The Nation Newspaper

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  • Taming the shrew of violence

    It is perhaps trite to aver that violence of various shades is precipitously on the rise across the world. Homes, workplaces, schools, religious grounds, and relaxation hubs are fast becoming dreadful places to many people, especially women and children, on account of the indescribable violations and acts of violence increasingly playing out there. Where violence is intensely focused – as in Gender-Based Violence (GBV) –, age, educational status, class, religion, race, ethnicity, and tribe are immaterial. Thus, where women and girls across varied societal strata are not being violently involuntarily engaged in sexual acts (rape, prostitution, pregnancy, abortion, et cetera), they are either being freely violated by nefarious traditional practices like early marriage, genital mutilation, and insufferable widowhood rites, or psychologically violated through patriarchal discriminatory systems.

    All of the foregoing averments are supported by extant statistics and research findings ably undertaken by international organisations like the United Nations, governmental organisations in the Euro-Western axis, and international non-governmental organisations. The World Bank document – World Development Report, which provides data and research outcomes on development from country to country, outlined and discussed in its 1994 report 10 particular risk factors confronting women and girls. Of those 10, according to the report, rape and domestic violence rank above war, highly dangerous diseases, and automobile accidents as potential causes of danger to women and girl-children. While sexual and domestic violence against women and children have not abated, war, diseases, lack of access to education, unemployment, poor maternal and reproductive health, among others, continue to make happy, healthy, and halcyon living horrendously impossible for these groups of people over the last 22 years since the publication of that study.

    Globally, it is estimated that, in their lifetime, 36% of women and girl children suffer wide-ranging sexual and physical violence. And in many third-world countries, about seven out of 10 women are subjected to shocking sexual and physical violence. In terms of displacement, records have it that women and children are more affected than men. More than half of the estimated 60 million globally displaced persons happen to be women.

    In the area of underage marriage, statistics published by the UN reveal a more disturbing reality. A disproportionate number of women across the world today became wives when they were children. According to the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW)’s ‘Child Marriage Facts and Figures’ (2012), one-third of girls in the developing world are married before the age of 18; and one in nine are married before the age of 15. ICRW found out that 70 million women (ages 20-24) around the world had been married before the age of 18. It feared that if this trend progresses apace, 150 million girls would be married before their 18th birthday over the next decade. In other words, an average of 15 million girls will be married each year before they reached the age of consent.

    ICRW further reported that the hotspots of this abominable violence are Western and Sub-Saharan Africa, due to population size, and South Asia, where the largest number of child brides reside. Poverty, lack of education, violence, and health challenges define child marriage, which sadly is supported by a variety of religions in many countries of the world.

    Accordingly, in a bid to tame the remorselessly vicious shrew of violence, a number of countries have enacted laws and are making progress, and some are still in the process of putting in place laws that prohibit gender-based violence and ensure justice for victims. The famous UN ‘In-Depth Study on All Forms of Violence against Women’ (2006) reported that 89 countries already have laws on domestic violence. It noted that more countries had put in place national action plans to put the malevolent wind out of the ruinous sail of violence against women. In international and regional organisations, a number of protocols on violence and issues of women’s rights have been legislated. Across countries, many NGOs and Civil Society Organisations (CSO) are playing critical roles in creating awareness and enlightenment on these laws and those enacted locally.

    In Nigeria, where GBV is alarmingly on the rise, the advocacy efforts of about 14 years of a couple of NGOs resulted in the emergence of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015. After its precarious journey through the frustrating labyrinth of the National Assembly, the bill was passed by the 7th Assembly and was signed into law on May 28, 2015, by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    As its Explanatory Memorandum shows, the VAPP Act ‘prohibits all forms of violence against person in private and public life, and provides maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment of offenders’. Made up of 48 sections amenable to easy comprehension, the VAPP Act makes available sharp legal fangs against all kinds of violence, some of which include rape, incest, physical injury, Female Genital Mutilation, harmful widowhood practices, stalking, forced isolation/separation from family and friends, abandonment of dependants without sustenance, forceful eviction from home, and administering substance with intent – all of which are rife in many states and communities across the federation. Though women and children are often the victims of these offences, the Act protects men too. As the title indicates, it is for all persons.

    The daily occurrences of violence, especially against women and children, underscore the dire imperative for robust and concerted actions on the part of critical stakeholders in the society. The statistics on GBV in the South-west alone are so discomfiting. According to a report obtained from the New Initiative for Social Development (NISD), among the female population of 1,183,470 in Ekiti, 25.8% have experienced physical violence and 6.6% sexual violence; of the 4,394,480 in Lagos, 43.9%, 5.8%; of the 1,886,233 in Ogun, 22.8%, 4.3%; of the 1,715,820 in Ondo, 43.7%, 5.2%; of the 1,682,810 in Osun, 12.8%, 2.2%; and of the 2,778,462 in Oyo, 48.0%, 3.9%.

    It is equally worrisome that while some of the states are without effective laws to curb the menace and even pussyfoot when bills that seek to address it are brought before their lawmakers, those which already have legislations against the scourge record very low or zero implementation arising from inaction on the side of the implementing ministry officials, lack of awareness of the law on the part of the people, especially victims, and ignorance of procedure on the part of law enforcement agents. Ogun, Ondo, and Oyo states are yet to domesticate the VAPP Act and do not have similar piece of legislation. Interestingly, Osun House of Assembly had already enacted a piece of legislation that prohibits GBV two years before VAPP came into existence (Protection Against Domestic Violence Law 2013).

    As at the time of writing this piece, a bill similar to VAPP is before the Oyo State House of Assembly lawmakers. But for the spanner thrown into the works by the lawmakers during the speakership of Hon. Monsurat Sunmonu, this would have been passed. The present lawmakers have a duty to sensibly speed up action on the passage of the bill in order to rescue the state from the damaging whirligig of GBV. A 2013 report by the News Agency of Nigeria revealed that more than 20 cases of rape were reported on monthly basis in Ibadan. That year, the Oyo State Police Command reported that 365 rape cases and indecent assault were reported and investigated in the state. This is even more than the total number of armed robbery recorded in that year (59 robbery cases were reported while 103 arms and 198 stolen cars were recovered). This horror has been on the increase since then, with many more underage girls falling victims.

    Having played a crucial role in the emergence of the VAPP Act, the NGO – NISD – is not resting on its oars. Prodded by its experience of the incredible fact that legislations on violence against women enacted by State Houses of Assembly are neither publicised and/nor made available through mass production of copies by the implementing ministries, NISD took a major step to print and circulate, beginning from the South-west, copies of the VAPP Act as a means of creating sustainable awareness and enlightenment on the Act among members of the public.

    More, in collaboration with the official development agency of the Government of the United Kingdom, Department for International Development (DFID), NISD organised a one-day workshop in Ekiti State for journalists and media practitioners in the South-west in order to enlist them in the efforts to tame the shrew of violence. For the organisation, enlisting journalists in the efforts is essential to the promotion of a violence free society.

     

    • Ademola writes from Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State.

  • Of judges and corruption

    I woke up ruminating over the DSS raid of some judges’ homes across the country, on suspicion of sharp practices and public reaction to the development. I am deeply worried. I’m worried for several reasons. One, why are we the way we are in this country? One moment, we shout at rooftops: crucify him; the next moment, we shout hosanna.

