediocrity do not stop at these levels, but extend deep into the recesses of the newly christened Ekiti State University (EKSU) and the College of Education, Ikere Ekiti.

    Higher education is a learning that captures universality (the world view). It is an institute where talents and potentials are discovered, nurtured and groomed to partake meaningfully in creating a better world for the convenience of its inhabitants.

    Gradually, the world is progressing from an energy-based economy to a knowledge-based economy where technology is shaping our lives and world view. In Korea and the East Asian, human resources rooted in cerebral creativity, have moved these countries from the backstage of economic doldrums to the centre-stage of economic advancement. In all these countries, the university plays a crucial role in developing and grooming the drivers of these economies. Can the minders of Ekiti State University (EKSU) seriously say they are grooming students for leadership positions? Can they beat their chests and proclaim that the knowledge they are dishing out is in tandem with the 21st century?

    The university represents hope, exposure, expression and exploration for students and would-be students – someone coming from the rural parts where native knowledge is in excess and modern knowledge is in shortfall.

    Ekiti State University can barely boast of any aesthetic beauty. You are confronted with structures, poorly executed in some instances. Recently, I was at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB). In fact, the lush surroundings of FUNAAB seem to be better-minded than that of OAU.

    It seems that year in, year out, the minders of EKSU have concerned themselves more with in-fighting, politics, and fraud-related crisis. Rather than create conducive environment for learning from the tuition fees they take and their yearly subvention, the school authority seems to have lost the purpose of its calling. As a patriotic Ekiti man, after 30 years of the university existence, with its chameleonic nomenclatures, I still feel that my state does have a university. And this is why I agree with the scrapping of the mushroom universities established by ex-Governor Governor Segun Oni which could have worsened our already festering situation.

    Besides the stifling environment of the university, there are some of the university’s lecturers (and this is verifiable) who still use the lesson materials of early nineties when in fact there are changing views on the world stage on a daily basis.

    Governor Kayode Fayemi and his Commissioner of Education, Mrs. Eniola Ajayi, have got their job cut out for them. We simply cannot continue to add to Nigeria’s problems by producing ill-prepared graduates. If we fail to do anything, in future, these students would curse us all for ill-preparing them and making them worthless in the labour market. Ask graduates of Ekiti State University (or UNAD) who apply for Masters at UI or OAU; they would share their ordeal with you. Should our university become a brand for rejection or excellence? Now is the time to make our choice? Fayemi is trying his best but he needs to make the necessary changes now.

    Professor Akin Oyebode was in the process of setting the school on the path of glory before Ayo Fayose yanked him off in the name of politics. Governor Fayemi should discountenance these coat-wearing multi-degree-parading so-called university administrators with no exposure and administrative competence. Now is the time to shun theory and give vent to practical if Ekiti State University must truly become a university.

    • ‘Dimeji Daniels

    dimejidaniels@gmail.com

    Ekiti State.

  • Nigeria needs urgent revival for rebirth

    Nigeria needs urgent revival for rebirth

    SIR: Consequent upon the challenges Nigeria is passing through in terms of unrighteousness among the rank and file of its citizens, widespread corruption from the leaders to the followers, insecurity, immorality, organized mass killings motivated by religious, economic, political and ethnic hatred, bombing, mass poverty, electoral fraud, violent crimes, kidnapping, financial fraud, human/ drug trafficking, cultism, greediness, and lack of fear of God, I want to state prophetically that Nigeria needs revival courtesy of the religious leaders in the country especially in a time like this when everything seems to be fighting against the peace and progress of the nation.

    The revival in Nigeria will put to shame the devil and his agents that have united more than ever to wage war against Nigerians and break up the country (God forbids) hence, the revival will liberate and revive Nigerians from the shackles of the wicked and make Nigerians submit to God (Isaiah 66:3).

    God has heard the cry of His people in Nigeria and the revival will make the enemies of Nigeria and Nigerians submit by freeing them from all sins and unrighteousness. As this is also a time for Nigerians to seek the face of God for Him to restore peace and bless the country.

    Through the revival and by the greatness of God’s power, all the enemies troubling the nation will submit – Isaiah 59: 19. Nigerians need to tow the path to genuine repentance, trust and fear of God so that with our collective prayers, Nigeria shall overcome her problems and rise again, as God will deal with the Pharaohs and Egyptians of our nation.

