Category: Editorial

•Conservation scholarship for three Unical students is boon for Nigeria’s ecotourism

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), with the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo, Canada and the Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Research (CBCR), Ghana, just awarded post-graduate scholarships to three University of Calabar (Unical) students.  The scholarship is to further drive a community conservation initiative to protect the Cross River gorilla.  The gorilla is endangered fauna in the Cross River corridor.

The beneficiaries are David Agabi-Eneji and Adekanmbi Adeyinka, both for a two-year M.Sc programme; and Wilfred Ayambem, who won a three-year PhD scholarship.  But theirs’ are only three of five scholarships.  Two others would still be awarded in the five-year community conservation scholarship programme.

The scheme covers course registration and tuition, accommodation, operating and living expenses, field research expenses, and a vote for study materials and equipment.  It also provides for a six-month paid internship at the NCF; and another compulsory one-month hands-on training, during the scholars’ exchange visit to CBCR in Ghana. 

This is a clear boon for nature study from the academy’s point of view.  Incidentally, “Nature Study” was the entry subject into plant and animal education in the primary school curriculum of an era in Nigeria.  

Since humans share the earth with other animals and plants, having an intimate knowledge of the cohabiting fauna and flora can’t be harmful.  Indeed, it is priceless.  To maintain a delicate eco balance, knowledge is key.  These scholarships — and others to follow— therefore make a strong point for that area of study, which can only enrich everyone.

But conservation also comes with added practical socio-economic benefits — public health, for one.  COVID-19 just seriously breached global health.  That pandemic claimed millions of lives worldwide; and remains a big threat, with latest health developments in China.  

A tragic dislocation of the eco-balance has been blamed for the pandemic, with many quarters darkly hinting that more future pandemics are likely, should such eco-abuse continue.  A sound conservation training, at the high levels that this scholarship targets, can help in altering the course of things and thereby save future humanity from avoidable calamity.

Another clear area of benefit is eco-tourism, which really speaks to economic diversification and countries’ bottom-line.  Nigeria and other African countries have a clear comparative advantage in eco-tourism, given the latest projections of global tourism.  About everyone is running from the dense air of the “built-up” first and second worlds of Europe and America, to inhale the fresh air of the so-called third world of Africa, Oceania and parts of Asia. 

Conserving Nigeria’s fauna and flora, and aiding public policy on how to preserve and market them as tourism drawers can only enhance the country’s competitiveness in global eco-tourism.  Aside from the Cross River gorilla, other Nigeria-endemic species, which could be endangered, are the Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee and the Ibadan Malimbe. 

Truth be told, however, cultural imperialism seems to drive the eco conservation campaign.  Most of it is rooted in the rich European countries and America, where much of life is settled.  Even the money-spinning safaris of East and Southern Africa emerged from a colonial and occupying culture.  

The British dreamt of a “permanent” stay in Kenya before the “Mau-Mau” struggle put paid to that dream.  The sorry tales of apartheid and colour bar in the Rhodesias (now Zambia and Zimbabwe), South Africa, Angola and Namibia are too fresh to bear re-telling.  Still, the occupying race left a thriving tourism industry for the surviving nations.

But despite politics and race, conservation education and practice is a win-win for all.  It’s all so reminiscent of the 1981 Boney M album, Boonoonoonoos and its appeal: “Don’t kill the world.  It’s all we have …”

•Judicial arm deserves protection from those violating the temples of justice, in the interest of democracy

The invasion of the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ogwashi-Uku in Delta State a few days ago was one more confirmation that security of lives and property have become very scarce commodities in the country. Ordinarily, a court is supposed to be the temple of justice, the sanctity of which should be protected because its services are for humanity as a whole and not for any individual or group of individuals.  ‘Justice to one is justice to all’, as the saying goes. Justice does not respect titles, gender or status, so it is expected that every human ‘own’ any and all courts.

However, from records, Nigerian courts seem to have been stripped of their essence given the plethora of attacks on courts across the country over the years. In 2014, the Ekiti State High court was invaded by hoodlums and a judge severely beaten up. Litigants and lawyers were attacked too.  That was after the declaration of the Ekiti State governorship election that brought former Governor Ayo Fayose to office. In 2016, heavily armed hoodlums invaded three courts in Makurdi, Benue State and after vandalising the courts, they locked the gates with their own padlocks. There were attacks on some courts in Kogi State and two judges abducted in July, last year.

