The Nation Newspaper

Category: Comments

  • OAU and UNIOSUN— A tale of two visitors

    Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile – Ife (OAU) and Osun State University, Osogbo (UNIOSUN) are two public universities that are funded with public funds, thereby entrusting the control of the universities under the administrations of President Muhammadu Buhari and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in their capacities as the visitors to the two universities.  The two of them in their various capacities are empowered under the law to appoint governing council for the universities for the purpose of easy administration in terms of policy formulations and revenue generation amongst others. These responsibilities, the two of them carried out by appointing people into the governing councils of the universities headed by Prof. Gabriel Olawoyin and Prof. Rowland Ndoma Egba for UNIOSUN and OAU respectively.

    The two councils in the course of discharging their responsibilities have attracted criticisms. This has thrown up agitations by some union members in the two universities, which later paved the way for the interventions of the visitors to the two institutions. The approaches of the two visitors to solve these problems are the major crux of this write – up.

    The Governing Council at the OAU has been accused of disrespect for the guidelines and procedures for the appointment of a Vice – Chancellor. This particular act was challenged by two unions (SSANU and NASU) on the campus. The procedure stipulates that a meeting of a Joint Committee of Governing Council and Senate of the university must meet to screen the applicants into the office of the Vice – Chancellor, this, the Governing Council, headed by Rowland Ndoma Egba, was never allowed to do. This act was challenged in a court of law and the two unions got an injunction from the court, restraining the Governing Council from taking further actions on the appointment of a substantive Vice – Chancellor, pending the final determination of the suit challenging the act. This Governing Council disregarded the court order and went ahead to announce Prof. Ayobami Taofeek Salami as the new Vice – Chancellor. The announcement was followed by protests by the two unions with a strongly worded petition forwarded to the Visitor to the University. President Muhammadu Buhari treated the petition with  fairness and equity to the two parties in this matter and resolved that the Governing Council was wrong in appointing a Vice – Chancellor. He then ordered the immediate dissolution of the Governing Council and the nullification of the supposed appointment of Prof. Ayobami Taofeek Salami as the new Vice – Chancellor.

    The recklessness of the Governing Council at Uniosun ranged from the illegal cancellation of appointments into various academic positions after the Appointment & Promotions Committee’s approval to the illegal suspension of the Principal Officers of the university, except the Librarian. The Uniosun branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities challenged these illegalities, using all known avenues. The agitations snowballed into the constitution of a Visitation Panel by the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola to find means of resolving the crisis in the university. The panel did submit a report which was eventually published by a gazette of the government of Osun State. The panel recommended, amongst others, that:

    1. Vice – Chancellor, Registrar and Bursar should be relieved of their appointments because of irreconcilable differences with the Governing Council.
    2. The Governing Council should begin the commencement of the appointment process of a new Vice – Chancellor and complete it within six months, after which the Governing Council stands dissolved.

    It is very interesting to note here that, rather than obeying the recommendations as approved by the Governor Rauf Aregbesola, the implementation of the White Paper really showed that the constitution of the Visitation Panel was wrong in the first instance. The position of the government that principal officers’ appointments should be relieved was immediately implemented even though they have all gone to  National Industrial Court to challenge this act of government, while the position of the government on the recommendation that the Governing Council stands dissolved after the completion of the appointment process for a new Vice – Chancellor within six months was completely disregarded for reasons best known to the Visitor. The six months grace given by the White Paper lapsed on  December  31, 2015, but to my surprise, that Governing Council is still in existence carrying out its functions even under the superintendence of the Visitor (convocation ceremony). The questions begging for answers in this particular situation are not far – fetched and one will expect the Visitor to Uniosun to expressly provide satisfactory responses. The questions are hereby posed:

    1. Is the White Paper recommendations meant for all parties in Uniosun crisis?
    2. If yes, why was it implemented for the Principal Officers alone?
    3. Why was the Governing Council not dissolved after the expiration of the six months grace granted it by the White Paper?
    4. Why did the state government did not implement the position of the White Paper that stipulates the dissolution of the Governing Council by  December 31, 2015 with his attendance at the convocation ceremony of the university on  March 9, 2016.
    5. Whether by these violations of the contents of the White Paper by the Visitor and Governing Council, the White Paper had not become a nullity because the Law of the country preaches equality of everybody before it?

    In the light of the aforementioned, I hereby call on the state government to quickly admit all of these as a mistake on its part and do the needful in bringing back Uniosun to its old glory. The mess in the university as exemplified by the recent scandals (sexual and contract bribery) are direct consequences of its inactions, partiality and ill – informed positions on Uniosun matters.  A very promising university that we have in Uniosun must not be allowed to experience further sufferings greater than what it is experiencing now. History will afford present administration a great place if the government do the needful without minding whose toes it you will step on.

     I pray that God will give the state government courage to dissolve the Governing Council and the contract and bribery scandal indicted management of the university without any further delay and appoint a new acting Vice – Chancellor that will chart a new course of greatness for the university.

    • Kola Oguntoye, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State
  • Kanu Godwin Agabi at 70

    Kanu Godwin Agabi at 70

    In my tribute to Senator Uche Chukwumerije I had posited that ” Every age, every generation produces an iconoclast, an eclectic, eccentric, a quirky and unusual figure, who ironically  represents  the measure, the values, and indeed, the essence of that age or generation and becomes the icon of that age or generation .They are not conventional persons, they are peculiar, odd, aberrant, curious, capricious, quaint, queer and even erratic. Somehow, in spite of their unusualness, they remain unusually lovable. They are unusually unobtrusive yet their presence is forceful “. These words are as true for Chukwumerije as they are for Kanu Godwin Agabi who turns seventy on July 9, 2016.

    Kanu, or KGA, as he is fondly known to all, first came into my consciousness in 1969.He was a lanky  law undergraduate at the University of Lagos and President Ogoja Provincial Students Union. Inspite of the Nigerian Civil War and his studies he and his friend, Mathew Ojong of blessed memory, went round the secondary schools in old Ogoja Province comprising the six Local Governments of today’s Cross River Central Senatorial District and the five of today’s Cross River North mobilizing and motivating students for their future .His passion, energy, physical presence and oratory were captivating. I was among the young secondary students he impressed deeply. After those tours he became unmistakable and etched on the consciousness of my generation. He was imitated in speech, in gait and in manners. He had become an idol to many of us.

    He went on to become a lawyer, having been called to the Nigeria Bar along with Fidelis Ikogo Nnang in June, 1972 and both chose to set up their law practice in their native Ogoja, in the foot steps of E.T. Ndoma-Egba who was to become one of the early Justices of the Court of Appeal, Etowah Arikpo who became Attorney General of the old Cross River State and later Chief Judge, and Ochikry  Idagbo who became a High Court Judge. Fidelis Nnang briefly became Deputy Governor of the old Cross River State Under the short lived Governorship of Senator Donald Etiebet who succeeded Dr.Clement Isong in 1983, and later High Court Judge.

    In his law practice he demonstrated brilliance, hard-work and spartan discipline .Justice Niki Tobi,of recent blessed memory, then of the Court of Appeal, Enugu once  approvingly described Kanu as a ‘ display case’. When Ndoma-Egba, Arikpo and Idagbo left for their various elevations Kanu took over the legal market in that part of the world, dominated and defined it. He vigorously pursued social causes on the side of the oppressed and did more of pro bono work. Philanthropy is ingrained in his DNA.

