The Nation Newspaper

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  • Armsgate and Jonathan’s silence

    Gradually, the monumental betrayal of trust, looting and financial recklessness in some dealings of the  immediate past administration is becoming clearer vindicating some Nigerians who consistently raised alarm that PDP-led federal government were only out for the selfish interests of their members. With unrestrained passion, the privileged men who had access to our common patrimony shared funds meant for the fight against insurgency that has left us in tears, pains and unforgettable memories.

    Though, no one has been convicted in the misappropriation of about N32 billion meant for procurement of arms involving the immediate past National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki andothers, with the rather incongruous, unfathomable and outright ridiculous revelations coming from saga, it is trite to say that a lot more may have happened. It is rather regrettable that at a time the nation was battling and is still battling with terrorism, funds meant for procurement of arms were being diverted to mundane, selfish, and the rather ridiculous purposes. At a time, when bloods were being spilled daily and properties destroyed in the land, some men who were entrusted in providing leadership were busy scheming on ways of benefitting from the ‘blood money’.

    On the battle front, soldiers were complaining that the insurgents had superior weapons; some persons had the impression that they were merely making excuses judging by the huge budgetary provisions for security. At the end, the soldiers were slammed with various charges and convicted for mutiny. The manner and purposes for which the funds were disbursed calls for serious concerns. The Office of the National Security Adviser has become so powerful and influential that any matter is considered a threat to the security of the nation. Save for latest moves, the soldiers would have been summarily executed.

    Besides, by the way these slush funds were disbursed clearly violates Public Procurement Act. With the allegations, it seemed that whoever was close to the office could come up with one proposal or the other and get his slice of the cake. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) allege that Raymond Dokpesi, ex-while Chairman of Daar Communications got a hefty N2.1 ostensibly to convince Nigerians through media and publicity on the need to re-elect President Goodluck Jonathan. Nduka Obaigbena, publisher of Thisday newspapers collected N120 million for some newspapers for damage to their vehicles and newspapers by some security agents.

    We are told that about N10 billion were shared to PDP delegates during the last presidential primaries in which former President Goodluck Jonathan was unanimously chosen. Some funds were said to have been doled out to ‘spiritualists’, some to acquire choice properties. At the moment, the EFCC it was learnt is still investigating.

    In all these revelations, Sambo Dasuki seems to be at the centre of the scandal. But he has been quoted as saying that he couldn’t have released those funds without the approval of the big boss. Even if President Goodluck Jonathan’s name is not mentioned in the saga, it will still make sense that he comes out and tell Nigerians why under his supervision such monumental scandal occurred. Dasuki certainly worked under the president. It will be unthinkable that such disbursements were made without the authorization of the president. If at all this is the case, then certainly, there may have been more sordid deals.

    It defies any reasonable logic that Dr. Jonathan has remained studiously silent on the allegations. Could it be that he is taking his time to study the situation before coming out with explanations. Or could it be that he is waiting for invitation by the EFCC before he can be able to speak to the people especially his esteemed supporters who in their imaginations will think he cannot be party to such betrayal of trust?

    On the other hand, since some persons have been invited by the EFCC for clarifications on their roles in the scandal, will extending the invitation to Dr. Jonathan be against their operations? Some say that the EFCC may have to get clearance from President Muhammadu Buhari before such an action can be undertaken. If this is the case, then President Buhari’s courage will certainly be under watch.

    The sharing of the arms money is clearly a betrayal of trust and violation of human rights in a way. While the nation was earnestly seeking for an end to the massacre in the land, those entrusted in the onerous task of motivating our troops were busy devising means of diverting funds. Unfortunately, their ambition was to stay onto power for another four years. Perhaps, the change of government was timely to stop further acts of misdeeds.

    At a time when the government plans to borrow hugely to finance the 2016 budget, it is trite that some looted funds are recovered and used for developmental purposes. And President Jonathan needs to help out in the conclusion of this case.

     

    • Ibeku, public affairs commentator writes from Ibadan, Oyo State.
  • Tribute to Dogara at 48: In the footprints of Tafawa Balewa

    Tribute to Dogara at 48: In the footprints of Tafawa Balewa

    Yesterday, December 26th the  day after Christmas when Christians all over the globe celebrated the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who laid down his life that mankind would be saved, was also the 48th birthday anniversary of Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    Born on that day in 1967 in Tafawa Balewa province of Bauchi state, Dogara, rose from a very humble background in that rural community where Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa came  from.

    He is the last born of a family of seven — five males and two females.

    He attended Bauchi Teachers College (BTC) and went on to study law at the University of Jos and later on studied International commercial law at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen,Scotland.

    He joined private legal practice before taking up his first public office appointment as Special Assistant 10 years ago.

    He was first elected into the House of Representatives in 2007 from one of the most diverse constituencies in the country where Christians and Muslims, and many ethnic groups co-exist together. Yet,  within a span of eight years, he has been able to win the confidence of all segments of the people – young, old, men and women- whose lives have been touched by this young  gentleman.

    Dogara is a natural born leader whose sterling qualities are exceptional;a man  who grew through shrewdness, hardwork, discipline, and can best be described as a bastion of hope, courage, and an epitome of humility to anybody who comes close him.

    In his public and private utterances and conduct, one thing is unique about him which is that he is a man of uncommon humility, courage, honesty, credibility and integrity.

    Close associates and family members would  say that he never struggled for anything in life. While he acknowledges God’s divine favour in his life since childhood, Dogara does not take  anything  for granted.

    A highly devoted Christian who fears God and does not take that which is not his, is also a prudent manager of resources, yet generous at the same time.

    It takes only a courageous person like Dogara who, even though, comes from a constituency that was  a stronghold of the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and without the support of his Governor, defected to the newly formed opposition political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Many a friends and associates came down hard on him on account  of that singular, far-sighted decision.

    However, he remained resolute knowing full well that an era of change was beckoning. He wne on to  record a landslide victory on March 28.

    I recollect  that in August 2014,  Honourable Dogara organised an empowerment programme where over 2000  lives were touched.Days later,  a friend and former colleague of mine who witnessed the epoch-making event called to tell me that to  tell Honourable  Dogara to continue with what he was doing for his people and that he would go far. How prophetic my friend was! Ten months later  Dogara emerged as Nigeria’s number four citizen.

    His election as Speaker was not surprising to those of us who have been close to him.

    Friends or foes alike would readily  admit that he  is an embodiment of leadership.

    We are all witnesses to the circumstances that culminated into his historic election as Speaker. But for his courage  this feat would never have been achieved.

    Indeed, his primary motivation for vying for the Speakership was  service.

    To him, public office is never to be used for personal elevation, or primitive accumulation of wealth but  a call to duty, to serve God and country. It is his philosophy and belief that leaders are like the moon whose light should radiate and reflect on their followers and that leadership is not a zero-sum game.