    For years now, especially since the Arthur Nzeribe’s ‘procurement’ of the bizarre court injunction on June 12 in the early 90s till the present time, several people had expressed great concern and worry on the moral decline in the judiciary. Many are of the firm, valid and reasonable view that whatever ills of society there are, can be redressed so long as we have an upright, impartial and incorruptible bench.

    But to date, I doubt if that is not a forlorn hope. I say so, because every attempt to ensure sanity in that Third Estate of the Realm, in this country had always been waylaid by subterfuge of ethnicity, religion and political manoeuvring aided by filthy lucre.

    I insist that many Nigerians are uncomfortable with most of the pronouncements from the bench whether on land matters or, in the most important of all, political matters. But two references from those who should know will suffice for the purpose of my intervention here. If they were comments by brilliant and sound citizens like Adamu Ciroma, Mamman Daura, Lateef Jakande, Patrick Dele Cole and Odia Ofeimun, lawyers will be quick to dismiss them as people “not learned in the law”. But can anyone, truly learned, controvert these views uttered by a redoubtable Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Okwudili Oputa of blessed memory and a past Chief Justice of the Federation, highly regarded Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais on the worrisome decay in the judiciary.

    First, Justice Oputa: “ No one should go to the bench to amass wealth, for money corrupts and pollutes, not only the channels of justice but also the very stream itself. It is a calamity to have a corrupt judge. When justice is bought and sold, there’s no more hope for society”.

    Second, read and digest this again from a one-time Chief Justice Muhammadu Uwais: “A corrupt judge is more harmful to the society than a man who runs amok with a dagger in a crowded street. The latter can be restrained physically, but a corrupt judge deliberately destroys the moral foundation of society and causes incalculable distress to individuals through abusing his office while still being referred to as honourable”.

    These two jurists are insiders who certainly know more than any of us out here. And if the statements credited to them, which had not been controverted by them, are anything to go by, they confirm without any equivocation that the rot in the judiciary is skin-deep. It therefore calls for surgical operation because the rot is akin to a festering sore on the leg that can develop into gangrene and ultimately lead to amputation of that leg.

    Anyone who followed the James Ibori case from Nigeria to how it ended up in the UK cannot but agree that with the judiciary, we are, in the language of the Americans, in “real, deep shit” in this country.

    A peep into the prosecution departments of the various ministries of justice in this country can be so telling and unedifying; where it is commonplace to compromise justice with the connivance of the executive. Bogus bails are said to be “manufactured” from these departments by unscrupulous law officers who secure bails from prison custody for known and confirmed criminals for huge sums of money in active but unholy collaboration with some prison officers. These unscrupulous law officers must have been emboldened to indulge in these perfidious acts because (1) they had been intimidated by some members of the executive branch to re-write legal submissions that could get their criminal hirelings off the hook at different times and (2) because some of them who work in the courts are privy to how their principals, magistrates and judges, had manipulated justice for pecuniary benefits, had also devised their own methods of making money out of those being held in prison custody awaiting trial by forging unsuspecting judges signatures to secure bails for alleged murderers through motion bails.

    If people who previously had not had nice words to say on the conduct of some of our judicial officers, are now uncomfortable with the Buhari administration’s move to take the war on corruption to the bench, perhaps the method adopted can be fine-tuned in conformity with civilised norm, instead of a wholesale condemnation of the effort to bring confirmed corrupt judges and other judicial officers to account. To be sure, I am for all erring members of the bench to be ruthlessly dealt with; after all, what is bad has no other name than bad!

    When a few corrupt ones are stripped of their ill-gotten wealth, without recourse to capital punishment as some are advocating, they will be made to live with the odium of that malfeasance for the rest of their lives. It is the ONLY way to redeem this country so that the young ones will not be misled into believing that the surest way to wealth and fame is through using the advantage of public office to plunder the nation and bleed it to death.

    The problem I have with law is the easy recourse to technicalities to provide escape route for criminals. When an Omolaja Ogboluaje is caught beheading a fellow human being and in the process of being arraigned in court, the suspect’s first name is misspelt as Adelaja, he gets discharged and acquitted on that score, to the chagrin of those who witnessed the act of beheading and who testified in open court to that effect, in addition to the written admission of the suspect himself. Can anyone who is accessory to that fact be blamed if they insinuate that some palms had been greased in the process?

    There is this erroneous and unfair charge that all the ills of our society are caused by politicians. Wherever the issue was raised, I had always stood up vehemently against the charge. I have this view because I am a politician and I know that not all politicians are that bad to be adorned with this negative toga. I also know, as one who had had the privilege of heading a government, even if at the local level, that many infractions committed in government at the local, state and federal tiers, had the ingenious but invisible signatures of civil servants, who normally open politicians eyes to where they could deal with the public till, mindlessly. They are adept at it that when the consequences of such plunder of the public treasury come on the politicians, in khaki or babanriga, the civil servants who are the real masterminds of such plunder, always got away unscathed.

    This then leads me to the recommendation to the Buhari administration that the assault on the political class should spread across board to cover the civil service, the academic, the disciplined forces and the judiciary. But a caveat: the dragnet should be widespread and not selective, if the growing opinion of the citizenry that the war against corruption is targeted at perceived foes of the current administration, is not to take firm root. Some believe, because of its seeming selectiveness, that the war against corruption is another means of muzzling the opposition.

    Some don’t agree with this view but the Buhari administration must be transparent to let even those wearing blinkers know that it is sincere and impartial.

    All public and civil servants at all levels of government in the last 10 years at least, should have their bank accounts and assets investigated to know how rotten morality had gotten in our land; and membership of the ruling party should not provide a safety net for all those who had held offices in the public and civil services of this country.

    Buhari has the moral standing to carry out this task but he must brace up to stiff opposition from vested interests, as is currently being witnessed. If he lives true to his words at his presidential inauguration that he belongs to no one but he’s for everyone, his national support base for this crusade will widen and his name will be etched in gold for ever. But if allows himself to be swayed by petty political, ethnic, religious or other primordial considerations, all his strivings in life, will come to nought. And we will be back to square one!

     

    • Osiyemi, is a public affairs analyst.

  • Nigeria prays: Putting the cart before the horse!

    In Nigeria, evil has triumphed since independence, but more especially during the military regimes, starting from General Gowon through Generals Buhari, Babangida, Abacha to Abdulsalam, but especially the last three military rulers. Babangida ruled for eight years and deceived the nation and the whole world by his costly transition that eventually led to nowhere and, of course, the most costly and most cruel of all, annulment of the freest, fairest and most credible election of June 12, 1993. That was the culmination of triumph of evil in Nigeria. The clergy, particularly Archbishop Adetiloye and some others prayed for divine intervention. None came, as evil must triumph in an evil society. That was why Babangida was replaced by another evil of equal weight in General Abacha who waged war against anybody and everybody who wanted annulment of MKO Abiola’s victory reversed. But Abacha died like a poisoned rat! A case of instant justice, you might say. In one of my public comments at that time, I wrote on IBB and Abacha thus: “Abacha is a cruel initiator of pitiless force; Babangida a shrewd, more eager piece of malice”. Abubakar completed the triumph of evil by technically supervising the sudden death of MKO Abiola in his custody.

