The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • INEC inferno

    INEC inferno

    •We cannot afford any sort of arson that will endanger a free and fair election

    The recent conflagration at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) warehouse located within the precinct of its Electoral Institute on Abuja Airport Road is puzzling. More befuddling is the intensity of the firestorm, which reportedly lasted three hours before it was quelled.

    Shettima Ngiladar, Director of INEC Security Directorate addressed the media alongside Fidelis Iroegbu, Fire Service Commander, and dispelled fears that the 2015 elections might have been threatened: “The materials for the 2015 elections were not among the materials involved in the fire incident. What the fire consumed was the obsolete disused electoral materials used during the 2011 elections, which were waiting for the right time to be disposed … They are not even non-sensitive materials for the 2015 elections.’’

    He continued: ‘From the report at our disposal, the fire started at about 11.00pm and lasted three hours before it was put off by 2.00am. The major problem they had was getting close to the base of the fire incident because the keys were not in this complex. They had to forcefully gain entrance into the place.”

    We ask: Should this fire, attributed to an electrical spark resulting from electricity power surge, be deemed to be ordinary? Our curiosity becomes intense when considered that the fire occurred late in the night and raged till early morning when nobody was expected to be awake, except for probably security personnel on duty. Looking at the electoral season the nation is at the moment, and the strategic role INEC is saddled with, it is not out of place to suspect sabotage in the incident, especially with the ‘do-or-die’ political contest that we are witnessing today. But INEC has dispelled this and so be it.

    Nonetheless, we call on the commission to be vigilant and not leave any stone unturned in its resolve to organise and conduct enviable general elections on March 28 and April 11, 2015. We know that INEC has assured that the important materials for the elections are in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) vaults in states across the federation. However, we admonish the apex bank not to compromise the security of those materials. Also, there is need for security fortification whenever these sensitive INEC materials are to be transported from one destination to another, before and after the elections, in view of the tense political situation in the country.

    We have always been steadfast in our resolve that INEC should be given the leeway to discharge its constitutional duties without any distraction whatsoever. This resolve is sacrosanct, being something that all meaningful Nigerians at the federal and state levels must endeavour to embrace so that the collective dream of attaining free and fair general elections this year and beyond can be guaranteed.

    Despite putting in place necessary steps to forestall a recurrence of the inferno at the INEC warehouse and other devilish, incubating plans of disgruntled persons against the electoral commission, we also hope that the incident has been formally reported so as to allow for deserved rigorous investigation by the relevant authorities. It is not enough to wish it away as a mere electrical issue, because doing this might embolden those behind the nightmare to perpetuate worse acts against the electoral body as the elections approach.

  • Honouring heroes

    Honouring heroes

    •Cameroon shows Nigeria how to honour fallen combatants

    One of the most disheartening aspects of the anti-insurgency campaign currently being waged by Nigeria in concert with Cameroon, Niger and Chad is the way in which Nigeria has failed to properly honour the soldiers who have paid the supreme price for their fatherland.

    Cameroon demonstrated the proper way to treat fallen heroes with a series of elaborate military funerals in which the country’s citizens came together as one to celebrate the courage and fortitude of those who had fully lived up to their oath to protect their nation with their own lives. Families of the fallen heroes were invited, as was the general public. Coffins were draped in the Cameroonian national flag, and the departed soldiers were given posthumous medals for bravery.

    The Cameroonian example is replicated in many other countries, most notably in the United Kingdom and the United States, where personnel killed in action are treated with a dignity that emphasises both the extent of the sacrifice made and the esteem in which those who made it are held. In the US, the coffins are received at airports with a sombre dignity; for several years, the small town of Wootton Basset was the UK’s major site for the honouring of British military personnel killed in action in Afghanistan.

    These countries fully understand the importance of what they are doing. All the rhetoric about patriotism, bravery and fortitude will count for nothing if those who fight for their nation know that nothing will be done to honour their memories if they die. Unlike other professions, a military career is more than just a vocation: it is a calling in which one can be asked to pay the supreme price. That is why the honour they receive when they die in action is far more significant than what is extended to those in other jobs.

