The Nation Newspaper

Category: Comments

  • MMA2… 10 years against all odds

    Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), operators of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 (MMA2), has shown demonstrable commitment to the development of aviation infrastructure. Despite inconsistent government policies and lapses on the part of regulatory authorities, the terminal has continued to be adjudged Nigeria’s best in terms of facilities.

    Before MMA2 came into existence, the idea of a domestic airport to an average Nigerian was that of dilapidated facilities. Thanks to a fire incident at the then domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, the journey to a modern airport terminal began. Ten years down the line, the terminal, which was built based on a Public Private Partnership agreement, remains the talk of the town. The operators have proven to be credible, reliable and resilient partners. They have consistently set and maintained high standards in terminal operations.

    Since the exclusively privately-funded airport added another feather to its cap with the inauguration of the Common User Passenger Processing System (CUPPS) and other technology innovations in these climes, passengers have been experiencing a faster, safer and more customer-friendly way to board flights.

    Services such as e-check in, automated e-gates and a full Baggage Reconciliation System (BRS), which were only enjoyed abroad, are now being experienced at MMA2. MMA2 is in fact still the only terminal in Nigeria that offers an automated baggage reconciliation system as prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

    Passengers travelling without bags can use the self-check-in kiosks. The e-gates make it virtually impossible for an unauthorised person to enter the boarding zone. The system is the same as installed in major international airports like Charles De Gaulle in Paris and Bangkok International Airport, as well as over 200 airports in the world.

    With a technology known as PAXTRACK, the airport can also, among others, analyse peak periods and is thus better placed to plan. This facility also makes it easy to locate a passenger within the terminal and enables boarding agents to have a better on-time performance.

    During the inauguration of the BRS and Self-Check-In System, former Aviation Minister Osita Chidoka was so impressed with the facilities that he declared MMA2 “a template that must be used to grow the aviation sector… MMA2 has offered the template about how government should go about the issue of the operation of airports in the country”.

    But for the doggedness of the leadership of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), there would be no MMA2 again today. Inconsistent government policies, regulatory authorities’ lapses and so many other challenges have reared their heads in the last 10 years, threatening to turn the airport into another of the airstrips called airports in some states of the federation.

    The major problem has been the interpretation of the concession agreement. BASL continues to insist, supported by various court judgements, that going by the concession agreement, all domestic flights ought to emanate from its terminal and that the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) is supposed to be managed by it. But successive governments have not honoured this agreement. To cap this, even while GAT continues to be managed by FAAN, the passenger service charge due to BASL under the agreement as part of the revenue stream for recouping its investment has not been paid for 10 years. As at today, FAAN owes BASL N200 billion in damages and the interest will continue to accrue until the agency pays up. Even the approval for regional flights from the terminal remains frustrated and is yet to see the light of day.

    It was this refusal to respect agreements that made the Senate to threaten not to support plans to concession four international airports in the country. The lawmakers noted the need for government to probe the controversy trailing the concession of MMA2 to BASL and to ensure resolution of this issue for credibility sake, before any proposal to consider further concessions can be approved.

    Decrying the refusal of the government to honour the terms of its agreement with BASL, chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, said it could discourage investors with the requisite experience from bidding for the proposed concession of the Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano international airports.

    “We won’t allow the four airports to be concessioned when the crisis over the concession of the MMA2 has not been settled. It has created a bad image for the country. You have to abide by the agreements that you sign. You can’t get the best (private sector firms) because they are frightened and will not come, knowing that when agreements are signed here, we don’t honour the terms,” Murray-Bruce said.

    For instance, the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) Agreement between the government and BASL includes an exclusivity clause, which gives the company the sole right to operate scheduled commercial domestic and sub-regional flights out of Lagos, to enable it recoup its investments. Murray-Bruce noted how the Federal Government frustrated the deal by also giving the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) the permit to operate the General aviation Terminal (GAT). The government has also not allowed the company to operate regional or sub-regional flights out of the MMA2.

    “The lack of respect for agreements in the sector goes beyond BASL. Maevis Nigeria, a firm which entered into a concession agreement with FAAN on October 31, 2007, for the supply of Airport Operations Management System (AOMS) to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja; Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja; Mallam Aminu Kano Airport and the Port Harcourt Airport, also got a dose of the bad pill. The contract was to last for 10 years and was renewable every five years subject to satisfactory performance. Five years into the agreement, FAAN terminated it, saying it had lost N17 billion due to Maevis’ alleged incompetence and replaced the firm with Societe International Telecommunication Aeronautiques (SITA).

    Maevis sought refuge in court, where it accused FAAN of forcibly chasing its men out of the airports. It said it had committed over N5 billion into the project. Two years ago, Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos asked SITA to pay Maevis N5 billion. He also invalidated SITA’s contract with FAAN.

    The case of Sir Richard Branson, the man who brought the Virgin brand to Nigeria, is another sad example. He gave the Federal Government 49 per cent stake in the booming airline and owned 51 percent. Eleven years after, this is what he had to say about his experience with government officials: “The details of the doomed attempts to crack the Nigerian market in the 2000s is better imagined. We put together a very good airline, the first airline in West Africa that was ever IOSA/IATA operational safety audit-accredited, but unfortunately it got tied down to the politics of the country. We led the airline for 11 years.

    “We fought daily battle against government agents who wanted to daily make fortune from us, politicians who saw the government’s 49 per cent as a meal (ticket) to seek all kinds of favour, watchdogs (regulatory bodies) that didn’t know what to do and were persistently asking for bribes at any point. Nigerian people are generally nice but the politicians are very insane. That may be irony because the people make up the politicians.

    BASL continues to fulfil its obligations to its partners and stakeholders, despite the challenges of the environment. As MMA2 celebrates its 10th anniversary, it is hoped that the government would now honour the terms of its agreement with the terminal’s operators and respect the subsisting court judgements. This would encourage the firm to continue to be a pace setter in the aviation industry and attract investors to our country.

     

    • Ms Olaosun is Media Manager with The Resort Group, Lagos.

  • Osinbajo’s interpretation of Section 171 of the Constitution

    SECTION 2 (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004 unequivocally provides that the EFCC shall have a chairman who “shall be appointed by the President and the appointment shall be subject to confirmation of the Senate.” The Muhammadu Buhari administration complied with this provision by sending Ibrahim Magu’s nomination to the Senate for confirmation. That was way back on November 9, 2015, when President Buhari appointed Magu as chairman of the EFCC in an acting capacity.  The Senate found it difficult to confirm him as it allegedly found putrefying skeletons in his cupboard. Nevertheless, the President re-presented Magu’s nomination twice to the Senate, to no avail. As no flicker of light could be seen at the end of the tunnel in spite of the fervid efforts by the Buhari administration to retain Ibrahim Magu at all costs, the Presidency decided to devise a legal stratagem.

