The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • The Ekiti State progressive welfare programme

    The Ekiti State progressive welfare programme

    On Tuesday, 25th October, 2011 at Ise-Ekiti, the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi formally flagged off the State Social Security Scheme for the Elderly with the commencement of the payment of the monthly stipends to the beneficiaries. The governor had prior to that day announced this policy direction during the celebration marking the anniversary of Nigeria’s 51st Independence and 15th Anniversary of the creation of Ekiti State on the 1st October 2011.

    Dr. Fayemi had then said the scheme was conceived to improve the living condition of the senior citizens and serve as a poverty reduction strategy in favour of the deserving poor through the provision of regular income and free health care; adding that this was a fulfilment of his electioneering campaigns.

    In his words: “It is painful to note that across the length and breadth of Africa, poverty visibly walks on the street with impunity. Of the many identifiable strands of poverty that is confronting the developing world is the one associated with old age when one’s strength and vitality is lost and the bones are irredeemably weakened. Not too long ago, those who fall in this vulnerable category, the aged, are taken care of by a social system that is effective in making life more enjoyable though with little to share.

    “Today, civilization has eroded the system; it is now everyone to himself and God for us all. In the process, people lived the latter part of their lives in abject poverty with attendant diseases, emotional breakdown and frustrating social disaffections”.

    He said on another occasion: “We embarked on this programme not only to make the state stand shoulders higher than other states but also to ensure that life becomes more abundant for our aged ones.”

    Thus, the state became a pioneer for the initiative in the country which the Federal Government and other states are now taking a cue from. The programme is the first in West Africa. The novel approach has continued to receive accolades across political, ethnic, social and economic divides.

    For the programme to take off, more than 52,000 elderly indigenes aged 65 years and above in the 16 local government areas of the state were enumerated. The enumerators who were well trained were charged to ascertain the profession and economic status of the children of the proposed beneficiaries of the scheme towards ensuring that elderly people from poor homes benefit more.

    Fayemi himself exempted his aged mother from the scheme to underscore his point that the elderly indigenes that have well-to-do children should not be part of the scheme.

    He said if the jobs of the children of the would-be beneficiaries were disclosed, it would be easier for the committee to decide whether a beneficiary was indigent or not deserving elderly citizens.

    At the end, 10,084 beneficiaries were selected. The beneficiaries were invariably grateful for the government’s gesture. Thanking the Governor for the stipend, one of the beneficiaries, Madam Abigael Oyedele, commended the Fayemi-led administration for remembering the elderly citizens. Madam also Oyedele prayed for the success of the Fayemi-led administration.

    To give a strong legal backing to the initiative to ensure its sustainability, the government put in motion the process of drafting legislation which was sent to the state House of Assembly. A public hearing was organised on the bill, where participants that consisted of mainly elderly people expressed joy at the introduction of the programme by the Fayemi administration, the participants canvassed for the expansion of the programme for more people to benefit.

    The House Majority Leader, Hon. Churchill Adedipe, who moved the motion for the acceptance and consideration of the report of the committee that deliberated on the bill observed that the programme was in line with the policy enshrined in chapter 11 of the 1999 constitution of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria as amended with particular reference to section 14(2) and 17 of the constitution. The bill was unanimously approved by all the lawmakers.

    The governor eventually signed the bill into law. While signing the bill, the governor said: “To some skeptics at the time, this was just a vote-catching gimmick of a typical opportunistic and desperate politician. Even to genuine admirers, the realisation of this dream was unfathomable given the limited resources available to our state. Now that the goal is realised, it is the beginning of the fulfillment of our campaign promise to provide for our elderly in their old age.”

    In response to the call for the expansion of the programme, a comprehensive review was carried out after the first six months of the programme. The implementing ministry was directed by the government to conduct another enumeration of the elderly citizens in February 2012. The exercise brought out over 34,000 elderly citizens from whom another batch of 9,186 elderly citizens in Ekiti State, were selected to join the beneficiaries of the scheme.

    Speaking at the flag-off of the payment for the Batch B beneficiaries of the scheme at Ekiti East Council,  Governor Fayemi said the scheme which was employed by his administration to address adult poverty challenges was already hitting at the target as more elderly citizens who had once thought the programme was a mirage are now subscribing.

    The Governor said the emergence of the second batch of the beneficiaries became necessary so as to capture as many qualified elderly citizens as possible who did not participate in the first enumeration exercise partly due to skepticism arising from the weariness of failed promises by politicians.