    It is a matter of bare, brute fact that since the end of military rule in 1999 to this day, evil has had its firm grip on Nigeria where evil triumphs, with little or no opposition from the civilian administration of Obasanjo, Jonathan Goodluck and even to the present administration where evil has continued to triumph, comfortably sitting on the throne of hell (Nigeria). If we go back to 1980 through 1999 to the present time, 2016, we notice that every succeeding year has been worse than the previous year with corruption, impunity, serial killings, kidnapping, criminal insurgencies, extreme poverty and hunger, unnecessary deaths and suicide through nonpayment of salaries, gratuities and pensions to workers on the increase. Yet the nation prays, perhaps more than any other country in the world, usually accompanied by aggressive night vigils in every nook and cranny of the country. It should then occur to us that something is fundamentally wrong. Where and how we have gone wrong, even with the ritual of the famous “Gowon prays”, is that we have put the cart before the horse. In the face of Nigeria’s escalating problems, some clerics, the likes of Pastors Adeboye, Kumuyi, Oyedepo, Olukoya, Areogun, Wale Oke and Prophet Obadare and others ought to have, by inspiration, told the nation: “Let us confess our sins, in pertinence and faith”. The purpose of this order is for the acknowledgement and confession of our sins in penitence, and with humility, for the forgiveness of sins Nigerian leaders – presidents, vice-presidents, national and state assembly members, ministers, governors, commissioners, crooked business men and top political functionaries have committed unabated since independence till the present day. These sins, when added to those of ordinary Nigerian citizens, are probably more serious than those of Sodom and Gomorrah! Now, look at the following passages from the Bible for our consideration:

    Acknowledgement and forgiveness of our sins (Proverbs 28:13): He who covers his sin will not prosper. But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Righteousness and reproach (Proverbs 14:34): Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. We cannot live in sin and expect grace of God to abound or multiply (Romans 6:1-2): What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may continue? God forbid. Finally, Confess our sins in order to forgive them (2 Chronicles, 7:14): If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.

    It is in the light of the above quotations, and especially, the last one, that I’ll bring up in relation to what the United States of America did, under President Abraham Lincoln, of the need to ask for forgiveness before prayers in order that our subsequent prayers may be heard by the Almighty God. This I have called President Abraham Lincoln’s option, and had recommended it somewhere else, in my write-up “Nigeria’s Sins: Time for atonement, deliverance, restitution and change” (Nation on Sunday, Jan.18, 2015, p66), and even poignantly to Prof Yemi Osinbajo, our Vice-President in an e-mail, for our nation’s consideration. It is Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation of three days of national humiliation, prayer and fasting: Atonement, Forgiveness and Restitution.

    In a document contained in a book titled, Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting, Abraham Lincoln, as President of United States, had made the above proclamation. His first proclamation (out of three) was requested by a Joint Committee of both Houses and Congress, and the day set aside was the last Thursday in September, 1861. In this proclamation, Abraham Lincoln said: “It is fit and becoming on all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the supreme government of God; to bow in humble submission to his chastisements; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions, in the full conviction that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and to pray, with all fervency and contrition, for the pardon of their past offences, and contrition, for a blessing upon their present and prospective actions”. For this reason, Abraham Lincoln appointed the last Thursday of September, 1861 for the exercise, “earnestly recommending to all people, and specially to all ministers and teachers of religion, of all denominations, and to all heads of families, to observe and keep that day, according to their several creeds and modes of worship, in all humility, and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the united prayer of the nation may ascend to the Throne of God, and bring down plentiful blessings upon the country”.

    I hereby submit that the unending and escalating problems of Nigeria as a troubled nation are a result of its many sins – of commissions and omissions – that could not be overturned by “Gowon Prays” and aggressive night vigils, all which were like putting the cart before the horse, forgetting or simply not knowing that “we cannot continue in sins and expect our prayers to be answered” until we first acknowledge these sins, confess them and then ask for forgiveness. Shall we therefore pray that our leaders and the entire people of Nigeria will humble ourselves before God, acknowledge our sins, ask for forgiveness, turn from our evil, wicked and ungodly ways before we begin to seek the face of God so that He will hear us from heaven, and heal our land called Nigeria? Unless this was done by this or any other administration, as President Abraham Lincoln had done, I cannot see an end to our seemingly intractable problems since independence. If we cannot do this now, perhaps a revolutionary group may spring up to do the needful. We should expect this necessary change by believing that God will always honour his words. For the atheists amongst us, we shall say, in the manner of Voltaire, the French Philosophe, that even if there were no God, we would have to invent one.

     

    • Professor Makinde, FNAL, is DG/CEO,Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo, Osun State.

  • Obaseki and burden of expectations

    The Edo State governorship election has come and gone. Gone along with it is the pervasive fear of the untoward, among which is the alleged invasion of the state capital by straggling militants from neighbouring states. Putting it mildly, the threat almost sent the blood pressure of everyone, including citizens, residents, politicians, electoral personnel, security agents, et al, into the stratosphere.

    Thank God it is over now as everybody can go about normal everyday responsibilities, hoping that the governor-elect, Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, will deliver on his promises in order to take the state and its people to the next development level.

    More than anyone else, he knows too well that with the election over, he is condemned to hitting the ground running in order to justify the faith reposed on him. Unemployment is unarguably the biggest challenge facing the Nigerian nation today. As one of the federating states, Edo is certainly not shielded from its hydra-headed implications. Urgently, the people will welcome any practical policy decision geared towards substantially creating jobs for the teeming army of the unemployed, who constitute a ready-made and waiting army for crimes. Obaseki seems to understand the challenge here hence he made job creation one of his cardinal campaign issues.

    Of course, now that campaigns are over, he must go beyond rhetoric and walk his talk without delay.

    A lot has been said about the need to move governance beyond mere meeting political expediencies. The point being canvassed is that governments at all levels must begin to act without delay in two key areas. It must place more urgent emphasis on the creation of enabling environment for development while also ensuring that they implement policy decisions that encourage real time investments from the private sector. The issue here is that direct government involvement in businesses must be de-emphasised by transferring the onus on private investment.

    Apart from reining in all excesses, including avoidable losses inherent in direct government involvement in business, transferring the onus to private investments will further advance employment creation in no small measure. Obaseki cannot afford to delay setting in motion the process of privatizing non-sensitive sectors. Beyond the creation of jobs, a private sector-driven economy has other innumerable advantages.

    At the moment, Nigerians are familiar with incidences where public officers in charge of public concerns hold the view that such concerns are mere personal enrichment conduits. Particularly in Edo State, cases abound where public companies have been run down mainly on account of its minders allocating accruing resources to themselves at the expense of the public. The case with Bendel Brewery, Edo Line, to mention but a few, is instructive.

    However, even as the argument for continuous government funding and control of businesses for, among others, job creation purpose may appear appealing, experience has shown that the end result is never in tandem with expectations. That alone, gives traction to the other more convincing argument that indeed, the time has come for governments to hands off commercial business engagements, concentrate on creating the enabling environment for real business sector to play its rightful role.

    In addition, governments must find additional role fulfilment in among others; policy initiation, decision, direction, control and or monitoring. It is expected that with a background steeped in investment drive and boosted by eight years of practical involvement in direct governance, a reason for which the governor-elect received the people’s mandate, he should understand how vital it is for the state to literally move to the next level without any undue delay.

