The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Young Democratic Party

    •What are they up to?

    It is unfortunate that the judgment of Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register Young Democratic Party (YDP), barely three weeks to the general elections has been subjected to misrepresentation by those who apparently have ulterior motives. And this is ominous, if we have recourse to our history. The 1993 general election was truncated by the military, on the dubious excuse that a series of court judgments, particularly the one by late Justice Bassey Ikpeme, were making a mockery of the judiciary.

    Considering that the nomination of candidates by political parties, as ordered by INEC, has since ended; the court order could not have been made for YDP’s inclusion in this year’s general elections. Asking INEC to register the party and issue it with a certificate of registration is not the same as asking the commission to include YDP’s candidates in the elections. If the court had meant that, it would have said so expressly.

    So, for the party to schedule its primaries for March 26 and 27, barely a day to the elections would suggest that its promoters have sinister motives. And if indeed that is the plan, then they should bury it; considering the dire consequences such brazen action could have on our fragile polity. While the real intent of the YDP remains a conjecture, many are afraid that the party may be a surrogate for those who are hell bent on holding on to power, without submitting themselves to the general elections.

    Such possibility is another reason why the courts must be circumspect in these politically perilous times. While the provisions of the constitution and the electoral act with regards to registration of political parties should be upheld at all times, the courts must be wary as it had done in this instance, when a litigant’s action is likely informed by bad faith.  The case of the YDP must be up for such scrutiny, considering the nearness of its action to the general elections. While it will be right to question whether INEC was tardy in appropriately handling the application of the YDP for registration, as alleged; we are of the opinion that the pendulum of justice at this critical time, must sway on the side of public interest. And this, we believe, is what the court has done. 

    The public interest as enunciated by the constitution and the electoral act is that general elections must hold, at least 30 days before May 29, which is the due date for handing over power. It is also the provision of the law that INEC is entitled to set down the programme of events as regards the elections. Part of that process is that political parties must hold their conventions and party primaries in advance, to elect their party candidates, to enable them participate in the election. This process has since been completed, and the nation is now on the countdown to the general elections, slated for March 28 and April 11.

    Now, the YDP is boasting that it has an order of court to participate in the 2015 general elections. Unless its plan is to participate in the 2019 general elections, or other by-elections that may hold before then, it is difficult to understand how it will participate in the 2015 general elections, for which the ballot papers have already been printed.

    If it is unrealistic for the YDP to participate in the 2015 elections, then its so-called preparation towards it can only be an attempt to truncate it. This must be avoided. In the meantime, INEC must quickly appeal the judgment, and expeditiously pursue same. These are not the best of times to take chances with the elections.

  • Mrs. Gbagbo’s comeuppance

    Mrs. Gbagbo’s comeuppance

    • It is a lesson to others of her ilk

    In what may be considered a classic case of spousal implication, the sentencing of former Ivory Coast first lady Simone Gbagbo to 20 years in jail holds enduring lessons. In particular, the politically charged drama of retribution is remarkably relevant to Nigeria, which is not only a neighbouring country but also a theatre of potential similarities.

    It is noteworthy that Mrs. Gbagbo was convicted for her role in what was termed crimes against humanity. Her sad fate, a consequence of violent 2010 post-election incidents which resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 people, has been interpreted as a politically motivated punishment by her supporters, but such perspective seems beside the point.

    More importantly, it is instructive that the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2012 issued a warrant against her, labelling her an “indirect co-perpetrator” on account of her position and influence in an inner circle that promoted the interests of her husband, former President Laurent Gbagbo, who is facing related charges at the ICC. She allegedly participated in meetings where plans to crush opposition supporters were discussed. Witness accounts reportedly accused her of personally distributing arms to anti-opposition death squads. Her trial in a local court followed the refusal by Ivory Coast to allow her prosecution by the ICC.