    Payment of the stipend is made regularly on the 25th of the month when all workers are being paid. The scheme costs the government a sum of N1 million monthly. On how the state government has coped despite its meagre resources, Fayemi said the scheme was not conceived because the government has abundant resources but due to “the will to positively affect the lives of the toiling masses for whom this government is in authority” He stated that the administration was always propelled by the need to make life meaningful and comfortable for the elderly.

    The welfare of the senior citizens in the state is a cardinal point in the eight-point agenda of the Governor Kayode Fayemi administration. The scheme has been made to be free from political or gender bias.

    The governor once stated that even if it is impossible to re-enact, in absolute terms, the good old days of fending for our elderly through our extended family system, it is the determination of this government to reduce old age poverty significantly.

    The scheme, according to the government, was not aimed at undermining the ultimate responsibility of families to care for their aged ones but should see it as a reward for the past contributions of the beneficiaries.

    A spokesperson of the Ekiti State government, Mrs Richie-Adewusi stated that “since our culture does not encourage the setting up of old people’s home, the state government has to fashion out a way of continuously identifying with people 65 years and above in a programme. She added that people would foster social solidarity through a regained sense of citizenship that will enable them contribute to the society and enhance citizens-government relations, even as government is acknowledging its own roles and moral commitment to the welfare of citizens regardless of party affiliation.

     

    •Adewusi writes from Ekiti

  • Maintenance culture can rebuild our nation

    Maintenance culture can rebuild our nation

    SIR: I have observed with serious concern that the culture of maintenance is lacking in Nigeria and will continue to be so unless something drastic is done to halt the trend.

    In developed countries like United States, Britain and Italy to mention a few, maintenance has always been part and parcel of their culture. The Statue of Liberty in the United States of America, the famous Tower Bridge on the Thames River popularly known as London Bridge, and the Big Ben, the tower clock hung since 1858 in London and ancient structures such as Rome’s Coliseum, built as far back as AD 60 and the Roman Forum are evidence of the importance of maintenance in preserving monuments that are vital to the history of not only cities but countries.

    Here in the African continent, Egypt, an ancient country also boasts several monuments such as the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx which is about 4,000 years old.

    The recently concluded Olympics Games hosted by the city of London also highlighted the age-long tradition of maintenance where tourists and visitors were conducted round the different monumental structures, one of which is the beautiful Church of England which has been in existence for centuries and still has all its architectural beauty intact and even stronger than modern-day structures.

    It is noteworthy to state that the aforementioned monuments still exist and are well-sought-after by tourists from all over the world due to the high premium that is placed on their maintenance and preservation by the government. The beauty and attraction of these cities stem from the fact that the various stakeholders involved have not only taken maintenance as part of their culture but have domesticated it in their everyday lives.

    Back home, what we have in our dear country is an opposite of what obtains in developed countries, where our citizens throng on a daily basis for greener pasture. Maintenance in Nigeria is almost non-existent owing largely to negligence, inconsistent government policies and desirability of new projects at the expense of maintaining the old ones and misplacement of priority.

    Another area where maintenance has been dealt a major blow in the country is the spate of collapsed old structures which can still stand the test of time if properly maintained. Buildings that ordinarily ought to have been pulled down are still in existence due to non-enforcement of appropriate building and maintenance laws. Many unsuspecting occupants of such edifice soon become victims when it eventually collapses. Stakeholders, including government and individuals have major roles to play in ensuring that we all imbibe maintenance culture.

    In May 2012, the assessment of the nine-year-old National Stadium, Abuja which was supposed to play host to the botched pre-season tour by Arsenal Football Club of England, was carried out by the Senate Committee on Sports. The report by the committee was quite shocking as it was revealed that the Stadium was in a ‘sorry’ state.

    In Ogun State, huge step towards reviving the tradition of maintenance is being taken. Noteworthy is the repair work recently carried out on the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta. The structure which was built in 1992 is wearing a new look.

    Apart from the fact that the existing structure was repaired, painted and given a facelift, new innovations such as a swimming pool, fun fare arena, children playground, a blend of the contemporary amusement park, and a traditional local café have been introduced.

    Also, 1,500 modern and colourful seats have been fixed to replace the obsolete ones. The beauty of maintenance is that not only the existing old form is taken care of, new innovations and ideas of the current era which could not have been in existence when the project was created would be incorporated, while also keeping track of history which will become embedded in the sand of times.

    • Olatunde Tijani,

    Public commentator, Abeokuta.