    There is another urgent reason the governor-elect must act quick in order that the state may not falter on its present enviable economic status that has enabled it to meet all its monthly statutory obligations in spite of the biting recession.

    In the past, the trend is that all states must literally go, cap in hand, to collect their monthly federation allocations from Abuja. It is hardly debatable that funds from Abuja has dwindled drastically that it is now mere stipends that are too evidently inadequate for their monthly obligations. Whereas almost 30 of the nation’s 36 states are currently unable to pay salaries without one form of bailout or another, few of them, including Edo, successfully navigated local labyrinths to shore up their internally generated revenue profile that kept them relatively afloat.

    However, particularly as it is with the state, the manner with which it has been leveraged on is a little less than complimentary. Indeed, it has not been controversy-proof at all having created challenges that led into accusations of double taxation, underhand dealings, etc, from several quarters.

    While it may not be completely right to dismiss the accusations or even assume that they are true, the people will however, appreciate it greatly if the governor-elect fulfil, without any undue delay, his promise to sanitize collection processes. It will go a long way in addressing the perennial disconnect between government and the people on the one hand. On the other, addressing it squarely will address the ensuing crisis of confidence which almost dented the enviable development records of the outgoing administration.

    Therefore, the governor-elect must prioritize this reconnection task by dealing with tax and other revenue issues in order to bridge the seeming disconnect between the government and those affected.

    Now that Obaseki has secured the people’s mandate, he must live by his promise to transform communities with investment potentials with his investment wizardry. Unquestionably, most of the communities are agrarian with a few having solid minerals and tourism prospects. Thankfully, they can be made more investment friendly by a manager who can pull all the strings that can effectively attract investors the same way honey combs does the bee. Of course, we can take it for granted that he understands what must be on ground before investors can feel a compelling need to come in.

    However, beyond understanding these needs, there is the overriding necessity to implement investment-friendly policies in such a way that they are not stifled by political manipulations. In other words, the governor-elect must ensure that development imperatives sit atop political expediencies. That is the only way to create effective development.

    Thankfully again, the outgoing administration of Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole has done so much in road and other infrastructure. What remains is to leverage on his successes by taking advantage of what is on ground in order to direct investors to the different viable locations across the state. By so doing, there will be enough investment in all the easily accessible resource areas for even development.

    The country is in recession. For the same reason, investable funds may not be readily available. Where available, they may not be enough for the needful.

    For instance a lot of small businesses may be stifled by tax and other contingencies during incubation. To avoid the inevitability, the position of government, in terms of provision of incentives, is very important.

    Given the promise of the governor-elect to create a minimum of 200,000 jobs even in the face of choking economic realities, he must, with dispatch, consider the idea of creating an investment fund with low interest rates for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMEs.

    The point to note here is that they need to be encouraged given the very vital role they play in terms of employment or job creation.

    Now that Obaseki is set to assume office as governor, how well he is able to create the promised jobs will depend, in the main, on his ability to galvanize his administration’s investment drive, particularly in the area of creating the right investment climate. Now that he has the people’s mandate, he must hit the ground running.

     

    • Omoarelojie writes from Benin City.

  • Ugwuanyi’s ready-to-work instinct

    A critical review of the development trajectory of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s administration in Enugu State and the governor’s positive impact in navigating the state through the current economic quagmire in a quest to deliver on his campaign promises leaves many to wonder the secret behind the successes recorded so far in the state. In 2014, during the pre-election campaign, when the governor told the people of the state that he was “ready to work” to provide quality leadership that would address their basic needs and give them a sense of belonging, some people thought it was the usual glib talk of  politicians deployed to woo the electorate.

    Today, a glance through the catalogue of verifiable achievements recorded so far by Ugwuanyi’s administration shows that the governor has not only proved himself creditably in keeping with his promises, he has also demonstrated his preparedness for the job. The achievements have equally showcased the governor’s worth and clear vision to deliver his goods to the people of the state irrespective of any encumbrance that would spring up in the course of steering the wheels of governance of the state.

    In his inaugural address, Ugwuanyi while recommitting himself to the four point agenda of his administration, promised to drive with full force investment promotion, agricultural sector renewal, provision of critical infrastructure, human capital development and skills acquisition.

    Presenting his scorecard after one year in office, the governor noted that a critical appraisal of his actions and achievements shows that his administration has not only kept faith with the promises to the people despite the severe economic difficulties confronting the nation today, but was also poised to do even much more.

    According to him, “it is indeed a very well-known fact that, as a consequence of the nation’s current economic woes, the monthly allocation to states from the federation account has fallen to less than 38 per cent of what it used to be. The situation has become so bad that many states are unable to pay salaries and meet other obligations.”

    While it is on record that Enugu State has been regular in payment of workers’ salaries, notwithstanding the bleak economic realities, one also appreciates the massive development of urban and rural roads across the state aimed at extending development to the rural areas to create more urban centres, enhance rural access, boost economic activities in every corner of the state and give the rural dwellers a sense of belonging.

    Recently, Ugwuanyi in an exhibition of his readiness to work took the bull by the horns by awarding the contract for the rehabilitation of failed sections of federal government road along Oji-River-Ugwuoba-Anambra State border by old road, which collapsed to a state of disrepair, and trapped vehicles for several hours. The rehabilitation work which was awarded to ANBEEZ Nig. Ltd at the contract sum of N783,005,827.92, received wide commendation from the public who poured encomiums  on the governor for such a bold initiative aimed at alleviating the suffering of the people, especially road users who experienced pains plying the road.

    The governor’s timely intervention was also borne out of the need to ensure smooth traffic flow on the road during the forthcoming yuletide.

    Worthy of note is also the fact that work commenced on the road immediately, not minding the fact that the federal government has not refunded Enugu State government the money that the past administration spent on the earlier rehabilitation of the said road, which amounts to N4,794, 196, 251.79.

    One therefore appeals to the federal government to refund Enugu State government the money it spent on federal government roads in the state, which amounts to over N22 billion, in appreciation of the state’s kind gesture in rehabilitating the failed sections of Ugwuoba-Anambra State border road.

    It is heart-warming to note that the state chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), among others, all hailed the governor’s brave initiative in embarking on the project as well as commencing work immediately, saying that it was an indication that he was “ready to work” and sensitive to the plight and yearnings of the people.

    As though this was not enough, the Ugwuanyi administration also recently approved the award of contract for the rehabilitation of 18.5km federal government road along Opi-Obollo Afor, and additional works at Amalla and 9th Mile internal roads from Ekochin Junction-Mechanic Village junction, measuring 2.4km. The contract which was awarded to Reynolds Construction Company (RCC Nig Ltd) at the cost of N1,356,587,804.56k, was sequel to an on-the-spot inspection tour of dilapidated federal government roads in the state, which the governor embarked upon ahead of the forthcoming yuletide.

    As a leader committed to the wellbeing of the people, Governor Ugwuanyi while justifying his administration’s decision to rehabilitate the said roads disclosed that “even though most of these roads are federal roads, we cannot continue to wait for the federal government to rehabilitate them, hence the need to fix them for road users to enjoy a smooth movement during the Christmas season.”

    This is in addition to the ongoing fixing of potholes in Enugu metropolis by the Nigerian Construction and Foundation Company, the state government’s agency handling the maintenance of roads constructed by past administrations in the state – a feat Enugu residents applauded and said will enhance the road’s life span as well as reduce traffic gridlock being encountered on roads in the metropolis because of the potholes.

