The Nation Newspaper

Category: Comments

  • Ganduje and Kano modernization

    Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s pedigree put him far ahead of other contestants who wanted to govern Kano, Nigeria’s centre of commerce in 2015. Firstly, he was deputy governor in the preceding government.  His acquaintance with the government institutions and people in the state gave him that rare privilege of understanding the major challenges of Kano State economy, and specific constraints faced by players in different economic sectors, private and public institutions, regions and professional bodies.

    Secondly, Ganduje is well read. He has NCE, B.Sc, M.Sc, MPA and PhD degrees to his credit from the prestigious Bayero University Kano, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, and Nigeria’s premier university, University of Ibadan.

    Governor Ganduje also has a very rich professional experience spanning private business and public service, before joining politics. He was a personnel manager with Nornit Limited Kano for two years. In the public sector, he served as an education officer; lecturer and later as an administrative officer with the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), where he rose to become the director of planning, research and statistics. He was at a time a board member of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA); chairman, Federal Polytechnic; and the Executive Secretary, Lake Chad Basin Commission at Ndjamena, Chad Republic.

    With his wealth of experience, he anchored his manifestoes on 12 different programmes, including: compulsory education; establishment of due process bureau; housing; regional water scheme; agriculture; health service and war against drug abuse; security; boosting internally generated revenue (IGR) and reinvigorating the Kano masterplan, among others.

    No matter how brilliant the ideals of any administration, they will only fly on the wings of regular and sustainable revenues. This means the issue of financial sustainability must be addressed as a matter of priority. He, therefore, reformed the state Board of Internal Revenue into a more professional agency to enhance revenue generation.

    His approaches were quite simple and straightforward. He brought in professional accountants, tax administrators, practitioners well versed with the technicalities of taxation for both the public and private sectors. These innovations have started to pay off. In the last fiscal year, the state’s IGR rose a record 127 percent to N31 billion in 2016 up from N13.61 billion in 2015. This feat was unique in the sense that between 2012 and 2014, Kano’s annual IGR stood at N13.95 billion on the average.

    An idle mind is the devil’s workshop, so says the sage. If past findings have linked poverty with insurgency and other vices, then, any administration not focusing on job creation must have its programmes re-evaluated. So far, 1,857 teachers have been employed by the state’s ministry of education; 874 practitioners recruited into different units within the health ministry while 1,036 individuals employed into the state’s security outfits, Corporate Security Guards. Above all, 1,715 temporary employees under the ministry of education have been converted into permanent and pensionable status.

    As an academic and a former education officer, Governor Ganduje was well equipped with the passion and knowhow to address the challenges of the education sector. He chose his projects in this sector very carefully. The teaching staff was the first port of call. Since the quality of students is linked to the level of education of the instructors, Ganduje’s administration started by training and retraining the basic education teaching staff. This was supported with the release of matching grant to the Universal Basic Project (UBE) and counterpart funding for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the renovation of schools while teaching materials are provided to schools across the 44 local governments in the state. The tertiary institutions in the state especially the Northwest University and Kano University of Science and Technology Wudil have witnessed the completion of notable capital projects such as halls, lecture theatres and laboratories.

    Nowadays, any state government that ignores the agriculture sector does so at its own peril. This is because, apart from being the largest employer of labour in the country, the sector has remained resilient to the forces of recession, while other sectors witnessed lower economic activities since 2016.

    The renewed interest in locally grown produce such as rice, maize and sorghum, opened vast opportunities to small holders and commercial farmers. Towards this end, major agricultural programmes have focused on the resuscitation of Kano State Agricultural Supply Company (KASCO) and Kano State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KNARDA) for the supply of insecticides, quality seeds, adaptable farm implements and provision of extension services. His administration has also tapped into the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) loans to farmers. A total of N2 billion is being sourced for farming related activities in the state through the CBN scheme. This was also supported by the distribution of 5,000 water pump to all farmers, compact sealing machines, combined harvesters, N100 million loan to wheat farmers, while some 60 local Fulani cattle rearers were trained abroad on artificial insemination.

    Governor Ganduje’s administration has recorded some of the successes highlighted above through the cordial relationship it enjoys with the legislative arm while the state’s civil service is in complete harmony with his programmes. Since its inauguration on June 8, 2015, Kano State House of Assembly has passed 15 bills, thereby further enhancing the capacity of the state government to deliver at the pace witnessed in the last two years. Some of the bills passed include the Land Use Charge Bill; Tax and Levy Bill; Universal Basic Education Bill;  Local Government Amendment Bill and Pension and Gratuity Amendment Bill; Kano State Contributory Health Care Scheme;  Kidnapping, Abduction and Forced Labour Amendment Bill, and the Metropolitan Transport Authority Bill.

    Furthermore, Governor Ganduje considers prompt payment of workers’ salaries a prerequisite for economic development. Therefore, while some state governments owe the civil service backlogs of salaries due to recession, Kano State government under Ganduje has effectively employed his financial engineering skills garnered over the years from both the public and private sector to promptly pay workers’ salaries and remit monthly pension deductions timely and even pay pension arrears by the previous governments on monthly basis, even when the monthly federal revenue allocation nosedived.

    What’s more, investors are monitoring the reforms and progress being made in the state. At present, a number of them have invested in Kano State ahead of other states in the country.  The rising confidence among the investing community within and outside the state explains why the government recently signed 10 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with different companies during 50th anniversary of the state. These companies will invest N146 billion in the state. This is aside the direct and indirect job opportunities they will create, and their impact on the tax base of the state.

    Amongst the new investors in Kano State is Black Rhino/Dangote Group which is to construct a 100-megawatt solar project estimated at $150 million. In a similar vein, St. Meer International Investment and Management Company will invest $120 million in a similar project. In addition, just recently, Shandong Ruyi Technology Group, a multinational Chinese company, indicated its interest in investing $600 million into the textile and garment sector of Kano State. The disclosure was made by the chairman, Kano State Investment Promotion Agency, Isyaku Umar Tofa.

    The first two years have confirmed that Governor Ganduje has walked the talk as his legacies are visibly everywhere in the state.  The next two years promises to be more fulfilling. No wonder he stated: “We want to make Kano State a functional and self-sustaining one through improved social services, boosting of agriculture, adequate water supply, provision of qualitative education, healthcare and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). We have succeeded in channelling most of our energies to development matters of the state. I believe that this attitude will continue to prevail as we now move into more aggressively implementing our development plan”.

     

    • Bello contributed this piece from Kano.

  • Understanding farmers-herdsmen conflict

    Nigeria has experienced a considerable increase in natural resource conflicts since the early 1990s. The increasing clashes between farmers and pastoralists have recently become worrisome, especially in wetland areas of the Middle Belt, North Central Nigeria. As expected, most media outlets both local and international have cashed in on the stories around the unfortunate conflict with highly exaggerated accounts motivated by ethnic and religious undertones.  This has led to increased misunderstandings and level of distrust among Nigerians.