    At age thirty one, General Olusegun Obasanjo, then military Head of State appointed him Chairman of Nicon Insurance Corporation, then one of the country’s largest corporations .A famous insurance industry guru, Yinka Lijadu was managing director. It was during their time that several projects were conceived and implemented including today’s Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

    On the return of civilian rule in 1979 the newly elected  Governor of  old Cross River  State,comprising today,s Cross River and Akwa Ibom States, the  celebrated economist and onetime Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria appointed the then thirty three year old Kanu as Commissioner for Finance. Barely two years into the new assignment he resigned on principle, perhaps the only one so far to do so till date. He became famous. He returned to his law practice now making more appearances in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. He also became concerned that my generation was becoming dependent on politicians and politics for their livelihood to the detriment of their potentials, that it had lost the pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit of our forebears. He started a movement called The Third Choice, with me as Secretary to promote self reliance and the innate capabilities of the individual. The movement  provided scholarships  for students at home and abroad, supported young professionals and businesses with remarkable success .Today beneficiaries of that intervention are successful men and women. Then tragedy struck. His young daughter, Akpana, his spitting image suddenly died and Kanu went into depression loosing interest in so many things including his beloved law practice .It took counseling from his mentor Justice E.T Ndoma-Egba, conspiracies by Paul  Erokoro and I who had joined him in the practice, a new strength and meaning in the Christian faith to steer him back. Kanu now read the Bible voraciously and it was common to find three versions spread in front of him. He recovered with new strength and became very spiritual.

    It was not a surprise that he became the third Senior Advocate of  Nigeria  from Cross River State having been elevated to the rank in September 1997 thus keeping the eminent company of Dr.Okoi Arikpo, Foreign Minister through out the regime of General Yakubu Gowon and Chief Effiom Ekong, Minister  ( then called Federal Commissioner) for Trade under General Muritala Mohammed’s administration ,and under whom Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen ,now an eminent Justice of the Supreme Court practiced  and cut his professional teeth.

    I joined Kanu  in his practice  in Ogoja immediately after my National Youth Service in July 1979.Paul  Erokoro soon joined followed by Greg Ngaji .Soon the practice opened offices in Ikom with Paul running it, and Calabar with me at that end.Many many others were to join .The alumni of that practice would conveniently form a school. Kanu and I were Commissioners in the Old Cross River State quickly followed by Paul and Greg. Kanu, Greg and I were to become Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Kanu became a two time Attorney General of the Federation under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s civilian Presidency, the only Nigerian with that record to my knowledge, and held other portfolios. Kanu, myself and Paul became Senior Advocates of Nigeria. He has since produced many more Senior Advocates, Judges of various jurisdictions including the current Chief Justice of The Gambia, commissioners, top public servants including a founding Executive Secretary of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, corporate executives, politicians, lawyers of note, etc. His professional children have since begotten their own children .Biologically and professionally he has become a grandfather, a very proud one too.

    Like every  mortal he would have had his failings, regrets, missed opportunities and missed turns but life is measured on the average, on the things done and not only on the things not done, not by the length of our lives but the life in our years, not by what we received but by what we gave.

    His has been a remarkable life of love and service to family, of community, nation, humanity and God. It has been a life of grace and humility. He taught us many things, small things like hardwork, sacrifice, self confidence, charity, prudence and focus, that we must succeed inspite of others, that if you heard negative things people say about you then you are not sufficiently concentrating on the task at hand. He also taught us big things like lawn tennis and chess, and the love of Congo music and jazz.

    As he turns seventy, he is not getting old though the joints rebel and refuse to take his orders, he is just getting better and wiser. We celebrate Kanu, we thank God for who and what he has been to too many of us, for his generosity, and pray that God grants him many more peaceful years in good health of body and mind. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KANU CONGRATULATIONS

    •VICTOR NDOMA-EGBA was a three term Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Leader of the Seventh Senate, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Kanu Agabi’s first junior, and first partner in the defunct law firm of AGABI, NDOMA-EGBA &EROKORO.

  • Bauchi: Democracy or anarchy?

    In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible
    – George Orwell.

    The tide of turbulent waves is ebbing in Bauchi State, but how it plays out remains to be seen by serious political watchers and strategists. Since the inception of the overwhelming concept of change, vis-à-vis the momentum of President Buhari’s emergence and the beneficiaries of that “rolling stone gathers no moss” experience in the Nigerian political firmament, many political players will find out that our leader (PMB) who belongs to everybody and belongs at the same time to no one paradoxically, means business.

    In a clear departure from what obtained as a norm in times past, and the difficulties facing the people of Nigeria, I will want to intimate all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians of the facts and possibility of some turncoats or merchants of double standards are among APC fold. If care and repositioning is not done now, we will have ourselves to blame come 2019. The experience learnt by the PDP should not be lost on all of us which will be taking collective amnesia too far.

    The crux of the matter lies in the fact that a very resourceful state, with enormous contributions in human and material capital to the Nigerian state, is at the verge of going down on its knees, due to lack of prudence, dislike for mankind and wanton lack of adherence to norms and international best practices against democratic values.

    A discerning mind may want to know to what I owe this mind-set. It is only based on the miscarriage of justice, fairness and equity in Bauchi State.

    The intrigues and political philandering displayed in Bauchi State can at best be synonymous with anarchy, where all rules of governance are relegated to the background and self-serving interests are brought to the fore. The inherited PDP Caretaker Local Government Chairmen can only work against this new administration’s policy of zero tolerance to corruption and its appurtenances. This will be an antithesis to the belief’s and tenets of President Buhari’s government.

    The most amazing thing that happened in the last few days of the fasting period is Governor Mohammed Abubakar’s extension of his goodwill to some of the PDP primary stakeholders like AhmaduMu’azu, former PDP National Chairman and Bala Mohammed, former Minister of FCT, in Saudi Arabia.

    It’s okay to have friends across political divides but not friends that destroyed the system which we are trying very hard to revamp. The APC government in Bauchi has now become a laughing stock in the Social Media and other forums. It is not only political misconduct but lack of wisdom, tact and organizational skills. If he is a man of honour, which he is trying to claim, he should resign honourably. If he refused to do so the people will vote him out in 2019, as they did his former governors PDP friends. What he has in common with his cronies is common interest and not PDP or APC ideologies. The common man in Bauchi is now aware of this common interest among cronies, exchanging the mantle of leadership among themselves and will no longer allow it to continue.

    My conviction lies in the fact that I have severally brought these issues to the front burner and waiting for it to be distilled and served to patriotic citizens of Bauchi State. In the way they can appreciate it and play their own part as the owners of the state politically. In one of my earlier discourse I highlighted the Republican nature of the average Bauchi man, and I dropped the blame for outsourcing leadership at the doorsteps of the political elites.

    Imagine a state where there is no interaction between the key stakeholders in the state leadership of the party, the governor, the National Assembly members and the grassroots. Imagine this scenario and add the untold hardship permeating all sectors of the state. Mix it with the fact that you will get persecuted through queries and outright dismissal, for stating the obvious misconduct of governance in the state and proffering solutions to make a way forward.