    In a few days from now, the state government will embark on the flag-off ceremonies of 25 road projects as well as buildings and water projects in the 17 Local Government Areas of the state, earlier approved in line with its grassroots development initiatives.

    By his support and contributions to Enugu Rangers International Football club which inspired the club to victory as the new champions of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) after 32 years in the wilderness without a trophy, Ugwuanyi has once again demonstrated his worth as a jinx breaker, who is ever ready to work with an uncommon passion for achieving success.

    The ongoing reforms in the state’s education sector such as the recruitment of 2000 primary school teachers, and procurement of about 12, 480 writing desks and chairs for primary school pupils and 868 tables and chairs for teachers to improve the standard of learning, also rate high in the development chart of the state. All these are in addition to  so many other remarkable achievements recorded in various strata of development by the present administration in less than one and half years in office.

    Finally, as the governor’s new ethos of leadership keeps gathering momentum, it is expected of the public to support and inspire his vision and ever-ready-to-work instinct to greater heights, for Enugu State is truly in the hands of God.

     

    • Amoke writes from Enugu.

  • Tinubu and Judas generation

    The grand conspiracy and recent desperate attempts to de-construct and indeed, de-mystify one of Africa’s most decorated political colossuses, who, incidentally remains an enduring metaphor for what true democratic culture represents in Nigeria smirks of gross ingratitude. The pain runs deep, considering the fact that the masterminds are some of the greatest beneficiaries of his patriotic struggles, at one time or the other over the past five decades.

    One is talking about none other than Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the one man who stood firm, like Zuma rock in the whirlwind of Nigeria’s politics, against the brutal and bruising boots of late Abacha’s dictatorship. He was the guiding light of the struggle for the realization of June 12, 1993 mandate as won by late Chief MKO Abiola. He was the former governor of Lagos State (1999-2007) and has remained the constant star in the firmament of Nigeria’s progressive political spectrum.

    But for the commitment of this national Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), perhaps Nigeria’s then rudderless ship of state would long have capsized into the vast ocean of corruption under the clueless, Jonathan-led administration. That was then. But this is now, as he is being paid back in coins he never traded for the survival of democratic culture in his dear country, Nigeria.

    So, it rankles; it shocks one to the marrow, more so because acts of sheer deception and bitter betrayal as reflected in some of William Shakespeare’s plays of the 16th century now play out in the 21st Century Nigeria, with uncanny semblances! And for what?  All because of transient fame and fortunes.  For instance, in the play Macbeth the lead character betrays King Duncan (to whom he has sworn allegiance) by killing him when he is a guest at his home.  But why, one may ask?  It is in an overtly ambitious attempt to gain the crown that Duncan wears.  He also betrays his friend, Banquo, just to retain the power and position of being king. Thereafter, he murdered sleep!

    But that is man for you; vacillating like the tropic weather. Today, he pretends to be the most loving and loyal friend or ally, only because he is in dire need of the other’s help, most likely to get out of a sticky situation. But tomorrow he turns coat at the drop of a hat, that is, when the price is right. There are scruples but he has none. No binding philosophy of commitment to a cause. Greed for instant gains and an unquenchable desire to be seen as the man- of -the -moment are his propelling passion; his odious guiding credo.

    Worse still, Tinubu’s traducers are going about it as if he is one desperate politician, who wants power at all costs and by all crooked means. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. If memory serves, Tinubu’s political trajectory took off when he pitched tent with the Musa Yar’Adua’s political dynasty. That was the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Before long, he was championing the struggle for the actualization of the June 12, 1993 mandate, as freely given by the good people of Nigeria to Chief MKO Abiola (of blessed memory). He made a lot of sacrifices; of precious time, energy, finance, strategies, wise counsel and other incalculable resources in this noble cause.

    And still sticking to his political guns, to forever remain on the side of the people through a democratic structure he, it was who warned Dapo Sarumi, who was then the patriarch of the Primrose Group not to jump ship into the IBB contraption of an Interim National Government. Back then, the group was the most dominant in Lagos politics in 1992-93. Tinubu vowed to break rank with Sarumi should he not heed his piece of patriotic advice. But the other was far too gone in his quest for political relevance under the military government to heed it. That singular wrong choice led to Sarumi’ political oblivion, till this day.

    If Tinubu was desperate he would have joined the bandwagon as one of the infamous carpet-baggers. It would also be recalled that when he, Tinubu was the chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, he was offered the juicy post as the Minister of Finance by the Abacha-led military government but he rejected it outright out of sheer national interest. Yet, that was not all.

    Specifically in 2003, when as the Lagos State governor, he became the last man standing at a time OBJ’s rigging machinery raged through the South-west.  Tinubu’s commitment, dedication, determination and personal sacrifice re-engineered the progressive community to retrieve the zone from the conservative People’s Democratic Party, PDP. The eventual emergence of Kayode Fayemi and Rauf Aregbesola as the governors of Ekiti and Osun states respectively became the turning point for the progressives’ relevance.

    Another remarkable and in fact, epochal moment in the South-west politics came in 2007. When the market din swirled in Lagos over the emergence of Babatunde Raji Fashola,  it was Tinubu who made another sacrifice of his Senatorial ambition, giving the ticket to Ganiyu Solomon.

    It was Fashola’s victory at the polls in 2011 that empowered, emboldened and paved the way for the subsequent victories of the progressives in Oyo and Ogun states in 2011. And it was also in the spirit of Asiwaju’s sacrifice that made it possible for Ibikunle Amosun, well-known then as a diehard conservative politician to clinch the coveted governorship seat in Ogun State, in spite of the array of other progressive politicians on ground.

    Ditto for Abiola Ajimobi in Oyo State who had earlier abandoned Alliance for Democracy, AD for ANPP. Worthy of note too, is that it was the sacrifice made by Tinubu out of love for his country that led to the historic merger amongst the ACN, CPC, ANPP and a faction of APGA to form APC. And for the first time in the political evolution in Nigeria, the party was able to dislodge the incumbent greed-driven PDP-led administration.

    Were he one selfish politician, he would have been contented being a king in his South-west enclave. But no. Even when the then presidential flag-bearer, Muhammadu Buhari offered him the post of his running mate in the presence of Chief Bisi Akande, who was the Interim Chairman of the party, Tinubu declined the offer. He nominated Professor Yemi Osibanjo instead. This is an incontrovertible fact. It was borne out of his patriotic zeal, taking cognizance that the PDP had then polarized Nigeria along ethnic and religious lines. Unfortunately, one John Baden, a total stranger to Nigeria’s political evolution has stood logic on its head by claiming otherwise in his recently launched biography of the President.

    Having achieved such political feats, out of a rare sense of patriotism, it is a crying shame that some individuals who rode on his back to fame are now making attempts to rubbish his good image which he has built over the decades.

    It would do the Yoruba political traitors in Abuja, who, like the Astyanax fish species that betray their own, are now hell-bent on doing Tinubu in to have some moment of sober reflection. Even Ayodele Fayose,  Ekiti State governor in his characteristic blunt manner has warned of the dire consequences for those so involved. They should remember that in the market square of life, it is always honourable and rewarding to be grateful to those who lift us up, instead of turning round to spit on their faces. God, who created us all is watching. As the only one to who vengeance belongs, He will surely take recompense. For, anybody who abuses grace will soon have nothing to eat but grass.