    The brilliant and piquant-witted Professor of Law, endowed with sharp, appetizing intelligence, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s Vice-President (and now acting President), came in handy as he threw his big hat into the Senate-Magu ring and suggested that, in view of the provisions of section 171 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the President should not have sent Magu to the Senate for confirmation, in the first place, relying, in all probability, on paragraph (d), subsection (2) of that section, according to which the President is empowered to appoint and remove certain officials specified in subsection (2) of the said section 171 without reference to the Senate. In view of the esteemed source whence this argument emanates, there is a compelling need to quote that section in extenso.

    “Section 171 (1): Power to appoint persons to hold or act in the offices to which this section applies and to remove persons so appointed from any such office shall vest in the President” (underscoring mine).

    “The offices to which this section applies are, namely,

    (a) Secretary to the Government of the Federation;

    (b)Head of the Civil Service of the Federation;

    (c)Ambassador, High Commissioner or other Principal Representative of Nigeria abroad;

    (d)        Permanent Secretary in any Ministry or Head of any Extra-Ministerial Department of the Federation howsoever designated; and

    (e) any office on the personal staff of the President.”

    The underscored paragraph (d) of this section, on which Osinbajo most probably relied, does specifically mention the EFCC, and it is anathema to smuggle any extraneous matter into the Constitution, the grundnorm of the Nigerian legal system.

    It would be pertinent here to distinguish an “extra-ministerial department” from a “Commission”, which the EFCC is. No one can apply any of the various canons of statutory construction to equate “an extra-ministerial department”, usually tied to the apron strings of a particular Ministry, such as the National Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research (NIFFRI), with a “Commission”, such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), established with in-built autonomy, to perform an assignment of national, in contradistinction to a particularistic, interest. The EFCC cannot, and should not, be to the Ministry of Justice what Radio Nigeria is to the Ministry of Information and Culture, or what a General Hospital is to the Ministry of Health, for instance!

    While “an extra-ministerial department” (mentioned in section 171 of the Constitution) is a miserable appendage of a Civil Service ministry and is usually susceptible to the whims and caprices of its political head, the minister, a “Commission” is a well-neigh autonomous or fully autonomous institution, headed by a puissant functionary (chairman), vested with substantial powers to carry out certain functions of national interest. Such a chairman (like the chairman of INEC, for example) is NOT a lickspittle or toady in his relations to the President by virtue of the latter’s powers to appoint and remove the former. This explains why all the five commissions and councils created by section 153 (1) of the Constitution are headed by chairmen appointed by the President, subject to confirmation of the Senate, under section 154 thereof.  If the Constitution, in section 154, provides that all the chairmen of corporations must be appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate, one wonders why the chairman of INEC should be the odd man out.

    Section 154 (1) of the Constitution shows, irrefragably, that the chairmen of all commissions, including, those five mentioned in section 153 (1) of the Constitution and, ipso facto, those created by statutes (such as the EFCC Act), must enjoy the confirmation of the Senate to sustain the principle of separation of powers enshrined in sections 4, 5 and 6 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and to bolster the courage of such chairmen.

    Imagine if the President was empowered to appoint and remove the chairman and other members of INEC, a commission charged with the responsibility of acting as an umpire in the electoral process of which the President and his political party are beneficiaries, without reference to the Senate, a chairman owing absolute allegiance to his sole appointor, the President! The relationship between the EFCC and the Ministry of Justice is no more intimate than the relationship between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), a national institution, and the Federal Ministry of Finance. Section 8 of the CBN Act, 1958 (as amended by the CBN Act 2007, are in pari materia with section 2 (3) of the EFCC Act. That tenuous relationship between the Ministry of Finance and the CBN does not make the latter an extra-ministerial department of the former!

    To suggest that section 2 (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act, 2004, which insists that, while the President appoints the chairman of the EFCC, the Senate must confirm the chairman’s appointment, is inconsistent with the provisions of section 171 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), is to fly in the face of the in-built checks and balances provided in the constitution to preclude the exercise of arbitrary power and, a fortiori, to affront the principle of separation of powers.

    Such an eerie suggestion, with the profoundest respect to the respectable and learned acting President, who, incidentally, was also my former lecturer, is contra publico (against public interest) and a recipe for authoritarianism and tyranny, characteristics of which are already being wantonly exhibited with nonchalant abandon! Besides, such a suggestion will exacerbate an existing situation whereby the EFCC’s acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, torments the real and perceived enemies of his appointor, the President, by arresting, and keeping arrested, people (such as Col. Sambo Dasuki) in Nigeria’s equivalent of the Gulag archipelago for days, months and even years on end, without trial, contrary to the entrenched provisions of the constitution. Additionally, and finally, such a suggestion could never have been in the contemplation of the draftsmen of the constitution!

     

    • Verbum sat sapienti est.

    Akiri is a Lagos based attorney.

  • Ahmed: Writing his name on sand of history

    Just recently, Kwara State governor, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed had occasion to lead a team of government officials to a meeting with the World Bank, in Abuja. The meeting was aimed at creating a productive partnership between Kwara State and the global financial institution. The partnership would result in easy financing of key components of the developmental programmes of the Ahmed administration as it marks the first half of its second term which coincides with 50th Anniversary of the state.

    Having seen the propositions by the state government to the bank, I have undertaken to debrief stakeholders on some of its contents as a way of linking the people with the state, to understand the mind-set of the current administration on some of the key projects that are either being undertaken or that are projected to be undertaken before the end of its tenure.

    Dr Ahmed, according to the document, seeks to pioneer a new approach to governance with his Quality of Life (QoL) governance system and promised the bank that his leadership of the state under the QoL platform has been influenced by three key factors: Clear Vision, Internal Realignment and Institution Building.  The Internal Reforms/Realignment led to the creation of Kwara Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) which was meant to build an independent revenue base outside of the federal allocation.

    The governor told the World Bank team that it was this move that helped the state survive the ‘recession scare’. Having established a sound footing with Internally Generated Revenue, the next phase is investment in infrastructure through the Kwara Infrastructure Investment Fund Strategies (KIIFS). The KIIFS, which gave birth to the Investment Fund Kwara (IF-K), targeted a portfolio of US$ 708 million when it was developed in 2014. The state had decided at an executive session early this year to fund new projects in-house to the tune of US$ 33.5 million under the IF-K platform.  The final phase would be investment in strategic commercial and capital intensive sectors of the economy which would need greater financial input, arguably beyond the capacity of the state.

    These are the kind of projects that dragged the state before the World Bank, in search of partnership. And I was proud of my state when the Team Leader reeled out the qualities and achievements of the administration that we believe make us qualified for such a partnership.  We scored high in availability of political will through which we allowed decision making processes to drive the desired progressive change.

    The governor had demonstrated this with the reform of the internal revenue generation system such that while the old system generated N8.05 billion averagely per annum between 2010-2011, the new system has raked in N8.3 billion for the first quarter of year 2017 alone! While our IGR was a mere 22% of our total revenue in 2010, today it stands at 56%! And we are doing well in the area of having a progressive tax-system administration and institutional mission of data gathering for development programme and accountability. The state’s financial income is published monthly for citizens’ engagement and transparency; very few states are doing this as at now.