    Every man is guilty of all the good that he did not do – Voltaire. Silence in this case would be misconstrued by the folks in the state to mean complicity in this ubiquitous rape of democracy. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”, added Edmund Burke. As things stand now,Governor Abubakaris caught in a state of doublethink, according to George Orwell; Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. The high sentiments always win in the end; the leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic. He also posited that; War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.

    One of the pomposities and lack of vision of Governor Abubakarwas exposed through his release of 146 prisoners in the state. The irony remains in the fact that he is sending them back to the same place they left, with no support for their parents who are salary and pension earners. They will surely miss the meals provided by the federal government in the prisons. What happens after that? Will he give them employment to remove the possibility of returning to crime? His use of thugs as his personal security is an offshoot of the existence of such elements that are ready to do anything to get out of poverty and unemployment.

    The Statutory allocation for Local Governments is about N2.5 billion, an average of N120 million per LG and about N3 billion for the state every month, over 5 billion in total. Bauchi Local Government, with the highest allocation, got N170 million in January and shared in February; Bogoro and Dass Local Governments got N76 million each, in the same period which was the lowest, but what is on ground is not commensurate to these statutory provisions.

    The dysfunction of hospitals, water supply and the non-payment of salaries and pensions is certainly breeding discontentment among the people. Hon. Ibrahim Baba from Katagum Federal Constituency, singlehandedly spent over N10 million cleaning waste in his constituency and its immediate environs to improve sanitation and good health. All these are despite the bailout funds of N10 billion and another N4 billion borrowed without approval by the state House of Assembly (N14 billion in total), ostensibly to pay salaries and pensions.

    This is the time for the anti-graft agencies to come all out and do something about the fiscal irresponsibility in Bauchi State.

    My best wishes still goes to the good people of my constituency, Bauchi State and the country at large, who have sacrificed a lot for democracy.

     

    • Hon. Yerima is a member of the House of Representatives.

  • Ikpeazu: The incontrovertible truth

    Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man, so said Sophocles, Athenian dramatist. In the same manner, French author, Emile Zolo propounded that if you shut up truth and bury it underground, it will but grow and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through, it will blow up everything in its way.

    Nigerians are transfixed in shock as events unfold in the macabre drama playing out with respect to the office of Governor of Abia State. On Monday June 27, a Federal High Court presided over by the Hon. Justice OkonAbang, purported to sack the sitting Governor of Abia State on the grounds that he did not collect his tax receipts for 2011, 2012 and 2013 as and when due.

    The offence of Ikpeazu, according to the Federal High Court Judge, was that he waited until 2014 when he needed the tax receipts to apply for them. When officials of the Abia State Board of Internal Revenue acted on Ikpeazu’s request therefore, they wrote the receipts for the three years in question on the same day and from the same booklet being used to write taxes for 2014. This same practice affects most civil and public servants in Nigeria, this writer inclusive. It is common knowledge that most of those who ask for their tax clearance certificates regularly are contractors and other business men and women who require them for transactions.

    For emphasis, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu paid his taxes for 2011, 2012 and 2013 as and when due; it was the receipts for the taxes which were written in 2014. On this ground, Justice Abang accused the governor of fraud and declared his seat vacant. This is unprecedented in the electoral history of Nigeria. In the annals of conspiracies to unlawfully and illegally rob an elected official of a victory he won at the polls in Nigeria, this tops it; this qualifies as the heist of the century.

    When F.N. Nwosu who scored five votes and Uchechukwu Samson Ogah who scored 103 votes to Ikpeazu’s 487 votes at the PDP primaries in 2014 went to court on issues bordering on tax documents, no one took the two cases seriously, for many reasons. First, is that it is impossible for Dr.Ikpeazu not to have paid his taxes for the years in question when he was an employee of the Abia State Passengers Integrated Manifest Scheme (ASPIMS) and later the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) where he was General Manager and Deputy General Manager respectively. He was a civil/public servant for those years. As such he was a PAYEE (Pay As You Earn Employee). PAYEEs are a special breed. They pay their taxes every month as they receive their salaries unlike many others who pay yearly; even that is not entirely accurate. It is more accurate to say that their taxes are deducted and remitted to the tax authorities automatically every month even before they see their salaries, in fact, they have no choice in the matter. They are not responsible for the assessment, deduction or remittance of their taxes. They only get to know what they pay as taxes when they receive their pay-slips and look at the column where it has been deducted.

    When it comes to paying taxes, payees are the salt of the earth as they are the most compliant. No payee is given his receipts for taxes paid every month it is deducted, neither is it given at the end of every tax year which ends on December 31 of each year. Some payees spend all their years in employment, which in the case of civil servants is 35 years, without once seeing their tax receipts.

    Many never have need of it and never apply to the tax authorities for it. But if they need their tax receipts for any reasons, they then apply to the tax authorities who will call for their records from the appropriate agencies and from those records, compute and generate the figures which will now be entered in a receipt and given to the payee. The payee has no role, contribution or input in this process. He has no input in the deduction and remittance of his taxes, so the records also do not have his input nor are they in his possession.

    When the tax authorities call for the records and extract what they want from it in order to write his receipts, he is also not involved or even present. The role of a payee in the matter of tax receipts are only two: (1) to apply to tax authorities for it and (2) to collect it when it is ready. That is all Ikpeazu did in this instance and yet he is accused of forging a document he did not make.

    The strategy of calling a dog a bad name in order to hang it in Nigeria, is most unfortunate and regrettable. Once a public official is accused of forgery, no matter how unfounded and without merit the accusation is, people go to town shouting “forgery”; majority do not pause, take a breath and examine the allegations to determine its merit. Most citizens are just too anxious to believe the very worst for their elected officials and are not ready to afford them any benefit of doubts whatsoever. In this case, Ikpeazu is accused of making false entries in a document he was not even present when it was made. The Abia State Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) which wrote the receipts, signed, sealed it and delivered to Ikpeazu, deposed to an affidavit through its officials, explaining the process and procedures followed by them but the honourable judge ignored them. The process of writing tax receipts is not rocket science and even common sense, which no longer seems to be quite so common these days, makes it easy to understand that the allegations against Ikpeazu are at best spurious, unfounded and entirely without merit.

    For instance, his traducers complain about the receipts for his taxes in 2011, 2012 and 2013 because they were “all paid” in 2014 and the serial numbers on the receipts show they are from the same booklet. They said the receipt for 2013 was written before that for 2012 was written. They equally said that in one of the receipts, December 31 of that year fell on a Saturday, a non-working day. Another claim was that for 2011 when he started his employment with ASPIMS mid-year, he paid more taxes than his six months’ salary for that year could account for. That they called fraud.  They also blamed it on Ikpeazu. This amounts to sheer ignorance. If a tax official is writing tax receipts for taxes already paid in previous years, he will write it on the booklet for the current year starting from where he stopped for the last receipt written. He will not start looking for booklets used in previous years. He does not need to write them serially or in any order.

    The receipts for three years or even 20 years of tax already paid previously can be issued in one day and does not amount to fraud. Every tax year ends on December 31 and is so denoted on tax receipts; the fact that for any one year, December 31 ends on a Saturday or Sunday is moot. With respect to 2011, when Ikpeazu was under PAYEE for only six months, the tax officials will also take into account his earnings for the previous six months when he was not yet in the employment of ASPIMS to determine his assessable income for the ENTIRE year; the tax paid by Ikpeazu in 2011 was for his earnings for the whole of that year not only for the six months he was a PAYEE, so, to say that he paid more tax than his income for six months could accommodate sounds unreasonable.