    Tragically, it is a lesson that Nigeria is yet to learn. Ever since the country’s involvement in the Liberian and Sierra Leone conflicts in the 1990s, the armed forces have developed the unwelcome habit of performing mass burials in conditions of great secrecy. Casualty numbers are a closely-guarded secret, even while the deaths of enemy combatants are trumpeted. In spite of all the promises from President Goodluck Jonathan and the military hierarchy, it is clear that the Nigerian soldier is far more likely to be put on trial for insubordination, mutiny or cowardice, than to be publicly honoured for bravery.

    Instead of being openly acknowledged by a grateful nation, the deeds of gallant soldiers are often limited to scattered mentions on social media, such as tweets, and posts on blogs and Facebook. The story of Wing-Commander Chimda Hedima who was beheaded by Boko Haram is a case in point. Instead of just bailing out after his plane was hit, Hedima deliberately crashed his aircraft into a column of insurgents, thereby causing the death of 63 of them. Rather than confirm reports of Hedima’s death, the military high command preferred to stonewall the media, as if the late pilot had disgraced the armed forces in some inexplicable way.

    If Nigeria wants to become the nation of heroes that it can be, it must learn to bestow honour upon those who are deserving of it. The courageous members of the armed forces should be at the forefront of this distinguished group. They must be properly motivated and equipped, adequately led and fully briefed. When they are injured, immediate evacuation and comprehensive medical care should be the top priority. And when they are killed, they must be mourned and celebrated like the heroes and heroines that they are.

  • Oyingbo Market

    Oyingbo Market

    •It is a testament to Governor Fashola’s pact with the people

    It was yet another promise kept when on March 15 Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State commissioned the N1billion ultra-modern Oyingbo Market Complex, 24 years after it was demolished for reconstruction. Reconstruction of the market was one of the governor’s campaign promises in 2007 when he was seeking the mandate of Lagosians to be governor. An elated Fashola said at the commissioning, “I held my promise in high esteem … New Oyingbo market is one of my promises and it is here today and more modern than what used to be here. I was not too young to know the old Oyingbo Market because my mother used to sell aluminum pans somewhere around here.”

    Efforts to rebuild the market started about 24 years ago. Although the market was demolished then, one thing led to another and nothing happened again until Fashola came to the scene in 2007.  The market dates back to the 1920s when it was a depot for agricultural produce. However, it began to expand with development around Ebute-Metta, Oyingbo and the Lagos Mainland, generally. The saying that oja Oyingbo ko mo p’enikan o wa (Oyingbo Market does not know if anyone is absent) is a tribute to its sheer size which also made it an important market across the country.

    In a sense therefore, Governor Fashola’s commissioning of the market is beyond fulfilling a campaign promise. Oyingbo Market is a monument. The market has become folklore of sort. Therefore, what Fashola did was not just honouring an agreement; it was also a pact with culture. As the governor noted at the commissioning, his mother was once a trader in the old market from where the ultra-modern one has sprung up. So it was with many other people who can now look back with nostalgia and marvel at the wonder that the market has become.

    The four-floor Oyingbo Market is modernity personified. Sitting majestically on a 544 sq metre, it has a 150-car parking lot on the ground floor, 622 open shops, 102 lock-up shops, 48 open offices, 134 toilets and six exit gates. The market also has an air-cooling system, cold room, industrial borehole, water treatment plant, refuse chute, sewage treatment plant, ground and overhead water tanks,  fire protection as well as 100 KVA transformers, two 1250 KVA generators and a 100KVA generator as well as fire alarm system/smoke detector.

    However, as the Iyaloja of Oyingbo and the Mainland, Basirat Balogun, said at the commissioning, the state government still has some work to do to fully bring out the beauty of the new edifice. The surrounding of the market has to be tidied up, with more attention paid to environmental issues. The drainage in the area has to be expanded and kept free of garbage to allow for unhindered flow of water. In the same vein, the government must ensure that maintenance is given priority because that is the bane of many public institutions in the country. The government also has to ensure that security is tightened in the area now that the market has become a one-stop shop for all items.

    We congratulate Governor Fashola for keeping to his campaign promise because it is not often that politicians do that in our part of the world. We also congratulate the original occupants of the market who are still alive to witness the commissioning for their patience which would soon pay off as they are to be given priority in the allocation of the shops. They should heed the governor’s advice to leave the road now that the market is ready so as to free the traffic logjam that has become a permanent feature when construction work was ongoing in the market.