    Interestingly, the charges against husband and wife sprang from disturbances that followed ex-President Gbagbo’s electoral defeat and his rigid refusal to leave the stage after Alassane Quattara was declared the winner of the election. Regrettably, the five-month conflict between supporters of the two men left a trail of blood that drew international attention and intervention.

    It is not far-fetched to consider this background as eerily expressive of nightmare scenarios that could develop from Nigeria’s presidential election which has been controversially rescheduled for March 28. With the eyes of the world on Africa’s most populous country, it is hoped that the aftermath of its presidential poll will not reproduce the experience of Ivory Coast.

    It is pertinent and disturbing to observe that Nigeria’s first lady, Patience Jonathan, who is contentiously conspicuous in the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, has been associated with the kind of intensely dangerous hostility to the opposition allegedly exhibited by Mrs. Gbagbo. The ugly ways of Mrs. Jonathan have deservedly attracted public criticism, but it is unfortunate that this has so far proved inadequate and ineffective in restraining her.

    Hopefully, the downfall, trial and imprisonment of Mrs. Gbagbo should provide Mrs. Jonathan and others of her ilk with an eye-opening view of the possibility of punishment for the inculpated. Of course, this is only an optimistic viewpoint and may not necessarily be the case. However, the deterrent value of Mrs. Gbagbo’s comeuppance cannot be discounted.

    The court verdict against Mrs. Gbagbo is even more remarkable because it was delivered by the local justice system. In a profound sense, her trial in her country was a demonstration of the capacity of the domestic justice structure to perform its role as creditably as external bodies like the ICC. It is worth mentioning that the former first lady was on trial with 82 other followers of her husband, 15 of whom were acquitted.

    Apart from the lessons to be learned at a personal level, it is important to emphasise the socially enlightening wisdom that destruction of lives can never be acceptable in the context of election-related conflict. This understanding is especially relevant to Nigeria in the countdown to its general elections and against the background of a worrying hate campaign by a ruling party desperate to remain in power in the face of overwhelming unpopularity.

     

  • NYSC and leadership development

    NYSC and leadership development

    SIR: The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is a scheme created to promote reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction in the country at a time when her leadership status was almost at the precipice. As the name implies, NYSC comprises graduates, mainly formidable youths from different tertiary institutions across the nation who can best be classified as future leaders and backbone on which the well-being, progress and development of Nigeria is based.

    In a country like Nigeria, which is in a belated hurry to develop in all spheres, the role of corpers towards her leadership development and aspiration for a better nation becomes paramount. First, corpers should accept the scheme as a national assignment that has the capacity of repositioning the country for garnering both national and international recognitions in which they stand to gain from in the long run. They have to imbibe the spirit of nationalism and eschew all acts of societal ills such as robbery, drug abuse, prostitution and rape. Secondly, with the privilege of serving their fatherland, corpers should, as a matter of patriotism and sincerity of purpose, be relevant in their places of primary assignment by inculcating core values of respect, integrity and punctuality to duties. In the same vein, the government should pay serious attention to the welfare of corpers especially those in interior and crisis-laden states by making social amenities available in those areas. Moreover, in a country where work experience is a major determinant in absorbing people for employment, the issue of posting outside the area of discipline should be reduced if possible to the barest minimum as some of these corpers derive no pleasure in teaching in secondary, and sometimes primary schools. This trend has turned large number of them to ghost corps members. Also, the issuance of awards to well-deserved corpers should be strictly on merit and thorough assessment, so as to motivate all interested serving corpers.

    On this note, let me emphasise that the recent awards given to 164 outstanding corps members by the President Goodluck Jonathan is highly commendable although the figure is quite small compared to the quantum of those who might have distinguished themselves but went unnoticed. Again, there should be an annual leadership conference for corpers in all the states of the federation to instill in them the pragmatic approach to good leadership. Most importantly too, the issue of influencing the postings of prospective corpers should be discouraged as they might subsequently in life see it as a norm that should be continued when they eventually occupy leadership positions.