    Most Nigerians do not know or understand the efficacy of God’s power, such that, there is lack of Knowledge, as recorded in Hosea 4:6. Most people exalt the power of Satan and his agents more than God’s because they are ignorant of God’s power. They cherish human beings, worship lesser gods and disobey God.

    • Prophet OIadipupo Funmilade-Joel (Sekunderin)

    General Overseer, The Way of Reconciliation Evangelistic Ministries (TWOREM) Int’l.

  • What is wrong with Pastors owing private jets?

    What is wrong with Pastors owing private jets?

    Recent criticisms generated by the increasing number of our religious leaders acquiring aircrafts should be expected. This is so because such men of God are seen to be above the board and should be men not cut-out for worldly things. They are supposed to be men that should be distracted by the vanities of this world so that they can effectively discharge their duty of winning souls for Christ.

    They are expected, against all odds, to stand firm in faith even in the face of daunting earthly trials, persecutions and tribulations.

    But failure to adhere to this disciplined life is fast on the increase among a reasonable number of such high-flying Nigerian pastors.

    Basically, the church is founded on the principles of virtue and sacrifice for the sake of Christ – a foundation laid on the threshold of propagating Christ’s teachings – to win souls by helping to bring those who have gone astray into the fold and to lead the faithful to salvation, being the ultimate desire of every devout Christian.

    It is regrettable that many of our pastors and churches today have strayed away from this original obligation and purpose of pursuing righteousness, at the altar of chasing earthly material things as they never practiced what they preached.

    But contrary to popular position, the ownership of private jets among pastors is not a luxury but a necessity and an essential tool for their pastoral and public duties. These pastors claim that evangelism will be made easier and more efficient through the use of jets.

    However, the wealthy American, Warren Buffet recently punctured this line of argument when he said, “Everyone who says he needs a private jet to make important appointments is a liar. They need it for their ego. Name one of them that is busier than I am or who owns more US corporations than I do”. Buffet, who was once the richest man in the world, does not even own a jet as he often flies in commercial aircrafts!

    Forbes magazine claimed that the nation may have spent about $6.5 billion in the purchase of private jets by government officials and pastors, a trend that had grown exponentially from about 20 jets in year 2000 to the current level of more than 160.

    Top on Forbes’ list are pastors, especially, those of the Pentecostal churches, which have allegedly spent over $250 million on their new found hobby.

    Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigerian is, perhaps, the latest but he’s really not the only one who now flies around the world in the comfort of his luxurious aircraft.

    Pastors David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church (Winners’ Chapel) is also said to own three private aircrafts, namely the Gulfstream G550 said to cost over $40 million, Gulfstream V Gulfstream G450 and a Lear Jet, which cost about $15 million and $14 million respectively.

    Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, is said to own a Gulfstream Jet 5 brand worth $30 million. Pastors Joseph Agbodi of the Victorious Army Ministries, Sam Adeyemi of the Daystar Ministries and Temitope Joshua are said to own private jets, among others.

    With the array of jet-owing pastors, the general feelings among the

    people is that the expensive lifestyles of these pastors are in contrast with the teachings of Christianity, especially, amid the glaring poverty and hardship in the land.

    Such resources committed to flamboyance and misplaced priorities like the purchase of jets as well as the cost of maintenance could have been deployed into more useful activities that will have direct impact on the lives of the pastors themselves and the people, in terms of generation of employment, social services and municipal facilities that will, in turn, spawn income for the churches and invariably reduce the burden of imposing frequent levies on the already drained members.

    Apart from the controversial private jets, churches are now seen as places where religious leaders own choice properties, fortunes and to an extent, join the political train, to acquire power to become relevant in the

    society. This is made worse when religious leaders compete among themselves to own fleet of aircrafts, travel in expensive jeeps in convoys of siren-blaring vehicles or have chains of businesses – these acts call to question, the sincerity of those who claim to have such divine calling.

    Apart from some missionaries such as the orthodox and the Catholic Churches that have established schools, hospitals and other social services for both the rich and the poor, most of the churches that we now have run such ventures to secure their investments.

    In a desperate bid to get money, some religious leaders go extra miles to make clearly unsubstantiated, cynical and spurious claims from their followers, who attend these churches, in a bid to get miracles, which in most cases, are non-existent.

    From time-to-time, they organize vigils, crusades, deliverance services

    and other crowd-pulling revivals, to bring together as many multitudes of worshippers to contribute to a pool of offerings that are managed absolutely with largely low level transparency and devoid of accountability.