  • Power flip-flop

    Power flip-flop

    Price of meters shoot up; president directs tariff reduction. It’s endless tales of woe in power sector

    What age-worn cliché: garbage in, garbage out would come in quite useful here for that is what has happened in Nigeria’s power sector under President Goodluck Jonathan. For tragically mismanaging its laudable power privatisation programme, what therefore, might have been this government’s most outstanding legacy may sooner be its lingering albatross.

    Nearly one and a half years after the bulk of Nigeria’s power sector was transferred to private ownership, and notwithstanding billions of dollars committed into power projects by the Nigerian government since 1999, darkness still hovers over most of the land. The requisite energy to galvanise both corporate and individual endeavours continues to fall short and the country is stumped and rooted in backwardness.

    In other climes, privatisation immediately bolsters a sector as it rides on the massive infusion of private capital, financial discipline, managerial and technical know-how and all the time-tested management acumen lacking in the public sector. Even in Nigeria, we have seen the aviation and telecommunications sectors leap to life upon privatisation. But it has not been so for the power sector and the reason is simple: the process of divestment was fraught with opacity.

    In the first place, established power firms, especially foreign ones either shunned the process or were shunted. The result is that the power generating and distribution facilities were handed to cronies and party stalwarts who had neither capacity nor knowledge of the industry. Thus, since November 2013 when the new (private owned) generating and distribution companies came into existence, Nigeria’s power situation has failed to improve. Many of the people who scrambled to hijack prime power assets either have no funds to invest in them or would not invest. Instead, they have elected to continue to finagle with obsolete equipment and installations that had been the bane of the sector under government’s watch. It is like milking a scrawny, old cow.

    But in this intervening period, they have inveigled the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to increase tariff a couple of times even though power supply has not improved by any appreciable margin. Most galling, they have connived to make sure that electricity distribution is not metered so that lucrative but arbitrary billings would continue.

    Late last year, a N213 billion facility was availed the privatised power firms by the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This is taxpayers’ money being funnelled to private firms at low interest rate. Quite a number have already accessed this fund.

    Yet the problems linger to the pain of electricity consumers and the ruin of the country. It was reported last week that electricity meters will now sell for about N60,000 for the multiple phase industrial use and N40,000 for the single phase, household use. These are increments of 20 and 56 percent, respectively. The reason for this sharp hike in price is said to be because of the weakened naira value. Ironically, all the meters required for operation could have been installed many years ago and long before privatisation. Interestingly, it is only in Nigeria that the consumer has to pay for meter, a property of the power companies!

    Recently, President Jonathan reportedly directed the NERC to reduce tariff. A 50 percent reduction was announced this week. This, clearly, is the result of the dysfunction built into the new power sector reform; that is why a presidential order is now required to control the tariff structure. There are also, lingering issues with gas supply, generating capacity and transmission.

    We insist that giving a presidential directive is mere palliative if not an aberration in a supposedly privatised business environment. Indeed, it is only a political decision meant to   get some mileage for the government. The Federal Government must review the power sector reform in order to correct the flaws; especially the handing of critical power facilities to incompetent people.

  • The lying president

    The lying president

    SIR: Obviously, whoever can tell 10 lies is a liar. But, I will limit myself to 10 huge lies of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ). Firstly, he has denied saying he would not seek reelection, having told the whole world he would not. Secondly, he lied during his presidential campaign in 2011, saying of himself: “I have no shoes” even while the whole world saw he was wearing shoes.

    Thirdly, he lied in December 2011 that he would eradicate Boko Haram by June 2012. Fourthly, he lied in January 2012 that he increased fuel price to improve infrastructure with particular reference to electricity, while indeed he had spent our reserves on his presidential campaigns and the country was broke. Nigeria’s electricity is worse than GEJ met it.

    Fifthly, after stopping Mama Sarah Jubril from meeting Boko Haram’s representatives, GEJ lied that Boko Haram was an invisible organisation, and so nobody could dialogue with it. Sixthly, GEJ lied that he was not informed that the Army would stop the election, while he is the Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces, and the Army was not known to be anarchical.

    Seventhly, GEJ has been lying that his government is not as corrupt as claimed by his detractors while indeed Nigeria loses billions of naira/dollar on daily basis to misappropriations.

    Eighthly, GEJ lies whenever he protects corrupt officials. Ninthly, GEJ lied that Nigeria’s electricity would stabilise after he might have privatised it, while he knew the conditions on ground would not make it happen.