    Whether in public or private, I always  see a man who is in pains. His angst is not personal because he is a contended man. He has got what it takes to live a comfortable life but his pains stem  from the fact that despite being blessed with abundant natural and human resources, Nigeria, our beloved country, has not been able to provide the basic social services for  its citizens as a result of which a vast population of the people are facing existential threat.

    More specifically, to him, the greatest resources that God  has blessed Nigeria with is human resources which successive governments at all levels have not  been able to harness for the good of the society.

    He would always say that the most advanced nations in the world are not endowed with natural resources but they invested much in their citizens and today, in the 21st century, wealth has moved from what is buried  beneath the earth to what is in human head and that poverty, illiteracy and squalor are the greatest threats to democracy in Africa. Therefore, education is key just as  Mirabeau B. Lamar said: “The cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy and, while guided and controlled by virtue, the noblest attribute of man. It is the only dictator that freemen acknowledge and the only security that freemen desire.”

    As stated earlier   leadership, to Dogara, is a call to service and the primary purpose of government in democracy is to serve  the common good of the people. Every government decision must be one that is anchored on delivering greater good for the greater number of the people since the primary purpose of government is the security and welfare of the people.

    To achieve this, it is his conviction that education must not only be free, compulsory but also of the highest possible standard. It must also be given priority over and above all other  considerations as the  cornerstone of development of every society without which no progress can be made at both societal and individual levels.

    It is also his belief that democracy, which is the best system of government to ever been invented by mankind; should deliver on its promises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

    The Speaker would say that the entire history of democracy has been that of struggle between the included and the excluded, the haves and the haves not. For instance, women struggled to achieve universal suffrage in the United States of America and  the blacks also paid with their lives for the right to vote and half a century later, a black man is president of the most powerful nation on earth. Therefore, to him,  nothing is impossible so long as there is the will to do.

    His dream, vision and aspiration is that sooner rather than later, a better Nigeria will emerge where both the haves and the haves not will have a place that will accommodate them in the system; where a room will be available for all.

    The Speaker, strongly believes that a system is evolving where the people will be the true centre of governance and that democracy in Nigeria will soon be able to deliver its promises to the people.

    These are his thoughts, these are his visions and what he want to see coming to reality in our nation. Infact, weeks ago, he told a gathering of lawmakers and the president that the time for change is now and that this generation cannot afford to fail.

    Already the House under him has gone far in its legislative functions when  on December 10 no  fewer than 130 bills were presented for first reading,a record in Nigeria’s legislative history.

    Today, over 300 bills have been introduced in the green chamber and are at various stages of legislation. The House is cleaning up the country’s statute books as some of the  extant laws are 100 years old .

    This is not to mention investigations into many sectors of the economy including the Railway, crude oil swap, privatisation, etc.

    A passionate advocate for the rebuilding, reconstruction, rehabilitation and recovery of the violence ravaged North East region, Dogara had to step down from his seat to move a motion on the floor of the House calling for national and international intervention in the North East, thereby discharging his primary responsibility of representation to his people.

    Again, on December 15, he stepped down to lead debate on five bills prominent of which was the one seeking the establishment of the North East Development Commission to work out a plan   for the development of the region.

    During his tenure as Chairman of  the House Committee on Customs and Excise he conducted one of the most extensive and revolutionary investigations in history of the National Assembly which led to the reform of the service. Millions of dollars were offered to him by undesirable and unscrupulous elements who did not want the probe to go on,  but he rejected all and went ahead to conduct the investigation. Today, Nigeria Customs Service is not the same.

    Also, when he defected to the APC in December 2013, some powerful people in the PDP offered him N500 million and an automatic return ticket to the House, only if he would return  to the PDP, he also declined.

    He is the only lawmaker in the history of the House to have chaired the House Services and Welfare Committee  under two different dispensations and came out clean.

    Gentle and peaceful to a fault but hard as steel  yet unassuming and exceptionally intelligent and a natural orator.

    These same qualities were said of   Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of blessed memory and today Dogara is following in his footprints.

    To this young gentleman, a lawyer of high repute, erudite scholar,  family man and a devote Christian,  I say a happy 48th birthday anniversary and wish him many happy returns.

     Hassan is Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs to Dogara

  • Reforming the Nigerian Civil Service: My struggles, my pain, my triumphs [vii]

    The transition to any new government is always, in several ways, an ambivalent moment for any reformer. Depending on whatever stage the reform dynamics has reached, the reformer always feels an acute sense of apprehension: what is going to happen? Will the reform accelerate beyond the momentum of the preceding government? Can this new government overcome the existing reform obstacles? Will the new government commit to reform exigencies? What possible variables can surface with the new government? Will the new government slow down whatever gains have been made? These questions capture the bated anxiety as the transition occur and the government settles down.

    The Buhari administration constitutes the fourth Nigerian government since the inauguration of our democratic experiment in 1999. And it is a fortunate government; more fortunate, that is, than the Obasanjo administration which had to pick the pieces of the military regimes and the debris of national mis-governance. In the first place, some of the teething challenges of democratic governance are already in the process of institutional resolution. Second, several administrative insights have been excavated about our collective predicament. Third, Nigeria has moved forward beyond where she was in the pre-1999 period. But all these do not diminish the challenges that the new Buhari administration has to face; challenges the administration itself is aware of: bureaucratic and political corruption, rampaging unemployment, infrastructural deficit, economic mismanagement, and many more indices of underdevelopment in Nigeria.

    The change slogan is therefore timely and right on target. But change requires more than mere sloganeering. Hence, the question: within our present national context, what does change require? Albert Einstein delivers a profound statement in this regard: ‘the world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.’ the most significant condition for change, therefore, is a deep, on-the-ground brainstorming and awareness about how we got to where we are and what we can do to get beyond where we are. (in administrative terms, I provided a capsule gist of our reform history in part three of the series.)  Change also requires that (a) there is the need for a calm urgency to recognise bold ideas that requires bold execution; (b) the policies that must be executed must be those that will make real difference in citizens’ lives; and (c) institutional discipline which attends to culture and structure is a sine qua non if change must bite positively.

    In terms of administrative transformation, the Buhari administration will have to come to term with the challenges of change management and reform consolidation. Change is essentially institutional; it implies deploying a whole reform arsenal to the national framework to achieve a critical paradigm shift in administrative capacity and service delivery efficiency. Change refers to a specific, deliberate and phased transformation of some existing institutional configurations. Put this way, change becomes a widespread and extensive reconstructive imperative for tackling the series of problem that Nigeria has been known with since independence. And we seem to be moving in that direction with the president’s initial explanation about the urgent need to put in place rules of conduct and principles of good governance before any other institutional engagements.

    There are two complementary institutional directions which change necessarily must take. The first is a general cultural and attitudinal transformation that must seek to achieve a new value framework of accountability, openness, transparency, efficiency, effectiveness and managerial culture through specific instruments of reform—(i) citizens empowerment, (ii) policy dialogue and networking, (c) normalisation of employment condition, (d) delegation of authority, (e) performance-oriented focus, and (f) trusted leadership. Institutional reform would amount to nothing without these cultural changes in attitudes. These are the ethos that the institutions must work with. But the dynamics of the reform must be simultaneous—institutional transformation cannot wait it turn while attitudinal change is proceeding.