    Ikpeazu deserves high commendation for surrendering tax that accrued to government from private incomes he made before he joined government employment contrary to most other people who would have denied earning anything at all during the said period. Tax receipts are issued for a year and not in fractions of a year or monthly. A tax official who is writing tax receipts does not know and would not care anyway what the receipts are being used for: whether for purpose of elections, Land Registry transactions, or just for the mere records of the tax payer, etc; he will merely follow established tax protocols. How any perceived error in the actions of a tax official, assuming for purposes of arguments, there exists any, can be blamed on the tax payer really beats the imagination. In this particular case, it is unprecedented for a sitting governor to be accused of forgery and fraud in respect of a document he did not make, had no input into its contents and on this contrived and trumped up grounds, invalidated his election.

    This is a clear assault on our collective national efforts towards achieving egalitarianism and respect for the will of the people in electing their leaders. Nigerians should be worried. Every sane mind and lover of peace, should rise up and resist this attempt by some fraudulent people to set our hard earned democracy ablaze.

     

    • Comrade Iwuoha, is the Commissioner for Information, Culture & Strategy, Abia State.

  • Kachikwu, NNPC and need for continuity

    Proponents of restructuring in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to divest Ibe Kachikwu of his double-barreled position of Minister of State for Petroleum and Group Managing Director (GMD) of the corporation have, at last, had their way. Last Monday, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina announced that Maikanti Kacalla Baru had been appointed the new GMD of the corporation with a board headed by Kachikwu who retained his position as Minister of State for Petroleum. May be, that is just as well so that peace will reign within the establishment.

    For far too long, speculation about Kachikwu’s departure from the GMD’s job had ruled the media space with irritating frequency triggering, at times, frantic rebuttals from the agency. But as it goes in the popular Nigerian parlance, there is never a smoke without a fire. Kachikwu’s exit was a secret on everyone’s lips except the man who had the power to make it happen. But many had thought that Buhari would not want to tamper with an arrangement that is working optimally, that the timing of such an action, when it became imperative would allow for the deepening of the winning strategy that is being implemented.

    Many reasons had been advanced to justify it: that one man should not hold the two most powerful positions in the oil industry, conveniently ignoring the fact that the ultimate position was held by President Buhari who, had he not appropriated the position, still would have overriding powers, including that of removal, over Kachikwu. Or any other minister for that matter. The overwhelming feeling is that the President has capitulated to geopolitical pressures. Worse still, allusions have been made to the exclusion of the south-east zone in the NNPC board as further evidence that the Igbo of the South-east have no place in a Nigeria ruled by Buhari.

    This has become a recurring feature of PMB’s appointments since he came to power and this has also become increasingly worrying. May be we should remind our President that Ibe Kachikwu comes from the South-south geopolitical zone. While we ruminate over the political implications of the President’s action, good conscience will demand that we first consider how it affects the dramatis personae in this unfolding saga, Kachikwu himself. Does the President’s action amount to a vote of no confidence on the minister? Or has he discharged the initial mandate that warranted his occupying the two strategic positions at the same time? If Kachikwu were to leave the cabinet today, how will he be remembered? What will be his legacy?

    To answer these questions will require looking at his mandate even against the background of his self-professed benchmarks that revolved around the following fundamental issues: professional restructuring of the NNPC anchored on best practices spearheaded by knowledge based leadership, reversing the loses in the NNPC, enthroning transparency and accountability, steadying fuel supply, restoring confidence in industry stakeholders who were suspicious of the motives of Buhari and restoring stability to the Niger Delta through a win-win proposition.

    Nearly three quarters of a year later, can we attempt an objective scorecard? What will be the highpoints of his performance? Was the NNPC under the minister able to deliver on the key benchmarks? Is it not possible that the President, satisfied that the expectations had been met, therefore decided on a further restructuring to achieve his best intentions? If so, what are those best intentions? Are they best for the country or just for narrow interests, going by the composition of the board which suggests pacification of known political godfathers and gladiators in the party in power?

    However one evaluates the situation, judged by the ministry’s accomplishments within so short a time, it can be argued, without any fear of contradiction, that Kachikwu has been one shinning ministerial performance in a rather opaque canvass of questionable administration deliverables. Under him, accountability and transparency have been restored to the operations of the NNPC. The publication of monthly accounts may not mean much to the ordinary Nigerian who is more concerned with food on his table, electricity and water at home, employment for his or her three graduate children and a sound sleep at night and a trip from Abuja to Lokoja without the fear of being kidnapped on the way. However, to oil industry stakeholders, investors and entrepreneurs, it provides a solid mirror for understanding what goes on behind those tightly guarded dollar-incubating towers, analyzing the Nigerian economy and taking investment decisions.

    Of course, not even Kachikwu’s detractors will deny that by his handling of the fuel crisis, he established himself as a solid professional, a consummate bargainer and a principled patriot not deterred by the prospect of losing his job in so far as the greater national good was achieved. Talking about patriotism, his willingness to negotiate with the militants implied that not only was his job on the line, even his life could be sacrificed in the process. In spite of the predictable dangers including intra-party and inter-governmental distractions, he has forged ahead with the zeal of a patriot and the consuming passion of a martyr. Is this new arrangement a reward for such brilliance and exceptional dedication and performance? Some doubt it.

    Coming immediately after the very successful NNPC road show in Beijing China,where investment MOUs totally over US$50 billion were signed to fast-track the administration’s plans for transforming the oil industry, it will amount to a contradiction to interpret the President’s action as a vote of no confidence on Kachikwu. On the other hand, it may well be that in the President’s calculation,Kachikwu has delivered on the target set for him. I am more inclined to go with the latter view because I sincerely believe that the President cannot reward such performance with a seeming demotion. That being the case, I think there are, at least, three fundamental issues that should be addressed by the President. The first is the timing of the changes especially against the background of the need to have some consistency in driving already initiated platforms to their logical conclusion. Related to the first, we would be naïve to ignore the inevitable power relations that would disrupt the existing order. How this is managed would determine the sustainability of present achievements including relations with external stakeholders. Thirdly, it appears that the President is not bothered by the perception challenges that go with each of his every action as this latest step has oiled the arsenal of those who insist that his government has been grossly unfair to the South-east zone. This point has been made by several unbiased commentators that ignoring the South-east in most of the President’s appointment, except for the ministerial positions mandated by the constitution leaves sour taste in the mouth.

    Let me conclude on the following notes. One: the change has been made; Baru is an industry insider and a member of Kachikwu’s team. Therefore, he can be expected to deliver on the settled goals of the administration. Second, while Kachikwu’s position as chairman of the NNPC Board guarantees that he retains substantial oversight over the activities of the company, the fact that he is a junior minister can circumscribe his authority and render him vulnerable to humiliation. The way out: unless President Buhari no longer has confidence in him which is doubtful, the most strategic thing to do would be to confirm him as substantive oil minister without delay. That not only confers him with the moral authority to prosecute the existing reform template but the confidence of the Niger Delta militants who, at the moment, could see this thinly veiled demotion as a repudiation of Kachikwu’s promotion of dialogue with the Niger Delta militants.

     

    • OhuabunwaOFR, an industrialist writes from Lagos.