    Tenthly, GEJ is lying through his ministers on the national television (NTA) that he has transformed Nigeria’s infrastructure nationwide.

    Yes, one might have problem with General Muhammadu Buhari but if the option is between him and GEJ, he should be availed the benefit of the doubt since GEJ has exhausted his own benefit of doubt. GEJ has mortgaged Nigeria’s future and should not continue to rule us.

     

    • Pius Oyeniran Abioje, PhD, University of Ilorin.
  • Unwholesome contracts

    Unwholesome contracts

    •President Jonathan’s pipeline deal with militants is at best subversive

    The last minute attempt by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration to use the country’s resources to woo voters for the up-coming general elections should be condemned by all Nigerians. One of such is the doling out of about N9 billion to companies owned by duplicitous militant groups, through a dubious oil pipeline protection contract, for political support. The alleged prominent beneficiaries of the contract include Asari Dokubo, Fredrick Fasheun, Gani Adams, Government Ekpomuopolo, and a few others. Most of these men, but for political interests, should have been in prison or in the dock, on charges of grievous crimes against the state.

    Now, because the president seeks to win the coming election at all costs, these men whose conduct rankles, now have prime assets of the state, handed over to them to guard. The president’s decision to put the safety of our petroleum pipelines in the custody of openly reckless and lawless men, defies common sense and logic. While past contracts to the militants yielded more vandalisation, as the administration has never seized to bemoan the loss of crude oil, the renewal and expansion of similar contracts, at higher costs, shows that the administration is bereft of ideas.

    Even more disturbing is the unlawfulness of handing over the core responsibilities of the Nigerian security agencies to companies that are strange to the constitution. The president should know that it is the responsibility of the Navy to protect the petroleum pipelines within the maritime zone of our nation, while other statutory security agencies are responsible for the safety of the pipelines littering the nation’s landscape. So we ask, why should a democratically elected president prefer to use illegal agencies to achieve a lawful purpose?

    In seeking an alliance with the militants, we recall that the promoters of some of these companies had recently threatened that they will blow up the pipelines if President Jonathan loses the next election. Strangely, despite making such threats openly, the Federal Government, led by the president, failed to rein in these men or condemn their actions. While not calling them to order is a dereliction of duty, it is fearful that the president has now put the same pipelines in their custody. We ask, could there be a collusion between the president and the militants to put our prime national resources in harm’s way, should the president lose the election?

    Considering the humongous resources put in the hands of these men, there is the likelihood that in the least, plans are afoot to foist anarchy on our country, using these men who live short and brutish lives. As we recently witnessed in Lagos in the hands of Oodu’a Peoples Congress (OPC), the byword for the financial inducement by President Jonathan is a reckless march to anarchy, to please the paymaster. The reason why President Jonathan is priming these roughnecks to get ready for anarchy may be because he is afraid that he will lose a free, fair and credible election.

    We however urge those sent on the dubious errand to remember that the Federal Government has no right to issue them a license to break the laws of the land. Whether they have lawful contracts or not, the resort to anarchy and mayhem are offences against the laws of the land, and any person who engages in that will be held accountable in due course. We also remind them that the life of this administration will come to an end, whether by this election or another. So, in their personal interests, they should remember that sooner or later, the day of reckoning will come.

  • Laughing at the dead?

    Laughing at the dead?

    Suddenly President Jonathan shows compassion to Chibok, Buni Yadi and Immigration job victims!   

    You want to be president or campaign for one?  Take your cue from President Goodluck Jonathan, and you would probably end up as a study on how not to be both!

    For a third of his first-term tenure, the president left undone things he should have done.  But in the final lap, with its inevitable electioneering, he now goes on an over-drive — perhaps with manic determination to cover what he had not covered; or undo the harm his lethargy had done!

    True, it is never late to right wrongs; after all, perhaps the greatest anti-Christ of all times, Saul, became Paul, one of the greatest propagators of the gospel of Christ.  Still, the way President Jonathan goes about his lethargy-to-overdrive change oozes blind panic and seasoned cynicism.

    This has driven not a few to ponder: so if there were no looming elections, this president would not rouse himself?  And if all the buzz is election-driven, would he not most likely revert to his culpable lethargy, the instant he is gifted a second term?

    These theatrics, when applied to intense citizen tragedies, requiring instant state empathy but met none, are well and truly disgusting.  Take the twin tragedy of Chibok and Buni Yadi.