    The Buhari administration will only be successful if it commits to its change programme with a careful attention to the change management dynamics needed to take reform from conception to implementation and sustainable management. In part four of this serial, we identified and outlined the execution trap which makes it so that reform vision never achieve successful implementation. And if reforms are not implemented, then productivity cannot become optimal and government cannot become efficient in terms of service delivery to the populace. This is the most fundamental reform challenge of the Buhari administration—the reform framework requires guided coordination and monitoring if it must have a huge chance of succeeding. In the Nigerian civil service of the future (2014), i made a solid case for what i called a ‘core institutional framework for managing the reform process.’ at the centre of this framework is a very strong ownership principle that speaks to the commitment of the leadership to the reform conception, implementation and management dynamics. And guiding that ownership is a lead agency that is charged with the overall responsibility of programme formulation, planning and coordination of the reform process, the clarification of reform objectives and strategies as well as monitoring and evaluation of the reform progress.

    I recommended the Bureau for Public Service Reform (BPSR) as the institution that could be reconstituted to adequately take charge of the reform process. When it was established, the bpsr was mandated to oversee and cumulate the reform dynamics, especially in the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). This is very crucial because, one, the MDAs are the locus of efficiency which administrative reforms must urgently target; and two, the MDAs are equally the central emblem of the national productivity challenge Nigeria faces. We have made the point in the last part of this series that the MDAs management system must urgently be reengineered into a performance-oriented, technology-enabled and social compact or accountable business model.

    In this regard, the BPSR already has its responsibility cut out for it—changing the way we do government business. This involves the trajectory of how we get the right people to do the right actions, at the right time with the planned results. And since the MDAs are critical to productivity efficiency, the BPSR must ask cogent questions:

    1. What kind of public service is appropriate for us at this level of our development and given our vision of national transformation?
    2. How can we get MDAs operations to be restructured to deliver results and outcomes?

    iii.           How can the MDAs’ skills deficit be corrected in a manner that would ensure a mix of re-skilling, regulated injection of fresh new skills and some measure of rightsizing or redundancies declaration if unavoidable?

    1. What would be the contingent changes to personnel policies, pay structure and operational cost ratios that is most cost effective and consistent with the optimal productivity level of the national economy?

    It must then follow through with specific preliminary reform actions which involves the following—(a) breakdown the silos between the multi-layers of structures through functional reviews and process reengineering; (b) do widespread gap analysis to anticipate where there are performance gaps and where a lack of alignment could undermine results achieved; (c) develop more and more creative ways to retain and attract scarce skills to enlarge your talent pool and increase service’s intelligent quotient (IQ); and (d) match the task with the skills to ensure high performance since the stronger performers will excel and the sub-performers will not have anywhere to hide.

    Furthermore, in the Nigerian civil service of the future, I painstakingly outlined several long- and short-term action plans which the BPSR could then oversee within the trajectory of sustained reform activities that would in the final analysis impact on the lives of Nigerian which the Buhari administration is committed to changing. The change mantra needs to come alive, and its takes the enthusiasm and the commitment of the leadership, political and bureaucratic. For Mary Kay Ash, ‘those who are blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else. It’s the people with follow-through who excel.’ for change to succeed, we need a follow-through commitment. I have commented over and again on the success of the old western region civil service and the astounding collaboration between the bureaucratic and political leadership that generated the Awolowo-Adebo model of reform success. It is time we take that model serious.

    Optimism can be a terrible thing sometimes, but a patriotic and committed reformer cannot afford to lose optimism. Of course, if reform is an unending quest, especially in a difficult context like Nigeria—if reform, that is, is tied to the eventual fate of Nigeria’s national development, then optimism cannot afford to ebb.

    *Dr. Olaopa is a retired Federal Permanent Secretary

    Tolaopa2003@gmail.com

  • Nigeria at war

    Nigeria is at war. The country is facing the greatest challenge to her existence in the wake of revelations about the many daggers that had been directed at her throat. We are not talking of Boko Haram or Shiite or the Biafra re-awakening. The opponents now are not the Egbesu boys or the militants of the Riverine hide-outs. The OPC militants are no longer on war path. And we are not talking of the reported invasion of some kidnappers from Benin Republic.

    Yet the country is at war! For years, the pen soldiers who were throwing their pen daggers at Nigeria have had a field day. It was a one sided battle. The warriors were fighting and conquering and plundering while their opponent Madam Nigeria was sleeping and snoring. In the one-sided war, Nigeria had her eyes plucked out, her dull brain pulled out, her limbs shackled, and all of her soldiers were taken captive.

    Just when the attackers were about to slash her throat and put dagger to her stomach to take out the organs, a no-nonsense General, retired but definitely not tired, sprang to his feet and swore to combat the pen soldiers and save Nigeria.

    Readers should not confuse the pen pushers alleged to have swallowed some paltry 120 million Naira with the pen soldiers under reference. I mean real Pen Robbers! People who rob with pens and signatures!

    These are the real soldiers that have engaged Nigeria in silent war. Now they are out in the field. They have been exposed. And they are fiercer and more deadly than when they wore camouflages and covered their faces to hide their identities. Now that they are in the open they have engaged Madam Nigeria in a war of wits.

    In conventional battles, the arsenal of opposing camps is usually x-rayed and assessed for comparative analysis to show which side was at a disadvantage and which side possessed superior firing power.

    The warriors who had engaged their pens, brains, signatures, skills and monumental greed and heartlessness to inflict the greatest wounds on Nigeria have now added more frightening weapons to their armoury. They have currency-chewing SANs, charge-and-bail lawyers, crooked court officials, and all bribable accomplices plus hired placard-wielding demonstrators and humongous amount of money to throw at the conscience of collaborating judges!

    Commander-In-Chief Buhari on the other hand has  the EFCC which for many years had proved to be toothless bull dogs known for its legendary wishy-washy investigations, the prosecutors who are a mere extension of the same rot Madam Nigeria had harboured all these years since the war started, and a bemused Nigerian public that are best known for noise-making without any visible action to back their cries, and the dubious international community that had all along been neck-deep in the corruption that choked Nigeria to her present stupor.

    Any impartial observer can deduce where the pendulum would be tilted to and which of the two combatants is likely to emerge victorious in this present war. Perhaps I should quickly add that Nigeria has another weapon in its armoury; that is the antiquated and extant laws to fight corruption. Imagine a judge having the guts to say that the maximum sentence for anybody who stole N2 billion or N20 billion or N200 billion is only seven years!