    Centuries back, many of the low-lying areas next to rivers in Nigeria was hardly used by farmers because for wide-ranging reasons. One of such was the exposure to diseases like river blindness and malaria. Another is the problem of erosion peculiar to these riverine areas. These areas instead were mainly used for grazing by nomadic herders and fishermen.

    However, the increase in Nigeria’s population led to a need for much greater use of these lands, especially for food production. During Nigeria’s colonial era, large irrigation schemes to ensure freshly planted food crops became popular. These schemes however became unsustainable forcing successive governments to find alternatives. The need to have substitutes necessitated the introduction of the Fadama projects in the early 90s to support traditional small-scale farmers. Fadama is a term denoting irrigable low-lying plains. The idea was to promote low cost technology for irrigation under the World Bank financing. The Fadama cultivation was promoted throughout the northern region.

    The expansion of the project coincided with large-scale urbanization and a growing demand for horticultural products in all regions. This spread various types of dry season cultivation in many states and ultimately set the stage for the recurring farmers and herders’ clashes. The farmers, usually desperate to meet the growing demand for food items in growing urban centers and to feed their families took up more of the riverbanks to farm. Doing this meant they encountered struggles with the other users, especially the herders and even the marginal fishermen. The herders’ frustration and hostility came mostly from finding the grazing routes and access to watering points covered by tomatoes, cucumbers, vegetables and other crops planted by the farmers. This led to misunderstanding and clashes leading to loss of lives and property.

    At what point did it become a full-blown war?

    Prior to 1999, security was considerably firmer than it is now. One of the weaknesses of civilian rule from 1999 till date is the poor and inadequate response to the security of lives and property. Internal crises were containable under pre- democracy era. Now, the police and/or security outfits are required to contain what initially used to be settled by village heads. The advent of democratic rule seems to have opened the gate of ethno-religious conflicts which manifested around the farmer-herder conflicts. Some politicians have cashed on the land use conflicts to feather their nest.  For example, in Mambilla Plateau of Taraba State, herders and farmers have lived peacefully together for centuries. There was never a history of any clash between the neighbours until around the years 2001 and 2002, and both crises are believed to have been politically motivated.

    Smarting from the latest round of the clash, which started on June 18, after ethnic Mambilla militias descended on Fulani communities, people are still counting their massive losses due to unprovoked attacks on their lives and property. A number of people for example, are still missing Again these attacks were alleged to have been carried out at the behest of some political elements.

    In the early years of return to democratic rule in Nigeria, Plateau State also witnessed ethno religious crisis. Many of the settled and transhumant pastoralists were caught up in the crisis between the urban Hausa-Fulani Muslim and the Christian tribes; which set the stage for subsequent conflicts that lasted many years. The situation has not been different in other states like Nassarawa, Benue and Kaduna. Again, just about the same period, we had the infamous Sharia crisis in 2000 which contributed to the already growing distrust among the urban Hausa-Fulani Muslims and their largely Christian tribe neighbours in Southern Kaduna. This of course has negatively affected the relationship between the transhumant pastoralists and the locals in Southern Kaduna.

    Part of why these crises linger on is because both the people and successive state governments failed to commit to peace. We have seen recently in Plateau State, for example, that peace can be restored when both parties are committed to lasting peace. Efforts made by the state government, NGOs, development partners, community and religious leaders and the warring parties to ensure peace has proved to be effective; so far Plateau State has been at its most non-violent phase for the longest time since 1999.

    We also cannot ignore the acts of criminality and banditry being perpetrated under the guise of the “herdsmen attacks”; and our obsession with one-sided narratives. A good example is that of the Zaki Biam killing that took place on March 20, in Benue State. The initial report was that “herdsmen” perpetuated the mass killing of the people of the town. The police however later reported after investigation that armed gangs led by the wanted militia leader, Terwase Agwaza, carried out the act.

    Over the years, the federal government created commissions to investigate and find comprehensive solutions for the crisis in the Middle Belt states. There was the presidential peace initiative committee in 2002, the Federal Administrative Panel of Inquiry in 2008, the Federal Advisory Committee in 2010, post advisory committees on security challenges in 2012 and so many others. Failure of successive governments to implement any of the recommendations by the panels of inquiry set up to investigate previous crises is one reason it still lingers. Some months ago for example, the Kaduna State government made an effort to implement one of such recommendations and it was widely sensationalized as “paying the herdsmen for killing people”; which ushers in the role of media in these crises.

    If the media can do away with this culture of exaggerating every crisis and do more of developmental and investigative journalism, crises would be averted. For instance, the pre-dawn attacks in some parts of Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, Nassarawa and Taraba states were widely reported to be perpetuated by “unknown gunmen” between 2010 and 2012. ‘Unknown gunmen’ easily became a lazy way to report the news as opposed to actually investigating the attacks or the people behind it.

    The label was later switched to tagging every clash as a ‘reprisal attack by suspected Fulani herdsmen’ without reporting the original attacks that prompted these reprisals. The media keeps reporting the crisis with political and ethno-religious undertone, giving room for ethnic profiling of the entire Fulani race, accusing them of undertaking an ethnic cleansing agenda against the ‘Northern Minorities’. This narrative became even more popular when Muhammadu Buhari came into power as President and Nasir El-Rufai as Governor of Kaduna, both Fulani men, despite their resolve and continued efforts towards ending the crisis.

    It is important for the reader to know that the term ‘Fulani’ doesn’t necessarily describe a particular tribe. It is an umbrella of different clans with distinct dialects in Nigeria and more than 17 African countries. So, if the media continues to give unverified blanket reports of this “herdsmen” crisis, it will only sow seeds of bad blood among Nigerians for crimes committed by criminals.

    The federal government should as a matter of urgency review our border patrol system, thereby providing more security personnel, deployment of new technological facilities that will aid the immigration and other security agents to verify and admit any foreign herders entering the country. They must be trained to be able identify and stop illegal intruders from entering Nigeria. All herds must have the International Transhumance Certificate as provided by the ECOWAS Protocol on Transhumance.

    The ECOWAS Transhumance Protocol of 1998 and the ECOWAS Protocol of Free Movement of Goods and Persons in West Africa also need to be reviewed.  Both acts allow herders access to designated stock routes and grazing lands/reserves through the West African countries. The review should be put in place to ensure efficiency and to identify new routes and away from the routes have already been turned farmlands.

     Another viable way of keeping the crisis minimal is creating and revitalizing grazing reserves, especially within states in the North that have already indicated interest in doing so. Over the years, the victims of these clashes have been shoved aside, with no form of compensation for the lives and properties lost. It is therefore imperative to create special tribunals to investigate, prosecute offenders and compensate victims. The media also has a part to play in this in form of undercover journalism; the bar has to be set high for reporters.

     

    • Leme wrote from Lagos.