  • Justice for sale

    Justice for sale

    I had chosen the above title, before the news broke over the grave developments of last Friday, which saw the state security services swoop on the homes of two Justices of the Supreme Court, and some High Court Judges, over allegations of corruption. Even when this column is agreeable to a transparent purge of the judiciary, and had in fact recently urged the federal executive arm to concentrate its efforts on investigating such allegations, instead of seeking to impose the next Chief Justice of Nigeria, I must confess, that the sudden, and unprecedented manner of arrest of the Judges, left yours sincerely, in deep shock, since last Saturday.

    Considering that the reasons for the arrests, are still hazy, and since this column must meet the Sunday deadline, I earnestly hope that when the reasons are presented, it will be unassailable and unimpeachable. Perhaps, it would have been tidier, if the National Judicial Council (NJC), constitutionally empowered by the 1999 constitution, as amended, to discipline judges, was petitioned, and if the allegations are true, the judges are retired, before the executive arm moves in to prosecute those culpable. But enough on that development for now.

    The issue that gave rise to the above title stem from a recent statistics, released by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), that in some states, more than 90% of persons detained in various prisons across the country, are what Nigerians call, awaiting trial men. Also, according to the NHRC, 90% of the women, awaiting trial, are pregnant, with many children born in jail, growing up as pseudo-prisoners even though they are not awaiting any trial, like their mothers.

    Of course, the men, women and children, exposed to these national absurdities and indignities, are our country’s poorest, the wretched of the Nigerian earth, who either have no money to pay for legal services, or, who have no resources to meet the unfair and unreasonable bail conditions which our malignant criminal justice system imposes. These poor people have no relations except their type that can come to their help. But above all, these are Nigerians who have never had the opportunity to help themselves from the national bazaar that governance has become in Nigeria, or perhaps who do not subscribe to the chop, make I chop, that our public service constitutes.

    Yet, our country of unimaginable absurdities has among its top lawmakers, top executives, and other very important personalities, those also awaiting trial, but who are free, like the birds, to roam the world. By another statistics from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), nearly 40 former governors who served between 1999 and 2007 have criminal cases pending against them in our various court; some since 2007. Yet, not one of them is in jail like their other poorer compatriots awaiting their trial.

    Indeed, some of them are in the Senate, and fewer of them in the House of Representatives, receiving for a mere 180 days’ work in a year, humongous wardrobe allowance, hardship allowance, sitting allowance, and other absurd allowances, not to talk of their unlawful plundering of the national resources, by way of salaries and emoluments, which they crafted for themselves, against the express provisions of the constitution, which they pretend to uphold.

    Some of them, who could not make it, to the Senate, are appointed to other juicy portfolios; or are abroad, holidaying, having convinced the courts that they need urgent medical attention to stem an untimely death. Yet, when the awaiting trial detainees, who are visibly close to death, from the state sponsored starvation, while in jail, are brought before the court for a bail application, or the perfunctory trial, the Judge or Magistrate gives some very ridiculous bail condition.

    As if our country is a cruel joke, an individual who is accused of a misdemeanour is disingenuously kept in jail for years, awaiting a trial, while his more criminally minded contemporary who has stolen billions of naira, is granted a bail, and a further opportunity, to engage in more plundering. Yet, we pretend that we are practising an egalitarian democracy because of the provisions of lame constitutional precepts which many of us barely understand.

    Come to think of it, the basic requirement of a bail, under a constitutional democracy, is just to secure the attendance of the accused person, at a place, time and date, appointed. So, why should the laxity of the Nigerian state, which is incapable of keeping a verifiable record of her citizens, their movement, residence and other sundry census requirement, turn a mere accused, into an object of ridicule and humiliation, and still expect him or her, to be patriotic. If our leaders had not squandered the billions of dollars earmarked for a proper national identity card, with basic biometrics, wouldn’t an accused be granted bail, once a bail bond is signed by a holder of such card?

    Instead, what we experience is for the court to ask the poor accused persons, to source for two sureties, who must be owners of a property, in places which the rich has already appropriated to themselves, and ‘to pay’ for the court registrar, to go and verify the residence, the working place, and other identity requirements, of the surety. And when the accused is unable ‘to pay his way’, to get the court registrar, the police, and the prison official, where he is already remanded, to go and verify the information, the negligent state, that should have provided a verifiable identity platform, further humiliates the accused, by keeping in jail for ever.

    If the Nigerian state is a person, he or she would be accused of being in-human, wicked, unreasonable, and whatever acronym that would best describe her unconscionable and malicious maltreatment of her poorer citizen, who await their own trial in jail, while those who can pay for justice, are pampered, by the same state, after committing a worse crime. But the Nigerian state and her components though artificial, have directing minds, who should take responsibility for the acts of the nation or its component parts.

    In my humble view, all state executives, owe it a moral obligation to their personal conscience and that of the state which they preside over, to demand a review of the backlog of cases of the awaiting trial men in their states, who have been in detention for more than one year; except those charged with capital offences. They should bear in mind that our criminal justice system is wretchedly ineffective, and as such, in many of the instances, some of those in detention, awaiting trial, may actually be innocent.

    As I have argued on this page, our criminal justice system is uneven, and that aides the glaring inefficiency that has put an excruciating burden on the poor. I guess Nigeria, would be one of the few countries, if any, where a person is accused of a municipal crime, is investigated by a federal police, is charged before a state judge, while he is jailed in a federal prison. If the federal police, for instance, move her personnel, the case file and the evidence may be lost, with all the consequences, especially for the poor, who are hamstrung to pay for the expensive justice on sale.

     

  • US presidential election and the rest of us

    Early in November Americans will go to the polls to choose a successor to Barack Obama, the first US President of African-American extraction and who has been in office for eight years. Whichever way the voting goes, the winner is going to be a first for the United States: it will either be Hillary Clinton, the first woman ever, and unquestionably accepted to be the more cerebral, experienced and prepared for that exalted office, or Donald Trump, the billionaire egomaniacal narcissist without any previous public service experience and who has broken every rule of decency, decorum and political correctness. The rest of the world is waiting with bated breath for who the next commander-in-chief of the world’s most powerful armed forces will be.

    But how do we explain the fixation of the rest of the world on who governs the United States of America? The answer is very simple: it is the most powerful nation on earth by several yardsticks of power, and its president, by extension, also the most powerful ruler! Its intimidating ‘vital statistics’ of power and influence are there for all to see. Apart from its uncanny ability for cultural imperialism and trend-setting (in news, entertainment, movies, books, music, fashion etc), it is indisputably the most powerful economy in the world whose currency, the dollar, is the global benchmark for all other currencies, and controlling some of the most powerful International Financial Institutions. And, by far, the world’s greatest military power! This powerful combination makes it able to dictate and procure whatever outcomes it desires around the world the way that no other power can since the end of the Cold War.

    It is often this latter point that makes American leaders so arrogant and makes the country an object of hate across the globe. And ordinary Americans themselves are not necessarily immune from this national arrogance: while their government officials swagger around the world, exhibiting patently obnoxious condescension, ordinary Americans who are otherwise law-abiding at home often get into trouble in other countries just because of their casual disregard for the cultures and norms of other societies. However, it is not the behaviour of ordinary Americans but that of the government in Washington D.C. and its policies around the world that concerns us here.

