The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Orji Kalu and the burden of history

    Orji Kalu and the burden of history

    I must have to say it that former governor of Abia State Orji Uzo Kalu is wasting his talent. My strong belief is that since he has exhausted all his bags of tricks and deceit in the political arena, the only option available to him, since he is bent on circulating public mischief is to pick a role in the entertainment industry and give Mr. Ibu (John Okafor) and Osuofia (Nkem Owoh) of the Nollywood fame, a run for their money in acting as clowns.

    Always dabbling into political gamble on the deluded impression that every body is capable of being hoodwinked, Kalu appears to be a very poor student of history. In the past weeks, he has embarked on the Nicodemus mission to launch himself into relevance within the political firmament. And what other topic could have presented him a platform than the burning issue of 2015 Presidency. What an irony or tragic comedy that of all the serious-minded leaders of Igbo extraction, it is Orji Uzor Kalu that is now shouting hoax that an Igbo should be president in 2015. Good talk and possible mission, one will say. But the truth will in future hunt those who to bury it yesterday for today’s vainglorious acquisition, which is what Orji Kalu has done with the Igbo conscience.

    While the intention of this piece is not the dwell on his latest contrived mischief, it is pertinent to remind all Igbo including those who had not come of age then, that the only time an Igbo man had assiduously worked to clinch Nigeria’s Presidency for real, was at the February 27 1999 Jos Convention of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, where an when the untainted and authentic Igbo son, Alex Ekwueme ran a powerful campaign for the ticket of the PDP then, but saw the god-father of betrayal from his own brother Kalu who in alliance with his masters, played out his spoiler-nature, and as a good errand boy, made sure Ekwueme did not succeed. This also due to the personal ambition he had which he felt then will clash with overall interest of Ndigbo.

    That was how he sold out his brother and mortgaged the future of his kinsmen. The truth is that there are situations that arise in life when in the face of hydra-headed calamities one is forced to throw away the baby alongside the bath water, which is the stage Ndigbo should deal with Orji Uzo Kalu now in reaction to his latest ranting.

    The recent outpour of emotions and respect to the former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme whom Kalu hates to love is a loud attestation that Ndigbo truly know their destination despite what secret and evil plots the mischievous elements among them are hatching. How can a race of intellectually endowed and superb mortals settle for less in their search for a leader? God forbid.

     

    Who says it rains? No, it pours. As if that is not enough, feelers indicate that Abia State government has concluded plans to probe the era Kalu called the shots in the state, even as the authorities and the judiciary are yet to conclude his criminal trial for embezzlement of funds belonging to the state.

    From the reports from Umuahia, the present administration believes that the former governor should be made to explain and untie knots behind Infrastructure Development Funds during his time. This is money alleged to have been diverted by the former governor while in office. The move by the state seems to be the joker that has started giving Uzor Kalu the pimples. He has immediately fired back at the authorities in Umuahia.

    But rather than address the issues raised by his accusers, he chose to engage in argument against the man, by hauling unfounded allegations against the governor and his family. In a recent statement, Kalu alleged that the governor has used up resources of the state to buy up estates abroad while servicing the wallet of his sponsors. This is quite interesting. A monkey now catches monkeys.

    It is also s sign of Armageddon to hear a character like Kalu pontificate about what he did in Abia as governor when it is common knowledge to those born even after he left office that the infrastructure and economy of a once budding state was brought prostrate and comatose owing to the greed of this one-chance politician and his rapacious family.

    Kalu also spoke of roads he did as well as obligatory payment of salaries. Yet, he lacked the honour which is even a virtue among thieves to admit that he bequeathed unimaginable network of dilapidated roads and infrastructure as well as years of arrears of pension and severance allowance of public officers who served under him, including legislators to the incumbent governor. To further show his moral bankruptcy, an Orji Kalu dared to talk about development of the state capital under his administration. What a shameful claim coming from a man who presided over Abia as if fighting an ancestral war with the people of Umuahia, a reason many thought made him relegate the capital city to the status of a global village, while channelling resources and attention to his native Igbere.