     

    • Ifeanyichukwu Ekeka,

    ekekaifeanyi@yahoo.com

  • Under-funded police

    Under-funded police

    •It is one of our nation’s big acts of shame

    At the budget defence session at the Senate, Suleiman Abba, Inspector-General of Police (IGP), represented by Mamman Tsafe, his deputy in-charge of logistics and supplies, bemoaned the N5billion proposed for police vehicle maintenance and fuelling in the 2015 budget. He said the police required N24billion to effectively discharge its operational and other salient functions.

    The IGP at the session described the proposed sum as ‘grossly inadequate’ and we perhaps share his sentiment on this issue. The available statistics: The nation, according to the IGP as at today has 332,756 policemen; 6,693 traffic wardens; 11,999 civilian workers; and 3,756 police stations spread across the country. To make the Nigeria Police Force work effectively, government must adequately fund the institution. As things are, it is not sufficiently funded given the facts available on what was budgeted and what was released for spending. The funding of the force is not only decreasing despite its increasing workforce, but more worrisome is the expose on budgetary shortfalls and the fact that the ‘overhead and capital budget proposed did not reflect the actual need of the police.’

    For instance, out of the ‘N56 billion overhead proposed by the police in 2014, only N8 billion was approved out of which N5 billion was released. For capital budget, of a proposed N218 billion, N7 billion was approved and only N3 billion was released.’ In 2015, the budget estimate of the force is reportedly put at N329 billion, with the following breakdown: capital expenditure – N17 billion; overhead cost – N5 billion; and personnel cost – N306 billion. Judging from the antecedent of police budget shortfalls, it is almost certain that precise amount for each overhead would not be released to the force, which in itself portends danger to policing in the country.

    Rather than help resolve this nagging challenge, it is bad that the Senator Paulinus Nwagu, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, in flagrant insensitivity to the country’s poor state of policing, in his annotations, advised the police leadership ‘to seek ways of generating internal revenue to augment what has been budgeted for its operations … going by falling oil prices and attendant cut in the budget of all government organisations.’

    What we gleaned from the outcome of that Senate committee appearance of the IGP is that the Federal Government has become overwhelmed by the burden of funding the institution. What services do the police render to the public from which they could make legitimate revenue? Is it from being peace enforcer or from the duty of guaranteeing safety of lives and property? This move can only throw the already rotten police into irredeemable corruption. This is not good enough, especially with the general elections barely two weeks away.

    It is only in this part of the world that we have policemen, who while on operational duty drive in rickety trucks and jalopies all over town, and getting money to fuel and maintain them from bribes collected from motorists and criminals. Consequent upon this, the policemen are usually negligent in the use of vehicles given to them and a need for re-orientation becomes inevitable in this regard.

    In most states where the police are doing well, it is because the state governments have taken it upon themselves to provide for their needs even though such is not part of their constitutional responsibilities. We call on the Federal Government to quickly accede to demands for state police, having failed in its constitutional duty of providing for this important institution of state.

  • Imperial governor

    Imperial governor

    •Governor Aliyu’s treatment of his estranged deputy negates law and decency

    Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State has shown scant regard for the rule of law in his disagreement with his deputy, Ahmed Musa Ibeto. The quarrel between the two arose from the deputy governor’s decampment from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Ever since that action, Governor Aliyu has incrementally abused his powers, to maltreat his deputy. The latest is the cynical relocation of the deputy’s office to a public residential area, about 1,500 metres away from the government house premises; an action, he should rescind, immediately.

    While a deputy governor should not decamp from the party on which he is elected with the governor, as it is incongruous to the spirit of the executive office, such occurrence is not enough reason for Governor Aliyu to ridicule the deputy governor’s office, which is a creation of the constitution. In pursuit of vendetta, Governor Aliyu has flagrantly abused the constitution, and is making a mockery of his own office, being a creation of law. First, the governor barred the deputy governor from the state executive council meeting, against the provisions of section 193(2) of the 1999 constitution. Again, the governor illegally handed over the reins of the state to the Speaker, State House of Assembly, instead of the deputy, when he travelled, in disregard of section 190 of the constitution.