    Many of the so-called men of God are highly dictatorial as they engage in various antics such as divide-and-rule that tend to nefariously solidify their grip on the financial fortunes

    of their churches and weaken the collective will of their congregations and resist any form of lawful challenge.

    Proliferation of churches is, no doubt, a recent phenomenon in Nigeria as most of the existing ones were born in the late 1980s, after the economic depression occasioned by the Structural

    Adjustment Programme and the painful Breton Wood institutions induced policies. This is coupled with the prolonged military rule that had induced some negative socio-political consequences

    for the nation – endemic corruption, unemployment, sectarian crises and increased poverty.

    These societal problems, fostered by bad governance over the years had led not a few adherents to quickly wish for a way out of such problems that governments, as a constitutional duty, had failed to offer any succour – so the fastest and easy way-out – visit mushroom churches, dance and smile away sorrow.

    And at the end, people’s pitiable conditions remain same or even become more critical as the religious leaders smile home with financial resources at the detriment of these hapless people. It is instructive to note that recently, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev Matthew Hassan Kukah, observed that ‘the acquisition of private jets by Christian leaders diminishes the moral voice of the church in the fight against corruption’.

    Kukah spoke against the backdrop of the presentation of a private jet to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, by members of his church, at the 40th anniversary of Oritsejafor’s ministry.

    The Prelate, who was guest speaker at the annual Founder’s Day Anniversary lecture of Providence Baptist Church in Lagos, described the exhibition of such opulence by church leaders as ‘embarrassing’.

    “The stories of corrupt men and women being given recognition by their churches or mosques as gallant sons and daughters and the embarrassing stories of pastors displaying conspicuous wealth as we hear from the purchases of private jets and so on clearly

    diminish our moral voice”, he had stated.

    The nation is in dire need of change, due to the near collapse of all known social institutions – government, economics, education and marriage. For other pastors that may be contemplating of

    purchasing their own private jets – which in all frankness is nothing but a status symbol – they should shelve such plans and be made to realize that the church, more than ever before, must be real agent of the much-desired change in the nation.

    •Kupoluyi wrote in from

    Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

  • We need citizenship education

    We need citizenship education

    SIR: Over half of the entire populace of the country are not grounded in the nation’s ideals. A therapy for this ailment is the introduction of the study of Citizenship education in our institutions of learning.

    As the family plays its part in building veritable citizens, so should the schools and institutions of learning play their part for things to work well together. Of importance should be the secondary schools because this is when the individual’s formation of character begins. I was filled with satisfaction when a secondary school approached me to see him through his assignment on the subject. It is a step in the right direction. If such an attitude is sustained, it will be good for our nation.

    Section 23 of 1999 Constitution which states that “The national ethics shall be Discipline, Integrity, Dignity of Labour, Social Justice, Religious Tolerance, Self-reliance and Patriotism” should be the foundation, which can be followed by upholding the contents of Section 24 and other similar sections.

    Nigerians stand to gain a lot with the inclusion of this scheme to the curriculum of different institutions of learning.

     

    • Ekpo Uduakobong,

    LagosState.

  • Regional integration needs collective efforts

    Regional integration needs collective efforts

    I Recently, at a South-South Economic Summit, the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, re-proposed regional partition of the huge cauldron called Nigeria for effective administrative governance.

    Short after, the former Secretary General of Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku recommended a division into six regions instead of the existing 36 states. His reason, like that of the Nobel Laureate, is for effective and easy administration of the nation as opposed to the present gigantic central arrangement.

    With the incessant calls from eminent Nigerians, it is becoming increasingly apparent that if the country must achieve and attain greatness, the central government has to be unbundled – the centre should be decentralised so as to give more effective administrative roles to the composite units, this time round, the regions; as it once was during the First Republic.

    There is no gainsaying the fact that the present over-bloated Federal system constitutes a great and serious impediment to growth, progress and development. This explains why there have been repeated calls for drastic reduction in the size and cost of running the federal octopus if the nation must realize its aspiration of becoming a great country. Small, they say, is sometimes better and preferred because the bigger the head the bigger the headache.

    Against this backdrop, the Governor of the State of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola with his fellow governor colleagues in the south-west have firmly resolved to look inward in search of lost value-based leadership, which can propel the fortunes of the region to greater height.