  • Towards national renaissance

    In 2013, the British Secretary for Education, Michael Gove, initiated education reforms aimed at ditching the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). After subtle protestations and threats by some individuals to sue him should he go ahead with the reforms, Gove threw in the towel, admitting that he tried to cross a bridge too far. Announcing his decision against the reforms, he said, “When the arguments overwhelm me and I recognize that I am wrong, I think it best to retreat. We only make progress in this life when we know when to cut our losses.” Echoing Mr. Gove’s position was the Schools Minister David Laws, who said; “it is far better that there should be some red faces amongst some ministers in the Department for Education for 24hours than take any risk with the qualifications that will be taken by millions of youngsters for many years into the future.” The point is; no country, in the history of political association, no matter its political system is known to have modernized with a closed-door policy.

    In Nigeria, the government seems to have listened to the voice of reason and decided to cut its losses. Just recently, the Education minister Adamu Adamu, announced government’s readiness to reintroduce history into primary and secondary school curriculum in the country, seven years after it was ditched. This initiative of the federal government is quite commendable especially at this moment. It is baffling how the decision to scrap this all important subject was reached in the first instance but bringing it back will more than make up for the executive error.

    History, simply put, is the study of man’s past activities. And historians believe it is these past activities that culminate into the present condition or situation of man. Cicero, the Roman philosopher and politician once said that “To know nothing of what happened before you were born is to forever remain a child.” The idea of history is that each generation passes on to the next the treasures which it inherited, beneficially modified by its own experience, and enlarged by the fruits of all the victories it has gained.

    To have an education system where history is not prioritized as one of the core subjects is to lay the foundation for a society devoid of the basic orientation for a meaningful existence, where the social patterns and structures for organized meaningful existence is a mirage. In this type of situation, children of school age are plunged into a situation where truth presents itself in a multidimensional and polymorphous fashion. Life becomes a succession of pasts and futures, all too far away from a present that is unattainable.  Faced with such clash of plausible solutions, they dabble with the unhealthy admixture of ideas that put them in the dramatic interplay of interminable crises of sense. Such situation reflects Plato’s imagery of a charioteer with a double-faced horse each wanting to follow a different direction. The vital statistics would be nothing but a litany of woes and shame on all fronts of life; political, social and economic.

    Now that the government has expressed its readiness to bring back history into our schools, and the euphoria that greeted the announcement subsided, the onus is now on stakeholders in the sector to ensure that the subject when reintroduced is optimized, as it will help reawaken the apparent moribund political consciousness of our teeming young population. Philosophers tell us it is the responsibility of government to educate its citizens. It is on this note that I call on the Anambra State government to lead the way in this direction.

    Education is a process, and in this context, the process of educating the Nigerian child with regards to history ought to start with his/her historical origin. History is to a people what memory is to the individual. As a field of study, it offers the avenue for understanding the true nature of the society, its values and problems. As Nietzsche would say; “every people speaks its language of good and evil, which the neighbor does not understand. It has invented its own language of customs and rights.” Suffice it to mean that no society can get along without the knowledge of its history.

    As an Igbo, it was fun having to learn history right from the primary school. During those years, one was able to understand concepts like Omenala (regarded as the corpus of the Igbo belief system), Ala (Earth Goddess), Amadioha (Sky God) Aru (abomination), Eri, the first king of the ancient town of Nri, who according to one of the standard versions of the Igbo myths of origin is the progenitor of the entire Igbo race, the cosmogonic pact between Chukwu and the Igbo proto ancestor, the Aba women riot of 1929, Amalgamation of Southern and Northern Nigeria, heroic antecedents of patriots like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo, et al. But having to learn about Igbo cultural civilization was the high point as it helped form my worldview.

    Unfortunately, this is no longer the case as education is no longer packaged for the best intellectual formation of the Nigerian child. It is merely job-oriented specifically because of the economization of our thinking. There couldn’t be a better time for the Anambra State government to take this noble step than now that the tide of anti-social behavior and moral degeneracy is on the rise, that we live in the present that lacks a definite shade of meaning, gripped with the cold fist of pessimism in the face of the vanishing old way of living which constituted the nodal hold of the Igbo cultural life.

    As it stands, the Igbo traditional world is in a rapid process of declining, and in dire need of a true embodiment of Igbo cultural messiah. The Igbo traditional world-set with its basic symbolic mind-set and the set of values that characterize its socio-political and religious systems of order and moral standards are swiftly eroding into the archaeological archives.

    The old cultural hegemony is on the verge of destruction, to be replaced with an alien cultural hegemony; all in the name of globalization. The old ancestral tree of cultural reincarnation is severed, with its trunks and stump elements scattered everywhere and left to rot away, evidence that the old can no longer reincarnate in the young. The sacred groves have been divested of their sacred aura. The young no longer perceive the immediacy and reality of their cultural leaning. The ancestral cap of wisdom; that residual reservoir of sapiential gems of centuries past has been removed and the milk of wisdom poured out and allowed to flood into the abyss of oblivion. The old have been dethroned from their ancestral throne of wisdom and the staff of their sapiental authority broken. The young, on the other hand, have developed a total mistrust of the traditional wisdom, and its hold of authenticity and authority is refuted more often than not for want of logical consistency and practical utility.

    Nevertheless, the transitory cloud of confusion that characterize the present moment must not daunt our spirit. Having a sense of history is what makes our species unique, and I am not in doubt that the government of Willy Obiano will take up this initiative and put us on the march to national renaissance.

    The words of the late Zik of Africa, himself an indigene of the state, will always be the guiding principle, “it would seem that the God of Africa has specially created the Igbo nation to lead the children of Africa from the bondage of the ages.” Therefore, the governor should take up the task of actualizing the prophecy and vision of his kinsman.

     

    • Chijioke is of the Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.

  • Before post-UTME is buried

    Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu recently stirred the hornet’s nest when he announced the cancellation of post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in all the universities, saying the only legally recognized body to conduct university admission examination was Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The minister also cited the way some universities had turned the post-UTME to money-making venture as part of the reasons for his position.

    Adamu’s directive which was initially seen as a mere kite flying,  for it carried the element of de ja vu, was later reinforced with a threat that he would deal with any university which flouts the order. Since then, the issue of post-UTME has become a subject of heated hullaballoo, thus polarizing stakeholders into either supporters or opponents. As a worker in the industry, this writer feels it is not quite right to be quiet in this contentious matter, hence this write up.  Let me humbly disagree with the minister, without disrespecting his personality that, post-UTME constitutes additional burden to candidates and drains the parents financially, thereby necessitating the need to scrap it. I disagree.

    These are for too insignificant demerits of post-UTME, compared to the valuable academic improvements the exercise has brought to bear on the system. I have confidence of my truth that post-UTME has transparently reconstructed admission template to the extent that the children of the poor who passed

    For instance, in the University of Ibadan, (UI), once a candidate’s score was up to the cut-off mark of his or her department of choice, such a candidate got admitted automatically. Such a successful candidate required no note from any quarter before being admitted. This is the reason no one has ever complained about admission fraud in the last 10 years. No candidate has ever alleged that he was short-changed because the process was, and still is, very transparent. Every candidate was made to understand all the stages leading to the final step of admission.