    At Chibok on 14 April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls (57 escaped, leaving 219), to intense global outrage.  These pupils of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, were writing their Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSSE) examination.  Despite the mass revulsion at seizing the girls, neither President Jonathan nor any of his top officials visited the tragic town to empathise with the community, despite the president’s bounden duty to provide security for all citizens.

    Earlier on 25 February 2014 at the Federal Government College, Buni-Yadi, Yobe State, Boko Haram terrorists also slew, in their sleep, 29 pupils.  After reportedly putting to the knife the poor and tender souls, the deranged savages set the school ablaze, thus charring the pupils’ remains!  Unlike Borno State-owned Chibok, Buni-Yadi is a Federal Government-owned school.  Yet, again, neither the president nor any of his top officials visited to commiserate.

    But all that has changed with the advent of electioneering  — to the reported deep fury of the victim communities.  At Chibok, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, finance minister and coordinating minister   for the Economy, visited to lay the foundation of a new school building, complete with security watch towers, state-of-the-art laboratories and other facilities.  She pledged studying there would be a delight; and the new facility’s security gadgets would avert any future Chibok kidnap tragedy.

    But would that bring back the girls?  That appeared the big question from the Chibok victims’ association of parents.  Could they then possibly embrace the new school in lieu of their missing girls, when, had the Jonathan government acted swiftly, most of the girls would probably have been saved?  And had the Presidency been alive to its duty, none of the Chibok 276 would have come to harm’s way?

    Only unbridled cynicism, driven by baseless electoral optimism, could have lured any government to such an insensitive strategy.

    At Buni-Yadi, the community pointedly told the visiting Federal Government delegation that their so-called commiseration came a year too late; more so when the attacked school was a Federal Government facility.

    The visits condemn President Jonathan: both for lack of empathy (no timely emotional support for the victims) and serious dereliction of duty (for preventing the attack); and culpable cunning: election-induced sympathy, which audaciously pitches a second term, even if the visit itself was symbol of the government’s incompetence at security, its most basic task.  So, how can proven incompetence attract a renewed mandate?

    The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment deaths scandal is another turf on which the Jonathan government engages in a sickening gallery play.

    The NIS tragedy was a hideous racket, which produced a grotesque result: no less than 16 dead, in an abortive search for elusive jobs.  No less than 700, 000 youths, paying, according to Wikipedia, an application fee of N1,000 each, applied for and attended the consultant-handled job interview, and NIS para-military drilling process.  But alas, only 4,000 spaces were available!  The deaths resulted from stampede and crushes, at different stadia nationwide “interview venues”, on 15 March 2014.

    After this soulless extortionist scandal, President Jonathan announced a cancellation, promised the youths their N1,000 application fee refund, automatic jobs for the wounded and cash compensation to the family of the dead.  Then, all went quiet — until electioneering, March 14: almost exactly a year after the tragedy, and less than two weeks to the postponed presidential election!

    The leading opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed the announced N5 million compensation to relatives of the dead, and fulfilled job promises to the injured, as “taking advantage of the NIS deaths” for cheap electoral reasons.  That would appear a valid accusation, even if the president must redeem his pledge, made under particularly tragic circumstances.

    The galling point, however, is the survival of Abba Moro, Interior minister, under whose charge the tragedy took place.  Despite the outrage, Mr. Moro, a protégé of Senate President, David Mark, survived.  But the sad trade-off that guaranteed Mr. Moro’s job would become apparent with the Mark-pushed Senate ministerial endorsement of Musiliu Obanikoro, even with his scandalous involvement in the Ekiti audio rigging tapes.  As Jonathan stood by Mark on Moro, it would appear, Mark also stands by Jonathan on Koro!

    Devious manoeuvring, to willy-nilly retain a job, at which a first-term performance screams incompetent, appears to drive the president.

    This tactic would explain the unilateral 30 per cent salary cut for the president and his federal executive (no crime; but it cannot be done without the input of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission), the halving of electricity tariff (which should be the forte of the regulators, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, and not an executive-induced fiat) and the bunching together of the National Youth Service Corps three-year honours list (a desperate grab at approval and legitimacy, on the eve of a crucial election).

    President Jonathan appears on the roll: a festival of cant, in the final push to the election.  It is both cheap and un-presidential.