     

  • Reflections on Awo phenomenon-1

    Reflections on Awo phenomenon-1

    In the light of the controversy that arose as a fall out from Chinua Achebe’s new book on Biafra, one aspect a lot of people have ignored, or forgotten, is the courage of Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909-1987), a foremost nationalist and active public officer during that era.

    All of us may not agree entirely with Chief Awolowo as a leader cum politician or as a manager, but one cannot but salute the quality of his courage. No guess work on Chief Awolowo. You know where he stood. Some have analysed that it was this quality that created the blockage on the path of his becoming the President of Nigeria. Ironically, it is this same benefit that has made him a hero today. Someone considered widely to be a modern day victor, so to say.

    Courage is a quality of mind or temperament which makes one to resist temptation to give way in the face of danger, opposition or hardship. It stresses firmness of mind or purpose. Some call it boldness or doughtiness or guts or tenacity. Some call it stubbornness, doggedness or bull headedness. It is this courage that separated Chief Awolowo from the crowd. Even twenty five years after he has died and from the grave, Chief Awolowo is still the issue in today’s Nigeria.

    Unlike some very close associates of Papa Awo, I am not an authority on Chief Awolowo. As a reporter in The Nigerian Tribune, I covered his convocation speech as Chancellor of the then University of Ife, on July 6,1974,when he condemned the 1973 provisional census figures, conducted by Sir Adetokunbo Ademola as “a barren exercise”.

    To make such a speech at that time was too daring, venturesome and perilous because it was considered a blasphemy, but Chief Awolowo made the speech with courage.

    That same year, as a reporter with Nigerian Herald, I covered a lecture in Ibadan during which he gave reasons, for quitting General Yakubu Gowon’s cabinet where he served as Minister of Finance.

    In Kano state while working as political correspondent with The Punch, I covered his triumphant entry into that ancient city for the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) Presidential rally on December 17, 1978. The crowd in Kano was a mammoth one.

    The following morning, we drove to Kaduna state with Ebenezer Babatope; I had a dinner with the great Awo at Hamdala hotel. At dinner, Chief Awolowo had a commanding presence. He sipped his lucozade drink gently. I even had time to check his Breitling wrist watch and of course his trade mark Barley shoe- very well polished.

    Later as city editor of The Punch, I covered the tribunal and Supreme Court proceedings, when Awo challenged the Federal Electoral Commission’s declaration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari as President of Nigeria in 1979. He would come to the tribunal and Supreme Court punctually, brief his lawyers and then sit down quietly. Often times, he greeted Chief Richard Osuolale Akinjide, Alhaji Shagari’s attorney. He lost both suits at the tribunal and the Supreme Court. He also lost the Presidential Election in 1983, retired to his home town Ikenne, refusing to challenge the 1983 Presidential Election, and insisted that, if Nigeria need him ,they know where to find him. In the early hours of May 9, 1987, Chief Awolowo died in Ikenne.

    As press Secretary to Governor Ekundayo Opaleye of Old Ondo state, I was present at his burial in Ikenne in June 1987, where late Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ikemba of Nnewi described him as the “Best president Nigeria never had.” I thought the story on Awo was over that sunny day. I was wrong. Ojukwu was the man that led the failed Igbo secession bid that Achebe chronicled in his latest book. The book has resonated once again the Awo phenomenon and the role he played or what he allegedly said for or against the Igbo ethnic group.

    It is due to reiteration of Awo’s legacy and for the purpose of clarity that I feel compelled to reproduce the most courageous speech, Chief Awolowo ever made at the most crucial period of our National life at a meeting of Western Region Leaders of Thought at Ibadan on May 1, 1967

    The immortal sage started his meeting’s speech thus: ‘I consider it my duty to Yoruba people in particular and to Nigerians in general to place four imperatives, two of them categorical, and two conditional. They are that: Only a peaceful solution must be found to arrest the present worsening stalemate and restore normalcy: The Eastern Region must be encouraged to remain part of the Federation. However: If the Eastern Region is allowed by acts of omission or commission to secede from or opt out of Nigeria, then Western Nigeria and Lagos must also stay out of the Federation: The people of Western Nigeria or Lagos would participate in the Ad Hoc Constitutional Committee or any similar body only on the basis of absolute equality with other Regions of the Federation.’

    If the East attacked the North it would be for the purpose of revenge pure and simple. Any claim to the contrary would be untenable. If it is claimed that such a war is being waged for the purpose of recovering the real and personal properties left behind in the North by Easterners, two insuperable points are obvious. Firstly, the personal effects have been wholly locked up or destroyed, and could no longer be physically recovered; secondly, since the real property is immovable in any case, recovery of it can only be by means of forcible military occupation of these parts of the North on which this property is situated.