    We are also positively involved in citizenship inclusion orientation and strategies, and are also not doing badly in the area of raising awareness for citizens’ protection. The governor is accessible via social media and holds regular Town Hall meetings with diverse stakeholders in the state to sell policies and agenda to them, deliberate and reach consensus on various issues. We are also very high in the area of having an enabling regulatory and policy environment, having our decisions data-driven instead of being based on intuition and political propaganda.

    The area we need help, and which the governor led the team to the World Bank, is having enough fund to spend on social amenities and the transformation of our economy. If the World Bank accedes to our request, we would expect $40 million to support the ongoing work at the International Vocational Training Centre (IVTEC), Ajase-Ipo, $38.9 million on school renovations with the aim of having schools with 30 students to one teacher, $21 million on state-wide health scheme and $21.1million for the ongoing Light-UP Kwara.

    Other areas the governor said the state needs support include $20.6 million on water accessibility,  $14.5 million on artisanal mining light processing hub, $2million on data-driven medium and large scale agriculture, $2million on MSME financial inclusion and $2million for a government efficiency unit.

    And I am aware the state has the track record when it comes to ring-fencing state entities from several projects to enhance transparency and successful outcomes. For instance, the state health care fund is not within the ambit of government intervention just as the IF-K which gives investors rest of mind that there would be no political interference or use of funds in such establishment.

    As we stand on the threshold of history, waiting for good news from the World Bank, let’s all continue to pray for the success of this administration. There is nothing to doubt that Dr Ahmed meant well for Kwara; he is eager to write his name in the book of history as one man who was opportune by the Almighty to be saddled with the responsibility of leading our state at a trying time and who had the privilege of devising successful means of dealing with the times for the continued prosperity of Kwara.

     

    • Oba is Chief Press Secretary to the Kwara State Governor.

  • Big data for big impact

    Irrespective of the state or level of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) acquisition, deployment, application or development any nation elects to avail her immediate environment, her nationals and residents over time, the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is here again like a recurring decimal and as expected, bearing a different name plate or theme that is cognate to the extant level of global technology development and deployment. While this recurrence is only at the instance of its unflinching 31.536 million seconds turnaround time and on May 17 of every year, this year’s event (WTISD-17) marks the 152nd anniversary of ITU.

    The appropriateness of the theme – “Big Data for Big Impact” this year resides in and consistent with the ongoing seismic technology-revolution-in-motion whose formidable and scintillating constituents and composition all of which run on digital rails, have combined forces to change the way we think, work, play and exercise our mental fortitude or grit on the smart way forward in impacting and revolutionizing all our economic sectors for human survival and sustainability. Thus, the consequence is not only big with big impact, revolutionary, disruptive and transformational; it is pointedly bending the curve of human history by any measure or description. The current disruptive-technology revolution we are witnessing in new technologies are in a basket comprising of the ubiquitous smartphone; the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem; human networked brains; financial technology (fintech); genomics (bioinformatics); artificial intelligence (AI) that we use every day without noticing it; and massively connected Intelligent Machines (IMs) that engage in deep learning – a machine-learning technique that is extraordinarily higher in level, style and speed, which are at variance with those of its creator (humans).  The other components of this seismic technology-revolution-in-motion include the modulation of humongous amounts of data (Big Data) that are resident in the capacious cloud (Cloud Computing) rather than the erstwhile cramped and space-limited traditional offices or homes where earlier data issues were and still being processed and deployed therefrom.

    The emergence and incursion of Big Data into the DNA and calculus of business and commerce, alongside other functional sectors of the global economy, have divulged the secret of data analytics by exposing, exploiting and deploying the huge capacity and extensive cognitive capability inherent in voluptuous data with respect to the concomitant optimization of strategic business policies and rules, processes, procedures, best practices, and breakthrough ideas all of which culminate in the conversion of data into actionable insights and, uncovering and harnessing previously obscure and redundant areas.  And the big impact of Big Data in other various functional sectors of human endeavour is overwhelming, incalculable and invaluable.

    From the erstwhile rural agricultural-based modest beginnings of humanity through industrial revolution or first machine age to the current knowledge-based and service economy and also second machine age, intervening and a cascade of variegated and brilliant technologies have been in the neighbourhood buffeting human’s ever-growing searches driven by monstrous curiosity and anxiety in reinventing our lives and our economy in the quest to meeting our permanently elastic and insatiable needs up to date and apparently beyond.

    The burgeoning explosion in data and its attendant derivatives (information) all of which depict Big Data as an umbrella term, which has become a game changer in the business world is not only a reflection of the increasing volume of unceasing activities humanity has continually embraced and engaged in, moving forward, it also throws up our hungry palate for unabashedly increasing the types, quantities, quality, composition, velocity, latency, delivery speeds and timeliness for our ever-growing and insatiable choices that more than ever before, now require and demand more critical analytics, soul-searching and bespoke information for maximum effect or all-encompassing benefits in the long run. This game-changing philosophy or outlook that Big Data with its management including predictions (predictive analytics) has instituted in its wake and trail cuts across and impacts industries of all types (all lines of industries are blurred), organizations, companies, businesses, commercial houses, smart individuals and the global digital economy that is deemed to become more inclusive in the long run. Indeed, fueled by the other disruptive new technologies all of which have combined forces to change our lives to the hilt, data evolution in the last five years has completely changed the way we do business and it currently constitutes an important source of input that is steering, reshaping and navigating the newly transformed business orbit. It is also an indispensable tool for making strategic and data-centric business decisions and outcomes.

    To all intents and purposes, the import and big impact of Big Data on Information Society transcend the boundaries and indulgence of business and commerce, as Big Data runs smoothly across and like strands of spaghetti intertwine with all facets of human undertakings and in the ambience of other disruptive technologies it creates critical development waves in technology-impact-cycle scenarios spanning multiple sectors that are deemed to lead to brilliant, exciting, thought-provoking and out-of-the-box results for the real benefits of humanity.

    Associated with the resulting Big Data technology-impact-cycle calculus are smart cities and homes with all manner of interactive automation; cleaner environments with less wastes and predictive maintenance; ultra-high productivity at integrated workplaces; transformed mobile entertainment; more effective personalized medicine and treatments tailored to patients’ individual characteristics; efficient and responsible social protection system and rejuvenated security services, irreversibly transformed workplaces; geospatial mapping technology that has brought taxi transport system to the doorstep exemplified by Uber services, easy customization of products and services including those of the hospitality sector (Airbnb); democratization of genomic services (bioinformatics) to combat the spread of diseases amongst many others; painless and seamless delivery of financial and insurance services including risk assessment with the aid of financial technology (fintech) that exploits data integration capability (mixing, combining and contrasting of data sets), and the catalogue shops, as they say.

    It is apposite to observe that the forgoing real time opportunities and advantages lead to improved and inclusive global digital economy, as they engender more accuracy and transparency in both public and private policy decision making that were hitherto missing or uncritical.

    Whilst it may be true that the morning shows the day, it is also a truism that it is difficult to know where a revolution is headed while it is still unfolding thus, the long-term horizon or future of Big Data is not fully in the glare as it is cloudy.