    Countries like China and Japan, and the ancient Arabs and Jews have the death penalty for any villain who dared to put dagger into the economic throat of their community or corporation. If by your roguery, many people have been sentenced to premature death because the state could not provide safe transportation, could not provide jobs, could not provide safe and efficient hospitals, could not provide potable water, could not provide electricity and therefore exposed citizens to deadly fumes from I –pass-my-neighbour generators, you certainly, verily deserve to die!

    Perhaps we should add also that Madam Nigeria has in her armoury legislators who characteristically turn a blind eye whenever the country is faced with this kind of war. What we are saying in essence is that while pen soldiers are armed to the teeth, Madam Nigeria and her Commander-In-Chief possess only liabilities.

    It is not clear how this war of inequalities would be fought and won. In similar battles in the past, Madam Nigeria never captured any captive, never bad any prisoner of war, NEVER. Okay, may be the two that were captured on her behalf by Britain after that country had first benefited from the loot from Nigeria before exposing and kicking out the looter.

    One does not have to be a lawyer to know that criminal cases are not and should not be treated like civil cases that normally carry long adjournments, delays, extensions and in-built tactics that would make both parties forget they ever had a case pending in court. Criminal cases on the other hand, cases especially abnormal, almost satanic and insane, are usually treated summarily with special jurisdictions and tribunals.

    It would be a compound fool that would have N5 billion in his kitty and would not be able to bribe his way out of any quagmire. Nigeria is at war, and while the battle is raging, the opponents are given a breather by way of bail to seek more ammunition and spend time with their spiritual magicians to fight the battle of wits. Meanwhile Madam Nigeria cannot afford a split-second break.

    Nigeria should be wiser than this. Somebody somewhere must come to the immediate rescue of this country in the face of this developing onslaught. If Nigeria must win this war, she has got to change tactics. There is no way she would not be floored in this battle. And I can bet that there would likely be no prisoner of war at the end of the day, especially with the war dragging on indefinitely.

    By February-March next year all the fire, all the frenzy, all the enthusiasm and the entire clamour for justice would have fizzled out. Nigerians would again open their mouths and resume their dreary out-worn song:

    “What happened to Siemens?”

    Chorus: “Nothing!”

    “What happened to Halliburton?”

    Chorus:  “Nothing!”

    “What happened to Transcorp?”

    Chorus: “Nothing!”

    “What happened to Electricity probe?”

    Chorus: “Nothing!”

    “What happened to Otedola and Lawan?”

    Chorus: “Nothing!”

    “Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing….”

    As it was in the beginning, so it is now, and ever shall it be; world without end.

  • Can President Buhari be for everybody, really?

    I am for everybody; I am not for anybody, so rang out what became the defining words of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari at his inauguration as Nigeria’s president on May 29. It was a quotable quote, an emotive sound bite that stood out in the inaugural address and got everybody’s attention. It apparently sought to sell a populist myth of a president beholden to no one. However, there is also the interpretation that it is a targeted statement aimed at a political financier and aspirant godfather. An extension of the President’s I am for all and for no one is the populism of non interference with the two other arms of government – legislature and the judiciary – as demonstrated by his laissez faire attitude to the National Assembly leadership crisis that saw Senator Bukola Saraki and Honourable Yakubu Dogara romping to Senate Presidency and House Speaker-ship respectively against the position of their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). But separation of powers is in theory, just a myth of democracy as the President must assent to legislative bills to become law while he also appoints judicial officers, including judges of the Supreme Court. Where, then, is the separation, in practical terms? However, it would seem that President Buhari is striving to live down his image of the draconian military strongman of yesterday and swinging to the other extreme of being the idealist democrat, the evangelist of separation of powers in a democratic polity.

    But, really, can President Buhari, a presumed reformist president and change agent, be for all and sundry?  Can the all include those beneficiaries of the rotten past, the avowed opponents of change scheming to truncate it? Can President Buhari, in a real world situation, play the utopian democrat when needed legislation would have to drive change and yet hope to succeed with the Change Agenda?  And the change mantra – what is the operational definition of CHANGE by the APC, the party that runs the federal government?  What are the articulated strategies to achieve that defined change? Posers.

    Seven months into his tenure, President Buhari and the APC are manifesting a failure of intellectual and philosophical rationalization of the change they sold to the Nigerian electorate. It would seem that there was no intellectual vanguard to articulate the specifics of the desired change and a reasoned pathway to achieving same. The outcome is that both the Presidency and the APC are getting hobbled by the enormity of the problems they inherited and groping, apparently without anticipated and coordinated plan to tackle such emerging challenges. Taking advantage of the situation, various pressure groups, including violent criminal gangs, cult groups, religious extremists as well as militant ethnic irredentists are having a field, having taken a measure of the federal government’s resolve at maintaining public order and concluded it is tepid. It is a perception, but is reality to its holders. So, before the CHANGE mantra becomes a joke, the Presidency must articulate the CHANGE VISION and offer a roadmap to that destination. As public governance, what people see today is more of the same – No substantive change, so far. Even the President’s flagship crusade, the war against corruption, is being prosecuted  by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)  in its usual format of old as a titillating drama of extra-judicial disclosures about mind boggling multi-billion naira bazaar of graft with journalists providing support as drummer boys!!  The EFCC seem to relish its posturing in the court of public opinion better than the court of law.

    Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, captured the essence of President Buhari’s challenge and what could be articulated as his vision for Nigeria with his piece on a New Sheriff in Town. The sheriff was a folksy American frontier hero, the tough guy, who rode into lawless frontier towns in America’s Wild, Wild West, guns blazing, to restore order in a showdown with outlaws.  So, President Buhari’s main challenge is to restore public order in what is turning out a lawless, violent, anything goes Nigeria. It is a modern version of an uncompromising Showdown with Outlaws. A sole focus on anti-corruption campaign, with emphasis on theft of public funds, may therefore be misplaced because corruption is simply a symptom of a much, deep-rooted general decadence and collapse of values in the society that demands more than the mechanistic anti-corruption police method. The architecture on which corruption is built – the family, church, institutions of learning, civil society – need to be comprehensively re-oriented and revalued and its deviants sanctioned, without let up. The civil service and the Nigeria Police are two key institutions of state one had expected would be given a drastic shake up, early in the administration, under the CHANGE DOCTRINE, given their collaboration and connivance in the rotten state of affairs the Presidency is seeking to redress.  But what fundamental change can we expect in these institutions when even the President seem to give kudos to civil servants while deriding ministerial positions and where a Mike Okiro remains as chairman of Police Service Commission, Okiro under whose tenure as Inspector General of Police, a principal suspect in the killing of the Apo Six, in Abuja, escaped right at Police Headquarters in Abuja! It took the intervention of then President Olusegun Obasanjo for the killing of the Igbo traders to be investigated because, as is usual with Police cover up, the victims had been labelled armed robbery suspects! The case is still unresolved. That is the state of Nigeria today and why President Buhari cannot belong to all, but to only those ready to join the Save Nigeria Brigade.