    On the other hand, if the North attacked the East, it could only be for the purpose of further strengthening and entrenching its position of dominance in the country. If the North claimed that an attack on the East was going to be launched by the Federal Government and not by the North, as such, and that it was designed to ensure the unity and integrity of the Federation, two other insuperable points also became obvious.

    First, if a war against the East becomes a necessity, it must be agreed unanimously by the remaining units of the Federation.

    In the face of such a declaration by the three out of the four territories of Nigeria, a war against the East could only be a war favoured by the North alone. Secondly, if the true purpose of such a war is to preserve the unity and integrity of the Federation, then these ends can be achieved by the very simple device of implementing the recommendation of the committee which met on 9 August 1966,as reaffirmed by a decision of the Military leaders at Aburi on January 5, 1967,as well as by accepting such of the demands of the East, West, Mid-West and Lagos as are manifestly reasonable and essential for assuring harmonious relationships and peaceful co-existence between them and their brothers and sisters in the North.

    We have been told that an act of secession would be a signal in the first instance for the creation of the COR state by decree which would be backed if need be by use of force.

    With great respect, I have some dissenting observations to make on this declaration. There are eleven national or linguistic groups in the COR area, with a total population of over five millions.

     

    • Continue tomorrow

  • Can republicans adapt?

    Can republicans adapt?

    His was one that the Republicans really should have won. Given the weak economy, American voters were open to firing President Obama. In Europe, in similar circumstances, one government after another lost re-election. And, at the beginning of this year, it looked as if the Republicans might win control of the United States Senate as well.

    Yet it wasn’t the Democrats who won so much as the Republicans who lost — at a most basic level, because of demography. A coalition of aging white men is a recipe for failure in a nation that increasingly looks like a rainbow.

    Schadenfreude may excuse Democrats’ smiles for a few days, but these trends portend a potential disaster not just for the Republican Party but for the health of our political system. America needs a plausible center-right opposition party to hold Obama’s feet to the fire, not just a collection of Tea Party cranks.

    So liberals as well as conservatives should be rooting for the Republican Party to feel sufficiently shaken that it shifts to the center. One hopeful sign is that political parties usually care more about winning than about purism. Thus the Democratic Party embraced the pragmatic center-left Bill Clinton in 1992 after three consecutive losses in presidential elections.

    That was painful for many liberals, who cringed when Clinton interrupted campaigning in the 1992 primary to burnish his law-and-order credentials by overseeing the execution of a mentally impaired murderer. But it was, on balance, less painful than losing again.

    You would expect the Republican Party to make a similar lurch to the center. But many Republican leaders still inhabit a bubble. It was stunning how many, from Karl Rove to Newt Gingrich, seemed to expect a Mitt Romney victory. And some of the right-wing postmortems are suggesting that Romney lost because he was too liberal — which constitutes a definition of delusional.

    Imagine what would have happened if the Republican nominee had been Gingrich or Rick Santorum. We surely would have seen a Democratic landslide.

    On the other hand, if the Republicans had nominated Jon Huntsman Jr., they might have been the ones celebrating right now. But he had no chance in Republican primaries because primary voters are their party’s worst enemy.

    Part of the problem, I think, is the profusion of right-wing radio and television programs. Democrats complain furiously that Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity smear the left, but I wonder if the bigger loser isn’t the Republican Party itself. Those shows whip up a frenzy in their audience, torpedoing Republican moderates and instilling paranoia on issues like immigration.

    All this sound and fury enmeshes the Republican Party in an ideological cocoon and impedes it from reaching out to swing-state centrists, or even understanding them. The vortex spins ever faster and risks becoming an ideological black hole.

    In 2002, a book was published called “The Emerging Democratic Majority.” It argued that Democrats would gain because of their strength in expanding demographics such as Hispanics, Asian-Americans and working women. It seemed persuasive until Republicans clobbered Democrats in the next couple of elections.

    But perhaps that book was ahead of its time. This was the first election in which Hispanic voters made up a double-digit share of the electorate, according to CNN exit polls — 10 percent, doubledfrom 1996 — and more than 7 out of 10 Hispanic voters supported Obama.

    That wasn’t inevitable. In 2004, exit polls suggested that President George W. Bush received 44 percent of the Hispanic vote. But Republicans became obstructionist on immigration and then veered into offensive demagogy in opposing the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. The Hispanic vote tumbled by increasing numbers into the Democrats’ laps.