     

  • Oshiomhole misfires

    THE argument proffered last week by former labour leader and erstwhile Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole that what Nigeria needs is restructuring of the mind, not the restructuring of the polity, is untenable. While he is right about the dichotomy between the tribe of the poor and the rich in a badly governed Nigeria, the solution can not lie in waiting for the tribe of the rich to change their values to become less corrupt and more efficient.

    Of course there is the abundance of bad faith as he stated, but the comrade misses the point when he thinks that the elites can be restructured under the present circumstance by one good man holding a gun to their head or preaching them to conversion. He fails to realise that the inherent chaos arising from the structural defects is what our political elites exploit to their advantage. The defects promotes and celebrates corrupt practices.

    Otherwise why don’t our leaders engage in their delinquent behaviours outside the country where the law is swift and efficient? But even more importantly, what type of constitutional aberration denies a chief executive of a federating unit, the power to engage in the provision of basic amenities of life or the control of basic institutions to punish for the disobedience of the basic laws he is empowered to execute?

    Oshiomhole who spoke at the 20th Professor Wole Soyinka Annual Lecture Series organised by the Association of Seadogs, differed from Professor Itse Sagay and Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife. In his paper, Professor Sagay argued for a return to federalism, pointing out the incongruity of a federal authority having the constitutional prerogative to determine the wages to be paid by its federating units.

    Sagay also raised the delinquent practice of the federal government taking over the resources of the federating units and sharing it at it pleases, including dishing out obnoxious entitlements to its legislative officials. Dr Ezeife warned of the possibility of Nigeria disintegrating under the weight of its constitutional dystopia. He implored the acting President to take steps to ensure that the country is restructured by the middle of 2018.

    Comrade Oshiomhole strangely argued emotively that when a governor does not pay workers’ salaries, such a governor needs restructuring of the mind to give workers their due. Perhaps Oshiomhole was talking from personal experience, but I doubt the syllogism that it is always an act of bad faith when a governor does not pay workers’ salaries. Maybe in some cases, but what if the governor does not have the resources with which to pay?

    But should the primary essence of governance be reduced to the drudgery of paying workers’ salaries? Even on that, are the majority of governors not paying because they are afflicted by malice or are they legal inhibitions restraining them from optimal performance? Last week, the Governor of Lagos State revealed the bureaucratic efforts he is making to give Lagos electricity. Similar efforts by his predecessors were frustrated by a federal government controlled by a different party.

    Not long ago, the governor had to openly protest that federal officials were frustrating his desire to reconstruct the road to Murtala Muhammed International Airport into a 10 lane expressway. It took public outcry before the acting President intervened to grant the approval. Assuming the acting President is unwilling to intervene, then Lagos State residents will be denied the benefits of a modern road because those not elected to govern Lagos says you can’t do a Lagos road?

    So, under other our present constitutional aberration, even the perspicacious governors can only dream not dare? That is the crux of the argument and our Comrade is arguing that we should wait for change of heart instead of change of the laws? Again, the fact that every month without breaking a sweat, a governor gains humongous resources from Abuja is a disincentive to the right persons being elected into office. Even using Oshiomhole premise, should the payment of salaries depend on the goodly nature of the state executives, instead of the law?

    Perhaps there is one more reason to restructure the country. The need to decentralize economic and political controls to create as many economic and political centres as is possible. That way, instead of all the elites and the wannabes, aggregating in Abuja and Lagos, with all the attendant bedlam, we will have regional or state centres where many can rise or fall, without threatening the national order.

    The history of the First Republic will show the sense in that. Obviously because the meat of action was in Kaduna, the Northern Region’s capital, instead of Lagos, the then federal capital, the late Sarduana of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello preferred to stay in the region while he sent his lieutenant Alhaji Tafawa Balewa to the centre. Again, the achievements that Chief Obafemi Awolowo is remembered for were done in the Western Region, not as a federal officer.

    The present desperation for power at the centre is because of the unfair advantage it confers. Imagine the consequence of a governor falling out with a duplicitous President, who is in complete control of the state security apparatchik. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo showed to what use, for good or for bad, the exclusive control of police power can be put to when he decided to take out the governors of Plateau, Ekiti and Bayelsa states.

    Still on the governor who has no control over security agencies, I remember the helplessness of the past and present governors of Plateau and Benue states, over herdsmen and similar attacks. If a duplicitous central government connives to create insecurity in a state and the governor is forced to expend large portions of state resources to manage it, will the payment of salary not be a casualty?

    That is why it is a fallacy to regard the governors as chief security officers of their respective states. That false claim only entitles the governors the opportunity to cream off huge sums as security vote. Yet, most of the governors end up using that so-called security vote to pacify local war lords or federal agents, to purchase peace.

    I thought Oshiomhole should be in the vanguard of those asking for restructuring considering his gubernatorial experience unless he has other considerations for sounding politically correct. Recall that following his re-election, Oshiomhole had to openly thank the then President Goodluck Jonathan for not using the security agencies to impede a smooth election. Perhaps he considers it appropriate for the President to have such an opportunity?

    Again, following the ouster of President Jonathan, Oshiomhole boasted as he campaigned for his successor that the Peoples Democratic Party was completely finished in Edo State because the federal might was gone. His candidate eventually won. So, is the erstwhile labour leader saying it is appropriate for a federal authority to have overbearing influence in local elections in the states?

     

  • Using markets for immunization awareness

    I was deeply heartbroken when I visited a fellow market woman to console her after she lost her child to pneumonia early this year. The atmosphere was charged with so much grief and sorrow. I remember the pain that cut her so deeply, her cries and tears which never seemed to stop. She really loved her daughter, and now she was gone. It was truly an unbearable experience. My pain comes from the fact that it is a disease that could have been prevented through immunization. I am also shocked by the knowledge that every year in Nigeria, many thousands of children die from pneumonia, meningitis, diarrhoea and other diseases that can be prevented through immunization.

    Markets are places where a lot of our Nigerian women ply their trade. In addition, women carry the bulk of responsibility in caring for our children. The woman who lost her child is one of the many thousands of women in this situation. Imagine a scenario where as a market seller, she has to suspend her commercial activities in order to tend a sick child. She may make little to nothing on the days she has to visit a clinic. Having no money to cater for her family also brings additional problems. And after all the effort, you lose your child to a disease that can be prevented by immunization?

    No, it is very painful indeed.

    Nigerians, especially our children, need not die from these diseases because the vaccines to prevent them are available. What we must do is ensure that the government takes this case seriously to purchase and provide these vaccines for every primary healthcare centre in the country. I commend the Federal Ministry of Health for the leadership they demonstrated to quickly provide Meningitis C vaccines during the meningitis outbreak. This should also extend to all vaccines covered within the routine immunization programme. The vaccines under the government’s routine immunization programme takes care of diseases that can kill or maim children early in their life: diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, polio, tetanus, meningitis, whooping cough, measles and yellow fever. It is commendable that the government wants to expand the programme by introducing two new vaccines within the next three years. These new vaccines will protect children against diarrhoea, and young girls and women against cervical cancer.