    Hence, the renaissance of regional integration aimed at realizing a people’s collective potentialities that are necessary ingredients for nation building. To achieve this uphill task requires that all hands must be on deck; for any discordant tune carries within it a destructive seed.

    Thus, Aregbesola, recognizing the spirit of collectivism and team-playing, intends to rally with other colleagues to discuss on how to take the south-west back to its days of glory in order to lift it out of its present doldrums.

    In consonance with this intent, a summit tagged Yoruba Developmental Agenda was organized on September 23, 2010 at the Cultural Centre in Ibadan by all stakeholders across the Yoruba nation.

    The summit offered a platform for exhaustive discussion on the way forward for the region; the outcome was a documentation of action plan by intellectual think-thank and politicians called Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN): A Roadmap.

    Since then, the Governor of the State of Osun has been working tirelessly with others to make sure some of the enunciated proposals in the document sooner than later transform into concrete development for people of the region.

    To Ogbeni, what urgently must come to reality are concrete steps towards a regional cooperation and integration among the south-western states –focus is also on Edo State – so as to boost the region’s socio-economic growth and development and improve upon its fortune collectively.

    Collectively in the sense that to obtain prime result, the key word is ‘team-playing’ or what is called ‘consensus ad idem (meeting of the minds), in legal parlance, among the six states, the absence of which nothing meaningful could be achieved. Ogbeni’s passion stems from the need for sister states to come together and approach the multifarious developmental programmes highlighted to be vital to the region’s development.

    This is how he succinctly puts it: “So if we want to integrate, it means we are formalizing a process that naturally existed before by our common heritage, language, history and uniformity of culture. It is an economic programme that cannot be affected adversely by anybody. It was natural. Traders will go to Owena Market whether any government wants it or not. Ditto for Akure Market or any market in the region for that matter.”

    Further more, he said: “We are looking at a programme where all our governments can work and support ourselves officially with government resources. That is all. It involves conviction and commitment of a government.”

    It requires team play. A team player is one who objectively believes in a cause of action and is ready to unflinchingly cooperate, genuinely join efforts, willingly collaborate, assiduously work with, support others, readily prepare to pool resources together and adroitly work in partnership with others to achieve their set goals.

    These are, in Aregbesola’ opinion, the necessary components a team-player must possess to be able to participate in the developmental agenda. Going a step further, he also identifies the essential areas in need of urgent attention to include the following – education, commerce, Agriculture, transportation and wealth management and distribution.

    Lagos unarguably needs help to boost its agricultural practice. In fundamental nature, in Aregbesola’s viewpoint, Oyo, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti State have the potential to farm for Lagos.

    In other words, with the current available resource, both human and materials, at the disposal of the six states, some revolution could be stirred in agriculture if they are jointly administered.

    It is also Ogbeni’s observation that Lagos, with a population of about 15 million, has and provides a vast market for the whole region, the largest West African sub-region. Lagos needs food crops as well as raw material for industries, which exist in commercial quantities in other sister states.

    What ought to be done is to facilitate easy and direct access of the farm produce to Lagos market as well as direct finished products from Lagos to the hinterland states. To this extent, intra-state trade and specialization would be established and promoted simultaneously among member states.

    This is where transportation comes in. It was reported that the six states have sent a blue print on rail system within the south-west to the Federal Government for concession.

    The state signed a Memorandum of Understand (MoU) with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), whereby it undertakes to foot the bill of farm produce transported from the state to Osun as well as finished products returned to the state.

    There is also preference for education. Today, there are numerous universities scattered across the six states – some well-established and some hurriedly and haphazardly put together. Aregbesola holds the belief that if the spirit of collectivism operates, the whole south-west can have just one big university with the existing campuses across the six states serving as colleges, with the field of studies allocated based on the need, the prevailing factors and existing resources as well as comparative advantage in those areas.

    A typical example is the Harvard University, which has its main campus at Cambridge but also has colleges scattered across other states in the US. For instance, apart from its major Cambridge/Allston and Longwood campuses, Harvard owns and operates Arnold Arboretum, in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston; the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, in Washington; the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts; and the Villa I Tatti Research Center inFlorence. This is in addition to its operating theHarvard Shanghai Center in China.

    In this way, resources allocated in different states for education would be pooled together so as to achieve best possible results.