    Then there are women. The paternalistic comments about rape by a few male Republican candidates resonated so broadly because they reflected the perception of the G.O.P. as a conclave of out-of-touch men. As Representative Todd Akin of Missouri might put it, when a candidate emerges with offensive views about rape, “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Namely, they vote Democratic.

    America is changing. After this election, a record 20 senators will be women, almost all of them Democrats. Opposition to same-sex marriage used to be a way for Republicans to trumpet their morality; now it’s seen as highlighting their bigotry.

    By the time President Obama had waded through a convoluted answer about health care — “He’s not mentioning voucher-care?”someone called out — a pall had fallen over the room. When the president closed by declaring, “This was a terrific debate,” his re-election team grimaced. There was the obligatory huddle to discuss how to explain his performance to the nation, and then a moment of paralysis: No one wanted to go to the spin room and speak with reporters.

    Mr. Romney’s advisers monitored the debate up the hall from the Obama team, as well as at campaign headquarters in Boston. Giddy smiles flashed across their faces as their focus groups showed the same results.

    “Boy, the president is off tonight,” said Stuart Stevens, the senior Romney strategist, sounding mystified, according to aides in the room. Russ Schriefer, a senior adviser, immediately began planning television spots based entirely on clips from the debate. As it drew to a close, Gail Gitcho, Mr. Romney’s communications director in Boston, warned surrogates heading out to television studios: “No chest thumping.”

    An astonishing 45 percent of Obama voters were members of minority groups, according to The Times’s Nate Silver. Many others were women or young people. That’s the future of America, and if the Republican Party remains a purist cohort built around grumpy old white men, it is committing suicide. That’s bad not just for conservatives, but for our entire country.

    – New York Times

     

  • Too big to fail or too big to succeed?

    Too big to fail or too big to succeed?

    It is not clear why Rwandan President Paul Kagame thinks Nigeria is too big to fail, or whether in fact that was the idea he sought to convey when he surveyed Nigeria’s problems and proffered solutions. At any rate, a newspaper gave that headline to the Kagame prognosis on Nigeria when the Rwandan visited the country as a guest of African Personality Forum to speak to young Nigerian professionals in Lagos. The headline, if not Kagame himself, was inspired perhaps by the world financial crisis of 2008 which triggered massive economic collapse and business failures around the world. Kagame’s actual words were: “Nigeria is too big, too resourceful to allow these things (corruption and underdevelopment) to continue. If there is a problem in Nigeria it would spread, even to as far as Rwanda. That is why we as Rwandans are ready to work together with Nigeria to solve our problems together and learn from one another.”

    The term itself came into prominence when certain mavericks coined the phrase to inspire government bailout of distressed companies, among which were banks, insurers and auto companies. Some of these companies, investigators found out, augmented their profitability by creating and disposing complicated derivatives. By trading in risky loans, currencies and stocks, among other things, they became so big that if they failed, as indeed many of them did, it would have ripple effects on other smaller companies and create an unmanageable chain of damaging effects for the economy. One of these companies that inspired the ‘Too big to fail’ slogan was AIG, a leading insurance company that specialised in traditional insurance until greed pushed it into credit default swaps (insuring assets that supported corporate debt and mortgages). Lehman Brothers, which made the largest bankruptcy filing in United States history in 2008, also inspired the phrase.

    But sometime last year, G. Pascal Zachary, a former foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, author of Married to Africa and professor of practice at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, wrote an interesting article for the prestigious The Atlantic magazine on Nigeria’s shaky battle with underdevelopment. The title of the essay was Nigeria: Too Big to Fail. A little like Kagame, and referring also to Karl Maier’s book, This House has Fallen, published in 2000, Zachary lists a potpourri of factors ranging from ineptitude, corruption, ethnicity and in particular religion as factors predisposing Nigeria to disaster. If the West did not help Nigeria to avoid apocalypse, he warned, it would have grave repercussions for Africa.

    There is, however, no doubt that Kagame’s analysis suggests he feared Nigeria’s collapse could affect everyone everywhere, even as far away as Rwanda. He admonishes Nigerians to work out their differences and not surrender to unproductive pessimism or even fatalism. This large country of resourceful people, he says, has a large pool of talented young people to turn the country around. But while his admonition was doubtless sound, especially coming from a tested war and peace leader like himself, there is little to suggest that Nigeria is taking any step to avoid state failure. Absolutely nothing. Indeed, while the world appears anxious about Nigeria’s stability and future, many Nigerian leaders seem convinced, as former military head of state, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar said on Saturday, that Nigeria was not going to disintegrate.