    Considering the population of this country, this shows the enormous responsibility that this part of the health sector carries in ensuring the safety of many Nigerian children. There are more than seven million children born every year in Nigeria. This also shows how wide the routine immunization programme in the country functions in reaching many poor and remote areas to keep our children healthy and productive. However, with the impending addition of new vaccines to the traditional ones in the routine immunization programme, the overall cost for funding them has increased. These new vaccines are also relatively more expensive than all the traditional ones combined.

    Currently, the government pays for all traditional vaccines. For the new vaccines, government co-pays with international donors such as Gavi. However, government disburses only about 20% of the total cost for these vaccines. The rest are paid by donors. We must ensure that government increases funding for the routine immunization programme because we have to take initiative in saving the lives of our children. We are not talking about American or British children, we are talking about Nigerian children. Why must we rely on foreign money to keep our own children healthy? We need to start taking real ownership of our problems and begin to take steps to plan ahead for the health needs of our country.

    Ensuring that there is enough funding for the routine immunization programme puts us on the right track on the road to preventing diseases or outbreaks if they arise. The funds should also be released on time to buy these vaccines and ensure that they are distributed safely to avoid stock outs. They must be distributed from the central storehouse down to the local primary healthcare centre, especially those in rural communities, where they are utilized.

    As we make efforts to get vaccines to where they are needed, we must also focus on getting more Nigerians to use our immunization services. Many people need to be aware about the importance of getting their children immunized.

    This is why I want our market places, where all manner of people visit for their daily activities, to be an avenue for immunization awareness and service. Whether you are in Balogun Market in Lagos, or Old Market in Sokoto or Ariaria in Aba, you should be able to see messages on the importance and benefits of immunization and realize how important it is to save lives. People should understand why government needs to spend more money to maintain the immunization programme. Visiting the market should also give you the opportunity to see and hear messages calling you to immunize your children.

    When this is done, over time, more children will receive their immunization because more people are better informed about the benefits and know where to access them. I am a vaccine champion under the Women Advocates for Vaccine Access (WAVA). So I stand for the right for all Nigerians to be fully immunized and lead a healthy life. If government working with traditional rulers in northern Nigeria can bring about a better control of polio, then it is possible that working with market women and men in all states in Nigeria can bring about a better control for every vaccine-preventable disease.

    Let me remind us that those who have died during the meningitis outbreak that claimed many lives could have been anyone of us. When the majority of children in Nigeria are immunized, this will prevent outbreaks from these diseases. Nigerians need to understand that as government is making efforts to provide these vaccines, we as citizens must use these immunization services. Immunization is free at all public hospitals, so no child should be deprived of this essential service.

     

    • Chief (Mrs.) Tinubu-Ojo is Iyaloja-General of Nigeria; President-General, Market Women and Men Association of Nigeria.

     

  • ‘Zionist’ clowns

    It is quite helpful when a menacing challenge confronting the Nigerian nationhood lends itself to comic relief. You get to see that it could well be a huge, though avoidably expensive joke after all. The portentous clouds have far more light vapour than potential water torrents in them. That is to say the heavens aren’t about to fall, and all these past exertions with hate rhetoric and brash sabre-rattling were just needlessly overreaching. Rather, we can get some good laugh at one another as we interrogate the riling joints of our shared communality in a sincere endeavour to come up with expeditious redress.

    Nothing better indicated that the separatist passions which had hitched this country onto a cliffhanger for some while now need a lot more thinking through than the ‘Zionists’ tomfoolery early last week. A little known separatist group touting as Biafra Zionist Federation (BZF) stepped up to the dais, declaring purported secession of the ‘Republic of Biafra’ from Nigeria effective from Tuesday, August 1. The group’s self-acclaimed leader, Benjamin Onwuka, at a press conference in Enugu declared himself ‘Interim President’ of the phantom republic, whose geographical boundaries and capital city were not stated. And really, there was scant evidence that such essential dimensions of a human collective laying claim to statehood had even been faintly contemplated.

    Onwuka told journalists that an interim government with a 30-day lifespan had been formed. “The interim government will take off on August 1 and last till August 31, 2017,” he said, without providing explanation on how the successor government would crystalise.

    But you should save the golden prize in impudence for the government that had been allegedly formed. Onwuka omitted naming a vice president for his purported republic, but he threw up House of Representatives member from Plateau State, Beni Lar, as Secretary to the so-called Biafra government. Reputed scholar Professor Pat Utomi made the bill as Foreign Minister, while former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, was announced as helmsman of a Central Bank of Biafra whose envisaged currency of exchange and value denominators seemed yet to be fathomed. Former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director-General and currently Treasurer/Vice President of the World Bank, Ms. Arunma Oteh, was listed by Onwuka as potentiated to find a stronger attraction in handling the phantom republic’s Finance ministry.

    Two former Federal Information Ministers who are reputed for skillset in communication tasks, Professor Jerry Gana (from Niger State) and Labaran Maku (Nasarawa), were tipped for Transport and Aviation portfolios respectively in the 30-day ‘cabinet’. So also were Gabriel Oluwole Osagie, for Education, and Philip Effiong Jnr. for Health. And Professor Barth Nnaji, a world class Nigerian with globally credentialed expertise in robotics and former Federal Minister of Power, was touted lined up for better relevance as the purported Biafra’s Energy minder.

    Others listed for the separatist wild ride included the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, who incidentally has been very vocal in asserting that what Ndigbo seek is not secession from Nigeria but decisive relevance in the nationhood: he was tipped by Onwuka as Ambassador to the United States in the alleged government. And there were ace broadcaster Amarachi Ubani, named Minister for Information; and Mary Okafor as Minister for Trade and Industry.

    For a government purported to be taking effect at once, it was quite obvious that Onwuka had no prior consultation with the persons named before he outed with his ‘cabinet’ list. Online news site, pulse.ng, reported Utomi as dismissing his ‘appointment’, saying: “There are so many distractions in this country. Please, let’s focus on important things.” And Maku, according to the site, denied any knowledge of the separatist group, even though he linked its agitation with “failure of leadership and structural deficiency” in Nigeria. Besides, he said he couldn’t have fitted the ‘Biafra’ bill considering the area of this country he hailed from. Most of the others named have simply ignored the verbiage.

    There was no indication though that Onwuka was any whit clear headed about his agenda, as he had claimed that the named persons were drawn from areas comprising Biafra’s territory. And when journalists at the Enugu press conference tittered at his sheer effrontery as he reeled out those names purported to be of his ‘cabinet appointees’, he reportedly glared at them and retorted: “This is not a laughing matter.”

    The point to be made here is that similar befuddlement irredeemably bogs all separatist exertions by groups strutting this country today, not minding their mutually excluding aspirations. And let me say it was commendable maturity on the part of the security services that they ignored Onwuka on account of his verbal ranting by which he perhaps was seeking cheap martyrdom, unlike in June 2014 when he was reportedly arrested and charged with treason after leading some members of the BZF to invade the Enugu State Broadcasting Service studios in a botched bid to announce purported Biafra secession.