    So, as we enter the year 2016, we expectantly wait for the SHERIFF to ride into town, blazing.

     

    • Dr. Olawunmi, a Senior Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Bowen University, Iwo, is former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria.

  • Jonathan on my mind

    The mind is a funny thing.  In politics as in love, the mind tends to remember only the good things, the good times.  You see plenty of old geezers hanging around talking about the good old days and how things were better in their time.  It really wasn’t, but that is the mind for you.

    A combination of nostalgia and the crab-like beginnings of Buhari’s new administration have caused a few people to begin to look back fondly at the recently terminated Goodluck Jonathan years.  But before we all got carried away completely, here comes Col. Santa Dasuki and his goody bags.

    The past days have been awash with revelations of how our former National Security Adviser during the Jonathan administration frittered away some $2.1 billion in just a few weeks.  Dasuki allegedly shared out the money largely among his PDP colleagues, some newspaper houses, prayer warriors and himself.  The worse bit is that the money was meant for arms purchase to counter the scourge that was Boko Haram as members of that sect were busy daily killing thousands of defenceless Nigerians, killing some of our military combatants and laying to waste a significant portion of Nigeria’s north-east.

    There was even a confessed instance where government operatives allegedly went directly to the Central Bank with Ghana-must-go bags and carted away money to Dasuki to apparently enable the retired Colonel share the booty more quickly.  It looks a safe bet that this is not a one-off; more sordid escapades of mindless, unchecked and perhaps permissive looting of the commonweal might yet come to light.

    Dasuki worked under the direct supervision of Jonathan.  Jonathan had in fact authorised the withdrawal of all that money following a formal confirmatory request by the then Finance Minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala.  Once authorisation was given, that apparently ended Jonathan’s role as President and manager of resources hence Dasuki and his mates simply went and had themselves a swell time.

    Alas, this was the pattern throughout the Jonathanian years.

    There was a time when his administration procured a software, I think, that was used to flush out ghost workers in some federal parastatals.  In one small agency, nearly half the workers that were drawing salaries and other benefits turned out to be non-existent.  Once the system was cleaned and stabilised, no attempt whatsoever was made to go after those that had perverted the payroll and had been benefiting from defrauding the state.  These people were left alone and left intact to go and practice their trade in other guises.

    The Jonathan presidency was one of a vexing display of helplessness.  It was a period of dangerous ineptitude.  In a complex space like Nigeria, we had a hands-off chief. While corruption never started with Jonathan’s administration, it certainly grew wings and became something hitherto unimaginable.   Throughout Jonathan’s almost six years in office, I cannot remember one single solitary person that was tried and convicted for corruption.  Rather, we began to be re-indoctrinated that it didn’t matter how people got into office or how they got rich.  Just let them get rich.  What mattered was that their richness meant the country was rich.  And before you knew it, we began to count private jets as an index of Nigerians’ wellbeing.

    We all know the story…Before anybody heard of Brother Jonathan, the man was a lecturer in a school, minding his own business.  He taught some young people who were sufficiently interested the exciting life of fauna.  Just reading passages to a roomful of students was a painfully tedious task for him.  He was utterly uninterested in the administrative end of things.  He left the management of his day-to-day life in the over-bearing hands of his wife.  He kept largely to himself and kept his head well down.  Life was easier for him that way.

    Then entered DSP Alamieyeseigha, freshly booted off the Nigerian Air Force.  Alamieyeseigha plucked a docile Jonathan from the obscurity of school life and made him his deputy.

    As Deputy Governor, Jonathan stood by and watched while Alams went about his grim thieving business.  He even allegedly pleaded a couple of times with then president Obasanjo to let Alams be.  Our man from Ota was impressed and took note.  This was loyalty, a good quality to have as far as he was concerned.

    A few short years later, Obasanjo drafted-in an uninterested, unhealthy and unprepared Umaru Yar’Adua largely so OBJ could stick his middle finger to the rest of the country for torpedoing his attempt to perpetuate himself in office.  Then, he paired up the colourless Yar’Adua with an even less colourful Jonathan.

    As Vice President, Jonathan still kept his head well down.  He was not in the mould of, say, Atiku or Dr Ekwueme.  He wasn’t entrusted with any genuine state or administrative duties, responsibilities or functions and he never asked for any.  He never demonstrated any discernible managerial desire, skill, or capacity.  More significantly, he still left the management of his life largely in the steady hands of his wife.

    It was therefore an unhappy and a horrified Jonathan that watched Yar’Adua’s health plummet not even halfway into their first term.  In the end, and despite his own personal reservations, Jonathan had to inherit the big seat.  To help him out administratively, the Americans persuaded a reluctant Okonjo-Iweala to return to Nigeria and become Jonathan’s de facto Prime Minister.

    So it was no great surprise when Jonathan turned out to be an inattentive leader.  His officials ran circles around him to Nigeria’s cost.  ‘Clueless’ was actually his lack of attention and permissiveness which enabled known and new vampires feast heavily on Nigeria.  Santa Dasuki’s case is a draining reminder, lest we forget…

    • Egbejumi-David, a public affairs analyst, writes from Lagos.

  • NAFDAC: Promoting robust scientific education

    The world is embracing innovations; innovations rooted in knowledge and critical thinking. On this score, the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC], by dint of good leadership, is not lagging behind in this global drive. It has not only continued to buy into the latest inventions in its mission to safeguard the public health of Nigerians, it is also playing a star role in imparting knowledge to young Nigerians pursuing related professional and academic programmes in the nation’s institutions of higher learning by putting at their disposal its state-of-the-art laboratories for both the compulsory Supervised Industrial Work Experience (SIWES) and internships.

    As a technology driven agency, NAFDAC has seven hi-tech laboratories equipped strategically spread across the nation’s six geopolitical zones. Each of the seven major facilities houses laboratories for different purposes. There is a Cosmetic Laboratory for testing baby powder, toilet soap, creams etc; Food Registration Laboratory with fume chamber for analysing fumes from organic solvents; Food Compliance Laboratory with Ion Exchange Chromatography (IEC); Medical Devices Laboratory for testing condoms, syringes, hand gloves, diapers etc; Farm Control Laboratory; Instrument Laboratory; Pharmaci-Chemical Laboratory for analysing herbal products; Pharmaceutical Control Laboratory; Pharmacognocy Laboratory; Microbiology Laboratory; Pesticide Formulation Laboratory for checking the kind of pesticide used on food and analysing the fertiliser farmers use; Water Laboratory; Alcoholic Beverage Laboratory etc. The biggest of the laboratories is the Zonal Laboratory in Agulu, Anambra State, which was commissioned on October 15, 2010 by former President Goodluck Jonathan. The spacious facility has 10 different laboratories. All the laboratories have well trained personnel to make them work efficiently.