    Posterity will always be the judge. Thank God that today the governor who is on the saddle is conscious of history. Thank God he has put down monumental structures and edifices that will save him the stress of unfounded claim. His works will surely speak for him. And if only Kalu had remembered that his day of reckoning will come, he would have spared a thought to serve the people of Abia with all his heart. He would have spared the resources of the state. He would have saved the people of Abiriba from the manipulated crisis that took toil on the economy of the state until the incumbent came and restored the years lost to the locust. He would have thought of creating a better welfare and working conditions for the state Civil Service which he bastardized. He would have uplifted the infrastructure in the Judiciary. He would have left his footsteps on the sands of time. And there would have been no need for this heavy burden on him which he will continue to rue for a long time to come.

    But for now that he is caught in the web, whether as a repented apostle of Igbo emancipation or a “gamji” man who took more that the owners (Ndi-Abia) actually noticed, Orji Kalu being the architect of his current travails remains the very person to purge himself his mess.

     

    • Amanwandi writes from Awka.

  • Guilty as charged!

    LAST month, October 1, our country marked its 52nd Independence Anniversary. Less than one week after, many horrible, deplorable and awful things happened to fellow Nigerians in various parts of the nation – from the floods in Adamawa, Kogi, Anambra etc, to the killing of students in Mubi, to the barbaric jungle justice meted to four undergraduates of University of Port Harcourt. Some of these problems were caused by natural disasters and the others were man-made disasters!

    Now, the question I would like to ask is, “who is responsible?” Who is responsible for all this mayhem, lawlessness and anarchy in our country? Who is responsible for where we have found ourselves as a people? Who is responsible for the flood of corruption, depravity and decadence in the land? Who is responsible for the quicksand of violence, evil and wickedness that we have found ourselves neck deep in? How the heck did we get into this black hole of helplessness, fear, uncertainty and despair? How? Are we not all guilty as charged?

    Some of us may be quick to say, “Well, I am not one of those who have contributed to Nigeria’s problems and challenges, neither have I given her a bad name by any of my actions. Some of us may also add “Well I am not the one killing, maiming and murdering fellow Nigerians. How in the world can you say I am guilty of where we are as a nation? How can you? “

    These excuses are not tenable! These excuses are not justifiable! These excuses do not solve any problem or change anything for the better. These excuses do not proffer solutions! These excuses cannot create the positive social change we desire in our nation! These excuses are only convenient for those who do not want to exercise leadership and take up responsibility. From what I can see in Nigeria, it seems to me that we are definitely all guilty as charged!

    However, if you are still saying that you are not guilty of causing any of Nigeria’s problems or tarnishing her image, what have you done to change the status quo? What have you done to show that you are a patriot? What have you done to encourage and empower fellow Nigerians? What have you done asides from grumble, gripe, complain and bellyache about the way things are going in Nigeria? What have you done? Be honest with yourself, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

    How have you challenged the situation in order to change it? What have you done to give Nigeria a positive image? What have you done to take responsibility for our nation and the destiny of our children? What little changes are you making that will cause the bigger change in Nigeria? What little thing can you do now that will have a rippling effect and create positive change in other areas of our national development? What have you done in your own sphere of influence to change things for good? It is a well known fact that evil is contagious but did you also know that GOOD is also contagious?

    It’s interesting to note that, societies fall into a state of decadence not as a result of the strength of evil but as a direct result of the weakness of GOOD! Men of ill-will seem to be more passionate in the vile ways and the way they perpetuate their evil deeds in the society (e.g. Adolf Hitler of Germany and Idi Amin of Uganda) when compared with the way men of goodwill go about sowing seeds of GOOD DEEDS, TRUTH and JUSTICE in the society. Adolf Hitler once said “It is not the neutrals or the lukewarm who make history.” And that is so true! The men and women of goodwill in Nigeria need to develop a sense of urgency.

    As a Nigerian citizen what have you done to help create a NEW NIGERIA? If you have not done anything, then you are definitely part of the problem. You are just as much the problem as the people who caused it in the first place because you kept quiet, watched and did nothing to stop the decadence. You are guilty as charged!