    The bad news Hardball regrets to give all of them is that many Nigerians actually don’t think their country is too big to fail. They in fact think it is too big to succeed. These are the people the optimists mouthing platitudinous words need to address and reassure. In any case, believing something is too big to fail neither precludes failure nor guarantees success. Everything depends on what is done to avoid the worst-case scenario.

  • Healthcare: Letter to President Jonathan

    Healthcare: Letter to President Jonathan

    Your Excellency, you will recall I wrote you sometime in September of this year expressing my dismay over the sorry state of Nigeria’s education system. I did promise to write you shortly to express the disenchantment of Nigerians on a variety of issues and this time I have elected to start with health care.

    Time and again we have witnessed unnecessary deaths as a result of insufficient and very poor medical services offered all over Nigeria. The most painful scenarios are when the victims of these poor healthcare systems in place and their families know they could have pulled through with better services

    It beats my imagination that 21st century Nigeria, a country that is one of the largest producers of crude oil in the world cannot offer free medical care to her citizens or even when not free, a quality and well subsidized medical care. There is nothing more shameful than this situation and one would have thought that it should be your first priority to increase the live span of the average Nigerian through quality healthcare. Every year we lose thousands of people from the increasing occurrences of kidney, heart and cancer ailments and yet we think it is normal. Nigerians raise monies to take their own to India but a responsible government should have taken a bold step to intervene in these sufferings by inviting the Indians health professionals to perform the surgical operations in Nigeria at the expense of the government.

    Just recently, the governor of Taraba State Mr. Suntai was involved in a plane crash and I learned he has been flown to Germany for “better medical attention” and my question remains why do we not have a solid system in place to take care of such emergencies? After all these years, it is a crying shame that we still have to rely on the West for medical emergencies such as Mr. Suntai’s crash. I do not know of Mr. Suntai’s personal finances and I am not sure who would pick up the bill for his treatment in Germany but I strongly doubt whether this government would assist any “less important” Nigerian that finds himself in Mr. Suntai’s shoes. This is another glaring example of placing a premium on the life of a few Nigerians over the rest of the people even when in fact these people (the former) have not paid any amount of money for health insurance coverage to this government to warrant any special treatment. My own points of view are simple and they are as follows;

    1) Comprehensive healthcare for all irrespective of status- Nigeria must adopt a system that resembles the NHS trust in the United Kingdom but without placing undue burden on the salaries of the working class people. We must take care of our own by investing heavily in the health sector through providing up to date medical training and upgrading available facilities, using those hospitals which “you” people visit in Europe and America as models.

    2) It is time to truly perform turnaround maintenance of our health institutions. We need specialist doctors all over Nigeria. We need quality training of medical staff and we need a stable system that does not close because of strikes. I was reliably informed in 2009, that the teaching hospital at Enugu did not have functional indoor plumbing. Patients and their families had to rely on buying water in order to meet their needs. Imagine a teaching hospital of that nature without water, what kind of medicine were people practicing there in the first place? There should be a special task force on revamping these comatose institutions for better efficiency. Re-training of our healthcare workers to respond to emergencies is so imperative.

    Ugoo Anieto

    United States

  • Celebrating with Obama

    Celebrating with Obama

    The Obama victory in the just concluded United States of America presidential elections dispersed hope to all ends of the earth and stitched us all to joyous dancing mood.

    He has brilliance, discipline compassion and fabulous good luck. He makes life feel we are all walking in the procession of freedom and unending joy. He’s balanced and inspiring. He certainly will make the world more secure in the richness of the vast bonds of love that bind us together through life’s long and tedious world locked in peace and bounty of life.

    By Adewale Adeeyo

    Lagos

  • The last and our best in NDA 16th Course bows out

    The last and our best in NDA 16th Course bows out

    With the disengagement of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Air Chief Marshall Oluseyi Petinrin, from service, no member of the 16th Regular Course is left in the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

    In a country where regional representation or federal character is considered to get to the top, the best may not get the topmost appointment. Air Chief Marshall Seyi Petinrin, being the best in Course 16 of Nigeria Defence Academy, has proved to be a welcome exception. His brilliance shone like a star for all to see from the day we were admitted into the Defence Academy on July 4, 1974.