    Five of these facilities have got international accreditation, mainly from the USA. They include the Mycotoxin and Pesticide Residues laboratories located at Oshodi in Lagos; and the Central Drug Control Laboratory in Yaba, Lagos. The other two are Food Compliance Laboratory with Ion Exchange Chromatography (IEC and High Performance Liquid Chromatography Laboratory (HPLC) located within Oshodi used for analyzing vitamins.

    The Mycotoxin and Pesticide Residues laboratories were accredited by the American Association of Laboratory Accreditation in November 2013, when they obtained the ISO 17025 certification. Again in January, the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) and US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) presented an international accreditation known as ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 to the Central Drug Control Laboratory, Yaba for quality monitoring of pharmaceutical products in Nigeria.

    The accreditation project, which was supervised by United Nations Industrial Development (UNIDO), helped launched the two laboratories into the league of internationally recognized and respected laboratories, a development that has given global acceptance to NAFDAC-regulated products, tested and certified. What this means in simple terms is that all  products analyzed for export purposes by the two laboratories would carry a special ISO logo, thus making the commodities accepted all over the world.

    Again in January, the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) and US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) presented an international accreditation known as ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 to the Yaba, Lagos Central Drug Control Laboratory of NAFDAC for quality monitoring of pharmaceutical products in Nigeria. It is the first government-owned laboratory to attain such accreditation, which gives it the capacity to test both locally manufactured and imported pharmaceutical products. During presentation of the certificate in Lagos by Mission Director, USAID Nigeria, Michael Harvey, he described the accreditation as one critical milestone that re-established Nigeria as original super producers and distributors of pharmaceutical products.

    What is quite revealing here is that the regulatory agency is well placed to take up the responsibility of mentoring the critical manpower needed in food and drug administration and control in Nigeria. The agency’s modern facilities have become very handy for a nation bereft of the needed facilities in its higher institutions of learning. We have Dr. Paul Orhii to thank for his foresight and innovativeness. Under his watch, NAFDAC spearheaded global efforts in the use of technologies to fight counterfeiting. For this, TRUSCAN, Mobile Authentication Service (MAS) and Radio Frequency Identification etc, were introduced and deployed in the fight against counterfeit drugs in the country. Now, he is directing his energy to giving relevant knowledge to our teeming population of students in laboratory science, medical and pharmaceutical sciences, and even biological and micro biological sciences that will drive the processes needed to make Nigeria Africa’s hub for food and drug production and distribution.

    Interestingly, the authorities of the nation’s participating higher institutions have attested to the value-added to knowledge of the students during their industrial trainings at the agency’s facilities. They described the knowledge as priceless. They also reported the students exhibited remarkable improvement in their understanding of practical laboratory analyses, which invariably are typical of science-oriented disciplines where commitment, interest, suitable research environment as well as modernized facilities are required to bring about the necessary impressive results.

    NAFDAC’s Deputy Director in NAFDAC and Head of the agency’s South-East zonal laboratories in Agulu, Charles Nwachukwu, disclosed while playing host to a team of media executives recently, that the agency’s new role was consistent with the sustainability policy of the his boss, Orhii, who he said had shown remarkable zeal in not only sustaining the legacies of his predecessors, but also building on them to assure its continuing relevance to the nation.

    He maintained that the agency’s current leadership zeal for sustainability had kept its workforce happy and productive, adding that the staff were happy to be part of the lofty process of safeguarding the health of the nation.  For Nwachukwu, in NAFDAC “there is no Nigerian factor, we are business-minded, we have our goals and the agency’s leadership is bent on achieving these goals. Indeed, these laboratories, built and located across the country have certainly become a beehive of activities”.

    There is no doubt that the training and education the students have received will make them more ready to face the challenges of future working life and make them more confident in themselves. There is no doubt the nation would be better for it.

    I dare say NAFDAC’s inputs into Nigeria’s socio-economic and industrial advancement cannot be underestimated. Science, they say, is the bedrock of modern society. For NAFDAC to be living up to expectations in training the present and future manpower in the area of food and drug administration and control, Nigeria’s continuing economic diversification and growth are assured.More importantly, NAFDAC is saving for the nation its hard earned foreign currencies that could have gone into overseas training for our youth students.

    • Ikhilae, is a Lagos-based public affairs analyst.

  • Muslims, we have to critically review our understanding of Islam

    Word fall short to truly express my deep sadness and revolt in the face of the carnage perpetrated by terrorist groups such as the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

    I share profound frustration with a billion-and-a-half Muslims around the world at the fact that such groups commit terrorism while dressing up their perverted ideologies as religion. We Muslims have a special responsibility to not only join hands with fellow human beings to save our world from the scourge of terrorism and violent extremism, but also to help repair the tarnished image of our faith.

    It is easy to proclaim a certain identity in the abstract with words and symbols. The sincerity of such claims, however, can only be measured by comparing our actions with the core values of our self-proclaimed identities. The true test of belief is not slogans or dressing up in a certain way; the true test of our beliefs is in living up to core principles shared by all major world faiths such as upholding the sanctity of life and respecting the dignity of all humans.

    We must categorically condemn the ideology propagated by terrorists and instead promote a pluralistic mindset with clarity and confidence. After all, before our ethnic, national or religious identity comes our common humanity, which suffers a setback each time a barbaric act is committed. French citizens who lost their lives in Paris, Shiite Muslim Lebanese citizens who lost their lives in Beirut a day earlier and scores of Sunni Muslims in Iraq who lost their lives at the hands of the same terrorists are first and foremost human beings. Our civilization will not progress until we treat the suffering of humans regardless of their religious or ethnic identity as equally tragic in our empathy and respond with the same determination.

    Muslims must also reject and avoid conspiracy theories, which have so far only helped us avoid facing our social problems. Instead, we must tackle the real questions: Do our communities provide recruitment grounds for groups with totalitarian mindsets due to unrecognized authoritarianism within ourselves, domestic physical abuse, neglect of youth and lack of balanced education? Did our failure to establish basic human rights and freedoms, supremacy of the rule of law and pluralist mindsets in our communities lead those who are struggling to seek alternative paths?

    The recent tragedy in Paris is yet another reminder for both theologians and ordinary Muslims to strongly reject and condemn barbaric acts perpetrated in the name of our religion. However, at this juncture, rejection and condemnation are not enough; terrorist recruitment within Muslim communities must be fought and countered by an effective collaboration of state authorities, religious leaders and civil society actors. We must organize community-wide efforts to address all factors that aid terrorist recruitment.

    Ways of expressing support and dissent within democratic means

    We need to work with our community to set up the necessary framework for identifying at-risk youth, preventing them from seeking self-destructive paths, assisting families with counseling and other support services. We must promote a proactive, positive government engagement so that engaged Muslim citizens can sit at the table where counterterrorism measures are planned and share their ideas. Our youth should be taught ways of expressing support and dissent within democratic means. Incorporating democratic values into school curricula early on is crucial for inculcating a culture of democracy in young minds.