Perhaps the most recent attack on the judiciary was the killing, on February 2, of the chairman of  Ejemekwuru  Customary Court in the  Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, Nnaemeka Ugboma. Reports say Ugboma was killed during a court session by gunmen who came to the place on motorcycles.

These attacks are however not the only ones that have been recorded. 

We hasten to add that the judicial arm of our government has always been violated at different levels and this is not good for democracy. As the third tripod of democracy, the sanctity of the judiciary, represented by the courts must be upheld by institutions empowered constitutionally to protect them.

It is regrettable that the sanctity of the courts is being violated by hoodlums repeatedly and there seems to be no strict action to rein in the perpetrators of the violence. In the case of the Delta State attack, we find it curious that a magistrate’s court would be located in a plaza that houses other ministries and even corporate bodies. We would have expected that given the sensitivity of their role, a separate and secure building ought to be allocated by governments to house the different courts in any state. The dispensers of justice ought to be safe and secure as they carry out their constitutional duties.

Adequate security for the courts and the judicial workers is not a luxury and we even feel that in Nigeria, those in both the executive and the legislative arms live in luxury and are well protected by various security agencies while those in the judiciary that are equally relevant to democracy are left in the lurch. It is regrettable that only the judiciary seems to be under these senseless attacks.

To neglect the temple of justice as the country seems to have done is to bury democracy alive. The judicial arm is too important to everyone to be tampered with. Everyone needs the courts as it is said that the judiciary is the last hope of the common man. Lawyers and judges should be free to carry out their duties unhindered because the executive and legislature alone cannot successfully run democracy.

It is very ironic that politicians often run to the judiciary for intervention pre- and post- elections for cases concerning their access to power but are often very fast to forget to care for the welfare of the judicial workers the moment the same judiciary confers on them the authority, through oaths, to perform their own roles in a democracy.

Protecting the courts and judicial staff must be prioritised for democracy to be viable. It is a pity to see the opulence and security around the executive members of government and the legislators while the judiciary is left in a seeming Hobbesian state. Attacks on the courts and judicial workers would continue to affect democracy if not arrested through diligent prosecution of suspects and their sponsors. When perpetrators seem assured that they can always get away with the crime, they won’t have any reason to retrace their steps. Not only that, others would be encouraged to do like wise. In the end, it is the society that suffers.

Some Nigerians may renounce their citizenship, but are they shedding their Nigerianness?

We started experiencing the Andrew syndrome in the 1980’s, and the Shagari administration mounted a vigorous, if comic, campaign to extol the virtues of being a Nigerian and living here. A popular songstress chimed a tune with a haunting lyric bemoaning the trend with a plea in pidgin saying, “Andrew no check out o.” Enda Ogholi’s tuneful riff still whispers in the Nigerian ear today.

But not with emphatic rectitude. From year to year, decade to decade, the young and middle-aged first moved in trickles and then in spurts. But now, many believe that it is in relative deluge, leading to what many call ‘Japa‘ syndrome. If it was Andrew, it was about an individual. Today, Andrew as metaphor understates the crowd surging out of our borders.

The Ministry of Interior hinted at another new dimension to the trend. It says 309 Nigerians have renounced their citizenship in about two decades. That seems too puny a number to contemplate. Statistics, however, are better understood by stripping them down.

Hear the word of the permanent secretary in the ministry, Dr Shuaib Belgore: “Now down to those Nigerians who renounce their citizenship, so far we have registered a total of 309.

“Between 2006 and 2021, 150 Nigerians renounced their citizenship. In 2022 alone, 159 Nigerians renounced their citizenship,” he said.

The 2022 number shows a big leap among Nigerians defrocking themselves of Nigerian citizenship.  It means over half of the statistic happened within 12 months. Percentages can overstate a trend or event. One hundred and fifty-nine out of a population of over 100 million is like a drop of water. But the percentage may hint at a coming trend since we have seen in the past few years an avalanche of Nigerians fleeing their homeland.