    It is all too easy to pass the buck and blame others; it seemingly relieves us of any sense of responsibility towards the destiny of our nation. It also helps to reduce the probability of any significant change and growth in Nigeria. It also shuts down our brains, preventing us from thinking and coming up with solutions and answers to our nation’s numerous problems and challenges.

    We keep blaming the colonialist, the West, the military, the elite, past and present governments, the ruling class, politicians, our leaders, etc., but the truth of the matter is that we are all guilty of where we are; we are all guilty of where we find ourselves as a country – either by commission or omission. We are all guilty as charged!

    If we want better leaders, we must become better citizens! If we want good leaders, we must become good citizens! If we want great leaders, we must become great citizens! Everything produces after its own kind. This is a natural and spiritual law. Can we sow pepper and expect to reap tomatoes? Can we? Can we plant beans and expect to harvest rice? Can we? Can we place orange seeds in the ground and expect that at harvest time the orange tree will produce lemons? Can we? Certainly not! Over the years we have sown pepper and we are reaping pepper and we are wondering why. Isn’t that absurd, bizarre and ridiculous? Can we now see that we are all guilty as charged!

    John Stuart Mill once said, “The worth of a state is the worth of the individuals composing it.” We can see that in our society the Nigerian government is a reflection of the Nigerian people, so we are all responsible for the way Nigeria is. We are all responsible for the destiny of our nation.

    My position on the business of taking responsibility is somewhat peculiar. First of all, I believe that if you have done nothing to change the status quo in Nigeria, you definitely share the guilt of where we are as a nation.

    Secondly, if you are doing something to change the status quo (no matter how small or how big it may be), despite that, you are still, unfortunately, also guilty for our present state.

    Thirdly, if you are doing something to change the status quo and you are empowering others to do something, that is really great and I have a high regard and respect for those of you that fall into this category. However, you too, are still guilty of the decadence in the society. It is unfortunately the hard truth!

    You may ask: How can I come to that kind of conclusion?

    You see, whichever way you look at it, we are all guilty for where we are as a nation.

    We will continue to be guilty until enough of us do enough in enough places – and empower enough people – thereby creating a critical mass for positive social change.

    You may ask, “What is enough, numerically speaking?” I honestly don’t know but until Nigeria is obviously a GREAT and POWERFUL nation, we will all remain guilty as charged!

     

    • Simoyan is a patriot, author and leadership architect

  • The ticking unemployment bomb

    SIR: The high rate of youth unemployment in Nigeria gives serious cause for concern as thousands of graduates leave tertiary institutions with no prospects of getting jobs, year-in-year out.

    The matter is compounded daily as higher institutions churn out fresh graduates to add to the already saturated labour market. Daily, we see our streets littered with young hawkers and teenage female street traders, who are constantly faced with the threat of kidnapping and sexual molestation by depraved adults.

    Many university undergraduates engage in drug trafficking, armed robbery, high class prostitution, political thuggery, okada riding and advance fee fraud, just to survive. The rising tide of unemployment and the resultant fear of a bleak future as the large are capable of undermining the country’s fledgling democracy.

    The Statistician-General of the Federation/CEO of the NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale said the total number of unemployed Nigerians rose from more than 12 million in 2010 to more than 14 million in 2011, with the figure increasing by 1.8 million between December 2010 and June 2011 alone. Kale said that unemployment was highest among youths aged between 15 and 24, and 25 and 44, adding that the problem was more pronounced in the rural areas.

    The unemployment figure for 2012 is given as 39.28 million, which is 23.9 per cent of the estimated 164.38 population of the country. Certainly, the most dangerous of the effects of growing unemployment in the nation is the likelihood of a serious break-out of social unrest and lawlessness by such idle hands.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently warned on the possibility of an “Arab spring” experience in Nigeria if the rate of unemployment is not checked. While I do not pray for such gory experience in the country, one is nevertheless troubled by what we get to read in the media of how our political class indulged in the squandering of public funds.