    America is not only a great power and the only remaining superpower in the world since the end of the Cold War, it is, in reality, the only global power, i.e., the only great power with a comprehensive global reach, and this is no exaggeration. It is by far the only country that can use its combination of ‘hard power’ and ‘soft power’ – military, economic, cultural, propaganda, and psychological – not only to penetrate and influence but actually dictate the outcomes of events around the world. Neither Russia, the successor to the defunct Soviet Union, nor China, the world’s fastest growing industrial, economic, technological and military power, can do what the US can around the globe, even in outer space! It is true that Russia is a great military power with tremendous nuclear capability, but it cannot yet influence global events because nuclear weapons alone are hardly sufficient to compel obedience. Its military deployment and spread is much limited, with no military bases in many regions of the world. China is for now only a major military and naval power in Asia, no bases around the world and its vast navy is not yet able to operate in all the oceans of the world.

    America is correctly regarded as the greatest military power in the world largely because its formidable arsenal of conventional and strategic weapons is incomparable to any other, and its deployments of personnel and armaments around the globe is breath-taking and clearly unmatched by all the other great powers combined. This is no exaggeration either. Its vast conventional and nuclear weapons are deployed on numerous platforms – strategic and tactical ballistic missiles, surface ships, submarines, and long-range strategic bombers – that are distributed in bases both at home and in nearly 800 overseas military bases in every ocean and every continent. Its naval capability alone, in terms of weapons and platforms, is equal to the navies of all the other major naval powers combined. Take for example, whilst other naval powers, namely, Russia, China, Britain and France have only one or two super aircraft carriers each, the US alone has 10, with the eleventh one currently under construction. These are deployed in different oceans of the world, bringing America’s awe-inspiring military presence to bear in all the regions of the globe.

    It is this fearsome and incomparable capability that makes America the most feared around the globe and underscores the importance of its presidential election to the rest of the world. It is of great interest to the rest of the world because the most important duty of every US president is to be the Commander-in-Chief of this formidable military force, and has the codes for fighting nuclear war right at his finger tips. Will America have highly cerebral and experienced war-monger like Hillary Clinton for president or an inexperienced, bumbling political upstart and demagogue like Donald Trump? In my opinion, a President Trump is a much bigger disaster waiting to happen. Michael J. Morell, a former CIA Deputy Director, captures this in an August 6 New York Times article when he asserted that apart from his lack of public service experience, he parades certain character traits that would make him a dangerous leader if elected. “These traits” he asserted “include his obvious need for self-aggrandizement, his overreaction to perceived slights, his tendency to make decisions based on intuition, his refusal to change his views based on new information, his routine carelessness with the facts, his unwillingness to listen to others and his lack of respect for the rule of law.” These certainly are not frivolous views, coming as it is from a 33-year veteran of the CIA. And they reinforce my views that Donald Trump is not mentally, psychologically and temperamentally qualified to be put in charge of such vast nuclear and conventional arsenals deployed around the world. A bumbling leader, in my view, is apt to cause wars and crises more by his sheer incompetence, shallowness, worsened by volatile temperament, than a thoughtful and reflective one would.

    Whoever Americans vote for as their new commander-in-chief would scarcely alter the essence of US foreign policy which, according William Blum’s seminal work, “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions since World War II” consists of war-making, invasions, overthrowing governments, assassinations of foreign political leaders, use of death squads, torture, employing and training mercenaries, even engaging in drug trafficking, to name a few. For me, the French aphorism says it all: the more things change, the more they remain the same!

     

    • Prof Fawole writes from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
  • Erdogan’s rampage

    Erdogan’s rampage

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not easily pacified over the July 15, 2016, failed putsch in his country. He is on a manic hunt for Fethullah Gulen, an Islamist cleric and former ally-turned foe of the president who presently lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, United States. The government in Ankara apparently has foreclosed any controversion of its suspicion that Gulen is the mastermind of the failed coup in which some 240 persons died and more than 2,000 got injured, even though no conclusive evidence has yet been adduced to prove that indictment. Gulen himself has openly condemned the coup and fiercely denied any connection with its executors. But proof be damned! Erdogan has picked his battle and is determined to exert vengeance; a remote hint, even of some vicarious link with the Gulen cosmos, is sufficient to bring anyone into the line of his fire.

    At the last count, Turkish authorities have suspended nearly 13,000 police officers, detained dozens of military chiefs, and only last week shut down a television station in a widening clampdown against perceived enemies of the government and Gulen associates. The police headquarters confirmed that 12,801 officers – 2,523 of whom were of very senior cadre – got booted because of their suspected links to the cleric. Turkish news sources reported that besides suspending five percent of the entire police force, the authorities also detained 33 air force officers in random raids across the country, while broadcast transmission by the IMC television station was cut following accusations that it was spreading “terrorist propaganda.” State-run news agency, Anadolu, also said 37 people working at the Interior Ministry had been removed from their posts and offered no explanation for the measure.

    Meanwhile, the Turkish cabinet last week approved a 90-day extension of the state of emergency imposed in the wake of the July coup giving Erdogan powers to govern by decrees. The emergency extension, which the parliament is likely to simply wave through, means the president can take decisions without oversight by the Constitutional Court, Turkey’s highest legal body. Since the July 15 uprising, President Erdogan has vindictively moved to purge state institutions of staff deemed disloyal or considered to be potential enemies. Some 100,000 people in the military, civil service, police, the judiciary and universities have been sacked or suspended from their jobs, with no fewer than 32,000 persons arrested. The government says its aim is to rid the institutions of any link to Gulen, whose organization it has dubbed a terrorist network.

    Although the international community – most notably Western nations – has voiced a deep concern over gross human rights deficits in the crackdown and warned Ankara against using the failed coup attempt as an excuse to uproot legitimate democratic dissent, Turkey could have plausibly, though speciously, argued that the matter is its sovereign affair if the Erdogan government had not stretched its whiplash beyond the country’s nationals. But that it has done blatantly. From latest indications, even Nigerian nationals have been caught up in the web of the Turkish power game. About 50 Nigerian students in Turkey were recently arrested by that country’s authorities for alleged link to Gulen’s so-called terrorist network. Most of them were said to be students of Fatih University, one of the 2,099 schools, dormitories and universities shut down by the Turkish government in connection with the July putsch. The students were reported to have been apprehended upon arrival at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul penultimate weekend, with their passports seized by the Turkish police.

    Besides the students arrested, there were also reports of summary deportations. One of those affected is a final year student of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Melikseh, who was reported as saying she arrived in Turkey on September 26 and was detained at the airport for about 10 hours, after which she was placed on  a plane and flown back to Nigeria without being obliged any explanation for the action. “As I got to the airport, at the immigration, they (immigration officers) collected my passport and resident permit. They started to ask me questions like: ‘What are you studying?’ ‘What is your father’s name?’ They took my passport. This was on September 26. I asked what was happening. But they said they didn’t know, that it was a new law, that they were sending me back to my country,” online medium, TheCable, quoted Rukkaya Usman as saying.