    So, while the deputy governor may be accused of moral indiscretion in dumping the governor with whom he ran for office, the governor on his part is riding roughshod over the fundamental law of the country, the constitution from where his powers derive legitimacy. Because his earlier unconstitutional acts were ignored by the deputy, the governor has now gone ahead to forcibly eject the deputy from his office, using cleaners and policemen. In justifying the official misconduct, the governor’s chief press secretary, Israel Ebije, was reported to have said, “As you know, renovation work on the protocol department has just been completed and it is the turn of the building of the deputy governor’s office”.

    In case the governor has forgotten, the Supreme Court had held as unconstitutional similar infractions of the law by a chief executive, in pursuit of an estranged deputy, in the case between Alhaji Atiku Abubakar versus Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. As in that instance, political disagreements between the executive official and his deputy, however serious, should never be enough to bring the provisions of the constitution to disrepute. We agree that ideally, the governor and the deputy governor should operate on the same political platform, but when political differences have occurred, the issues should be sorted out within the provisions of the law.

    In the present instance, a 20-hour notice to relocate, handed over to the deputy governor on the orders of the governor, clearly does not fall within the express and clear intents of the 1999 constitution. To save our democracy from such abuse, as championed by Governor Aliyu, we urge all lovers of democracy to deprecate his actions; more so as the alleged spiteful actions of the governor during the PDP primaries, gave rise to the current crises. We recall that the governor was accused of imposing candidates during the party primaries, particularly the gubernatorial candidate of the party. May we remind Governor Aliyu that he is the chief ambassador of democracy in Niger State, and it will be unfortunate if he allows his animosity against his deputy, to turn him into a champion of undemocratic actions in the state. His actions sadly remind us of the military era, when one person sees himself as the alpha and omega, wielding executive, legislative and judicial powers altogether.

  • Still on military deployment for polls

    SIR: A major issue dotting our political landscape is whether or not the military should be deployed to provide security at the coming polls. As accusations and counter-accusations continue to trail the proposal, it is pertinent to state that the fact that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has supported the move does not make it right. The courts have even ruled against such move.

    Kindly let us recall the gory past of military excessiveness. For example, a few hours before last year’s month of August Osun governorship election day, over 10,000 battle-ready soldiers were reportedly drafted to mount surveillance on all the roads leading to the state from the boundaries of the neighbouring Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, Oyo and Ogun states, thereby putting the state under siege. This resulted into untold hardships for the people occasioned by queues of parked vehicles and stretched long distances from various entry points.

    Military deployment is nothing but a subtle invitation for soldiers to supplant democracy. In the past, there had been reported cases of harassment and intimidation of civilians by soldiers.  This is where the Federal Government should be very careful not to give the impression of taking sides and abusing state security outfits, thereby fuelling the age-long fears that the military has been seriously politicised. In the past, soldiers have been accused of intimidating voters during elections. This should not be. Military men are not in anyway superior to the civilians. They are public servants and as such, are expected to respect civil rule and comport themselves in a submissive and dignified manner. They should carry out their duties with utmost patriotism. Nigerians should be watchful and shun violence in the face of any provocation. They should go about their normal business without fear.

    To ensure free and fair coverage in the coming elections, international observers, party agents and civil societies group should be given free hand to monitor election proceedings. The media, being the Fourth Estate of the Realm, should be allowed to perform its societal obligation under a convivial atmosphere as the watchdog in deepening democracy. Openness remains the best way to enthroning democratic credentials. This will involve granting true independence to the electoral body to discharge its duties. The Nigeria Police Force should be better equipped with adequate funds, personnel and requisite training to carry out its statutory functions now being usurped by the army.