    The rise in unemployment and misery has been fueled by increased tension caused by the high level of insecurity that had made investors avoid Nigeria like a plague. Just a few days ago, a suicide bomber killed and wounded several people at the St. Rita’s Catholic Church, Ungwan Yero, Malali, Kaduna, sending the wrong signal to the international community that Nigeria is a no-go area. Entrepreneurial development, with focus on the retraining of small investors – such as engaging in the working-for-yourself programmes – are goodstrategies to solving or reducing unemployment.

    There is the need for a mechanism to develop the skills of unemployed graduates while placing successful ones on internship in some companies with the possibility of being retained permanently since skills acquisition and leadership development are critical for nation building, wealth creation and distribution.

    Serious attention must be paid to agriculture and agric-business by all tiers of governments as a tool for employment generation through financial institutions, large scale farmers, small and medium scale farmers, researchers, retailers, distributors and serious investors.

    The nation has, over the years, been mobilizing and sharing revenue from only one source – oil. The time has come for governments to devise ingenious ways of expanding their revenue base by venturing into tourism, industrialization and manufacturing.

    Government should subsidize credits to sectors that are likely to be able to generate employment while tax incentives could be deployed to attract investment in labour-intensive areas.

    The creation of urban employment opportunities should be a priority as one of the goals of the nation’s general economic policy, reflecting the impacts of industrial policy investment.

    There is the need to urgently provide solutions to the mismatch between education outcomes and skills demand, to ensure that the country’s educational system provides the necessary skills required by the labour market.

    The supply of labour for development is dependent on increasing the skills of the youth to improve their employability and productivity. Most of the curricula of institutions of higher learning are out of tune with modern day realities.

     

    • Adewale Kupoluyi

    Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta

  • Endorsing Barack Obama

    Endorsing Barack Obama

    Just for the fun of it, Hardball is taking the unusual step of endorsing President Barack Obama for a second term in tomorrow’s United States presidential election. The endorsement is superfluous, and not even nearly as important as the endorsements many US publications would give. But whether US or Nigerian endorsements, what really matters is how voters view the candidature of the Democratic Party standard-bearer, Mr Obama, and the credibility of his Republican Party challenger, Mr Mitt Romney. According to most news reports, the two candidates are in a dead heat at the moment, though Obama has a slight advantage in the nine key swing states of Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada, Wisconsin, Iowa and New Hampshire.

    According to the latest estimate by RealClearPolitics, “Obama has 201 Electoral College Votes, while Romney has 191 so far. The two candidates are fighting it out for as many as 146 Electoral College Votes in 10 battle ground States.” The Wall Street Journal also surmised: “President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney enter the final sprint before Election Day essentially deadlocked nationally in what looks set to be one of the closest presidential elections in US history.” The Washington Post on its own said this of tomorrow’s election: “On the final weekend of a fiercely fought presidential campaign, President Obama holds a narrow advantage over Mitt Romney in the crucial contest for the electoral votes needed to win the White House, even as national polls continue to show the candidates in a virtual tie for the popular vote.” What is obvious from the news coverage of the election is that the poll will produce a narrow winner. That winner should be Mr Obama.

    Hardball recognises that the election has been about the economy much more than any other issue, including the fairly successful foreign policy records of the incumbent. But even as far as the economy is concerned, and with a little help from Hurricane Sandy which cast the president in good light, the figures have been favourable. Not only has employment figure continued to rise, with Obama claiming that more than four million jobs had been created since 2009, unemployment figure, which is more crucial, has continued to fall, indeed dipping well below the dangerous eight percent level that would have made his re-election less certain.

    As a foreign observer in the US election, Hardball takes the extraordinarily inessential step of endorsing Obama for two reasons. First, most Africans, including of course Hardball, are Democratic Party-leaning. The columnist sees no need to break a long-standing mould. Second, and much more importantly, Obama has begun to win back for the US most of its friends all over the world, including traditional allies alienated by the harmful policies of previous governments. It has suddenly become less dangerous for many of these friends to describe themselves as either US allies or just plain friends. By virtue of the direction Obama has steered the US, many of his country’s traditional enemies now look somewhat irrational and extremist. Judging from Romney’s stance, at least as gleaned from his campaign speeches and extempore gaffes, there is the danger that a Republican presidency could once again alienate many of these friends.