    Experts and enthusiasts alike however believe that most companies do not even use the data they have access to. Thus, big data is not better data if it is not acted upon or it is not actionable data. And, as Big Data continues to grow bigger, bigger and bigger to the hilt, many more businesses that are not to getting to grips with Big Data will be in the doldrums save and unless they acquire and deploy the necessary tools and techniques to continually crunch the voluptuous data flying around and growing, and exploiting the capability of its analytics to provide insights and value for productivity benefits that culminate in financial success of business and commerce.

    Driven by monstrous curiosity and anxiety in reinventing our lives and the global economy in the quest to meeting our permanently elastic and insatiable needs up to date, it is no longer gainsaying that human survival and sustainability largely depend on the efforts we continually make in discovering, exposing, exploiting, harnessing and deploying the capacity and capability ingrained in all manner of ceaseless technology revolution at every opportunity as we painstakingly traverse signposts, milestones, benchmarks, landmarks and moonshots in the treasurable trove of inquisition along the curiosity aisle.

    I hereby recommend that, since the emergence of Big Data has not only revolutionized business policies and rules, procedures and best practices towards uncommon financial success and has also made landmark improvements in healthcare, education, aviation, genomics, customer service and finance et cetera, concerted efforts should be made by member States of ITU and her development partners to fully embrace, deploy and harness Big Data in all ramifications and the pursuit of a global development of international standards for Big Data across the board towards ascertaining its seamless utilization and attendant quality improvement that may be concomitant, must be consistent and unrelenting.

     

    • Dr Bello is an International Telecommunication Consultant.

     

  • Kano legislators and Sanusi

    That Nigeria is poorly governed across many states is a given. The United Nations poverty index confirms that simmering tragedy. Again, the recent alleged stealing from the Paris Club refund through the Nigeria’s Governors Forum, is an indicator; so also the bogus security votes of the governors which pooh-pooh our constitutional democracy. In some states, poor governance manifests through unconscionable conversion of prime public lands into semi-private estates. Yet, others steal in foreign currencies while gallivanting across the globe in the name of seeking the so-called foreign direct investment. The list of malfeasance is legion.

    But recently, Kano State governor, Umar Ganduje and his rubber stamp legislators are angling to take the gold in abuse of public power even as their state is seething in dire challenges. A few examples. According to Ganduje, in 2016: “Kano has the highest number of Almajiri and from the statistics we got, their number is equal to, if not more than, those attending formal schools.”  Again, in the United Nation’s Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, Kano State ranks 27 out of the 36 states of Nigeria, with 76.4%, well above the national average of 46.0%.

    The index also places the North-west, were Kano is the most populous, the richest and potentially most viable, as ranking 76.8%, again well above the national average of 46.0%. Comparatively, Lagos State has 8.5% poverty index, and the South-west stands atop other regions at 19.3%. If Lagos is too high a reference even though it compares with Kano in population, what about Kogi State, with 26.4% poverty index and its North-central regional average of 45.7%, below the national average of 46.0%?

    It is these scary statistics and much more that propels the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II, who is an accountant, former managing director of a commercial bank and governor of the Central Bank, to see danger ahead for his beloved people of Kano, and indeed the northern region. With little respect for population control, the population of Kano like its neighbours, continues to grow geometrically, even as it is currently a very poor state, as indicated by the index. As part of the strategy to save his people from perdition, the Emir canvases a radical change in governance models, priorities and population control.

    Now, instead of appreciating the emir, the governor and his misguided minnows in the House of Assembly are asking for the head of the emir. The house, acting beyond its powers in section 128(2) of the 1999 constitution, has set up a kangaroo panel, to investigate the emir, for among other reasons, asking the governor and the legislators to stop gallivanting, and face the many challenges confronting Kano State. They are also against the emir for raising his voice against some of the poor economic policies of the federal government.

    One ridiculous charge against the emir is that he sent his daughter to represent him at the third anniversary of the Bring Back our Girls (BBOG) campaign instead of sending a male person; couched as religious interference? Perhaps, their reason can only be that by their reckoning, a female, is a non-person or what? They also accuse the emir of defamation of character. In their self-serving wisdom, instead of approaching the courts constitutionally empowered to arbitrate over such accusations, they will rather turn themselves, the accusers into the judges. Yet they claim to be acting constitutionally.

    From its end, the state executive is also asking for the head of the emir. According to a report, a so-called Kano Public Complaint and Anti-corruption Commission is investigating the emir for misappropriation of funds of the Kano emirate. By all standards, while we should all abhor corruption, if I may ask, what has happened to the Nigeria police, constitutionally empowered to deal with such allegations? Or is it very convenient that a commission under the supervision of Ganduje is more likely to hand over to him, the head of the emir, like that of John the Baptist?

    While I have no intention to hold brief for the emir over alleged charges of corruption, I think all persons of goodwill should raise their voice to condemn any attempt to muzzle the emir, principally for speaking truth to power. The issues the emir talks about, particularly education must be addressed if the north wishes to liberate itself from the challenges confronting it. Any person fighting the emir for calling on northern leaders to invest more on classroom instead of on religion, maybe suffering from the underlying ideology of the Boko Haram.

    Indeed, every person of goodwill, particularly from the northern part of our country, must wish the emir well for saying those things which the northern elite privately practice, even though some of them pretend otherwise. I am talking about girl-child education. I can bet that the governor and the legislators who are piqued by the outspoken emir, who choose to project his girl-child at the BBOG event, all allow their children, whether male or female to have access to quality education. If they don’t, then like I said, they have similar ideology as the Boko Haram, which says western education is bad, and are willing to kill for that.

    For now, the only sin the emir has committed is not playing the ostrich. If his conscience allows him, he can choose to enjoy the trappings of royalty, receive adoration from these state officials and the disposed of his kingdom, smile before the cameras and pretend that all is well. After all, not being the head of the secular institution of state, it is not his primary responsibility, to provide education opportunities for the talakawas; again, it is not his responsibility to provide them employment or ensure general security when the wasting energies of the almajiris, are put to dangerous cause.

    But the emir knows that the governor and the legislators will soon run their term, and for good or bad, will move on, with their gains or their loots, while if God gives the emir long life, he will be there, for the long haul with the people. Again, by his training, he knows that the chicken will soon come home to roost, if those in position of authority continue the prevailing trajectory of serving self and their cronies, with the common resources of the people. He knows that unless adequate investment is put to education, the north, will continue to lag behind, regardless of all the affirmative action of the federal government.

    A post on the cut-off marks for admission into the federal government colleges, trending in the social media, confirms the unpreparedness of majority of northern children, to compete with their contemporaries. While pupils from states in the southern part require around 300 marks to gain admission, pupils from the north, need less than 100 or even zero, yes zero mark, to join the same class.

  • A lost generation

    Watching some placard-carrying Nigerian youths at the gate of the National Assembly with different inscriptions such as, ‘Allow Saraki and Dogara to do their work’, leave the National Assembly alone’ and such like stuff, I was flabbergasted beyond words.   Obviously a hired crowd of simpletons, they display acute failure of intelligence quotient to appreciate the age and time we live in.  These are youths who should be drivers of the nation, demanding and grabbing their future from the spent force old political order that have siphoned our common patrimony without investment for the future.  Watching the buffoonery of these youths with their histrionics, my heart bled as there seem to be no redeeming feature from the dynamic and vibrant section of the population to chase out their tormentors.