    In the aftermath of such tragedies, historically strong reactions have surfaced. Anti-Muslim and anti-religious sentiment as well as security-driven treatment of Muslim citizens by governments would be counter-productive. The Muslim citizens of Europe want to live in peace and tranquility. Despite the negative climate, they should strive to engage more with their local and national governments to help work toward more inclusive policies that better integrate their community into the larger society.

    It is also important for us Muslims to critically review our understanding and practice of Islam in light of the conditions and requirements of our age and the clarifications provided by our collective historic experiences. This does not mean a rupture from the cumulative Islamic tradition but rather, an intelligent questioning so we can confirm the true teachings of the Quran and the Prophetic tradition that our Muslim predecessors attempted to reveal.

    We must proactively marginalize decontextualized reading of our religious sources that have been employed in the service of perverted ideologies. Muslim thinkers and intellectuals should encourage a holistic approach and reconsider jurisprudential verdicts of the Middle Ages that were issued under perpetual conflict where religious affiliation often coincided with political affiliation. Having core beliefs should be distinguished from dogmatism. It is possible, indeed absolutely necessary, to revive the spirit of freedom of thought that gave birth to a renaissance of Islam while staying true to the ethos of the religion. Only in such an atmosphere can Muslims effectively combat incivility and violent extremism.

    In the aftermath of the recent events I am witnessing, with chagrin, the revival of the thesis of the clash of civilizations. I do not know whether those who first put out such a hypothesis did so out of vision or desire. What is certain is that today, the revival of this rhetoric simply serves the recruitment efforts of the terrorist networks. I want to state clearly that what we are witnessing is not a clash of civilizations but rather the clash of humanity with barbarity in our common civilization.

    Our responsibility as Muslim citizens is to be part of the solution despite our grievances. If we want to defend the life and civil liberties of Muslims around the world and the peace and tranquility of every human regardless of their faith, we must act now to tackle the violent extremism problem in all its dimensions: political, economic, social and religious. By setting virtuous examples through our lives, by discrediting and marginalizing the extremist interpretations of religious sources, by staying vigilant toward their impact on our youth, and by incorporating democratic values early in education, we can counter violence and terrorism as well as totalitarian ideologies that lead to them.

     

    • This article by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen was first published in Le Monde
  • Osuji’s unfair take on PMB presidency

    Osuji’s unfair take on PMB presidency

    Steve Osuji, The Nation’s columnist has concluded that nothing good can ever come out of President Muhammadu Buhari no matter how hard he tries. In his “Expresso” column in the newspaper on Friday, November 20, titled “Re-imagining the PMB presidency,” Osuji seemed intensely peeved with President Buhari that his opening sentence was a scathing remark that “it has become apparent in this epoch that imagination is as lean as the president himself and [that] body language is fast becoming an effusion of body odour to the [Nigerian] people.” As if that was not scathing enough, he fired another salvo in the opening paragraph that “President Muhammadu Buhari is fast earning the moniker of ‘Mr. Fuddy-Duddy’ [that] looks like it’s gonna stick.” One may never know the real reason why Osuji decided to write Buhari off as the head of a government that is yet to complete 365 days in office let alone four years. But one can take solace in knowing that a huge majority of Nigerians are kilometres apart from Osuji’s view of the Buhari administration. Osuji is no doubt important among the league of Nigerian columnists, but one began to have this eerie feeling about his thought pattern when he did not see the ascendance of Sen. Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy President in the 8th Senate as crass, insidious, and opportunistic but rather as “pure politics” in one of his columns.

    His anger this time around with President Buhari appeared to have been triggered by an outing of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who represented Buhari at a workshop organized by the National Democratic Institute where the minister reminded his audience that the Buhari administration “was completely left in the dark and only got handover notes four days before handover date” when they should have received a “comprehensive report on the state of the economy, the security situation, infrastructure development or deficit and social issues…in an atmosphere devoid of bitterness, confrontation and conflict” they had “expected.”

    Osuji’s position that “no new government with a clear vision would depend on his predecessor’s notes to initiate its actions” shows a clear lack of understanding of the mechanisms and modalities that are fundamental to effective administration and good governance of a society. Aside from the fact that the preparation of comprehensive handover notes by an outgoing government for its successor is standard the world over, a government with a clear vision, as has been demonstrated by the Buhari administration in Nigeria’s history since flag independence, could not have jumped into Nigeria’s ship of state under the command of the erstwhile Captain Jonathan without some degree of circumspection and introspection unless its intention is to run the ship aground ab initio. It was a smart move that the Nigerian ship, which was on a permanent autopilot was first decelerated, if not momentarily anchored by Buhari for a thorough and scrupulous inspection because it had been badly vandalized as evidenced by the torrents of revelations now coming out. Any sane person could not have expected Buhari to construct his government on a vacuous edifice left behind by Jonathan as the administration was practically built on nothing in the six years he was in charge. And it is said that you cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand.

    For Osuji to have postulated that handover notes have nothing to do “with the president appointing quality ministers in good time” shows his inability to bring rigour into his thought process. One wonders how Buhari would have assembled his star cabinet which Osuji himself said in the column – however grudgingly – that it “is no doubt a good pick taken together” if he had not engaged in a thorough and scrupulous examination of all the MDAs among other strategic moves. That Buhari, through the Minister of Information and Culture, chose not only to reiterate the impunity that went berserk in the Jonathan administration as exemplified by handover notes that were submitted not four weeks but four days to the president’s inauguration at the National Democratic Institute, but to also remind Nigerians that such abhorrent act is patently inimical to democratic ethos should have been hailed as patriotic rather than excoriation. Pray, where else could a message of that significance have had the greatest impact if not at an institute of that nature with its attendant audience? His assertion that the minister’s speech at the NDI was a “faux pas [that] may be considered the final denotation in a long narrative of inertia and lost opportunities of the PMB era” was nothing but a mischievous attempt to box the president into a negative perception corner in the eyes of undiscerning Nigerians. And this must be resisted by those with appreciable inklings as to the colossal damage that Jonathan and his lackeys wrought on the country.

    Osuji’s other reason for railing against President Buhari was because of the seemingly intractable petroleum crisis in which he disingenuously asked that since “the president has no thoughts whatsoever on this absurd ‘subsidy’ conundrum before he ascended office, a panel of five…could have given him the answers he needed and he would have pronounced a clear direction on this ignoble ‘subsidy’ by the end of June.” Really? Perhaps the greatest disservice that anyone who may have resolved that nothing good can ever come out of the Buhari presidency, no matter the fluidity of his argument, lies not in the criticism in itself, as this is always welcome in a democracy. The greatest disservice is for him to become intentionally and selectively deaf to the president’s statements on those very issues on which these criticisms are based. It would be recalled that President Buhari had said within a month or two after his inauguration that the arguments presented for the immediate removal of the subsidy regime were too weak as they did not properly take cognizance of the adverse effects that its immediate removal would have on ordinary Nigerians who always bear the brunt of any socio-economic and political mismanagement of their rulers. It must be noted here that this is probably the first time in Nigeria’s post-independence history that the teeming majority of ordinary Nigerians have a government that they can truly call their own. As the head of a government that is, and wants to be seen as truly accountable to its people, it would have been irresponsible for Buhari to unilaterally remove the subsidy without scrupulously thinking it through so that the already hard lives of ordinary Nigerians are not further complicated by this subsidy conundrum in which they had no hand in creating. Subsidy removal is no longer a question of if but when and how.