    All that it requires to achieve these laudable objectives is for the six states to work cooperatively by subordinating their personal interests in order to achieve a common goal. Kunle Owolabi is of the Bureau of Communications and Strategy, office of the Governor of the State of Osun.

  • Worship places as theatres of war

    Worship places as theatres of war

    I concede to the laconic axiom of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, which holds that “Our life begins to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Ipso facto, it matters to me on this day to publicly condemn in strong terms the lugubrious transmogrification of places of worship into a theatre of ‘war without end’ in some part of the country.

    As at today, despicable people behaving like monstrous ogres have invaded places of worship like the biblical thief in the night to kill, steal and destroy with apparatus of war transmuting birth certificates into death certificates. These ‘evilitarian’ icons of doom with unquenchable appetite for innocent blood kill in the name of God. Oh what a pity! The God I know cannot send any man to kill his brothers and sisters in His name, because he told us in his Word that “we should be our brother’s keepers.” Then why kill those he asked you to keep? Those who kill in the name of God are victims of ‘theomania’ and a place called ‘Hell’ awaits them all.

    I hold that religion can be a bridge of unity if humanity realise that there is none but one God even though we worship him in different ways. Therefore, we must allow our fellow man to practice his religion so long as it does not breach public peace and security.

    The ongoing ‘luciferian’ act of killing in places of worship has made children orphans, women widows, men widowers, brother and sisters incapacitated with irredeemable disability, while others die in pieces like victims of canes-venatici (i.e hunting dogs). Oh, what a painful way to die!

    I wish to urge those who kill in the name of God to lay down their weapons and adopt the creed of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which states that “non-violence is a powerful weapon. It is a weapon unique in history which cut without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heal” in their strategy to express their grievances.

    I call on Nigerians to key into the fight against terror by giving security agencies timely and impeccable information about criminal element in our community.

    I appeal to the federal government to bury the recent Amnesty International report in the dust bin. Oh yes! That is the best place for such a report because it fails to align itself with the words of Abraham Lincoln which state that “those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves and under a just God can’t retain it.”

    Consequently, we must intensify effort to flush out perpetrators and sponsors of violence in any way we consider fit. So that peace can return to our land.

    God bless Nigeria, may Allah protect us.

     

    By Ehis G. O.

    Ubiaja, Edo State.

  • Nigeria needs a revival now

    Nigeria needs a revival now

    Due to the challenges Nigeria is passing through in terms of unrighteousness among its rank and file, widespread corruption from the leaders to the followers, insecurity, immorality, organised mass killings motivated by religious, economic, political and ethnic hatred, bombing, mass poverty, electoral fraud, violent crimes, kidnapping, financial fraud, human and drug trafficking, cultism, and greed .

    I want to state prophetically that Nigeria needs revival courtesy of the religious leaders in the country especially in a time like this when everything seemed to be fighting against the peace and progress of the nation.

    The revival in Nigeria will put to shame the devil and his agents that have united more than ever to wage war against Nigerians and break-up the country (God forbid). The revival will liberate and revive Nigerians from the shackles of the wicked and make Nigerians submit to God (Isaiah 66 : 3 ).

    God has heard the cry of His people in Nigeria and the revival will make the enemies of the country to submit by freeing them from all sins and unrighteousness. As this is also a time for Nigerians to seek the face of God, so that God can restore back peace and bless the country.

    Through the revival and by the greatness of God’s power, all the enemies will submit, according to the book of Isaiah 59 : 19.

    Nigerians need to toe the path to genuine repentance, trust and fear of God. So that with our prayers together, Nigeria shall overcome her problems and rise again, as God will deal with the ‘Pharaohs’ and ‘Egyptians’ of our nation.

    Most Nigerians tend to limit the power of God because they do not know or understand the efficacy of God’s power, such that there is lack of knowledge, as recorded in Hosea 4 : 6 – “My people are destroyed for lack of Knowledge”

    For of all – sorts – of, most people go on to exalt the power of Satan and his agents more than God, because they are ignorant of God’s power. They cherish human beings and worship lesser gods and disobey God.

    If we know that, what God cannot do, then, no man or woman can do, hence, we should all submit to the will of God and trust Him.

     

    By Prophet OIadipupo Funmilade-Joel

    The Way of Reconciliation Evangelistic Ministries (TWOREM) Int’l, Lagos.

  • Class Wars of 2012

    ON Election Day, The Boston Globe reported, Logan International Airport in Boston was running short of parking spaces. Not for cars — for private jets. Big donors were flooding into the city to attend Mitt Romney’s victory party.