    Just the same nauseating feelings one gets when you see Nigerian students under their umbrella body of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) roll out drums and confer honours on dubious individuals and minions of government officials who flaunt wealth without credible means of livelihood.  They hobnob with governors who deny workers their salaries and run their states like a fiefdom.  Our youths have painfully accepted the fate of despondency hoisted on them by a failed generation of political class that do not mean well for Nigeria.    Consequently, the ambition of an average youth is to vote with his legs and leave our shores for greener pastures with all the hazards.

    In France as in other places in Europe, a relatively unknown party formed in less than two years by a young man of 39 years old, Emmanuel Macron has just won an election and emerged as the President without previous experience.  Our leaders are busy telling us that the future lies in Africa while they do nothing to put structures for that romantic future they contemplate.  Our political leaders steal the treasury of the nation while the youths who should demand that they pay dearly for it gather and form a wall of defence for the pilfering vermin.

    Our leaders go on campaign that we must buy Nigeria but go out to shop for foreign direct investment asking people to come with their advance technology and knowhow to the detriment of our huge number of unemployed youths.  At the end of the day, the profits that the foreign investors make are repatriated back to their home countries and metropolis leaving us with the short end of the stick and a ravaged environment.

    That the future belongs to the youths is not a universal truth in Nigerian context because the Nigerian youth has refused to take the future and its destiny in his hands.  Why would the Nigerian youth not join league with the present government to insist that those who have abused their political offices should be brought to book no matter whose horse is gored?  Ours is not a perfect society yet and it is not going to become one soon; so as imperfect as it appears, let every finger that touches oil be scotched.

    In the 1980s and 1990s, Nigerians youths and the Labour Unions set the agenda for the government even in the worst of times during the military regimes.  But today, Labour and its affiliates have been decimated and what is left of the NANS is a mere trash and political thugs.   The Civil Society Organizations of today and NGOs remain opportunistic as ever and have never carried out a progressive and sustained campaign for good governance and accountability.  They rather align with political and ethnic tendencies for pecuniary consideration.  This is the greatest misfortune for us and it is incontrovertible fact that a nation without ideologically driven youths is bound to perdition.

    While other youths of the world are taking over the mantle of leadership and defining the direction of their economies, arts and science, Nigerian youths are engaging in panegyric sycophancy and clapping for thieving public officials.  It is a familiar lesson to us that Nigeria started off at independence with dynamic youths with unquestionable intellectual drive and principles dominated with the desire to build a strong nation.  Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and their generation of leaders were vibrant energetic youths. The geriatric political dinosaurs ravaging Nigerian landscape today find safe haven because we have indolent youths incapable of defining their role in modern day society and preferring the old order of graft and ethnicity.   That is why they will carry drum to garner support for public officials with criminal allegation rather than demand that they come clean of the allegations.  This is the reason they have risen in support of those Nigerians whether in business or politics that are facing probes and trial for mind boggling corruption hitherto unknown and unheard of in any sane community.

    The Nigerian youths ought to be worried about the current political leadership in this country that make us look like a huge joke to civilized humanity.  Look at the quality of representation at the National Assembly; it leaves one to worry whether all our grandstanding about our sophistications is not just an empty cant.  You have men who are not able to pass their diplomas, men who cannot separate their personal interest from national goals and ideal.  At the state levels, you have chief executive of states who do not have anything ennobling and sublime; talking gibberish like gangsters suffering from verbal diarrhoeal.

    The sooner the Nigerian youths come to the realization that the ruling class have no tribe and religion but united in the oppression of the masses, the better for them to get their acts together and demand forcefully for what rightly belongs to them.  The stolen money stashed away in septic, soak away pits, overhead tanks and cemetery  are money that are meant for infrastructure that would have provided employment for the youths, drugs for our hospitals and teaching aids for our schools.  In responsible climes, citizens do not defend corruption perpetrated by political leaders because they are not elected to steal.  In South Korea, Brazil and indeed other developing countries, citizens do not only insist that corrupt Presidents be removed but are made to face the wrath of the law for abuse of office.   Here in Nigeria, we give puerile and infantile arguments that because other past leaders who had occupied the office were not investigated or tried, the government should not proceed against known cases of abuse.  Nigeria cannot grow this way because we have to start from somewhere and nobody is going to do it for us.  The Nigerian youths should discover its destiny now and rise to the occasion because all said and done, it is their future that the dying dinosaurs are consuming; this is their chance.

    • Kebonkwu Esq writes from Abuja.

  • This Trump democracy!

    Over the years the world had looked to the United States as the most redoubtable fortress of human and civil rights, with default insulation of its justice administration against political interference. But today that country’s beacon appears dimmed – tragically so for the free world, and its liberal credentials no longer seem inviolate as reputed. Forget now the official policy of xenophobia and substantial rollback by Washington on global engagement. Under President Donald Trump, the dividing line from despotic pretenders to civil rulership in backwater democracies is getting blurred, and the age-long sanctimony grossly depreciated.

    The US president last week gave the boot to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, who was at the head of a probe of suspected Russian links with the Trump campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Trump said he relied on a review by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of Comey’s handling of the FBI probe into former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails, and a recommendation by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire the FBI chief. He said he concurred with the judgment of the Department of Justice (DOJ) that Comey was not able to effectively lead the Bureau – in other words, Comey’s fate was the DOJ’s call – adding: “It is essential we find new leadership…that restores public trust and confidence.” Subsequent reports suggested though that the probe of Comey was at the president’s instance, and not the DOJ’s initiative as purported.

    Even though Mr. Trump stated that he was informed on “three separate occasions” by Comey that the president was not under investigation by the FBI, there is in fact an ongoing probe by the agency into suspected Russian interference to tip the 2016 election in his favour. Comey’s successor as Acting FBI Director, Andrew McCabe, confirmed the Russian inquiry at the weekend, telling a Senate committee in Washington that the firing of Comey had not affected the agency’s work. Despite the circumstances of his emergence in the FBI saddle, McCabe vowed to speak up if there were any political interference in future.

    Besides the Bureau, there are reports that Congress committees are pursuing separate inquiries into the Russia-Trump camp connection. At the last count, the Senate Intelligence Committee had issued a subpoena for documents from Mr. Trump’s former National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign in February for allegedly misleading the White House about his contacts with the Russian envoy before Mr. Trump’s inauguration in January. Flynn’s links with Russia are being scrutinised by the FBI and the US House as well as Senate Intelligence Committees, as part of a wider probe of Moscow’s interference in the presidential poll.