    If you thought something creepy was just beginning to unfold, you only needed to look to official diplomatic channels, which confirmed last week that two Nigerian students had been in detention for more than two months at the Silivri Prisons in Istanbul for allegedly being members of the Fethulla Terrorist Organisation (FETO). Media reports cited the Charge D’Affaires of the Nigerian Mission in Turkey, Ibrahim Isah, in a brief sent to Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, as saying the two students, Hassan Danjuma Adamu and Muhammad Alhaji Abdullahi, who are on Yobe State Government’s scholarship, had actually completed their programmes and were only waiting for their certificates before their arrest. According to the diplomat, their offence was that they were living in a hostel facilitated by the International Students’ Association, an organisation believed by the Turkish government to have links with FETO.

    But the students are most likely merely victims of a subtle diplomatic square off between Nigeria and Turkey. The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaye, was reported as saying the arrested students were paying for the refusal of the Nigerian government to close down 17 Turkish schools and institutions in this country as demanded by Ankara in the wake of the July coup. In a submission to  Foreign Affairs Minister Onyeama, the permanent secretary was reported to have said: “Surely, accusing the students of links to a terrorist organisation is serious even though we know the state of paranoid that has beset the leadership of Turkey following the failed coup attempt.  Our students seem to have been caught in the web of internal politics of Turkey and the clampdown on FETO that was accused of the coup…The action against our students must have been a reaction to our refusal to close Turkish schools and institutions in Nigeria as arrogantly demanded by the Turkish Government.’’

    In further conversations with the media, Enikanolaye explained the stance of the Nigerian government thus: “The Federal Government cannot close schools owned by private individuals that have not been proven to be in violation of Nigerian or international laws in our country, as doing so will amount to expropriation of private property.”

    My view is that since the government already suspects the embattled students are hapless victims of a diplomatic grouse, the onus rests all the more on it to stand up for them and hold Turkey to living up to being a civilised member of the international community by swiftly releasing the students. But the bigger lesson here is that the rot in the Nigerian education system needs to be urgently fixed. Local, state and federal governments must confront the challenge of retooling the system at respective level; more importantly so the Federal Government at the tertiary level, so that young Nigerians would not need to shop abroad, even in the most inclement regions, for the golden fleece.

  • Micro-farming and food security

    Micro-farming and food security

    In every industry, humankind keeps pushing the boundaries of what is possible. The realm of agriculture is no exception. When we think of farming, we probably view it as a rural activity often conducted on multiple acres of land by specialists who have dedicated their focus to profitably growing food for others.  The notion of growing your own food represents a paradigm shift in how most modern day urbanites perceive the food supply chain. You don’t necessarily need acres of land to do it and the inconvenience of growing your own food has been mitigated by innovations in micro-farming techniques.

    Micro-farming in this context refers to growing enough food to take care of a portion or even all of what your household needs.

    Solutions are available for growing food in vessels as ridiculously small as tea cups or in spaces as seemingly inconsequential as the size of a door. Whether you live in a highrise building at the centre of the city, or on sprawling acres out in the open countryside, you can adopt a “farm to plate” lifestyle if you are so inclined. The concept, in its purest form, can be summarised as fresher, nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables, grown close to where they are going to be eaten, ideally consumed within seven days of being harvested. No long distance haulage across or within countries, no genetic modification, no industrial pesticides, no artificial ripening and no mould.

    Those more attuned to mechanised farming may picture tractors, combine harvesters, silos and so on, when they hear the word “farming”. But the frontier has been pushed out even further than that with robots the size of a suitcase taking less than 24 hours to mulch, sow and fertilise crops covering 20 hectares. Those droids featured in the 1977 Star Wars movie helping Luke Skywalker on his uncle’s farm are now a reality. Furthermore, you can now farm without soil, or on the side of a building, or on a flat roof top, or even inside a shipping container. These innovations are propelling the growing movement to localise food production, making it more realistic for individuals or communities to grow their own food near where it will be consumed, even in densely populated cities. This is significant because localised production means you are eating fresher fruits and vegetables. You get the most nutritional value from your fruit or vegetable if you eat it as soon as possible after it has been harvested. The Centre for Urban Education and Sustainable Agriculture says some apples travel 1,555 miles, or grapes 2,143 miles, before they reach the market. The inherent nutritional value of produce decreases the longer it is kept, therefore the shorter the distance and time it takes to get to the consumer the better.

    The concept of growing your own food may initially elicit the visceral reaction of who has the time for that unless you’re from Benue or Imo states. In Benue, Fridays have been declared Farming Friday for civil servants. Their work week has been reduced to four days instead of five, so that they can use the fifth day to work their farms. This move is designed to reduce the state’s salary bill without massive layoffs. Ditto for civil servants in Imo who now report to the office three days a week, and are expected to utilise the remaining two working days each week to grow food.

    With the right nutrients and optimal exposure to light, tomatoes, ugu and even strawberries can be grown inside a container. Our understanding of what a “normal” farm looks like is being stretched each day. Hydroponics, growing crops in specialised water rather than soil, is generally viewed as a finicky, energy-expensive method of farming, but it is currently being used to grow lettuce and other greens in shipping containers. This method will eventually become par for the course. These 40-ft containers can be stacked as high as is practical, thereby increasing the yield from the same size of land. Furthermore, because the seedlings are exposed to constant light 24 hours a day, there are multiple harvests a year.  Its potential in solving food security issues cannot be overstated, particularly in harsh climates or in cities with limited space and infrastructural challenges. Imagine warehouses in Ariaria Market, Aba, Abia State, or in Oshodi, Lagos State, or Kori, Kano State, stacked to the roof with 40-ft containers, and inside those containers are row upon row of fresh produce being grown for the teeming residents. This form of vertical farming is being used commercially in Japan, the USA, the UAE and Hong Kong. As the technology improves, mini versions for small communities or even residential estates and households will emerge.

    Aeroculture is another soil-less way for growing plants. This is done by misting suspended plant roots at specific intervals. The process may be too intricate for mass food producers, but it could work for micro-farmers with plenty of time on their hands and little alternative. Those who prefer to stick with traditional geoculture, and want a less technical approach to starting a mini farm, can use seed sheets. These are prepackaged specialised fabrics with the seeds of the fruit or vegetable of your choice neatly embedded and optimally spaced out. You pull the seed sheet out of its bag, place in soil, near light, outdoors or indoors, on the ground or in an appropriately-sized container. Then you tend it as necessary.

    Non-GMO, locally-found seed supplies may be a good business to develop at this time, though home-farmers can plant healthy cuttings from the type of the produce they want and from that cutting a new batch can yield (even without the use of seeds).

    Urban homesteading, turning your balcony or garden into a “grow-food” area, reduces your dependence on your salary albeit marginally. Furthermore, edible gardening, like its decorative counterpart, is therapeutic. The sense of fulfilment attained from knowing you’ve developed a measure of agronomic self-sufficiency can be deeply satisfying.  Water leaf, afang,  ugu, kale, shoko, bitter leaf, corn, egg plant, carrots, green beans, lettuce, cucumbers, chili, mint, pineapple, tomatoes, spring onions, bell peppers, basil, parsley, oregano and thyme, are some of the fruits, vegetables or herbs that can be grown in or around your dwelling. It takes time and attention to detail but it can be done. If you have neither the time nor the patience, and all you can do is grow your own thyme in a recycled milk container placed by the sunlight on your kitchen counter, at least, you’ve done something. For all the rest, a local farmers’ market could fill the gap.

     

    • Talabi, an economist, is a member of the Institute of Directors.