    The Air Chief Marshall, a product of Federal Government College Sokoto, along with 74 others, was admitted as 16th Regular Course Cadets into the NDA. The Course comprised 45 Army cadets, 15 Naval cadets and 15 Air Force cadets. There were also 10 Air Force cadets admitted primarily for flying. Of the eighty five cadets who commenced training in July 1974, the Air Chief Marshall’s academic prowess shone from the beginning. Of the seven candidates admitted from Western State, (Nigeria was operating the 12 state structures then), he came first. Others from the Western State then were the late Major General J. O. Agbola, who died in the Obudu 2006 air crash, the late Flying Officer M. A. Afolalu, who died in a helicopter crash in Rivers State in 1979, the late Lt. Col. O. O. Akinyode, Lt. Commander B. O. Olowu (rtd) and Lt.{NN} O. O. Francis (rtd).

    The other members of 16th Regular Course according to states are Major M. A. T. Gwar, Brig-Gen. U.A. Kingsley, Maj. Gen. H.O. Adoga, Brig-Gen. A. Akpa, Air Vice-Marshall B.G. Danbaba, Capt. M. Audu (late), F.S. Ngbede (late)(Benue-Plateau). From Kano State, Capt. M.R. Garba, Maj. Gen II Hassan (late), Lt. Col. S. Ibrahim, Col. A.G.S. Fabuda, I. Usman, Lt. Cdr. E.T. Bako. East Central State supplied Major G.G. Mbah (late), Cdr. E. Obiakor, Maj. Gen. G.S. Eze, Maj. Gen. S.N. Chikwe, Brig-Gen. D. Ike, Lt. Cdr. M.O. Ituludiegwu, Major E.O. Amechiokoro (late), Brig-Gen. A.U. Ezeodum while from Kwara State came Lt. Col. J. Sule, Brig-Gen. F. Alaga, Grp. Capt. D.H. Paul, Lt. Cdr. L. Fabiyi, Air Cdre J. Obasa, Rear Adm. S.L. Baje, Rear Adm. P. Adeniyi. Midwest State was represented by Air Cdre F.R. Obiuwevbi, Lt. Cdr. I. Asekome (late), Brig-Gen. S.K. Iruh (late), Air Cdre J.D. Ahwin, Col. B.O. Musa, Capt. O.F. Doghor, A. Onabrakpeya and from Lagos State came Lt. Col. S.E. Mepaiyeda, Rear Adm. W. Ademoluti, Brig-Gen. E.O. Ayo-Vaughan, Grp. Capt. J. Awotona (late), Col. K.J. Olu and Brig-Gen H. Agbabiaka. Those from North-Central State were Maj. Gen. B. Duniya (late), Air Cdre J.B. Ajeye, Capt. A.J. Dada (late), Col. S. Bargo, Col. G.D. Mamman, Lt. Col. E. Abu while from North-Western State came Lt. Col. A.Y. Ibrahim, Maj. Gen. M.I. Gana. North-Eastern State supplied Air Cdre A.I. Usman (late), Col. I.D. Yaro (late), Major M.T. Manga, Brig-Gen. J. Kwasba, Col. H.I. Alli, Capt. A.H. Gaji and Rivers State B.J. Ofrolade, Major C.U. Njamma (late), Brig-Gen. K. Enai (late), Major F.B. Bowen, Major I. Sele, Major H.A. Brossa (late), Rear Adm. G.J. Jonah. South-Eastern State was represented by Rear Adm. D.F. Akpan, Wing Cdre E. Oyo-Ita, Lt. J.E. Ogbechie (late), Col. J.S. Inyang, Col. D.R. Abang-Odu, Lt. Col. S.P. Agi

    At the end of the academic session, Petinrin carted away three major awards as he emerged the Best Air Force cadet, the Best Science cadet and the Best Tri-Service Knowledge cadet. He took the lead from then. Eighty one cadets were commissioned in December 1976.

    After commissioning, Petinrin attended the Undergraduate Pilot Training at Laughin Airforce Base and Fighter Pilot lead–in–Training at Maxwell Air Force Base both in the United States of America where he qualified in flying colours. His performances in Armed Forces Staff College and Defence College were also exemplary. He was therefore recalled to come and impact these military institutions.

    His staff tours included Military Assistant to the Chief of Air Staff, Director of Evaluation at the Headquarters, Nigeria Airforce and Senior Staff Officer of the Headquarters of the Tactical Air Command. At the Air Weapons School, Air Chief Marshall Petinrin served as both the Group Operations Officer at the Air Weapons School and, later, its Commander. This is similar to his appointment as a Staff Officer 1 Operations at Headquarters Training Command, Kaduna and much later as its Air Officer Commanding (AOC). Tri-Service tours at the DEFENCE Headquarters included Director of Electronic Warfare and later as Chief of Defence Communications. These varied but rich experiences saw him rising to the inevitable and definitely enviable office of the Chief of Air Staff and subsequently as the Chief of Defence Staff.