    Trump’s red card for Comey last week was poetic justice of some sort. The ex-FBI chief made the headlines in July 2016 with a letter to Congress pulling the curtains over the agency’s probe of Clinton’s use of a private server for classified mails during her time as Secretary of State. He, however, returned in October – mere days before the presidential election – to say more Clinton emails would be further investigated. That intervention is widely seen to have knocked the bottom from under Clinton’s Democratic candidature for the election, and it was hailed at the time by Mr. Trump as the Republican candidate. But early this month in another testimony before Congress, Comey hinted at some regret over the October 2016 disclosure. He said knowing he had an impact on the US election because he spoke about the Clinton probe, and not about Russian ties to the Trump campaign, made him “nauseous.” Unfortunately, he also made some inaccurate statements to Congress that apparently hazarded his official standing.

    Democrats were swift to dub Mr. Trump’s firing of Comey “Nixonian,” referring to the famous ‘Saturday Night Massacre’ in 1973 when former President Richard Nixon dismissed Archibald Cox as special prosecutor of the Watergate scandal. Nixon’s attorney general and deputy attorney general immediately quit their jobs in protest against the sacking of Cox.

    It may not be “Nixonian” yet on this ‘Trump Day,’ but having been once delighted by Comey’s inquiry into the Clinton emails, many found it curious that it was on this same score Mr. Trump pulled the trigger last week on the ex-FBI chief. And so, there is a strong suspicion that Comey was pushed overboard – not for his handling of the Clinton mails probe really, but rather for his riling investigation of the ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

    What is our business here, you could ask, with all these? It is these: First, if the suspected motive for Comey’s firing has any semblance of truth, such presumptive exercise of presidential powers in the world’s most celebrated democracy should make lawless despots in democracy backwaters, especially in Africa, feel considerably saintly. Then, it is troubling that the reference points offered over the years by the American democracy appear to be thawing. Or, besides the suspected executive interference in justice administration in the Comey case, how do we understand emerging constraints on a vital democracy pillar like liberal press under the current dispensation?

    Trump’s White House birthed the notion of ‘alternative facts’ to counteract independent American media’s unfavourable but factual reportage of his inauguration in January. And following the announcement last week of Comey’s sacking, the president’s communication handlers were reportedly beleaguered by restive journalists for answers to obvious gaps in the official narrative. Those journalists, according to a report last Wednesday by The Washington Post, did not exactly get the answers they sought and had to make do with taciturn ripostes by White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

    But they were much luckier than another American journalist, Dan Heyman of the Public News Service, who was arrested on Tuesday night at the West Virginia Capitol for alleged “willful disruption of government processes” by shouting questions after two unresponsive Trump aides. Reports said Heyman had asked Health Secretary Tom Price and White House adviser Kellyanne Conway about coverage under the Republican healthcare plan, and had wanted to know if domestic violence would be covered as a pre-existing condition. When the presidency officials refused to respond to his questions, Heyman stuck to their entourage through the Capitol building, persistent in loudly asking. He was eventually apprehended by secret service agents and forced off the officials’ back.

    When journalists are now being apprehended and bounced off for persisting with unanswered questions in the world’s citadel of democracy, with what model do we rebuke overzealous Nigerian officials who expel reporters from Aso Rock for filing factual stories with their media organisations that they just happened not to fancy?

  • JAMB and Africa’s place in global ICT revolution

    One of Africa’s most talked-about ICT success stories in the education sector is the adoption of Computer Based Test (CBT) for entrance examination into tertiary schools organized by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, a body with a core mandate to conduct matriculation examination for entry into all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in Nigeria.

    Globally, there has been an ICT revolution since 2000. The internet economy has grown larger and faster than could have been reasonably expected back then.  In future, technology, connectedness, the internet-of-things all promise a more efficient, fast-paced economy set within an accessible global market. But how can Africa really harness all this change to its betterment?

    For a long time, ‘creativity’ and ‘innovation’ in technology were only latent concepts in Africa in general, and Nigeria in particular, until the dawn of the digital age. ICT plays an important, valuable and critical role in education development. Its usage has become very common but its full potential is yet to be discovered. Nigeria’s JAMB is now playing a critical role in ensuring that Africa maintains its pride of place in the Global ICT arena with a particular reference to education. It is heartwarming to see that fact that developing countries have now understood the importance of ICT and have started adapting to it as a basic tool for quality education.

    The trailblazing credentials of JAMB experienced a surge with the coming on board of Professor Ishaq Oloyede, who has accelerated reforms at the institution and fast-tracked innovation. JAMB is applying ICT to areas that no one would have thought possible.

    The ICT mediated examination innovation by JAMB, which replaced the Paper and Pencil Based examination system that was fraught with problems of accuracy and delay in timely results’ declaration is an effective tool for integrating and automating the activities of examination system to bring reliable, efficient, transparent and robust e-examination solutions for Africa.

    JAMB, especially under Professor Oleyede, has increased its institutional capacity and credibility since the introduction of the CBT in 2015. Determined to make the Computer Based Test all inclusive to different category of candidates with disabilities, JAMB embarked on nationwide training for visually impaired on the use of Apex Braille-note computer. This is quite commendable.

    The Apex Braille-note computer is an electronic devise invented by the board to enable visually impaired to take the Computer Based Test without stress like a normal Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination candidate.

    The machine is affixed to a desktop computer and questions are deployed to it electronically with hearing aid. No fewer than 200 visually impaired participants in the training held at designated venues across the nation; namely South West Resource Centre in Abeokuta, Lagos , Kano, Enugu and Port Harcourt.

    It is a good thing that the parliament through the House of Representatives committee on education has thrown its weight behind the JAMBs ICT drive with reference to the Computer Based Test (CBT) when it said the electronic test was in tandem with global dictates to sanitized the education system. “The paper Pencil Test (PPT) was cumbersome and characterized with several irregularities and unwholesome activities. The world is flying and we cannot be crawling”. The chairman of the House of Representatives committee on education Hon. Zakari Mohammed was quoted to have said.

    Thus, if the board’s major objective is to completely eliminate malpractices through the conduct of CBT, it may as well have achieved it because the CBT has to a large extent eliminated malpractice in the examination process. As with everything good, there are those who will lose because of the elimination of malpractices. These are the people that pick holes in the reform and tend to highlight the few teething issues.

    Irrespective of how much such people try to make a mountain out of a molehill, JAMB could compete auspiciously with any examination body in the world considering its innovation in digitizing its examination. The innovation has now restored confidence and integrity in its examination process. With the pace of the current registrar, the body is set to become a global reference point.

    From its application to obviously mundane tasks to its use for the noblest of all human endeavors, the place of information and communication technology (ICT) in today’s world cannot be over-emphasized. The fate of individuals, businesses and countries largely depends on how fast they latch on to the ICT revolution and stay ahead in the game. It is the 21st Century equivalent of the scramble for land and territory most races of humankind have been involved in from ages past.

    Against the backdrop of the importance of ICT to the present era, the effort by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) which has now phased out the use of the paper and pencil method for its examinations in favour of computer-based tests, is not only a commendable step in the right direction, it is also a pointer to the fact that Africa and indeed Nigeria is playing a very crucial role in global ICT revolution.