    Above all, the politicians should play the game by its rules bearing in mind that nobody gains anything by engaging in do-or-die politicking. Or, is political office no longer an avenue for service delivery? The planned military deployment – in clear defiance of court orders – may eventually not translate into victory for any party because voters this time around would vote for candidates that could positively turn things around for them and make the nation a better place. What should really matter most is the people’s unwavering resolution and strong-will to get the best, which the barrel of gun can never suppress.

    • Adewale Kupoluyi 

    Federal University of Agriculture,

    Abeokuta (FUNAAB),

  • Card readers won

    Card readers won

    •PDP has no choice but to accept this viable authentication process

    t is uncanny that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) now shamelessly acts like a minnow, a small opposition party that fears a crushing defeat before a major election. There cannot be any other fathomable reason why the party seems bent on shoving a cog in the smooth conduct of the 2015 general elections.

    Following last Saturday’s successful test-run of the card readers in select parts of the country, the leadership of the PDP has swung to action, bent on scuttling its use in the forthcoming elections. The party had been strident in canvassing against the use of the card readers for sometime up until eventual test-run. Apart from minor hitches, the test carried out in 12 states across the six zones of the country recorded over 90 per cent success. The PDP has turned itself into an island of deviance and antiquity by standing against progressive technology. Yet, critical stakeholders in the country like civil society groups and opinion leaders have applauded the exercise, except PDP.

    Is it not the Jonathan administration that introduced new technology to banking and other government activities? Why is the same government shrinking like a beleagured man in the face of progess?

    The card reader is a handy electronic device which main use in the voting process is to authenticate the voters’ cards. Just like any point of sale terminal (PoS) each voter’s identity will be verified against the permanent voter’s card he or she presents. It is a simple process of verification and identification (and accreditation) before the voting proper.

    What this means is that the card reader will eliminate multiple voting to almost zero level, thus cutting off a major source of election rigging. It is a simple technology that has been used in Ghana and Kenya and its most significant advantage is that it allows people’s votes to count. For those who are apprehensive about stable power to recharge it, being a hand-held device, its power requirement is almost insignificant and it works both on and off line. After all, the card reader is neither partial nor partisan.

    What is the PDP afraid of? Is it that the card reader also has the added advantage of storing the vital information of the number of accredited voters in a polling unit which is posted immediately to the mother data base at the INEC head office? This means that over-voting is eliminated as total number of eventual votes can be matched against the number of voters accredited.

    The benefits of upgrading and migrating to an improved and technologically superior voting process cannot be over-emphasised and one would expect every Nigerian of goodwill not only to embrace it but to encourage its actualisation. In today’s electronic world that ruling party leaders in Nigeria would prefer yesterday’s style, a mere laminated cards (temporary voters cards, TVCs)that have no authenticating feature whatsoever is suspect and reeks of bad faith at best, and mischief and fear at worse.

    It is noteworthy that it was the PDP that forced the postponement of the 2015 elections from February (14 and 28) to March 28 and April 11 under the guise that security could not be guaranteed. But analysts are now vindicated that the move was because PDP feared a resounding defeat from the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.

    No sooner was the postponement secured than the PDP started a vicious campaign of paranoia to sack Professor Attahiru Jega, chairman of INEC. Were it not for the alarm raised by the opposition, Prof. Jega would have been sent on wrongful pre-retirement leave notwithstanding that his office is a tenured appointment that does not require such exit procedure. They may still be nursing some insidious mischief to sack Jega.

    In order to make Prof. Jega’s removal look good, the PDP had for nearly one month –between mid-February to early March – unleashed a  barrage of media lampoons on the electoral umpire. Through paid adverts, interviews, opinions and commentaries he has been vilified, abused and accused in a most vile and irresponsible  way of ethnic bias and even fraudulent acts.