    If the US cares for its power and the global influence it still commands, and though these may not significantly affect tomorrow’s poll, Obama deserves to be re-elected. He’ll probably win anyway.

  • Ndigbo have to be wise in 2015

    Ndigbo have to be wise in 2015

    It is pertinent that people should embrace the selfless campaign of Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, the immediate past governor of Abia State, for Igbo presidency in 2015. Anything that is against the Igbo presidency in 2015 should be seen and measured as a punishment against Ndigbo. This was how a People’s Democratic Party’s stalwart said in 2002 that all the (PDP) governors would be returned in the 2003 elections. Except Governors Chinwoke Mbadinaju and Rabiu Kwakwanso who were not returned, Tony Anenih’s prophecy almost came true.

    This is why Ndigbo must take this statement from a Julian Jaynes seriously. Jaynes said that behaviour now must be changed from within the new consciousness rather than from Mosaic laws carving behaviour from without. Sin and desire are now within conscious desire and conscious contrition, rather than in the external behaviours of the decalogue and the penances of temple sacrifice and community punishment. The divine kingdom to be regained is psychological, not physical. It is metaphorical, not literal. It is “within”, not in extenso.

    Anenih further said that the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) would soon collapse and join the PDP; those not at ease with the way the PDP congresses were conducted could egress from the party. There were qualms from the South East reports on the congresses of the PDP and it nearly collapsed or broke the spirits of the South East governors to join other parties. And in other states of the federation the story was not different. Factionalisation was at its expediency!

    In Imo State, then Governor Achike Udenwa was in antagonism with the Hope Uzodimma group of returnees which openly declared for the PDP with the national officers of the party in attendance, and Udenwa lost control of the party. In Enugu State then, Governor Chimaraoke Nnamani was afraid that politicians like Senator Jim Nwobodo, Chief Emeka Eze and Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo were, according to reports, capable of holding the political landscape in the state to their advantage. Nnamani who was applauded to be a man of wisdom wouldn’t have had peace if not that Senator Nwobodo emerged the presidential candidate of the United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNPP). Governor Nnamani, by the help of PDP brokers in Abuja, was the Controller-General of PDP in his state.

    Why did Imo-State have no peace? Udenwa’s political adviser, George Egu, alleged that the Imo-State’s congress was marred by ‘hi-tech thuggery and fraud’. Senator Ifeanyi Araraume was fingered as importing over 99 thugs into the state to cage the executives.

    It was not a sugarcoated experience for Dr. Chris Ngige, then governor of Anambra State. Dr. Ngige was suspended from the party, but he went to Enugu Court of Appeal praying the court to reinstate him as a PDP stalwart. The PDP failed to recognise him even when the verdict of the court was in line with Dr. Ngige’s prayer.

    Abia State was not exempted. There were reports that PDP in the state constituted its executives twice in six days. Dr. Rex Otuka emerged chairman in the executive list before the state congress, Alfredo Awa as deputy chairman, while Chief Dave Nwosu as secretary, yet three congresses were witnessed in the state.

    There were speculations of ripples that this would cause the state when those loyal to Governor Orji Uzor Kalu faction alleged that ‘fake party members’ were registered in the houses of Abuja-based politicians.

    Then President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Tony Anenih and other PDP bigwigs in Abia State hated Dr. Kalu for what journalists called ‘lack of loyalty’. Yet Dr. Kalu’s poster indicating his interest to contest for the prime seat of the president in 2007 was everywhere.

    In Ebonyi State, observers noticed that a parallel faction of PDP was drawn, when the state’s governor, Dr. Sam Egwu, was battling to regain his membership card that was given to the man who’s the Culture and Tourism minister, Frank Ogbuewu. Ogbuewu’s group in the state was chronicled to have been operating under the name, Obasanjo Solidarity Forum (OSF), with Bony Ofoke as its chairman.