    A disquieting percentage of graduates in the country today are not computer literate, thus, making them unemployable. This wouldn’t have been the trend if all critical stakeholders in the education string had been proactive in espousing ICT, specifically in testing candidates over the last two decades. The contemporary workplace is ICT-oriented and anyone not trained in this direction is hopelessly unfit to take on many tasks in the corporate world, which can only get more sophisticated, as technology is being daily improved to work more for the human race. Embracing ICT for providing the robust, transparent, accurate and authenticated outputs as we have witnessed with the JAMB innovation brings substantial quality improvement in education and this needs to be extended to other examinations in the country.

    Nigeria’s JAMB has taken the lead. There is no gainsaying the fact that ICT will make exam system more efficient and transparent. This will produce competent human resources, which will contribute to the development of the country. The development at JAMB, which fully digitized and modernized most of its operation is the way to go and should be rolled across others facets of the education sector.

    A consensus has been built around the fact that today is the era of technology which is resulting in changing the life style of people. Today many African institutions are imparting education in the field of ICT, but its application in the functioning of the system is low. The meaning of computerization is limited to just typing or surfing web; full potential of ICT has not been explored. ICT is a useful tool to have transparency, reliability and efficiency in examination system. There are tremendous facilitations integrating ICT with examination system. JAMB’s ICT innovation from what we have seen will ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the examination system and effectively deal with malpractice and inefficiency thus bringing about the much needed change.

     

    • Clement, a medical practitioner, contributed this piece from Harvard University, USA.
  • Revisiting Aregbesola’s place in Osun history

    Revisiting Aregbesola’s place in Osun history

    UNARGUABLY, State of Osun Governor Rauf Aregbesola has not only raised the bar of requirements for governorship seat in the state, it is also to his credit that the progressive seed that has germinated tremendously in the state today is made possible through his relentless efforts to retrieve his stolen mandate from the reactionary party for three and a half years. Were the arrow or symbol of the struggle to bail out Osun from the shackles of the oppression of the reactionary a chicken-hearted type, Aregbesola, popularly known as Oranmiyan would have been frustrated out of the struggle and this would have translated into continuous glaring oppression of the people of the state.

    During the three and a half years that the struggle lasted, Aregbesola demonstrated unequaled and unparalleled quality of leadership which is rear to come by among conventional politicians of our time. The period of the struggle was the time the whole state was turned into a prayer arena by the three common faiths, Islam, Christianity and traditional religions, at the time. It could be recalled that while the Peoples Democratic Party’s leadership and its disciples opted for outright display of violence with the help of some disgruntled security officers, what was in vogue then among the Alliance for Democracy (AD,) which later metamorphosed to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), later Action Congress (AC) and now All Progressives Congress (APC) through the alliance made possible by the AC, CPC, APGA, All Nigeria Peoples Party and some disenchanted members of the ruling PDP then.

    Though politics to some people which is a vocation and professional to others could be said to be a fierce contest for positions, opportunities and authority, experience has shown that like any other professions, some people are found out to be more gifted in the art of politics than other people. Among the accomplished ones that wine, dine, think and dream politics perpetually is Aregbesola. The protracted struggle to reclaim his three and a half year stolen mandate from Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola was enough reason to mark him down as a political sprinter who does not become tired no matter what his hindrance might be.

    Experience has shown that rabid ambition needlessly unsettles clean water in politics. To say that ambition to succeed Governor Aregbesola is not causing squabbles in Osun APC today is an understatement. No matter how minute the section of the APC who thinks they can do things in their own way may be in Osun today, it is important for the larger section of the party to find a way to bring them into the larger house. Whatever affects the part will definitely impact the whole. Afterall, politics is about meetings, agreement, disagreement and conflict resolution. It shouldn’t be too difficult to settle an intra-political rift in order not to go into an inter-political ‘war’ with a divided army.

    My study of Aregbesola for over one decade has shown that he possesses a rear attribute of being hardened whenever there is crisis of any nature; he thrives in crisis. Thriving in crisis here is a virtue which Oranmiyan used to rattle a one-star Army General during his protracted efforts to secure his stolen mandate in 2010. Just like any mortal, Aregbesola has his own shortcomings. But these are not enough passports to deny him his rightful place in the history of the state. Time was in the history of the state shortly after Governor Bisi Akande was rigged out in the 2003 elections, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) had crumbled as none of the party’s leaders had the financial muscle to get the party going in the state.

    It is on record that some leaders and members of the AD who could not continue to bear the brunt of the hardship crossed over to the ruling PDP while the principled ones were wallowing in abject poverty and squalor. The AD party secretariat then that looked like a traditional shrine could hardly be maintained and the frustrated members saw no reason why they could be meeting in their various wards; the AD then was in tatters.

    Based on the then noticeable physical absence of the party faithful �in the state, the then PDP Governor Oyinlola who has since joined the APC, remarked that there were no longer AD members in the state, adding that the remnants of the party had joined the PDP while others had fled the state. It is on record that it was Aregbesola as a Works and Infrastructure commissioner in Lagos State who breathed life and confidence into the AD by spending his hard-earned money to sustain the party. It is also on record that apart from paying the rent for the traditional shrine-like AD office in Osogbo, he was paying the secretariat staff, funding local government elections and relocated the party secretariat to a more suitable place which now houses Osun Central APC secretariat. If not for the doggedness, resilience and open handedness of Aregbesola, the state will today be under the PDP, under which various and mind-boggling atrocities against the people of the state were made.

    Provision of security of lives and property is one statutory achievement the administration of Aregbesola is noted for as residents of the state from Ifetedo to Ifedayo, Ifeodan to Ikire can sleep with their two eyes closed. Before the advent of Aregbesola, daily threat to lives and properties by political hoodlums used to be the order of the day. With the presence of anti-violence security vehicles strategically positioned in the nooks and crannies of the state, no one dear thinks or executes evil plan against his fellow human beings in today State of Osun as such mission may be a direct invitation to suicide. It can also not be easily forgotten that the source of funding of the 2007 general elections was Aregbesola. Nothing involving money could hardly be executed in the state without recourse to the Oranmiyan.

    Apart from funding all the litigations concerning his stolen mandate that trudged on for three and a half years, he took over funding of all Osun political refugees in both Lagos and Osogbo for several years with spoon feeding of aspirants and candidates of AC extraction into various offices. It is a truism that Aregbesola facilitated contracts for some of the Osun political refugees who are now up in arms against him; it is also a known fact that some of his emissaries who were saddled with the responsibility of ferrying money from Lagos to Osogbo for political accomplishments, cut corner with it and built houses in choice areas of Osogbo. Others purchased expensive cars with their illicit stolen campaign proceeds. It is also important to mention it that without the political doggedness of Aregbesola, APC would not have clinched the centre.

    It was the rear feat performed by Aregbesola during his re-election bid in 2014 that secured the federal government for the APC as it was combination of stubbornness and providence that worked in Aregbesola’s favour� to win re-election. Based on the foregoing, as it is human to make mistakes, I am of the opinion that whatever mistake is adduced to him during the course of governing the state should be forgiven as he has never proffered to be an angel.