    But it bears asking where the meeting point falls between the ‘Zionists’ wild ride and frenetic advocacy for same statehood by Nnamdi Kanu’s Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Because from indications, Onwuka’s gamble last week seem angled to pillage the relevance of Kanu’s IPOB; and that was just as IPOB itself effectively sidelined the once pivotal Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) with which it now has an adversarial relationship in the separatist crusade. Worse, none of these groups seem to have a clear perspective of the purported statehood’s territorial limits. And so, when Kanu in violation of his bail terms visited some Southeast states in July for advocacy rallies that were reportedly attended by mammoth crowds, he was simultaneously confronted by many indigenes who voiced strong loathing for his dream republic.

    Up North, the separatist Coalition of Northern Youths (CNY) fared hardly better. In the closing days of July, there were publicised parleys by coalition leaders with the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) chair and Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, who after those meetings was upbeat that the quit notice issued residents of Igbo origin in the North by the youths was about to be withdrawn. Late last week, though, the self-assigned group insisted that the notice subsisted, but with a caveat. “We stand by our notice, but those who are interested in Nigeria can stay (while) those who are not interested can go,” its leader, Shettima Yerima, said after a meeting in Kano.

    Even then, the youths recognised their limitation in giving their notice real effect. “We don’t have the right to force the people to go. So, we are using peaceful means because we don’t have police and army,” Yerima added.

    It should be obvious, in my view, that the path of hate and bile in addressing Nigeria’s nationhood challenges are severely circumscribed. Honest dialogue holds out a better a promise.

  • Devolution of powers: Senate as mirror of today’s Nigeria

    It is interesting reading the commentaries in some newspaper columns and opinion pages over the failure of the proposal for the devolution of powers to scale through during the constitution amendment process in the federal legislature. The commentaries gave me an idea that if I were to be in the department of mass communication or political science of a university either as a student or lecturer, one research I would love to invest my time on now is how these newspaper columns and opinions reflect the geo-political divisions in today’s Nigeria.

    Using content analysis as a research tool, it would have been easy to see which commentator wrote what and in what newspaper. One would have also discovered the role location, ownership and the political interests of the newspaper owners played in shaping the position of editorial opinions, columnists and also, the choice of articles that get published in newspapers on the subject at hand. Also, the research would have explained why some newspapers prefer to interview certain individuals or representatives of some groups or organizations to get their viewpoint on the issue of devolution of powers to states.

    The objective of the research would be to show the division over the issue across geo-political zones in the country and how they are reflected  even in the newspapers. The research would also show the relationship between the position of the columnist or newspaper and the ownership cum location of the newspaper.

    Unfortunately, I am neither a student or a researcher. Even my job would not give the luxury of the objectivity or neutrality that such an endeavor requires for the result to enjoy fidelity, credibility and acceptability.

    However, without the proper research, I have tried to read critically the opinions, corporate and personal, as expressed in the published articles and editorials and to take cognizance of the facts of location, ownership and geo-political origin of the authors. My conclusion is that just as the campaign for restructuring remains a Southern affair, the knocks the National Assembly has received on the failure to pass the devolution of powers to states are from Southerners and southern-based media. While the vitriolic attacks on the federal legislators have been very loud and ceaseless, prominent columnists from the North and media organized based in the North have largely ignored the issue of devolution of powers  while commenting  on other aspects of the constitution amendment.

    Similarly, while prominent groups in the South and their  leaders have been loud in condemning the National Assembly for the votes that led to the defeat of the bill on devolution of powers, their counterparts in the Northern part of the country have expressed contrary opinion or kept mute.

    For those who observed the votes in both chambers of the National Assembly on July 26 and 27, it is obvious that the votes equally reflected the thoughts on this issue in the media. Members voted along geo-political preferences. The implication is that both the National Assembly and the media are reflections of the situation in Nigeria, particularly on the issue of restructuring.

    Ours is a country with sharp divisions. To some Nigerians, the agitation for restructuring is limited to the South. With this perception, a deep distrust, suspicion and misunderstanding has welled up around it. Restructuring is now seen in some quarters as equivalent to the agitation of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for secession, the campaign for resource control by the militants in the South-south creeks and demand for fiscal federalism and Odua Republic in the South-west. Incidentally, the advocates of restructuring have not tried to even articulate their position on what the concept means.

    In a very surprising manner, the advocates of restructuring have been carrying on as if the entire nation need not understand what the concept means but just accept it without question, debate or explanation. It is even obvious some advocates of restructuring do not understand what it means. And that accounts for why there are as many definitions of the concept as there are definers. Different situations create different definitions and sometimes, the audience determines what the definer presents as the meaning of the concept. As at today, that concept remains nebulous, vague and opaque.

    Meanwhile, the Senators and House members who are being vilified for voting against devolution of power represent different constituencies. Up till now, the constituents of those who voted against it have not protested that their representatives did not vote according to the interests, preferences and opinions of their electors. What this means is that the legislators voted in accordance to the wishes of the people. The devolution of power bill is seen in some areas of this same country as a trick by legislators from certain parts of the country to do the bidding of their leaders who are outside the legislature. It is also seen as the equivalent of restructuring being orchestrated by those parts of the country to seize power and subjugate the other parts to their whims and caprices. That is why the devolution of power got 44 votes for and 46 against when it needs 72 votes to scale through.

    However, the commentaries and editorial opinions I have read just dish out blanket condemnation of the legislators. The division in the votes show that the pro-restructuring just took the rest of the country who do not understand what the concept means for granted. There was no attempt to enlighten others and explain the idea vigorously. There was no public education and persuasion on what restructuring means and the benefits it would bring to Nigeria.

    The advocates of restructuring are not engaging with other Nigerians with a view to explaining the concept, persuading others and building confidence and consensus on the idea. They forget or chose to ignore the fact that Nigeria is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. The aims and aspirations of the federating units may differ sometimes. Thus, for an idea to work across board, there is need for constant dialogue and persuasion, explanation and education.

    No federating unit, in this case, no region or part of the country should seek to impose ideas on the others, except of course, it is sure of mustering the needed majority support. Yes, it is true that development and prosperity  have no tribal mark or speak no language. Every human being desires them. In the same way, poverty is enemy to all. However, in an era of deep national distrust, suspicion and disunity, even the best idea could be misunderstood and misinterpreted.

    That is why I believe the people to blame for the votes in the National Assembly are the advocates of restructuring who are still not clear about what the concept is all about and what it is aimed at achieving. The lack of information on the issue is a minus for the sponsors and advocates. They are also not doing the best job by deploying propaganda against the National Assembly. It should be clear that a part of the country cannot bully, coerce and intimidate the rest of the country to accept an arrangement which has serious implication on the future of the country.

    Do not misunderstand my position. I want devolution of powers and I thought it should have been a recipe for solving the problem of an over-bloated Federal Government with too much centralized power, even though there is the fear of the state Governors who are already functioning like Emperors. It will be good to give some powers to the states and get them to be more responsible and efficient. This may even reduce the rat race for the Presidency by different geo-political zones.