    Having said that, the squabbles above illustrate how Ndi-Igbo’s agitation to produce the Nigeria president could not be achieved in 2007.

    Odimegwu Onwumere

  • An appeal to Lagos local council bosses

    An appeal to Lagos local council bosses

    The glamour and popularity of ‘Acess 57’, a TV programme on LTV8 that is designed to showcase and enlighten the public on grassroots achievements of the chairmen of the 57 Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas in Lagos, will be lost if they continue to remain passive to the untold suffering and hardship to which Lagosians are presently facing, following the recent ban on Okada from plying most of the major roads and all highways in Lagos State by Governor Babatunde Fashola. In fairness to the governor, his administration since inception has approached the issue of road construction and rehabilitation with seriousness and today most of the roads notorious for go-slow have either been totally reconstructed or rehabilitated, and a journey of more than 2 hours on such roads is now take less than 10 minutes in most cases during week days and on weekend. A good example is Iju Road in Ifako-Ijaiye that stretches from Iju Waterworks down to Pen Cinema.

    There is no doubt that at the state level, the effort of the state governor at providing succour for Lagos through the provision of BRT buses that are not only affordable but has succeeded in reducing tension on Lagos roads and highways as many Lagosians, irrespective of their status in the society now prefer to patronise the services of the comfortable and convenient BRT buses .

    Without mincing words and in the face of reality, bus drivers in the state are presently making life difficult and unbearable for commuters through arbitrary increase in transport fares on nearly all routes in the state. For example, on the ever busy and strategic Iju Road, it is common to find drivers charge as high as N100 for a journey that hitherto attracted N50 (an increase of 100 per cent). Another example is a less-than 2 kilometers journey on Bank Anthony Way from Ikeja to Maryland which now attracts N100, as against N50 (also a 100 per cent increase) that was hitherto charged commuters . To worsen matters on this route, commuters are forced to pay the exhorbitant and outrageous fare irrespective of bus-stop.

    One of the ways by which Lagosians can be made to enjoy the dividends of democracy in the real sense of the words is by lessening the hardship presently being faced by helpless commuters in the hands of callous and inhuman bus drivers is for all the Local Government and the Local Council Areas chairmen in the state to complement the efforts of the state governor by providing buses on the major routes in the state.

    Odunayo Joseph

    12, Salawu Street, Off Galilee Avenue, Lagos

  • A wave of legislative and oratorical nostalgia

    A wave of legislative and oratorical nostalgia

    Most readers of The Nation newspaper probably missed a short letter to the editor written by Mr Ehimare Godfrey from Benin City and published on Page 20 of this newspaper’s October 31 edition. In it, the writer complained that since his representative, the excitable and bombastic Hon Patrick Obahiagbon, left the House of Representatives, neither the Oredo Federal Constituency, which he used to represent, nor the entire National Assembly had come up to scratch in excitement and boisterousness again. He regretted that fact, he said, and wished that the man of purple prose could find his way back into the House of Representatives to liven things up a bit, relieve the somnolent chamber of its depressing staleness, and return Oredo constituency to some renown.

    Hardball had once had to refer to Hon Obahiagbon in this place and even quoted him at length. His philippics, when he was in the Reps, were doubtless not too remarkable, and his words were stringed together clumsily and ponderously, but he kept lawmakers awake in a chamber where everyone struggled not to doze. His speeches might be riveting for their sheer ability to exorcise dullness and depression from vulnerable minds, and they often ended without anyone making sense of what he meant to say or where he feigned to go, but there was always activity when he got on his feet. Mr Godfrey probably remembered all of Obahiagbon’s glorious moments and the fact that he kept the name of Oredo constituency alive, and he wished to relive them. This columnist can assure him he is not alone. In fact, Hardball himself, being an aficionado of the delectable art of parliamentary oratory, had long given up on the National Assembly, a place he considers so barren of both oratory and great debates that the Sahara desert looked like lush greenery.