The reason for abandoning their homeland is not far-fetched. We have known for decades the failure of the governing elite, whether military or civilian, to deliver on the basics of living standards for the majority of Nigerians. It started with jobs not being available to those who attended primary school. It moved up, like a leprous hand, to college graduates. Even at that, the political elite swore it might never reach the university graduates.

At that time, the big-name companies and government scouts visited the universities to seek out graduating students for jobs. It reads like paradise today. But that was a society that tempted anyone to be a patriot. Today, their patriotism is tempted.

Suddenly, though, graduate unemployment started creeping in amidst official denials for political reasons.

Today, it has become commonplace. The Andrew syndrome did not affect the graduates at the start. It was among those who did not belong to the top of the rung. Gradually we started witnessing Nigerians who had degrees in law and sciences and humanities moving away from their country. Some decided to travel for a few months or a year, so as to acquire some hard currencies and invest in Nigeria.

The pull to remain in the country was strong. They did not want to be second-class citizens abroad. But things got worse. From staying abroad, they started to live abroad. Our sense of national pride had taken a beating. A nation that saw the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States as places to earn degrees and return with the proverbial golden fleece has transformed those places into homes. Even then, those who attended universities at home had contempt for graduates in Europe and America. That was the sense of self-worth decades ago.

It is a different story today. Few would contemplate becoming citizens abroad, even though Nigerians travelled to the United Kingdom without the requirement of visas. The U.K. knew we did not need their economy because the Naira exchanged at one time equal to the British pound. Nothing tells the story more when in the parallel market today, we exchange a pound for over 800 Naira. This is a cataclysmic fall.

There is a paradox, though. The Ministry of Interior reported that many foreigners are applying for Nigerian citizenship just as our citizens are applying for citizenships abroad. The ministry said it was going to meet to consider applications from foreigners. Hear Dr. Belgore again: “After the meeting, these applications for naturalisation, when successful, will be sent to Mr. President-in-Council for approval.”

He said about 300 foreigners want to be Nigerians. So, the nation where its citizens are fleeing is welcoming others. It is a reflection of globalised citizenship. That is a part of the narrative we must accept, though, in the 21stcentury. Does it mean we Nigerians do not take advantage of opportunities here that others see? We can see the evidence of businesses owned by foreigners that are thriving here. Whether supermarkets, airlines, hospitals or even furniture, we cannot deny their prosperity in our land. We may gripe over the failure of our elite, we should also look inwards why others make it here while we do not.

On the whole, it is a bad trend that our elite have not instilled confidence in the young who have to look elsewhere for their future. Yet, the citizens who renounce their official link have not shed their Nigerianness. Records have shown over the years that Nigerians who renounce their citizenship still queue for visas to visit. Some of them invest in the country. The annual inflow of billions in foreign exchange into our shores reflects that great bond with the land of their birth. They have remained a boon, hence some of them have started the agitation to vote during elections.

They are fleeing the country. It is not out of hate of their land but fear of the collapse of their material wellbeing. If they vote with their feet, they stay here in their hearts.

• Lagos State Govt’s promise to prosecute the owner and driver of Ojuelegba killer truck is in order

Just as well that the Lagos State government has vowed to prosecute the owner and driver of the articulated vehicle which killed nine people at the Ojuelegba area of the state on Sunday. The victims were crushed to death when the container that the truck was carrying fell on a commercial minibus that was picking up passengers at the bus stop along the Ojuelegba Bridge. The truck lost control and fell over the side of the bridge. The victims included Miss Blessing Isioma; Abdurahman Okoya Sunday; Felix John Ifeanyi, 40; Olatokunbo Basirat King, 49, and five others.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in a statement signed by the commissioner for information and strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, directed that the truck owner and driver who are already in police custody be prosecuted immediately, after receiving an interim report on the accident.

We join the state government in commiserating with the families of the dead.

Beyond this however is the more important need to bring such articulated truck accidents to a tolerable level, if they cannot be stopped completely. Accidents by their very nature are sometimes inevitable. But the truth is that many accidents here are avoidable. All too often, we see these articulated trucks that are not road worthy not only plying our roads but also bearing load beyond their capacities. On top of this, those of them that carry containers do not have them securely hinged to the trucks, making the containers to tip over, often with fatal consequences that cause tears and anguish to other road users.