    However, those of us who subscribe to this idea should know Nigeria does not belong to us alone. It is a jointly owned entity. We should learn to carry the others along and build consensus.

  • Ojudu and the quest for a stronger APC

    The convoy of about a dozen vehicles entered quietly into Ise, a sleepy community in the South Senatorial District of Ekiti State, ostensibly for a crucial business. The team leader, Babafemi Ojudu, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, sat calmly at the back of a black SUV, his head buried in a newspaper.

    The All Progressives Congress, APC, his party, is still battling to recover from the loss of grip on power to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 2014 and the need to seek for unity and cohesion among the APC members who seem lost following  backlash of the party’s performance at the governorship poll.

    Ojudu has always been at the vanguard of every struggle to install sanity to the state at any point of disorder. He was there for the people in 2006 at the peak of PDP misrule which earned the state a bad press as a result of the reign of terror inflicted on the people by the then PDP government headed by Ayodele Fayose. His intervention then led to the ouster of that government and the subsequent   struggle that eventually brought back Dr Kayode Fayemi after a protracted legal battle that rectified the rigged election of 2007.

    According to Ojudu, the time for APC in the state to embrace unity is now. He noted that the confidence reposed in the party in 1999 was bungled on the altar of internal wrangling and self-criticism, which gave the opposition the needed leeway to hijack power and throw the progressives into disarray.

    To break away from the past to form a formidable party that would take over power from the incumbent in the June 2018 governorship election in the state, the presidential aide called for the building of strong leaders at all segments of the party. Ojudu said these leaders at the local level would provide guidance for those at the national level, in arriving at democratic decisions.

    He pleaded that all members should work towards cohesion and ensure that all aggrieved members are brought back into the fold ahead of the coming elections.

    Ojudu noted at the various stops in Omuo, Agbado, Emure and Ise before retiring to his home town, Ado Ekiti, that liberating Ekiti State is the task of all people of voting age as no Nigerian from other states will come and help them out of the abyss.

    “There is always a problem in any society where there is no middle class because the people in the middle class are the one that drives the society. They are very critical to the progress of the land. They are the one that envision the vision. Once you have a house to live, the car to drive around, you can train your children in school and you can feed adequately, all you think about is progress, love, decency. That is what the middle class represent.

    “But when a man is in poverty, he has no choice. You can ride rod shod on him. He takes whatever is offered him, even if it is poison. And that is the trick Fayose is using on our people. The people are held down to be manipulated and it is not their fault,” he said.

    And as Ojudu speaks, the pressure mounted on him to throw in his cap in the on-going agitation for the Oke Ayaba Government house. The people expressed confidence in his ability to deliver. They believe Ojudu is the one with what it takes to confront Fayose who many believe could go to any length unimaginable to ensure retention of power by the PDP.

    But The Ado Ekiti born politician has these to say: “I am a believer in due process. As at today, what is permitted for politicians in Ekiti is holding consultations, which is what I am doing. The election time table is not yet released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and I don’t intend to flaunt the electoral law. So, when the time comes, I will still hold further consultation to ask the people the role they want me to play in the coming election in Ekiti.

    “But one thing is sure. I will remain in this party to ensure that we get back our mandate from the present government. I will remain in APC and join hands with other progressives to ensure we get the best for the Ekiti people. I am very sure that whoever emerge as the governorship candidate for the APC in Ekiti will be a progressive. We shall all work for whoever emerge and collectively rescue Ekiti from the present shenanigans.

  • Restructuring, yes, but our manners and attitudes first!

    I have read tons and tons of words on why Nigeria should restructure at this time. All the proponents of restructuring aimed at one thing: restructure the economy and the politics of the nation.

    I beg to differ: There’s not much wrong with the constitution upon which all these issues are predicated. It is a constitution that will be used to advance society better in other climes like in the USA, or Britain that gave birth to the Yankees. Conversely, if those who readily point at the Constitutions of the UK and USA as near-perfect, bring those sacred documents to Nigeria for implementation, most of them will mess up those Constitutions and the country as a whole.

    Some of these proponents of restructuring also believe in the balkanisation of Nigeria, as if that will automatically put an end to our woes, and put more tuwo, fura, akpu, eba or amala on the table of Nigerians.

    But I’m persuaded to think the problem that we have in this country has to do more with our attitudes and manners than any document.

    For example, who says the problems of the micro units in Ogun, Kaduna, Plateau or Igboland will disappear when Ijebu becomes a state or the republic of Biafra is actualised?

    Break up Nigeria and you will get Ogun State’s local rivalries among Remo and Ijebu; among Egba and Egbado who now feel good being called Yewa; Southern Zaria and the other part of Kaduna State; the rest of Rivers State and the Ogonis, commonly derided as “Ogoni pio-pio” while I lived there in the mid-70s; the natives and settlers of Plateau State as well as the minority Hausa speaking and the majority Yoruba-speaking parts of Kwara States; upgraded to the national, if not international fore.

    Let’s restructure our mindset and attitudes to ourselves genuinely and we would have sorted or fixed all the problems we magnify and situate as the bane of our nation. Our unrelenting craze for mindless acquisition of money, in spite of the religions we subscribe to; and the ultra nepotic instincts in most of our people, are what we should subsume and the fog beclouding us will clear sooner than later.

    At his installation as the first chancellor of the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo) in 1967, Chief Obafemi Awolowo touched on the power of the human mind and how it should be moderated to advance societal good. Hear him:

    “The fact remains stubborn and indestructible that poverty, disease, social unrest and instability, and all kinds of international conflicts, have their origins in the minds of men. Unless we tackle and remove or at least minimise these evils at their source, all our efforts in Nigeria to bring about happier circumstances for our peoples, and all the endeavours of mankind to evolve a better world, would be completely in vain.

    “It is only when the minds of men have been properly and rigorously cultivated and garnished that they can be entrusted with public affairs with a certainty and assuredness that they will make the best of their unique opportunity and assignment”

    These immutable words, uttered 50 years ago, still remain relevant to our circumstance and sum up everything that it is not really the Constitution (being currently tinkered with as if some persons are targets of recrimination and vendetta) that is the bane of our buoyancy as a nation but our mindset. I so move ..!

     

    …111 or 11 is my number

    Adversity is a good school; anyone in doubt can ask me.

     When you are faced with one, you either get sunk or you swim to get on top of the tide and convert it to some good uses.

     I headed to begin a life in self exile in London late in 2001 with mixed feelings. In one sense, I felt it was just about time I took off to relax and refreshen myself after a hectic time in politics and in my professional business. In another sense, it stared me in the face that I was beginning a new life into an uncertain future, especially when I bolted out in a hurry, without bidding anyone farewell.

     But I knew straightaway that I had to brace myself up to be incharge of whatever situation I would meet in England. As an incurable optimist, I quickly adjusted myself, recalling the great words of Ralph Waldo Emerson that “enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it, nothing great was ever achieved”.