    They were, it turned out, misinformed about political reality. But the disappointed plutocrats weren’t wrong about who was on their side. This was very much an election pitting the interests of the very rich against those of the middle class and the poor.

    And the Obama campaign won largely by disregarding the warnings of squeamish “centrists” and embracing that reality, stressing the class-war aspect of the confrontation. This ensured not only that President Obama won by huge margins among lower-income voters, but that those voters turned out in large numbers, sealing his victory.

    The important thing to understand now is that while the election is over, the class war isn’t. The same people who bet big on Mr. Romney, and lost, are now trying to win by stealth — in the name of fiscal responsibility — the ground they failed to gain in an open election.

    Before I get there, a word about the actual vote. Obviously, narrow economic self-interest doesn’t explain everything about how individuals, or even broad demographic groups, cast their ballots. Asian-Americans are a relatively affluent group, yet they went for President Obama by 3 to 1. Whites in Mississippi, on the other hand, aren’t especially well off, yet Mr. Obama received only 10 percent of their votes.

    These anomalies, however, weren’t enough to change the overall pattern. Meanwhile, Democrats seem to have neutralized the traditional G.O.P. advantage on social issues, so that the election really was a referendum on economic policy. And what voters said, clearly, was no to tax cuts for the rich, no to benefit cuts for the middle class and the poor. So what’s a top-down class warrior to do?

    The answer, as I have already suggested, is to rely on stealth — to smuggle in plutocrat-friendly policies under the pretense that they’re just sensible responses to the budget deficit.

    Consider, as a prime example, the push to raise the retirement age, the age of eligibility for Medicare, or both. This is only reasonable, we’re told — after all, life expectancy has risen, so shouldn’t we all retire later? In reality, however, it would be a hugely regressive policy change, imposing severe burdens on lower- and middle-income Americans while barely affecting the wealthy. Why? First of all, the increase in life expectancy is concentrated among the affluent; why should janitors have to retire later because lawyers are living longer? Second, both Social Security and Medicare are much more important, relative to income, to less-affluent Americans, so delaying their availability would be a far more severe hit to ordinary families than to the top 1 percent.

    Or take a subtler example, the insistence that any revenue increases should come from limiting deductions rather than from higher tax rates. The key thing to realize here is that the math just doesn’t work; there is, in fact, no way limits on deductions can raise as much revenue from the wealthy as you can get simply by letting the relevant parts of the Bush-era tax cuts expire. So any proposal to avoid a rate increase is, whatever its proponents may say, a proposal that we let the 1 percent off the hook and shift the burden, one way or another, to the middle class or the poor.

    The point is that the class war is still on, this time with an added dose of deception. And this, in turn, means that you need to look very closely at any proposals coming from the usual suspects, even — or rather especially — if the proposal is being represented as a bipartisan, common-sense solution. In particular, whenever some deficit-scold group talks about “shared sacrifice,” you need to ask, sacrifice relative to what?

    As regular readers may know, I’m not a fan of the Bowles-Simpson report on deficit reduction that laid out a poorly designed plan that for some reason has achieved near-sacred status among the Beltway elite. Still, at least you can say this for Bowles-Simpson: When it talked about shared sacrifice, it started from a “baseline” that already assumed the end of the high-end Bush tax cuts. At this point, however, just about all the deficit scolds seem to want us to count the expiration of those cuts — which were sold on false pretenses, and were never affordable — as some kind of big giveback by the rich. It isn’t.

    So keep your eyes open as the fiscal game of chicken continues. It’s an uncomfortable but real truth that we are not all in this together; America’s top-down class warriors lost big in the election, but now they’re trying to use the pretense of concern about the deficit to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Let’s not let them pull it off.

    •Culled from New York Times

  • What is Senator Ayade up to?

    One ritual in governance especially at the federal level that never ceases to fascinate me is the yearly defense of budget by ministries, departments and agencies. A lot of efforts go into the process as the relevant agencies storm the National Assembly with loads of documents, determined to impress the relevant committees of Parliament to approve their budgets. Recall what happened to former Education Minister, Professor Fabian Osuji and you will realize that there is a lot that go into budget defense than meets the eye. Some agencies approach it with a desperation that is unhealthy while some of the law makers could also be unnecessarily hawkish; holding the agencies to unreasonable standards. If those standards are always in the nation’s interest, this piece would have been unnecessary.