  • Arousing transplant

    • Where is Nigeria in a world where tech development is advancing daily?

    In a world of increasingly mind-blowing scientific feats, news of a successful penile transplant with a positive “long-term result” is arousing in more ways than one.  Certainly, it is a thought-provoking development as well as an eye-opener. Described as “the world’s first successful male organ transplant” and “a groundbreaking scientific achievement”, the nine-hour operation to give an unnamed 21-year-old man another phallus after the original one was amputated following a disastrous circumcision was reportedly performed at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Surgeons from the hospital and Stellenbosch University carried out the procedure using a penis donated by “a deceased organ donor.”

    Understandably, it all sounds hard to believe, and the apparent incredibility can be grasped from the excited reaction of one of the surgeons that made it happen. Prof. Frank Graewe was quoted as saying: “It’s a massive breakthrough. We’ve proved that it can be done – we can give someone an organ that is just as good as the one that he had. It was a privilege to be part of this first successful penis transplant in the world.”

    Interestingly, the measure of the success was captured by Graewe who said of the man with the new penis: “He gets good quality erections, ejaculates and has frequent sex with his partner.” The man deserves congratulations. It is noteworthy that the transplant was done in December last year, and has only just been publicised.  A number of remarkable observations reinforce the magnitude of the miraculous scientific accomplishment, and it must be said that the seemingly paradoxical description emphatically projects the out-of-this-world reality.  In the first place, the man at the centre of the story reportedly “lost all but a 1cm stump of his penis” three years ago. Furthermore, nine other men are expected to receive penile transplants based on the groundbreaking success.  In addition, it is worth noting that Prof. Andre van der Merwe who led the operation is said to have experimented on cadavers for years in order to determine how nerves, blood vessels and other elements could be connected to achieve full penile functionality.

    It is a testimony not only to the possibilities of science but also the ingenuity of scientists that the delicate procedure has now been perfected. This is against the background that 10 years ago a man in China reportedly received a transplant only for him to ask surgeons to remove the donated penis two weeks after the operation. It is relevant to link the breakthrough to the South African context in which no fewer than 250 men are estimated to suffer penis loss every year on account of a manhood initiation ceremony conducted by the Xhosa tribe. The cutting of the penis foreskin by a traditional expert, which is considered the ultimate test of the rite of passage, often results in complications that may cause penile damage, or even death.  It is no surprise that the cultural practice continues to attract criticism and condemnation.

    However, beyond the evident environmental inspiration for the penile transplant procedure, it is important to highlight the scientific infrastructure and insight that enabled the exploit. In this connection, there are obviously useful lessons for Nigeria, particularly considering its poor focus on scientific development and its under-developed scientific community. It is pertinent to observe that, according to a 2013 list, recent stunning scientific developments include man-made organs, bionic humans, remote control brains, war robots, human head transplant and genetically modified babies.

    Where is Nigeria in this picture? Without doubt, the 21st century imagination and vision require a passionate promotion of science and technology, without which the country is unlikely to make much progress despite its oil-rich status.

  • Passing of a pioneer

    Passing of a pioneer

    • Sylvester Ifeanyichukwu Moemeke, the doyen of Nigeria’s advertising dies at 83

    Call him a member of the old guard; call him a pathfinder, a pioneer, whichever way you describe him, the story of Sylvester Ifeanyichukwu Moemeke is akin to the very history of advertising in Nigeria. His demise recently at the age of 83 could well signify the end of the pioneering era of Nigeria’s advertising.

    Besides being a trailblazer in the industry, his role in advertising was unique in many respects: he joined when advertising was merely referred to as publicity and was not a highly regarded profession. But he was one of the few graduate practitioners of the time, having studied Economics at the Bournemouth College of the University of London, (1961). He was also true to his calling and to the firm. Having joined West Africa Publicity Limited 1962, an arm of the UAC/Lever Brothers’ multinational conglomerates which metamorphosed into Lintas, Moemeke remained with Lintas till his passing on early March.

    In 1972, ten years after he joined, he was appointed to the board and in 1975 he became the chairman and chief executive of the world-renowned advertising firm. For about five decades, Moemeke and his Lintas ruled Nigeria’s world of public relations, advertising and marketing communications.