    Ironically, it is the ruling party administration which appointed the INEC chairman and all the national commissioners and all the resident electoral commissioners. It is the bulk of this team that conducted elections four years ago in which President Goodluck Jonathan and all the elected officers of state were ushered to power. That election was acclaimed by all, including foreign election observers. At what point did Jega and his team go ‘bad’?

    Since the attempt to discredit Prof. Jega in order to sack him failed, other plots are being activated. Apart from the outright rejection of the use of the card readers which of course will throw the process into disarray if not torpedo it, there seems to be a few more invidious schemes in the bag of PDP.

    Just a few days ago, a strange new party known as Young Democratic Party (YDP) was through curious legalistic instrument imposed on INEC to be registered and allowed to contest in the elections that are a few days away. YDP, strongly suspected to be the dubious handmaiden of the PDP, portends very ominous foreboding. For an election that would have held last month, it suggests that all the voting materials would have been printed with the names, symbols and logos of the existing parties. How is INEC supposed to accommodate or contain YDP in an election that is less than three weeks away? It is a ploy to call off the election indefinitely; it is PDP’s savage joker, a recipe for disaster.

    Numerous questions arise: why are the presidency and the PDP afraid to face this election? Is the PDP minded to scuttle Nigeria’s fledgling democracy and indeed the polity? What does it hope to profit from such earth-trembling calamity that would ensue?

    Need we reiterate that not to use the card readers would plunge the polity into untold crisis; to postpone the election any further would also invoke unimaginable catastrophe on Nigeria’s world. Worst of all, history will not forgive President onathan if he fails to organise a free, fair and orderly election and conduct a proper hand over. Jonathan stands to lose the most if he makes a meal of what is a great opportunity for him to turn out a great leader notwithstanding his acute shortcomings.

    The card reader is modern, progressive and credible. The PDP call to abandon it is an invitation for voting without authentication. That means rigging, and is that what PDP wants? Not Nigerians.

  • Better late

    Better late

    •FG’s embrace of the electronic revenue system for all remittances is still welcome

    The directive by the Federal Government that all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) should effect an automated channel for remitting all revenues from commercial banks to the Consolidated Revenue Account of the government is welcome. It is in line with Nigerians’ quest for a transparent system of capturing all payments and expenses.

    There have been suggestions in recent years that commercial banks have been playing games with deposits with them. The huge profits declared by the banks and the unrealistic emoluments paid out to their executives have been hinged mostly on such deals. It has affected the structure of the economy, as core banking duties, including lending to the real sector, have been neglected.

    Despite guidelines on loans to the agriculture sector, for example, many banks prefer to pay the penalty than adhere to the rules. Enforcement of the e-collection mode is likely to instill discipline in commercial banking in the country. It has also been demonstrated that efficiency and effectiveness are enhanced when electronic platforms are engaged for such transactions. This has been the experience with the Lagos State government which has adopted the method for more than 10 years. It is one of the secrets behind the enhanced internally generated revenue of the state government.

    We find it difficult to understand why it took the Federal Government so long to realise that over-dependence on oil revenue could only spell disaster for the country. Had taxes, rates and fees been efficiently collected before the recent slump in oil prices, the effect on the economy would probably not have been so devastating. We also call on the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of NIgeria to be more vigilant in monitoring the use to which the e-platforms are put by the commercial banks.

    We are constrained once again to point out that there are many countries that depend absolutely on taxes and non-oil receipts. One primary duty of governments in meeting the welfare needs of their citizens is ensuring that the tax net is wide and resilient enough to capture as much revenue as needed to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.

    At this point that all the indices indicate that tougher times could be ahead for the country, we call on the Federal Government to think out of the box to lead the nation out of the wood. Youth unemployment is at all-time high; the exchange rate keeps threatening to move up inflation rate; public service workers are no longer guaranteed regular payment of salaries and there are threats that institutions of state may collapse if the needful is not done to seal up leakages that have kept funnelling public funds into private accounts of the over-protected super rich.