    One scenario in the on-going defense of budgets by the agencies clearly indicates that the exercise sometimes degenerates into an ambush, where ‘recalcitrant’ MDAs are subjected to public ridicule by law makers. That was my honest conclusion after reading the report of what transpired on Thursday, November 22, when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission defended its Budget before the Senate Committee on Drugs , Narcotics and Anti-Corruption. Needless issue was made out of the agency’s vote for transportation in its 2013 estimate.

    A member of the committee, Senator Benedict Ayade made headline news for reportedly questioning the over N357m earmarked by the agency for local travels and transportation; another N100m for international travels; N73m for local training and another N130m for international training.

    The same member also frowned at the provision of N135m for satellite and broadband charges by the anti- graft agency.

    Ordinarily, there is nothing wrong with a law maker holding an agency to account for its expenditure if the motive is to improve accountability and transparency. But in this instance the motive is suspect. I am told that as soon as Ayade asked his questions, he got up to leave. He was only prevailed upon by the Committee Chairman, Senate Victor Lar to listen to the response by the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde. Such contemptuous demeanor didn’t show a lawmaker who was prepared to add value to the budget making process. On the contrary, he comes across as a legislator who had taken a stand and was not prepared to listen to superior argument.

    But returning to the issues raised by Ayade, I can’t see what is outrageous in N357m for local travel in a year by an agency that is saddled with the huge responsibility of fighting corruption and financial crimes. My guess is, it is either Ayade is completely out of tune with the work of the EFCC in which case he has no business being on that Committee or his aim is to grand stand for populist end. Otherwise, any member of the Committee should be conversant with the standard operating procedures of the agency. And from the explanation offered by Lamorde, investigation is conducted in teams in which case, a single case may be investigated by no less than a team of five officers, comprising two operatives, two back up security staff and a driver. The team will need fuel for travel and allowances for accommodation and feeding. He also explained that it is not possible to determine how long it will take a team to crack a case. The number of days spent is determined by what the operatives find on the field. And a single matter may require repeated travels, criss-crossing the length and breadth of Nigeria in the course of investigation.

    What is clear here is that fighting corruption and economic crime is not cheap and Nigeria must be prepared to fund the EFCC if we are truly serious about the anti-graft campaign. Not only must we ensure that the agency is mobile; its officers should be well motivated to resist the temptation of being compromised. They also must be trained and retrained as financial crimes in this age are technology-driven. The investigators must be ahead of the fraudsters in the use of technology if we are to keep pace with the rest of the world in tackling organized crime.

    All over the world, nations who truly believe in getting result in law enforcement fund their agencies. For instance it cost the British tax payers a hefty N3.6billion to investigate and prosecute James Ibori. That is just a single case, which has no relevance to the British people beyond the fact that the money was laundered using their institutions.

    So what is Ayade talking about? What does Ayade himself collect as allowance from the National Assembly in a year? If his N17million yearly allowance plus N140million quarterly allocation are not outrageous, I wonder what is. Has the senator justified such huge earnings? How many bills have Ayade to his name? What is even his contribution at plenary, where he often jumps up to repeat the contributions made by other senators.

    The height of his mischief was comparing the EFCC IT infrastructure and expenses with that of his unidentified hotel. Even if it were Transcorp Hilton, it still cannot compare with the demands of a law enforcement agency. Given the specialized nature of the offences which it investigates, it is open secret that EFCC operations are largely IT based. The IT infrastructure that such an agency will require and the concomitant expenses cannot be comparable to Ayade’s Hotel.

    Apart from its headquarters and other offices in Wuse, EFCC, I am told, maintains several offices in Maitama, Garki and a training institute in Karu. The IT infrastructure at the EFCC Academy in Karu, I understand, dwarfs those of leading universities in Nigeria. And all these offices are linked to the zonal offices in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Gombe, and Kano.

    From the foregoing, it is evident Ayade’s motive was to mislead the National Assembly and Nigerians about EFCC expenditure pattern. His motivation is certainly not in the national interest. This is more so as it is alleged that he has a pending case before the commission, in which case the attack might have been a convenient defence strategy.

    Whatever moral baggage that propels Ayade, he must be told that what set the EFCC part from other law enforcement agencies in Nigeria is its response rate and the fact that they carry out their investigation at no cost to the complainant. Apparently Ayade will be glad to see the EFCC degenerate to the level of asking for mobilization from complainants before doing a case. But that is not the vision of the founding fathers and the generality of Nigerians who are enamoured of the activities of the agency.