    More importantly, since 2003 when the post-UTME was introduced in UI, the rate at which matriculated students were being withdrawn from the university as a result of poor academic performance after the first year, has gone down drastically. Conversely, the university has turned out more first class graduates than before the advent of post-UTME. This was because those who were admitted were the best as they went through meticulous and tough process. Again, when last has anyone heard of cultism in UI? Almost all the students who came in through post-UTME had no time for frivolities and cultism. They were and still are serious minded scholars because they were rigorously screened before being admitted.

    Now, the minister, with due respect, has triggered trouble in the system by insisting that the quality assurance mechanism that has brought sanity into our academic matrix must die. However, if the minister insists that this rigorous, quality-control measure should be buried, let it be on record that he has deliberately placed higher education in the country on a gymnastic manoeuvring. Nigeria today wallows in the straits of horrendous backwardness as a result of consistent policy summersaults. We have become so much inured to policy inconsistency that we don’t even know what to retain and what to discard!

    In more ways than we will like to admit, this attempt to cancel post UTME is deleterious to our educational development. Without sarcastic hyperbole, the scrapping ministers nothing but strife, and achieves nothing but distraction. The cancellation seems to be motivated by some subterranean interests. We must therefore not yield to this visceral policy!

    If the cancellation was not meant to achieve ulterior motive, why is the minister insisting that the universities should not have a say in the quality of the candidates they are going to train? As Luke Onyekayeyah noted in his Guardian column, “there is no country in the world where all universities have the same standard. Otherwise, we would not have the Ivy-league institutions that are world acclaimed. Setting the same cut – off mark for University of Lagos for instance and the newly established private polytechnic in one village, is senseless”.

    Indeed, this current attempt to bury post -UTME is a major infraction on the universities’ autonomy. This is where Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities should take up the gauntlet. Post-UTME represents integrity check in our academic process. And, no serious nation plays game with the demand of integrity. Certainly, the plan to cancel post-UTME is an attempt to substitute placebo for an effective therapy. It is like taking a deadly plunge for the worst.

    A few guesses may be useful here, once the only requirement to gain admission is to pass JAMB examination by scoring 180, then, lists from influential people and groups would begin to fly from Abuja to all the federal universities that these students must be admitted to study Medicine, Law and other prestigious courses.  The children of the poor who have nobody in Abuja are excluded from the game because they are not connected.

    Last year, the cut-off mark to study medicine in UI was 74 in UI-conducted post-UTME. I know many brilliant children of the farmers who passed and got admitted. Yet, I know children of the governors and ministers who could not get in because they failed the transparent post-UTME. Therefore, the planned cancellation of post UTME is not only a trivialization of a process which was designed to be rigorous and methodical in order to get the best, but also a coup   against the children of the poor.

    The minister created an impression that he was protecting JAMB which was legally set up to distribute candidates to various universities. Again, with due respect, I beg to disagree! JAMB was created in 1978 when Nigeria had only 13 federal universities. The vision was to ensure that no candidate secured more than one admission slot. But today, there are 40 federal universities, 41 state universities and 61 private universities totalling 142. Technically, JAMB has outlived its usefulness and relevance.

    By the way, is it not the same JAMB which caused national uproar last year when it started distributing candidates to private universities the candidates never applied to? JAMB has lost its verve, relevance and seriousness over the years. The Board has probably been assailed by the pervasive social putrefaction so much so that its examination results lack credibility.

    The post – UTME funeral should be delayed for some introspection to take place. It is obvious that the scrapping is redolent of politicization of the nation’s educational policy to favour a particular section of the country. In the light of loftier arguments, the minister is expected to have a second thought. Chief Afe Babalola who has been in the industry for years as a one -time Pro Chancellor of University of Lagos and a proprietor of a private university knows what he is saying when he describes the scrapping as a regrettable mistake.

    Former Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof Tolu Odugbemi, held similar opinion. He said the decision to scrap the post-UTME without proper research was ill-conceived and utterly worrisome. He maintained that universities should have the right to admit suitable students based on relevant and objective criteria.

    “Is there data or published research studies available either for or against dumping “post- UTME” in our universities to back such important policy? Have the problems which led universities to introduce the post-UTME exam been addressed? Government policies are based on facts and research data”, he said.

    What more does one add to these formidable voices? A word, they say, is enough for the wise and as George Bernard Shaw says, progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

     

    • Saanu writes from the University of Ibadan.

  • NYSC and the quest for food security

    Youth obey the clarion call.  Let us lift our nation high. Under the sun or in the rain. With dedication and selflessness, Nigeria is ours, Nigeria we serve”. The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, anthem is still fresh in my memory, 20 years after completing my service to the nation. It is an anthem which every graduate is spiritually and physically committed to in the process of service to the nation.

    The NYSC scheme, a once in a lifetime experience which every young graduate yearns for, was established on May 22, 1973 by Decree 24  to promote unity and develop ethnic ties among youth in their various states of the federation.  The thrills, frills and funfair usually associated with the programme, most especially the orientation part of it, make it enjoyable and inspiring for participating graduates from all parts of the country.

    There have been divergent interests for the scheme among young graduates. While some see it as avenue to explore other people’s culture and tradition outside theirs, others see it as opportunity to recreate, catch fun and make some savings for future use. In fact the desperation of some young graduates concerning NYSC makes one wonders what is actually in it for them. There have been instances where some generate fake call-up letters while some others falsify their age just to be enlisted for the scheme.

    However, away from the glorious and storied past of the scheme, presently the programme is searching for relevance. It has actually deviated from the original purpose and intention it was meant to serve. It is now almost of little or no relevance to the economic aspirations of the country. Of late, the interests of corps members are not adequately protected, as it was in the past. Many public/private businesses enterprises that used to patronize the services of corps members have either closed business or downsized due to insecurity and general state of the nation’s economy.

    Whether the large turnout of fresh graduates are overwhelming or not, facilities for orientation are sometimes inadequate for the population this scheme caters for each year. Political and religious insecurity have equally exposed many corps members to needless death. There have been instances where some states had to send rescue team to bring back their indigenes during political or religious crisis. To this end, many parents have resisted posting of their wards to states on red alert.

    To say the scheme needs an overhaul or speedy review is like citing the obvious. Like most of our national projects, the scheme is fast declining in value and usefulness. It is no longer shocking that the scheme is broke with fund barely sufficient to cater for the young graduates presented for national service. Food/structural facilities, essential for the up keep of corps members are grossly deficient in some orientation camps.

    Against the glorious past of secured primary places of assignment, corps members now struggle with the problem of rejection. In desperate attempt to secure the few available ‘juicy’ placements, many now use personal influence such as letters from well connected ‘powerful’ individuals to secure favourable postings. It is, of course, sad to note that corps members that are to reconstruct and rebuild the nation’s economy are idle with unutilized potentials.

    Massive influence of posting to highly density places like Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Abuja puts pressure on already saturated associated environment with accommodation problem of corps members, to the detriment of the scheme. So bad is the situation now that some people are calling for outright scrapping of the scheme, arguing that it has outlived its purpose and outgrown its usefulness. Must we then throw away the baby with the bathe water?

    With 923,768km land mass and over 80% of arable land, with less than 40% of its cultivation, tropical climate, lots of rainfall and aquatic splendour, nothing stops Nigeria from being the food basket of entire Africa, if serious attention is given to agriculture. In the years of regional government, Nigeria did not only feed herself from her rich and vast agricultural  interests, but also generated employment as well as earned enough foreign exchange for development of each region. Then, revenue from agriculture produce helped the federating units to develop in their own pace without depending on the centre for any bail out.