     To make London a permanent home, as it were, was not what I wished at that time but I had little choice in the matter as I had been caught between the valley and the deep blue sea.

     Details of what transpired are best left for another occasion but suffice it for now to say that the experience I gathered there, was very enriching.

    Number played some part in the game and when I opened shop at 111, Rushey Green in Catford, London South East, I knew God, the master designer, was at work.

    “God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform; His purposes ripen fast, unfolding every hour”, according to William Cowper. Designing some trade and PR strategies came easy and it wasn’t long before I dominated the town centre, confirming a long canvassed view that when you set out each day believing in your dreams, know without a doubt that you were made for amazing things.

     The number 111 had electrifying effect on me and the environment; and until the office moved elsewhere in mid-2000, my Castle Estates (Lewisham & Bromley) office, directly opposite ARGOS in Catford, was a place of choice for prospective clients in search of rental accommodation in South East London from SE1 to Orpington in Kent.

     Now again, I’m back to where I know best, meeting you every Saturday in The Nation newspaper, as a columnist. A curious coincidence is that ‘My life’ column has appeared twice now in this newspaper on Page 11. The fact that I didnt design my column on a particular page, suggests strongly that the choice of Page 11, has a divine ring to it.

    If you say, as King Sunny Ade sang in one of his records, 111 or 11 is my number, then you are damned right. When I was seeking out an office to rent in London for my estate business, I wasn’t particular about any number but when one was eventually found and negotiation concluded, the two-floor building was registered as 111, Rushey Green and, boy, I made good business in that premises until, the twist of fate.

    That was a premises many prominent Nigerians were enamoured of, for its strategic location in the town centre and for its internal aesthetics. It happened to be the only A+ residential letting agency owned by a blackman among a motley of nine others in the vicinity. The founder of Oluwalogbon Group, Chief Stephen O. Bakare, whose penthouse apartment in the London Westend in an harbour area stood in a special class of its own,  often teased me anytime he visited, by asking for my upstairs office/conference room to be loaned to him anytime he had any business deal to cut.

    Veteran administrator and the Osupa Adinni of Lagos, Alhaji Sinari ‘SBD’ Daranijo was another matter altogether. He learnt of my sudden flight to exile and when a year later, during one of his summer holidays in London, he decided to fetch me out; and when we eventually met in my Catford office, he was so impressed with the set-up that he was profuse in his prayers for me. As a big uncle and neighbour in Ilupeju Estate, he made himself a regular caller in my office anytime he came round Catford to transact some business. His daughter, Jadesola, eventually joined my workforce and she proved a diligent and reliable staff before she relocated to Dublin.

    Now, as a columnist, I have berthed on Page 11 of The Nation on Saturday and  mythologists need to help to decode the significance of 111 and 11; and what omen “11” portends.

  • FCE Special Oyo to honour Obasanjo, others as it marks 40

    At the Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, it is celebration time, as the College rolls out drums to mark the 40th anniversary of its founding.

    The event coincides with the mid-term review of the achievements of the college’s Provost, Prof. Kamoru Olayiwola Usman, who assumed the mantle of leadership of the institution, the first and only one of its kinds in sub-Saharan Africa, on August 7, 2017.

     Already, a programme of activities to climax in the launching of a N5billion Endowment Fund and honorary awards to prominent Nigerians including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose administration as Military Head of State then approved the upgrading of the then Federal Advanced Teachers College of Education, as it was known then to its present status, with mandate to award the National Certificate of Education (NCE ) in May 1977.

    The vision was to train manpower to cater for special education needs of  individuals who for one reason or the other differ from others as a result of certain physical, environmental, social, mental or physiological impediments.

     At present, SPED, as it is otherwise called, awards, in addition to the NCE, the Bachelor degree of the University of Ibadan, to which it is affiliated, and is itself in the process of being converted to a full fledged university. Already, a bill to this effect is under consideration by the National Assembly.

     Giving a scorecard of the school at a press conference to kick-start the anniversary celebration on Monday, Prof. Usman recalled that the institution was originally meant to be established in Ibadan, but was attracted to its present location with the help of eminent indigenes of the area including the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi and Olu Afolabi, an erstwhile legislator.

    Although it started with only 55 students and 15 staff members, the college has grown over the years to a student enrolment figure of 5,696 (regular students) pursuing various academic programmes most of which, were recently re-accredited by the National Commission on Colleges of Education (NCEE), with a staff population of 925.

    Prof. Usman chronicled the growth and progress of the college noting: “Looking back over the past 40 years of service delivery to the Nigerian public, the college has witnessed tremendous growth and progress.”

    He attributed the success recorded since inception to the foresight and industry of his predecessors, especially Profs C.A. Bakare and Taoheed Adedoja, whom, he credited with hastening its movement from its temporary location at  Anglican/Methodist  Grammar School, Ajagba, by their vigorous and massive development of infrastructure and provision of learning facilities at the permanent site at Jobele, completed between 1994 and 1996.

     Giving the mid-term report of his own administration, the Professor of Mathematics, disclosed that he has been able to push up the college’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) profile by adding to the stock of investment facilities a bakery.  For this purpose, an abandoned old building was completed, renovated and equipped.

    To ensure transparency and accountability in the running of the college’s finances, which had dwindled until recently, Prof. Usman also set up a Directorate of Procurement in accordance with 2007 Procurement Act, in place of a non-functioning committee that had been in place for the purpose.  The decision to have a permanent structure instead of the adhoc arrangement, he explained, stemmed from his experience when trying to do a Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the MIKAINO generating sets powering the campus, whereby he was able to save the college about N1.172million in cost.

    The firm, which quoted for the job had submitted a bill of N1.2million.  However, the Provost  said he was able to get the same job done for a paltry N28,000 through direct labour.  He noted with delight that despite fears expressed by some officials in the Works and Maintenance Department that the generator may pack up soon afterwards, they were still working perfectly well nine months after.

     In the last two years, Usman further reported, members of both academic and non academic staff were assisted to attend capacity-developing seminars, conferences and workshops, while the vacant position of the Director of Medical Services was filled.

     Gleefully, he announced that the college may have entered a new phase certain to end its days of financial crisis and inadequate funding as well as push the frontiers of the execution of its mandate, as the NCCE has given approval for the resuscitation of its outreach (part-time/sandwich) programmes hitherto banned alongside those of other tertiary institutions amid perceived abuse years ago.

    To this end, the school has begun recruitment of lecturers to kick-start the programme at three of its centres in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    On his plan to make the college full boarding in partnership with private initiatives, Prof. Usman regretted that private developers invited to build hostel accommodation backed off the project, because, according to them, it would take about 200 years to recoup their investments, based on conditions set by the college management to protect the students from being exploited by prohibitive hostel fees.

    “Three of the eight developers invited to build the hostels actually submitted drawings and so on, but they are reluctant to go ahead, because they said it would take them years in fact, a life time to make back their money.  We also approached the Bank of Infrastructure, but it was the same story,” Prof Usman said, explaining, however, that negotiations were still going on.