    Aregbesola’s identified sins before his traducers is his hurriedness to develop the state as no sane mind will say that Oranmiyan has not transformed the state than the way he met it. Taking the totality of the achievements of Aregbesola into consideration before he came into office to date, it will not be an understatement to submit that whether in or out of office, Aregbesola will remain the quintessential leader of the APC in Osun and he should be accorded such regard required of the status for the smooth operations of the party. •Olabisi, former Managing Editor of Osun Defender newspaper, is a member of the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation Interim Management Committee

  • Day Dogara returned from ‘exile’ with bounties

    On Friday May 5, 2017, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, received a rousing welcome to his home state of Bauchi. Ordinarily, a representative on a visit to his constituency shouldn’t attract such fanfare but this wasn’t just usual constituency visit as the Rep was said to have gone on “exile” even though four months prior, he was in Bauchi, and always interacts with his people as he often hosts different groups from across the state in Abuja.

    For the record, he was in Bauchi last August and December and was billed to go back in April this year, which means that he goes back to give account of his stewardship to the good people of Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa-Balewa Federal Constituency every three to four months.

    Readers may recall that very recently, the Bauchi State government issued a statement in which they alleged that the Speaker had gone on “exile” and cannot visit his constituency which, to them, amounts to abdication of responsibilities even though they know that he was there just four months ago. In his response, Dogara had stated that as a federal lawmaker, he was elected to work in Abuja and as such he is not supposed to be seen frequently in Bauchi as doing so could be considered dereliction of duty. He further added that as Speaker, he visits honourable members’ constituencies to help launch their projects and programmes and attend other social events cutting across the 36 states of the federation, which effectively denies him the luxury of visiting his constituency often. Regrettably however, he said, those who were elected to work in Bauchi are now the ones who are seen more frequently in Abuja, Kano, Lagos and other cities across the country and even foreign lands, meaning that they spend more time outside their place of primary assignment.

    Rumours have permeated every nook and cranny of the state that Hon. Dogara cannot visit his home state as he might have been declared persona non grata by the powers that be but to their chagrin, the Speaker’s visit was announced well ahead of time in both local and national media to put them on notice that he will be going home on May 5, and contrary to what had been said, a mammoth crowd had gathered to wait for hours at the Plateau/Bauchi border to welcome their son, and the party continued from one village to another up to Bauchi city.

    For a hour journey from Jos to Bauchi, it took the Speaker’s train almost four hours due to heavy vehicular movement with stopover every 20 to 30 kilometres to greet the thousands of citizens who came out en masse to welcome and cheer their son. Dogara, in company of over 162 Federal MPs, friends and associates, drove straight to Sir AbubakarTafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital where he moved from one ward to another, consoling patients who were children, women, young and old.

    The Speaker, together with his colleagues settled medical bills of many patients. In April last year, he sent a team of 60 medical doctors, surgeons and nurses to the same hospital where they attended to the medical needs of over 50,000 people from Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Plateau, Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa ,Borno and Taraba State for two weeks.

    Thereafter, he also went to condole with two Bauchi elders who were bereaved recently, had lunch in Senator Ali Wakili’s residence and visited Senator Suleiman Nazif’s house before proceeding to Tafawa Balewa.

    The next day, May 6, the Speaker commissioned a market donated to Bogoro community by a good Samaritan which he facilitated, and then inspected state of work at Government Girls Secondary School Tafawa Balewa FOR WHICH he attracted federal presence with the total renovation of the school and building and equipping of ultra-modern ICT centre among other laudable projects. He was received by hundreds of schoolgirls who were beautifully dressed in their blue and white uniforms. They sang songs of joy on sighting the man who is investing in their future.

    The main reception was held in Dass and a sea of human beings flooded the area with some people climbing on top of the beautiful Dass mountains to catch a glimpse of “Dan Amana” as they fondly call him because according to Frieddrich Nietzsche, in the mountains of truth, you never climb in vain. The event at Dass, which was initially meant to flag off construction of four roads that traverse Gombe, Bauchi and Plateau states, turned out to be a major political gathering which sent shock waves across the state.

    The gathering brought together old friends and foes, and was attended by not fewer than 30,000 people including women and children. It also attracted the presence of big political stalwarts and juggernauts in the state including the immediate past governor, Malam Isa Yuguda, Hon Yusuf Tugga, Senator Maikafi, Senator Adamu Gumba, Senator Mohammed Mohammed, scores of retired former permanent secretaries in the state, retired or dethroned traditional rulers numbering about 100 who were removed by the present government, students, and a number of cultural groups who performed to entertain the guests among others.

    Of all the dozen villages and towns the Speaker visited commissioning healthcare centres, water and electricity projects, schools including big Almajiri schools he built in Fulani communities, Dull, a community also in Tafawa Balewa Local Government stood out. The team arrived there between 6-7pm and the people especially youths positioned themselves more than 5 kilometres ahead to receive the Speaker. Sarkin Dull, Alhaji Zulkiflu Abdullahi was recently deposed by the Bauchi State government after he refused to go on state radio to read a prepared text attacking Hon Dogara.  The chief had said that he will rather be removed than to go against his conscience and his people to attack and blackmail a patriotic and peace-loving leader who attracted projects that will forever change the destiny of his people and their land, especially the road which will link his community to neighbouring Plateau and Taraba states.

    The roads are entirely new roads that will open up these communities and link them with other parts of the country across the three states with their total cost or value put at over N50 billion, and the Speaker gave assurance that the road project will be completed within the next two years. He also added that in collaboration with governments of neighbouring states, other road projects will be constructed to ease movement from Bauchi State to their respective states.

    Apparently overwhelmed with joy, the visibly elated Malam Isa Yuguda told the mammoth crowd that it was the first time federal projects of such magnitude were attracted to Bauchi since the creation of the state and urged the people to keep praying for the Speaker so that he can do more for them.

    When it was his turn to speak, Dogara, didn’t disappoint. He reminded the people that every solar power street light in the three local governments were his projects. No wonder they also call him “mai solar”, and added that he just completed total renovation of Dass Central Mosque which he later inspected after the event.

    Earlier, he had facilitated the construction of the 78 kilometre Bauchi-Tafawa Balewa road with three bridges by the federal government, which happens to be the best road with no single pothole in the whole of Bauchi State. This is in addition to scores of primary health care centres, hundreds of blocks of classroom in primary schools, empowerment schemes including in rice farming, cottage industry, transportation, tailoring, training of young people in agriculture in Israel, scholarship schemes for students in tertiary institutions from first degree to PhD level, etc. These are just few works of an “exiled” representative who boldly told his people that “We are real children, we were born and bred here, we grew up here among you, we won’t tell you lies because we have no other place greater than Bauchi.”

    Thereafter, the speaker lead over 30,000 of his constituents to offer special interfaith prayers for the health of President Muhammadu Buhari, led by the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Dass Local Goverment, Reverend Kefas Galadima and Sheikh Hamza Dass.

    Indeed, if staying in Abuja to work and attract unprecedented number of federal projects by MPs is seen or misinterpreted mischievously in some quarters as going on exile, then not only Bauchi people but Nigerians would rather have them stay put in their places of primary assignment instead of junketing from one city or country to another as is now the norm being practised by their traducers.

     

    • Hassan is Special Adviser on Media & Public Affairs to Speaker Dogara.