    Ayade has not shown competence or full grasp of the responsibility of the Committee. His overriding objective was a cheap play to the gallery. He betrayed his motive when he prefaced his questions with a comment that the Commission will not be portrayed positively by the media if he were to publish its budgetary provisions. That was the agenda! Unfortunately, a less discerning section of the media fell for it by amplifying warped notions and misinforming their readers. I expect the media to be very circumspect in the reportage of issues at budget defense. Any farsighted reporter would have been curious about why Ayade was making issues out of EFCC transportation vote but was silent on the miserly N100m vote for prosecution. Prosecution is at the heart of the anti-graft campaign yet Ayade by his silence was comfortable that the EFCC may not even afford the legal fees to prosecute its cases in 2013. What a shame!

    Legislative rascality as demonstrated by Ayade must be condemned by all public spirited Nigerians. Oversight responsibilities are very serious business of the National Assembly and no law maker should be allowed to abuse it to tarnish the image of the institution.

    •Abubakar, a journalist, lives in Abuja.

  • President Jonathan, take oil sector probe seriously

    SIR: Since the leakage and eventual submission to President Goodluck Jonathan of the Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenue Task Force Report, it has been deluge of controversies, accusations and counter-accusations. It took the leakage of the report by a foreign news agency, Reuters, before the government moved to give Nigerians an insight into the dealings in the oil sector. Even at that, details of the probe are still sketchy. Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke told Reuters that she received the report in September.

    The Task Force is a 21-member committee set up at the behest of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources among ad hoc bodies set up by the federal government following the removal of subsidy on petroleum products in January this year. When Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was appointed as the committee’s chairman, majority of stakeholders hailed the move, considering the pedigree of the anti-corruption Czar. Not a few expressed reservations about the likely outcome of the probe.

    The probe report revealed a cesspool of corruption and irregularities in the nation’s oil sector. Though Petroleum Minister claimed the government needed to make input into the report before its final adoption, this shouldn’t have caused such delay.

    Besides, if the government had to do so, why didn’t the Petroleum Ministry allow the committee to submit the report to the president before its input since according to official procedures, the government would be expected to study the report and perhaps come out with a white paper for its implementation?

    Just like the KPMG probe report of the NNPC – which has been lying in government’s files- that contains mind – boggling revelations, the Ribadu-led Task Force Report is fraught with fraud. The report has only reaffirmed the call for a closer look into the activities of the NNPC which has come under criticisms and controversies over the years.

    The report says about N 86.65 billion earned in 10 years by the NNPC is missing. This claim ordinarily should sound bogus considering the amount involved, but events in the country where cases of monumental corruption have become commonplace may suggest its possibility.

    Also, the report alleges that international oil traders sometimes buy crude without any formal contracts and that foreign oil firms had outstanding debts in terms of unpaid royalties, bonuses and proceeds from gas sales. Another issue raised by the committee is that Nigerian oil ministers handed out licenses at their own discretion.

    It’s saddening that the happenings in the nation’s most critical sector have been dogged with tales of recklessness and maladministration for years. The business in the sector cannot be continued to be run as a ‘family affair’ where decisions are taken perhaps irrationally.

    But beyond the intrigues and confusions that have trailed the report, what President Jonathan owes the people he has sworn to protect is to shove aside all the machinations of the concerned ‘oil thieves’ who are hell-bent on frustrating a comprehensive sweep on the critical sector. Though the report seems to have been literally dismissed by the government going by the reaction of the President’s Special Assistant on Public Affairs Dr. Doyin Okupe that the report is inconclusive and shoddy, Dr. Jonathan still has to make sure that the aims of the probe are not defeated.

    One must not fail to ask what the intentions of the government were when two members of the committee Mr. Steve Orosanya and Mr. Ben Otti were appointed into juicy positions of the NNPC when the committee was yet to conclude on its assignment. As opined by Ribadu, why didn’t the affected members of the committee resign their membership of the committee when they were appointed?

    What Nigerians want is a thorough cleansing of the oil sector. The government must not rely on technicalities or rhetoric in order to defeat the aims of setting up the committee. Whatever has to be done must be done, and quickly too.

    • Stanley Ibeku,

    Lagos.