    Both Hardball and Mr Godfrey are also not alone. In a 2008 piece by one Andrew Roberts in the London Daily Telegraph, the poor quality of modern parliamentary oratory was also denounced. Roberts described the debates in the British House of Commons as dull company reports rather than “life-enhancing literature.” He quotes Sir Winston Churchill talking to someone and saying, “‘I was never a bird on the unpinioned wing. You see, my boy, when I got up to speak, I always knew precisely where every noun and adjective would go and how every piece of punctuation would bed into my speech. By contrast, the best parliamentary orators, like Lloyd George, FE Smith, Timothy Healy the Irishman, or even that s— Aneurin Bevan, their phrases were dictated by some inner God within.” Then Roberts asked in his piece, “Why is the ‘inner God within’ so absent from today’s parliamentary debates? Why is reading Hansard akin to ingesting a company’s report and accounts, when in earlier periods of our (British) history it read like life-enhancing literature?”

    Judging from Obahiagbon’s sometimes unique dress sense, it was the same parliamentary boredom and mediocrity referred to by Roberts in his Daily Telegraph article that the Nigerian lawmaker tried to relieve us of. He didn’t succeed because though he stirred emotions and warmed the cockles of our hearts, and had an inimitable, vibrant and joyous style, he never really achieved anything – not one fantastic legislation sponsored by him and passed by his colleagues, and not one piece of legislation overthrown either by the force of his words or the encompassing wit and logic of his arguments. He might have failed, but that failure does not detract from the fact that in the National Assembly of today there is not one example of the brilliance demonstrated by Demosthenes when, by his oratory, he stirred the Greeks against Philip of Macedon. Ah, yes, there was Mallam Farouk Lawan with his mellifluous voice and unbroken flow of persuasive grammar and beguiling cadence. But he neither rose to the rarified height of matchless oratory nor eased into the solid bedrock where character and passion become the bulwark for oratory.

    If you could, imagine that Nigeria operated a parliamentary system instead of a presidential system. Could you visualise a Goodluck Jonathan summoning the temperament and the disarming wit to checkmate the opposition or rebellious backbenchers during Prime Minister’s Question Time? That’ll be the day. Hardball has Mr Godfrey writing from Benin City to thank for reminding us how sterile our National Assembly is, and indeed has always been. Is there any hope of redemption anytime soon? Hardly, for Nigerian politics is shaped in such a way that brilliance and oratory amount to nothing. Family affair rules, and it’s OK. Maybe, too, money rules, and it’s even more OK.

  • Ban smoking in private cars

    SIR: I wish to lend my voice to the burning issue of smoking in public places especially by drivers while on the wheel. We all know the dangers caused by smoking. It is known to be linked with accidents, especially fatal ones, due to carelessness from loss of concentration.

    My views is that the banning of smoking by drivers – especially in private cars – will help in some ways to reduce the death rate and health problems associated with it and hence increase the life span of Nigerians.

    I therefore support the banning of smoking in private cars.

    • Ejemba V.C.

    Amukoko, Lagos

  • 50 years of paediatric training in UI

    SIR: In 1962, the department of Paediatrics began in the University of Ibadan (UI) with a special focus on teaching, research and clinical services. Having trained manpower for the national needs and practised the The department which was the birth place of the post graduate training programme in Nigeria and indeed West Africa has evidently come a long way with cornucopia of achievements and successes. The department currently has 33 residency training positions annually graduating an average of three to five paediatricians through the West African College of Physicians and the National Post graduate Medical College of Nigeria together. In fact, there is virtually no department of paediatrics in the country presently that does not have at least two paediatricians who were trained in Ibadan.

    In the area of research, the department has not only carved a niche for itself but recorded outstanding feats which today benefit humanity. For example, the now regular use of oral rehydration therapy sachets which has drastically reduced morbidity and mortality from diarrheal disease, evolved partly from the research conducted by the department. Again, the identification of resistance of malaria parasites to hitherto effective therapy and the evolution from case control trials were in part conducted in the department of paediatrics.

    It is not out of place to state that this department has paid fruitful attention to acute respiratory infections, various childhood tumors, blood diseases in childhood including sickle cell diseases, various congenital and acquired heart diseases in childhood, kidney disorders in childhood, neurological disorders as well as liver and gastrointestinal disorders of childhood.