    It had its pick of businesses not only from across sectors in Nigeria but across the English-speaking West Africa. Of course, Lintas had the most dominant and indeed towering presence in the industry until the mid to late 90s when firms like Insight, Rosabel, STB McCann, SO&U and Prima Garnet began to impact the market and break the hold of Lintas.

    In one way or the other, Moemeke who was the first black managing director of Lintas did not only influence the industry but many generations of practitioners for whom he opened a new vista of opportunities in a new, white-dominated profession. Most of the adventurous professionals of the 80s and 90s who broke out to establish agencies were indebted to him directly or indirectly.

    Lolu Akinwunmi of Prima Garnet and the immediate chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) said of Moemeke: “He was a major industry pillar, one who produced generations of outstanding practitioners. Whatever the Ad profession is today, he played a major role in shaping it.”

    Biodun Shobanjo, who along with Jimi Awosika and Richard Ibe, founded Insight Communications which was to challenge Lintas for preeminence in the industry said of Moemeke: “Here was a man who defined the industry at a point in time. Although I never worked at Lintas, his managerial and professional skills as chairman/CEO resonated across agencies.

    “He was like a god, especially in the 70s and 80s. As the first chairman of APCON, of which I was a member, he worked very hard in establishing the building blocks on which the council was to anchor.”

    Though some may criticise him for hanging on for too long at Lintas thus not allowing it to rejuvenate and flower into a modern branding communications firm especially at the turn of the century, on the contrary, some would see his lifelong tenure as providing longevity to the firm and stability in the industry. For instance, while numerous agencies rose and fell with the turbulence of the ages, Lintas has remained till today.

    Some of the industry big names who have been influenced by Moemeke and his Lintas will include: Ted Mukoro, Dele Adetiba, Ron Mgbatogu, Olu Falomo, Steve Omojafor, Akin Odunsi, Lolu Akinwunmi and Udeme Ufot, to name a few.

    Sylvester Ifeanyichukwu Moemeke will be remembered for his unobtrusive industry, quiet dignity and for representing a path-breaker for his generation.

  • The barbaric assault on Lagosians

    SIR: We in the Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate, (CPPM), condemns in strong terms the recent barbaric, crude, uncivilized, undemocratic, provocative, irresponsible, inciting, reckless, undemocratic, unconstitutional and terrorist assault on the fundamental and democratic rights of Lagosians by a group named Coalition of Concerned Nigerians (CCN).

    In as much as we recognize the constitutional right of freedom of citizens to protest or hold demonstrations, it must be done with civility and absolute respect for the democratic rights of other Nigerians and the constitution. The barbaric and unconstitutional conduct of CCN in assaulting the economic and fundamental rights of Lagosians through destruction of political party billboards, banners and posters as well as terrorizing innocent road users is highly provocative, despicable and condemnable.

    From our investigations, the CCN is allegedly owned and funded by Mr. Gani Adams, the factional leader of OPC who was allegedly awarded recently the contract for the protection of Nigerian waterways and oil pipeline with effect from March 16, 2015 under the name Donyx Global Concept among other militants’ owned companies by the Federal Government of Nigeria. We are also aware that all the companies recently awarded oil pipeline protection contract by the Federal Government are owned by militants who have publicly threatened national peace and security if in their words, President Jonathan is not re-elected.

    In the light of the above assault of the economic and democratic rights of Lagosians and the constitution, we want to ask if the recent disruption of the economic life and intimidation of Lagosians from exercising their fundamental rights is part of the oil pipeline contract job of Donyx Global Concept of the OPC? Again, is this part of the grand design to cause mayhem in parts of the country starting with Lagos so as to engineer another postponement of the 2015 general elections on the grounds of insecurity?

    Therefore, our committee is hereby demanding the following: Immediate investigation and arrest of the leaders of (CCN) for this breach of public peace: Immediate prosecution of the leaders of this lawless group for violations of relevant laws: Immediate apology to the good people of Lagos State by the Nigeria Police for not living up to their constitutional responsibility by allowing these flagrant violations of the laws to occur and that: The security agencies should rise up to their constitutional responsibility by ensuring a peaceful pre, during and post 2015 general elections.

    We are warning that Nigerians are desirous of participating in a free, fair, transparent and credible 2015 general elections and every hand should be on deck to ensure a successful exercise. All agents of evil and anti democratic elements are hereby warned to stay off our democratic path, lest they be crushed.

     

    • Nelson Ekujumi

    Executive Chairman, CPPM.