    One wonders why Osuji seems fixated on blaming all Nigeria’s woes on the Buhari presidency, including the nation’s perennial electricity problem to which he alluded. There has not only been a significant improvement in electricity in the six months of Buhari’s government, even this modest stride has surpassed all that Jonathan achieved on power in six years. While it’s within Osuji’s right to think that “PMB’s capacity [to] lead change is in doubt” it’s equally heartening to know that a huge Nigerian majority are kilometres apart from him on this assertion. They see on a daily basis the ‘heavy lifting’ that Buhari is doing to permanently turn around the fortunes of this country and its people for the better. Furthermore, his view that “many Nigerians are truly apprehensive now about the PMB presidency and his ability to lead Nigeria out of the woods and back from the brink” is just in his imagination as well as in the tiny minority that never wanted Buhari in the exalted office in the first place because they’re mortally afraid of the consequences of their past actions.

    • Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com
  • Ugwuanyi: Alleviating travellers plight at yuletide

    Ugwuanyi: Alleviating travellers plight at yuletide

    It was a nostalgic evening experience for residents of 9th Mile Corner, Ngwo, Enugu the day Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi paid an unscheduled visit to the area to inspect and identify some roads that needed urgent government intervention to ensure free flow of traffic during the festive season.

    The visit, which was barely three weeks ago, was unprecedented and signposts a new thinking of the government towards ameliorating the hardships commuters encounter on the popular 9th Mile Corner roads during yuletide season due to the unbearable traffic gridlock in the area. The ugly experience road users encountered on the roads in the past was caused by the existence of dangerous potholes, inadequate availability of by-pass roads and the illegal parking of heavy duty trucks along the roads.

    Consequently, the governor’s visit was not only timely but also in keeping with his campaign promise to alleviate the sufferings of the people, give them a sense of belonging and make their lives better as true heroes of democracy.

    The purpose of the inspection visit was also in line with his administration’s drive to provide social services and reposition the state to be able maintain its pride of place as the economic hub of the South-east, bearing in mind the economic potentials of the 9th Mile area.

    The governor, who was accompanied to the sites that fateful evening by top officials of the state Ministry of Works and Infrastructure and the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Barrister Sam Ogbu Nwobodo, among others, painstakingly trekked through the length and breadth of the affected roads, mostly owned by the federal government, as he demonstrated his thought for the area for easy flow of traffic during the festivities.

    After inspecting the roads, he directed that the following palliative measures be carried out immediately:  vegetation control on the roads from Enugu to 9th Mile Corner; removal of all the heavy duty trucks parked on the road sides to ensure free flow of traffic, aggressive maintenance of potholes on the roads; clearing and earthworks on the two newly awarded by-pass roads at 9th Mile Corner to provide alternative roads for commuters and decongest the popular roads in the area.

    Other measures include: erection of directional signs to assist road users utilize the alternative by-pass roads; and  effective engagement of the services of all the law enforcement agencies such as Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Police, among others to ensure the enforcement of traffic laws and orderly movement of vehicles.

    In a bid to actualize his kind thought for the travellers, especially those returning home to celebrate the festive season with their loved ones and are bound to pass through the 9th Mile Corner roads to get to their destinations,    Ugwuanyi also directed the immediate relocation of all the heavy duty trucks parked along the 9th Mile Corner-Nsukka-Onitsha expressway, and equally mandated the state Ministry of Works and Infrastructure to as a matter of urgency, come up with the budget implication for the maintenance work on the affected roads to enable government take necessary  action.

    Today, to the glory of God, a visit to the 9th Mile Corner shows that the area has truly felt the positive impact of the state government’s intervention as the roads have witnessed aggressive maintenance of all the potholes that cause gridlock.

    Apart from the fact the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure has concluded the repairing of the potholes, vegetation control work and earthworks on the two by-pass roads for alternative use during the peak period of the festivities, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has also decongested the obstruction along the roads caused by parked heavy duty trucks, in line with the directives of the governor.

    It is therefore, worthy of note, that the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Barr. Nwobodo has made frantic efforts in relocating all parked vehicles along the said roads. The public notice he signed and issued to the press said it all: “all heavy duty trucks including haulage vehicles for the breweries and other Industrial establishments parked along the Nsukka-Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Efficient Filling Station to the New By-pass, 9th Mile-Cocacola-Udi Road and by-pass connecting Onitsha road from Udi, etc, must be moved immediately…Consequently, government has provided temporary parking spaces for the Christmas period only at these locations: old Toll-Gate along Enugu Onitsha Expressway, or the Ajali-Owa Water Works site”.

    “All haulage and other vehicles parked by the road side or obstructing traffic must be evacuated immediately or vehicle will be towed at the owner’s cost. Additionally, traders must not hawk their wares by the road side. Heavy duty vehicles or trucks coming into Enugu or travelling to Onitsha from the Nsukka must pass through the Ibute New 9th Mile By-Pass.

    “These measures are put in place by His Excellency Rt. Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the Governor, to alleviate the sufferings of road users within and around the 9th Mile Industrial zone.

    Ever since, residents of Enugu have commended Governor Ugwuanyi’s development initiatives and sensitivity to the plight of the people. Chukwuma Edeh, a resident of 9th mile corner, Ngwo, described the governor as “a rare paragon and selfless leader who has dedicated himself to the service of the people in order to alleviate their sufferings.”

    Hear him: “Governor Ugwuanyi has made us proud with this timely intervention on our roads. It shows that he always thinks about the people wherever he is. He paid us a surprise unscheduled visit some weeks ago, and as we saw him moving from one location of the road to another, demonstrating to the people that accompanied him, we were wondering what informed the visit. Today, 9th Mile Corner is wearing a new look and travellers can now enjoy smooth and safe journey through these roads. We thank him for this kind gesture. It shows he cares for the people.”

    Another resident of the area, Ichie Dan Obi Nwachukwu who spoke on the palliative measures on the 9th Mile Corner thanked him for being sensitive to the plight of the people and assured him of the maximum support and prayers of the people of the area to ensure that his administration succeeds.

    In all, the governor’s intervention has made travellers who will ply through the popular 9th Mile Corner roads this yuletide to heave a sigh of relief. The onus is now on the road users to cooperate with the government to ensure that the measures put in place yield the desired result towards a free flow of traffic during the peak period of the Yuletide, by obeying the traffic rules and regulations. The governor’s brave people-oriented initiatives for a greater Enugu State deserve support.

    • Amoke is Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Enugu State Governor.