    All members of the 16th Regular Course are proud of you and as the “last man standing” wish you a peaceful retirement.

    Brig-Gen Sola Ayo-Vaughan (rtd)

    Social Sec. 16th Course

    Lagos

  • Dirty fight over Soku’s oil wells

    Dirty fight over Soku’s oil wells

    I am a Kalabari-born Ijaw indigene. All my childhood and foundational school years were spent in the pristine but picturesque community of the Niger Delta. I am sufficiently familiar with the geographical terrain and locations of all the clans and communities at the centre of the boiling feud between Bayelsa and Rivers States.

    Soku, Idama and Kula are all villages which are unmistakably located within the boundaries of Kalabari kingdom. They bear similar characteristics. They are riverine rural islands. They are oil- bearing in large commercial quantities. In fact, Soku’s oilfield is a flagship operated by one of the Joint Venture International Oil Corporations.

    The thread of common denominator of these communities is a paradox that afflicts other oil-bearing communities regardless of their location whether in Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom or Delta states. They are rich in oil resources and also abjectly poor in development.

    Beyond the secondary schools established when Professor Tam David-West was a commissioner in 1977/78, these communities can boost of no other physical symbols of modern development. The same energy and effort which propelled our elite chiefs of Kalabari National Forum to march the streets should otherwise be properly redirected at unequivocally challenging the governors to judiciously appropriate proceeds of the 13% derivation fund to adequately address gaping infrastructural developmental deficits lacerating various communities across the Niger Delta.

    For too long our high profile traditional rulers had kept deafening silence on the perpetuation of bad governance inflicted by a succession of Niger Delta governors. The governors are not feudal lords to whom we have inadvertently surrendered our collateral mandate to (mis)appropriate and expropriate our commonwealth to satisfy their whims and caprices.

    By Revd Asoliye Douglas-West, Lagos.

  • Revenue commission and revenue allocation formula

    SIR: For the past few years, it has been difficult to understand the stand and body language of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Abuja in respect of the fulfillment of its constitutional obligations to Nigerians. While its mandate is clear and unambiguous, the outcome and effect of its operations on the country are not so clear. Apart from ensuring that the total Revenue of the country is paid into the Federation Account, the most important assignment of this organ of the constitution is to present and recommend a sharing formula of the country’s resources among the three tiers of government.

    This of course should be done after appropriate research, data collection, information gathering in the country at large must have been conducted. After all these processing, a document would emerge which would be presented to the National Assembly via the president. The president is of course obliged ordinarily to forward the recommended formula to the National Assembly.

    There are certain extreme occasions when the president, by fiat, may refuse to take action on the document and instead arbitrarily allocate figures among the three tiers of government. The circumstances must be extreme indeed and it is difficult to find a precedent when this ‘abnormal’ step would be taken twice.

    As far as I can remember, the Commission has produced recommendations to this effect at least twice in the last decade, and this was done after extensive tours involving millions of naira and contacts made with important institutions and personalities of this great country. Quite unfortunately, nothing came out of these exercises. As of today, it is doubtful whether Nigeria has an operating legal system used in distributing its wealth and resources among the various governments that constitute our constitutional order.

    The result is that more resources are available to the Federal Governments than necessary. The States and Local Governments which constitute the centre of development are unnecessarily starved of desirable funds. The billions that disappear literarily everyday is a direct result of too much money available to the Federal Government. If the proper things had been done for example, and every fist is tight, there would be more prudence in the use of public funds. There is evidence to show that the National Assembly is waiting to receive and consider and pass a new revenue sharing formula.

    There is perhaps the argument that the Revenue Commission does not have the resources to conduct a nation-wide survey. This argument cannot hold. There are documents and data in the records and archives of the Commission which it could update, using acceptable data and methods. Moreover, Commissioners need not travel to every village and hamlet in Nigeria to be able to update the figures and datas available to the Revenue Commission.

    This nation is suffering. The state are grieving with debts, it is time all institutions and organs of government take a plunge, a reasonable plunge to arrest the decay in our national life. The Revenue Commission should be bold and conduct its affairs fearlessly. The stability of our country depends, among others on its readiness to perform its constitutional duties. The National Assembly, with all its structural defects, is waiting to perform its own duties.

    • Deji Fasuan (JP) is a retired Permanent Secretary