    One is inclined to commend the department for the successes recorded so far. The department which became a warehouse of cross-fertilising minds has certainly manifested precision in the diagnosis and treatment of the child-patient. It is clear that the department still maintains its stimulating repository of knowledge profile which has greatly contributed to the meaningful development of Nigerian child.

    The achievements of this department are no doubt altruistic. Although, Michael Montaigne says no doctor takes pleasure in the health of, even his friend, for when you tell a doctor that you are ill, he will write you a bill, it is clear that the department of Paediatrics, College of Medicine has taken pleasure in the health of Nigerian child.

    • Sunday Saanu

    University of Ibadan.

  • Fatal attraction: What an oxymoron!

    SIR: “Fatal attraction” is an oxymoron par excellence as used in The Nation editorial of September 7. Usually the headline of a piece of writing should suggest the main gist. But in this case, the headline had no semantic bearing with the object of the editorial opinion. However, I got attracted to the headline and I wasted no time to read the piece. I there and then decided to write this rejoinder.

    I was flabbergasted that The Nation could editorialise a phantom analogy! The Nation wrote:”a British study has revealed that nearly one million crashes happen every year because of drivers’ attitude of ogling pedestrians while behind the wheels. … According to the study which polled 2,142 drivers, 60 per cent of men admitted being distracted by attractive women while 12 per cent of women said they lost concentration while leering at good-looking men.”

    The Nation submitted: “If we have about a million people crashing their vehicles in Britain because they are attracted (distracted) by the opposite sex as they drive, we are likely to have as many in Nigeria, if not more.” In justifying the analogy, the paper quipped: “This is because human psychological conditions are basically the same; the differences would be that they have better road facilities, they are more methodical in studying the phenomenon and they would be less inhibited in discussing the matter.

    I agree in toto with the latter part of this justification but the former position is an extraneous fallacy of the crux of the analogy. Of course, it’s a truism that “human psychological conditions are basically the same” but no condition exist in vacuum. The usage of “condition” in this context, as Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary, New 8th Edition puts it, is a necessary “situation that must exist in order for something else to happen”. The study, according to the editorial, “shows drivers smash their cars into the vehicle in front of them or into lamp posts more in the summer when men and women wear less clothing”.

    One germane question here is whether the study actually shows the percentage of such ogling-cum-leering induced road crashes during the summer. That would have been revealing! Be that as it may, there are no analogies between motoring culture in the United Kingdom and what’s obtainable here in Nigeria. As a road safety pundit of over a decade who has first-hand familiarity with the driving cultures in both countries, I stand to be corrected that the controlled sanity that exists on the UK roads be it in the summer, spring or autumn, is in absolute contrast to the habitual sheer insanity on the Nigerian roads either in the rainy or dry season. Britain, needless to say, has one of the best road safety records in the world.

    The specific twin issues of ogling and leering as dual causative agents of road traffic accidents (RTAs) while driving especiallyduring the summer are neither here nor there as a basis for the editorial analogy because most UK summer dresses are almost impossible to be worn by any sane person in Nigerian streets. I suppose what the UK report, according to the editorial, referred to as “less clothing” is a reality of the Britain’s clime which even a Briton is most unlikely to wear publicly in Nigeria. Most “less clothing” worn especially by the women in the summer in the UK barely cover the privates.

    The Nation editorial was right to assert that “Hardly any day passes since the beginning of this year without fatal accidents happening on our roads. We are well aware that our road infrastructure is in derelict state”.

    Obviously, the first chief cause of RTAs in Nigeria is the “Nigerian factor” that simply makes our systems unable to deliver the goods! The second chief cause is poor understanding of the ABC of road safety by the motoring public including the educated elite. The third chief cause is the lethal combination of bad drivers driving old vehicles on poor roads! If you want me to blame the FRSC for the high road fatality and mortality rates in Nigeria, then I rest my case.

    • Yomi Akinola,

    President of Road Accident and Transport Management Centre, Ibadan