Many of these trucks do not have good tyres, they are not regularly serviced or maintained such that their brakes fail often.

We can understand the anger of the Lagos State government in directing the immediate prosecution of the culprits in the incident. Articulated truck accidents are fast becoming something else in the state. Less than 24 hours after the accident at Ojuelegba, another accident involving yet another articulated truck occurred near the

Iyana Ipaja area of the state, when another container fell off its truck. Lagos State Traffic Management Authority’s (LASTMA) spokesman, Taofiq Adebayo, in a statement, noted that the fallen 40-foot container occupied 90 per cent of the road. “A 40ft container laden truck fell at Sawmill inward Dopemu under bridge; it’s occupying 90 per cent of the road. Our men are on ground doing the needful as effort is on for recovery.” There are several other incidents, even on the same Ojuelegba axis.

Despite the fact that the state government has the equipment to clear off wreckage from such accidents from the roads within a reasonable time, the traumatic experience of waiting while evacuation is ongoing is enough nightmare.

The government should show the kind of keen interest it has always shown in similar incidents in this particular case. As it noted, it did it in the case of a truck driver, Sodiq Okanlawon, and the owner of the truck, Wasiu Lekan, who were sentenced to life imprisonment for causing the death of three people on July 26, 2020, at Ilasamaja, on the Oshodi/Apapa Expressway. It should do it again.

Vehicle owners and their drivers owe the society the duty of behaving responsibly by ensuring that their vehicles are in good shape always. People must be taught about  the sanctity of human lives.

We agree with the commissioner for transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, that barricades should be erected around the Ojuelegba Bridge. But this should be well fortified given the experience with such barricades in some parts of the state that hoodlums easily destroy soon after their erection. Also, indiscriminate picking and dropping of passengers around the Ojuelegba Bridge must be stopped.

It is high time the state ministry of transportation and the security agencies responsible for safety on our roads took their jobs more seriously by ensuring that all the laws governing the operations of trucks and related vehicles are enforced “with more vigour and diligence.” The Nigeria Ports Authority too should assist in finding a lasting solution to the menace of falling trucks.

Above all, the Federal Governments should fast-track rail network to and from the ports so as to reduce the number of articulated vehicles on our roads. This would also reduce their menace as well as ensure longevity of the roads.

• If only 25 percent of children from age four to 14 can read and write and tackle basic math, our future is dicier than we know

It is not unexpected. Yet, to know it is damning. The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) reported that 75 percent of Nigerian children cannot read, write and solve mathematical problems.

That is the definition of mass illiteracy. This refers to children from all over the country from age four to 14. It means at least seven of every 10 kids are illiterate. It runs against the grain of any country that wants to compete in the 21st century. It shows that we have a huge mass roaming with inchoate minds, untapped potential and liable to the manipulation of a cynical elite who made them into little minds in the first place.

Every year, the nation is reminded by reports of organisations like UNICEF of the place of education in the scheme of things. We already know we do not treat our children to the best of knowledge. But for it to go down to this parlous state calls for urgent attention.

We acknowledge too that the past few years have made it tragic for education of the young in the country. We have had a bloodfest of violence in parts of the country, beginning from the northeast. Boko Haram made mincemeat of armies as in towns. It was only natural that the children would be victims. Schools were shut down, and that implied a malignant holiday from education. They had to survive first, and education was not on their plate of survival. Food was. But Boko Haram came after a sitting governor seemed to relish the level of illiteracy of people under his watch, and he lashed out at newspapers for highlighting the failures of his stewardship. He said the press was in a wild goose chase to defame him because his fellow citizens could neither read nor write.

That was the lay of the land with illiteracy before a scythe of ignorance swung through parts of the country in the name of banditry. We witnessed with horror as school after school was shut down. The Chibok girls episode became macabre gold standard for the hoodlum. We saw savagery on a large scale. They stormed schools in Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Zamfara and Yobe states. Other states in the north were not immune, if these were the great underbellies of their incursions.