    The discovery of oil, however, has turned things upside down for us as the federating units now wholly depend on the centre for bail outs and handouts. Unsurprisingly, young graduates have equally developed job-seeking mentality. The youth that are supposed to drive agriculture with technology and renewed vigour would rather prefer to go job hunting for years, even when it is obvious that the jobs aren’t just there.

    United Nation statistics estimates Nigeria’s population for 2015 to be 178,841,235 with growth rate of 1.94%, making the population182, 307,178 by 2016, all things being equal. Yet, the population, especially of youth, did not reflect on the nation’s agricultural production. We import $4billion worth of rice annually to supplement domestic shortfall, despite the suitability of our land for local rice production. Nigeria tops the list of importing nations, growing other nations’ economy to the detriment of hers. With an annual bill of N1.3trillion, you may wonder where the money spent on importation of food comes from, in view of agricultural potentials of the nation.  Of course, proceeds from crude oil are used to settle the bill.

    Now that the price crude oil price has dropped in the international market coupled with the instability at the Niger Delta, there is dire need to look inward and diversify our economy. The time is the time to move away from a mono-economy. It is high time the government of Nigeria looked at the strength the nation has in her pool of labour, most especially in the manpower being released every year into the National Youth Service Corps programme.

    Each state of the federation has comparative advantage in specific areas of agriculture. The capacity of the various states to boost food production can be enhanced by the NYSC scheme with adequate structure and remuneration for corps members. The power, vigour, dynamism and adventurism of youth, the strength of the youth could be directed towards boosting the agriculture sector to address the twain issues of food security and unemployment.

    The clarion call today is for our nation to rekindle youth’s interest in agriculture. It is a call geared towards making the NYSC scheme become very relevant by transforming into a scheme that enhances food security in the country, thus supporting the growth of the national economy. It is a worthy call.

     

    • Odumade is of the Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.
  • Understanding Ajimobi’s educational reforms

    Understanding Ajimobi’s educational reforms

    One of the challenges of governance in Africa especially Nigeria is that some leaders do not exhibit passionate concerns about issues of their time. They do not see current tasks of governance and bureaucracy as the foetus of the future. A self-centred government will be engrossed with meeting only the demands of the day. They do not spot the presence of tomorrow. This is perhaps the reason why not much planning is done coupled with dearth of critical data for good governance.

    Yet, being able to prudently discern the future really starts in the present and is the key to planning for both success of today and tomorrow.

    On the misconception connected with the planned management of some public secondary schools in Oyo State out of the total 631 public secondary schools, the opposition has over-exploited the gullible population of the state, using their lack of access to adequate information, data and empirical evidences from other climes to hold them captive.

    They sold lies about Ajimobi to the people and concluded that he was planning to sell schools to the missionaries, which is far from the truth.

    No doubt, each public policy has its own pros and cons. The beauty of any policy is that the larger members of the society targeted by it should be satisfied. A public policy no matter how robust may not be wholly acceptable to all but large chunk should heave a sigh of relieve with the public policy aimed at achieving public good.

    It is within that context that this piece explicates Oyo State’s policy thrust on education.

    There are two major rubrics in the policy as enunciated by the state government and the two are very contentious by the irreverent critics of Ajimobi administration cum the opposition elements in the state.

    They are the introduction of a thousand naira development levy in public secondary schools and the plan to partner stakeholders in the management of some of the public secondary schools in the state.

    These two elements appear like a policy shock to the down-trodden more so in a state which is reputed to be the intellectual capital of Nigeria.

    The fundamental question is why the need for partnership? It is an open secret so to say, that the sector is nothing to write home about.  It takes a courageous and patriotic governor to attempt a general overhaul.  This is what the Senator Ajimobi-led administration seeks to do.

    It is instructive to note that between 2007 till date, the state government expended a total sum of N3.2 billion naira on public examinations. With that, the highest pass rate ever was in 2011 with 20.55%. In 2007, 52,551 registered for WASCE with entry fee of N3,250.00 per candidate. Government paid a total sum of N170,790,150.00. Only 3,706 could manage to get five credits and above.  Percentage pass was 7.05%.

    Government lost N158,745,650.00.  In 2008, 55,878 candidates registered with entry fee of N3,500.00. Just 5,608 could get five credits and above with 10.04% pass rate. Government forfeited N175,945,000 on the failures.  In 2009, the bad trend continued. Out of 52,484 that registered, the pass rate was 14.11%. In 2010, 52,448 candidates registered and only 7,357 could manage to pass, that is, 14.03% pass rate. By 2011 when this administration came on board, 60,000 candidates registered, 12,327 passed with five credits and above which translated to 20.55% pass rate which was to be the highest ever.

    With population explosion and desire for education, more candidates registered in 2012, with as many as 67,786, the highest figure since 2007 which is under our purview, but 9,973 only too could pass WASCE at 14.71% pass rate.  In 2013, 55,432 registered with 10,285 securing five credits and above, i.e. 18.55% pass rate.  The story was not really different in 2014 and 2015 with 54,862 and 59,945 respectively registered with WAEC.

    Nevertheless, if between 2007 till date, Oyo State WASCE candidates have not recorded 25% pass rate talk less of 50%, automatically, the sector requires general overhaul.  To do this, the state government took a holistic view of the situation.

    This is done by targeting students/pupils, parents, teachers and infrastructure.

    Long before the 2015 elections, a total of 5,300 teaching and non-teaching staff were recruited to redress the anomaly.  But the sector requires well-thought out policy beyond mere recruitment of teachers.

    In its quest to reposition and further enhance quality education through concerted efforts of all stakeholders in Oyo State, the administration of Governor Ajimobi in his second term took some bold measures. Few of them include enforcement of 80% attendance for all students to ensure good performance in external and internal examinations.  Students who fail to make 80% attendance may not be eligible for promotion examinations. Still targeting students and pupils, automatic promotions in all public secondary schools was cancelled forthwith.  Promotion is, henceforth, based on merit.  This is to ensuring that quality products are graduated from public schools.

    Not only that, extra-mural classes were re-invigorated for JSS3 and SS3 students in all public secondary schools to add quality time to the teaching period.

    Nevertheless, the state government, having properly carried along all the stakeholders in education sector most especially Parents/Teachers Association (PTA), Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPS) and Association of Heads of Primary Schools among others decided to involve the parents effectively in the care of their children and wards. Hence, a sum of N3,000.00 education levy was agreed upon by all which could be paid per term on a  thousand naira instalment basis, to compliment government efforts vis-à-vis provision of teaching aids and infrastructural facilities.

    Parents and guardians too are to equally bear the burden of payment of WAEC registration fees. With the involvement of parents, they are more passionate about what the future of their siblings is in their educational pursuit.

    Back to the students, government also made it mandatory that they pass mock examinations to be conducted on final year students to ensure that only serious and quality students are presented for examinations.

    The state government also directed that the use of GSM phones be banned during school hours.  Much as GSM has value for learning, the abuse is prevalent among the students and pupils.

    Perhaps the hallmark of the policy thrust on education is the desire by the government to partner effectively with the interested stakeholders who may desire to be involved in the running of some of these schools, that is, old boys and girls or missionary founded schools including community schools where the community-owner is keenly interested. Under this, six different models were presented which are management services model, professional services model, support services model, government purchasing programme model, adopt-a-school model and infrastructure services (Private Financing Initiative-PFI).