    He, however, assured that he intended having at least 50 percent of the students accommodated on campus, by the end of his tenure, which lapsed in two years hence.

    To ensure this, the Provost said, the college was exploring the option of the alumni facilitating the building of the hostels by philanthropists and donors.

    As part of programme of activities to mark the 40th anniversary, the college is embarking on the planting of 5,000 tree seedlings to populate the green reserve of its precincts as well as for investment for future generations.  Members of the governing council, management, staff and students are all involved in the exercise programmes which kicked off over a month ago.

     Prof. Usman gave kudos to the three trade groups on the campus  as well as staff and students for their commitment, dedication, loyalty and support, without which, he admitted his administration could not have achieved much as it did.

    He noted that between 2015 when he assumed office and now, several physical development projects were undertaken from scratch while renovation and physical overhauling were carried out on others, despite the constant shortage of fund.

    Establishment of SPED Bakery

    They include: establishment of the Directorate of Internal Quality Assurance and Control (IQAC) as directed by the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCEE); the School of Early Childhood Care, Primary Education Studies and Adult and Non-formal Education (ECPA); sponsorship of staff for additional higher qualification training in United Kingdom, United States of America, and so on; establishment of Directorate of Educational Technology in the college; establishment of Gas plant in the college in collaboration with AONULAH Cooperative Unit ; introduction of SPED/MEED Networks Internet projects; commissioning of solar energy inverter at the School of Special Education and signing of MOU with Lagos State University to run Sandwich degree programme of LASU.

    As part of the celebration Prof Usman said some eminent Nigerians and friends of the college shall be specially recognized with honorary awards for their contributions to the growth of the college in order to encourage them further.

    There will also be a merit award ceremony for serving staff members of the college who through their initiatives and commitment had greatly contributed to the development of the college over the years.

    In addition, there will be paralympics games for students with disabilities in South-West, Nigeria, which shall feature various sporting activities among the participants.

  • The school curriculum brouhaha

    Noxious rumours that pointedly altered the educational system in favour of a religion have for some time held the country hostage leading to accusations, counter-accusations and rebuttals from various quarters. The buzz as impishly created by unnamed folks broadcast on various media that Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) which teaches Christian faith and morals was removed from primary school education curriculum by the present administration as a plot towards ‘Islamizing’ the country.

    Ditto history as a subject which elites viewed as misadventures putting into account the unceasing aggressions and hate speeches from virtually all the ethnic groups in the country in recent times, each group with its styled rabble-rousing, incendiaries and threats. From south-east; secession for Biafra; from Arewa – quit notice to the Igbos; from Niger-Delt – resource control, and from Southwest, Igbo’s absolute compliance or the lagoon option. Incidentally, almost all the arrowheads are the post-civil war populations. Few witnessed the war and its effects, thus fictional commandos. History as widely believed gives a clue of the past including the good and the bad, but lacking. Sadly, the neophytes never knew that people guzzled raw cassava, raw meat and anything closely for survival as a result of war. They owlishly misconstrue wars as Nollywood-Bollywood orchestrated fights; probably their only horror encounters.

    Some leaders from Christendom, on account of the perceived quagmire on Christian Religious Knowledge have unremittingly raised alarms, especially the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) calling on the Federal Ministry of Education to reverse to hitherto position or be ready to meet at the court. The stories indicated the alleged act was to forcefully make all children in primary and secondary school become Muslims against their wishes and those of their parents. The allegation implied that since only Islamic Religious Studies remains as a religious subject, all children have been tactfully programmed to become Muslims against their wishes.

    Evidently, the 9-year Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) which grouped the five subjects including Christian Religious Studies and Islamic Religious Studies under the umbrella of Religion and National Values (RNV) BEC was introduced into the nation’s education system by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration in 2008 and commenced implementation afterwards. Its prominent characteristics include providing remedy to the UBE Act, 2004 for universal access and continuous basic education in Nigeria; attain the lofty values of social and economic development and reconstruction enshrined in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Nigeria National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other global and domestic initiatives.

    However, owing to massive outcry over immoderation of subjects, the scheme was judiciously rearranged by Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2012 by the then Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i and Minister of State for Education, Barr. Nyesom Wike, now Rivers State governor, alongside Professor Godswill Obioma as the then Executive Secretary, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC). In 2014, the then minister, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau with the Minister of State, Professor (Mrs.) Viola Adaku Onwuliri retained it as evident in the National Policy on Education, 6th edition (2014) for basic education (primary 1 to junior secondary 3) at page 10 – 13.

    From records, the present administration adopted the scheme in continuity with a mere proposal by the present Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu in 2016 which merely disarticulated History from Social Studies to stand distinctively as two subjects. The necessity to separate History from Social Studies by the minister was to engage children separately in Social Studies and History rather than the shallow knowledge that merely recites names of Nigeria’s presidents, public officeholders as strategic panacea over current hurly-burlies.

    The essence of grouping is to compressively and neatly arrange the subjects. What is paramount is that the learners are expected to do well in all. Christian Religious Studies is sacrosanct for Christian pupils, and to Muslims, Islamic Religious Studies. It is bizarre playing politics with children and religion. Nobody has done it, and nobody ever conceived doing it.

    The French alleged to be elective with the ‘Islamic Arabic studies’; is a compulsory subject from Primary 4 as provided in Section 2 (23) 7 at page 13 of the National Policy on Education. Arabic remains optional since 2008, and exclusively for those willing to have knowledge of the language.

    As a secured policy, the 9-year BEC emphatically provides, “no child should be coerced or compelled to learn or taught any religious studies curriculum in school but one out of the two that restrictively relates to the belief system professed by the child and his/her parents”. As it stands, no child is however, under any compulsion to offer religious studies against the parents’ religion in public schools. Of course, in private schools, the proprietors may call the shot on religious studies in line with ‘volenti non fit injuria’ (to a willing person, no harm is done), and then Parents-Teachers Association (PTA). Nonetheless, government cannot force a privately-owned missionary school to teach the doctrines of other religion.

    Overall, who are the gainers and losers? The children and the society are the gainers while there are no losers at all. The children will face more subjects compressed under the grouping. By assembling four subjects under a group, the alarm ought to emanate from pupils and not adults except where the workload is glaringly affecting the children. Under the arrangement, to pass all Religion and National Values subjects, a pupil will have to perform well in four subjects under it. On the economy, the scheme opened-up opportunity for the kick-start deployment of 250,000 graduate-teachers in phases. None bothered to figure out where these new teachers will be posted knowing that no new public schools is built anywhere in the country. Federal government perspicaciously utilized the BEC to create jobs and at the same time impacting positively on the children. Thus, the brouhaha or hullaballoo is uncalled for. Criticisms can only be constructive and resourceful after critical investigations. Let’s eschew politics of religion.

     

    • Umegboro is a public affairs analyst and social crusader.