Schools were shut down, one of the theatres was the long trek of students in Katsina into the bush for nights and days surviving on desperate vegetables.

If it was so in the north, it was not that much better in the south. Many schools have been only in names. Teachers could not pass teachers exams and even fought against governors who insisted on those tests. Many children still hawk wares when their mates are in school.

Also adding to the statistic must be the impact of COVID-19. Many children did not go to school, and could not take advantage of digital tools to learn.

Modern education calls for great budgeting, and philosophies that embrace town and mind in a one strategy of illumination.

 ”As Nigeria’s presidential election draws near, on behalf of UNICEF and the children in Nigeria, I call on all presidential candidates to include investments in education as a top priority in their manifestos,” said Cristian Munduate , UNICEF’s Nigeria representative.

We have fallen short of the 20 percent that the world expects us to devote to education. So, we expect whoever succeeds Muhammadu Buhari to know the kind of country he will be inheriting. If 75 percent of children cannot read or write or solve basic math matter, it shows they are ticking timebomb for the future. If they cannot read, they will see all those who can as threats and we can easily circle back to a new-fangled Boko Haram, militants in the Niger Delta, kidnappers and, perhaps, a new generation of crimes and impunity borne out of ignorance.

We must reverse this looming dangers.

•State governments should promptly settle judges’ retirement benefits.

The Nigerian government is run on a tripod, with the legislature, executive and judiciary constituting autonomous arms of government. In so doing, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission  (RMAFC), is constitutionally saddled with the task of determining what each official of government is paid monthly, and the benefits at retirement.

It is unfortunate that public officials are poorly paid, whether in or out of service. The plight of judicial officials has particularly come to the public view recently. At the 100th meeting of the National Judicial Council (NJC) held in Abuja, the council frowned at reports that many state governments have failed in their obligations to settle the terminal benefits of judicial officers. This is particularly odious because it contrasts with the experience of politicians who hold similar offices in the legislative and executive arms of government, whether at the centre or sub-national levels.

This incongruity exists mainly at the state level. It is bad enough that judges are poorly paid. In 2021, President of the Court of Appeal cried out that the paltry sum being paid judges monthly could not take them home. She disclosed that the Chief Justice of Nigeria earns a paltry N279, 000 per month. Dangerous as this is, it is even more contemptuous that judges are owed gratuities, severance allowances and pension months after bowing out at the end of meritorious service to the country.

A judge of the state high court retires at age 65 years, by which time many of them have served for more than 30 years. It is ungodly to deny such men and women who were poorly paid while in service, their due at the point of retirement.

It is particularly disheartening that judges are tempted to help themselves because the state fails to care for them. Many litigants see them as enemies, even some lawyers who could not entice them would go to any length to fight the judges, yet the state reduces them to paupers.

One way to tackle this ill is to make the state high courts financially independent. By this, remuneration of the judges would be settled by the judicial arm. In the alternative, since the NJC pays salaries, it should equally be saddled with pensions snd gratuities.

We expect that the chief judges would abide by the NJC directive to file report before April 1 on compliance with the instruction given. By that date, any state government that fails to pay up should be exposed. 

Judicial officers are men and women of honour and no one, institution or government should be allowed to wittingly or unwittingly strip them of the robe of integrity. Corruption is rife in our country today, and no institution is spared. However, the judiciary,  regarded as the last hope of the common man, deserves to be shielded from the menace as much as possible. A situation whereby a judge is unable to buy or build a decent house before retirement is undesirable. As arbiters in financial deals sometimes running into billions of Naira, or electoral disputes to which politicians have committed billions, we owe them the duty to guarantee them decent living in and after service.

The NJC should not stop at  securing the backlog of pension arrears, it should put a mechanism in place to prevent such odious practice. And, the body should liaise with the Supreme Court to ensure that the RMAFC and the National Assembly urgently review salaries of serving judges at all levels, given the amount of research and diligence that go into their work. While we disagree with the unilateral allocation by the National Industrial Court in a case filed by Sebastian Hon, SAN, last year,  by which the head of the Nigerian judiciary should be paid N10 million monthly, we expect an urgent review.