    The state government seeks to promote the participation of more investors at the secondary school level so that better products get to the tertiary level. Government cannot afford to be complacent in the education sector.  The rot over the years is now telling with debilitating concomitant effect on the sector.  It is pathetic that the rate of failure is ‘criminally’ high.

    The negative effect is that more products of private schools get admitted into tertiary institutions.  This is very dangerous for the state and the society at large.  It may lead to social stratification whereby the children of the poor may not be able to compete with the affluence in a society that needs to pursue egalitarianism in virtually all facets of the society.

    At the end of the day, if implemented with the needed zeal, the policy will definitely lead to the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people and it will further complement government efforts at providing free and qualitative education in Oyo State.

     

    • Dr. Ojo is Chief of Staff to Governor Ajimobi.
  • PMB and the Niger Delta

    PMB and the Niger Delta

    Out of the blue, a group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, spouts. They kill soldiers and policemen. They kidnap and kill oil company workers. Piracy on the high seas. They asked oil companies to stop operations and pack out of the Niger Delta region.

    They blow up oil pipelines, power and other infrastructure. They attack and kill prominent individuals, ransacking homes up and down the coastal areas, including lately, Lagos and Ogun states.

    All these for what?

    It is still unclear what they want. From the diverse, if vague and inchoate voices of the militants, some say they want to take control of the oil resources in the region. Sometimes when the rhetoric gets uglier, they call for the breakup of Nigeria as a country!

    The scariest part of what is happening is that the media, in their appetite for sensational stories are egging them on to make a great display of seditious, anti-national sentiment. In the last stages before her government’s defeat of the Irish Republican Army, IRA, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher likened publicity for the terrorist to oxygen needed for survival. “We must deny terrorists the oxygen of publicity”, and the independent English press gave the Prime Minister a free pass.

    In the midst of these unfolding events, President Muhammadu Buhari had maintained an uncharacteristic aloofness.

    Many had thought for instance that he would tackle the new onslaught on the economy with the same hawkishness that characterized his tenure as military Head of State in the 80’s. But he did not panic, either.

    In fact several of the political leaders of the Niger Delta, themselves severely under pressure for their inability to keep up with salary payments have been in the forefront of the calls for the “strongest possible military action” against the terrorists. The country’s third richest state, Delta State gave notice a week ago that workers’ salaries can no longer be guaranteed.

    So far, the President has resisted the urge to pull the trigger. Yes, the army has mobilized to the region but military action has been stayed as the country absorbs the incredible shock that has come with the fall of oil revenues.  Records of oil exports are at their lowest levels in 30 years.

    The Punch newspaper, in an editorial on Friday July 1 warned the government about inherent “landmines” in any negotiations: “It is like dealing with a blackmailer: he keeps making all sorts of demands, reasonable and otherwise. Worse, there is a high probability that other splinter militant groups will emerge based on the negotiations with the NDA. They will threaten the state expecting to be negotiated with. At the end of the day, the government would have numerous groups to contend with than it can handle.”

    In my conversation on this issue with General Babagana Munguno, the National Security Adviser precisely two weeks back, he informed this reporter that he met 14 groups claiming leadership to the renewed onslaught on the nation’s economic jugular vein.

    Each of the groups had been brought to him by a serving governor or a former one; a serving minister or one that had left office with assurances that “this group is the one to talk to.”

    The amazing discovery he made from his meetings is the lack of unity among them as each group that came attacked the one that came before it as inconsequential.

    Leaning on an editorial by the influential British newspaper Economist, The Punch recommended strong military action. Quoting Economist, the newspaper said “Buhari should not try to buy them off. Rather, he should arrest those who have committed acts of violence or extortion.”

    At a meeting with the Niger Delta Dialogue and Contact group led by His Royal Majesty King Alfred Diete-Spiff at the State House last Thursday, President Buhari spoke most extensively on his own approach to the crisis in the region.

    He told Diete-Spiff, himself a former military governor of the old Rivers State that peace and stability in the Delta region and the country is the priority of his government and there will be no compromise on this. To show respect for the visiting ruler, President Buhari recalled that he was “a bloody army Lieutenant” when the Amanyanabo of Twon Brass was a military governor.

    He disclosed that his decision on what to do dealing with the problem of the region will be based on the reports he is expecting from the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu who is interfacing with all stakeholders; the Special Adviser to the President on the Niger Delta overseeing the amnesty programme, and the new management of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

    Allaying fears that he would jettison the Niger Delta Peace Plan he inherited from the previous administration, President Buhari told his visitors that he had read the agreements and the gazette outlining the amnesty programme.

    He said he had asked his officials on assignment on the Niger Delta to look around and see how many of the signatories to the amnesty agreement are still around.

    “Let them find out what has been achieved and what is left and then write a report.

    “I have asked the Minister of State Petroleum to work with the oil companies. We need to get as much intelligence as is possible before we start talking.

    “I sympathize with the investors who borrow money, half way through, their investment is blown away.

    “I have encouraged law-enforcement agencies to contact leaders like you (Amanyanabo). When I move in, I will have plenty of information so as to deal with the issue once and for all. We will talk to as many groups as possible. We won’t give up.

    “Whatever remains of the Yar’Adua agreement will be met.”

    He then talked about the impact of the collapse of the oil prices, which averaged about US$100 from 1999 to 2015, saying that its fall to about $30 a barrel some weeks ago was shocking. “I would have been in coma if not for the fact that I was in Oil (sector as a past minister) for three years.”

    He then sent an important message at this meeting: “We intend to rebuild this country so that our children and grandchildren will have a good place. But a lot of damage has been done. Tell the people to be patient.

    “When you get together, pacify the people. Let them be patient. We will utilize (their) resources with integrity.”

    The President’s conciliatory note came a day after he hosted the National Council of Traditional Rulers to a Ramadan Iftar, at which event he asked the rulers to “beg the militants in the name of God to stop their sabotage of the economy.” He appreciated the efforts they and the oil companies were making and said he did not wish to undermine them. This equally signalled a highly conciliatory direction for the resolution of the crisis.

    It is clear from the foregoing that the President is taking a bit of time but it is also because he is determined to find a lasting solution to the recurring crisis in the Delta.

    It is important for the country that a lesson be learned from the many past meetings and agreements between government groups and the militants that have yielded only short term political dividends. What is wrong with those agreements that they don’t last?

    How many of those agreements, joint statements, ceasefires and peace declarations do we have on record so far? Why haven’t they given us peace?

    Second issue the President is obviously weighing is the integrity of the country’s internal capacity for the resolution of crises.

    Over the years, this country has evolved ways of dealing with problems, real or imagined that threatened its existence from time to time. The amazing thing about it is that solutions emerge from within, that is without the involvement of external influences. This why we have come this far.

    In his desire to build a country in which every part is carried along, he is mindful of the fact that if any part of the body is paralyzed, the whole body cannot be said to be alright. The President is mindful of the fact that the Delta region is an important part of the whole.

    But as he charts his course for a permanent peace in the Niger Delta, it is important however that militants don’t mistake his efforts as a sign of weakness.

     

    • Shehu is Senior Special Assistant to the President, (Media and Publicity).