    The Federal Government should revisit the recommendations of panels set up to streamline revenue generation and collection. The loud silence on the reports suggests to the outside world that Nigeria is unwilling to effect changes in the process of governance. This has adversely affected its image.

    This is the age of technology and digitalisation, Nigeria must not be portrayed as an analogue country that has no use for the electronic device. Just as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted on enforcing electronic accreditation of voters this year, we support the move to get all government money deposited with the Central Bank.  Although it has come so late in the day, it is a step in the right direction.

  • Oshodi mayhem

    Oshodi mayhem

    •There should be zero tolerance to fracas in this all-important Lagos commercial hub

    The last gang warfare at Oshodi, mainland Lagos, between elements of the local National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), is symptomatic of the sheer unpredictability of Nigerian national life.  Within a split second, motorists and innocent passersby found themselves trapped in a frightening gang war — with not a few of these ending up as victims of opportunistic robberies and muggings.

    That is certainly not good enough. Still, the Lagos State Police Command must be commended for bringing down the disturbance and arresting the alleged leading culprits.

    Briefing the media after an emergency state security council meeting at Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, Kayode Aderanti, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police (CP), gave an  update on the disturbance.

    “The Oshodi fracas is not political,” he told the press. “All the principal characters are in custody. Today, we have arraigned 18 of them and they are in jail.  And tomorrow,” he pledged, “I am going to arraign about 17 of them. I am not talking about foot soldiers. I am talking about the leaders of these people.”

    That was great news! It is no use arresting pawns, when the real players, who can cause mischief at the shortest of notices, walk free. Still on rounding up alleged ring leaders, CP Aderanti gave M.C. Oluomo, the Oshodi branch NURTW chairman, a final ultimatum to give himself up or be declared wanted. If Mr. Oluomo is indeed a suspect, the least he could do is give himself up for due investigation.

    Still, we hope the CP has carried out a thorough investigation before declaring that the fracas was not political. We have no cause to disbelieve him. Yet, we are not unaware that this is electioneering time; and that politicians have the penchant to use factions of road transport workers as foot soldiers, in thuggery wars.

    The CP also announced the ban on the sale of alcoholic drinks and drugs within 100 metres of the precincts of the motor parks. He warned that should anyone in the park community breach the ban, the police would have no choice but to take over the motor park and enforce a total ban on union activities.

    In these democratic times, it is heart-warming the police bans did not come from some arbitrary police code. Rather, it is the full enforcement of the Lagos State Road Traffic Law of 2012, a law which, at its enactment, drew great public enlightenments, concerning its provisions.

    Which is why it is amazing that barely two years into the new law, everyone appears to have gone snoring on its enforcement. It is bitter-sweet that the Oshodi fracas has stung the police to enforce that law. But it is also scandalous they had to wait for a crisis that claimed no less than three lives, a couple of burnt and vandalised vehicles and robberies on innocent citizens, doing their legitimate businesses.

    This is not good enough. Each day, there is enough police presence in Oshodi — which is good. What is not good is that, from how the fracas happened and the police reaction to curb future disturbances, it is clear that the police have not been at their optimum. If they had been, they would have fully enforced the new law, and perhaps had prevented the mayhem.

    So, while congratulating the police for rallying to curb the disturbance, they should in future try prevention, the worst of which is better than the best of cure. Oshodi is too important a commercial hub to be left to the whims and caprices of motor park thugs or to the sloppiness of the police in  enforcing extant laws.

  • Tower of Babel

    •Jonathan’s govt blames everyone else but itself for last week’s avoidable fuel scarcity

    Last week, the economy was again thrown into another cycle of avoidable spasm occasioned by fuel shortages. If it seems a terrible reminder of the criminal mismanagement that has been the lot of the nation’s downstream petroleum sector, it would also be occasion for the blundering Jonathan administration to seek to pin its incompetence on third parties.

    This time around, the rationalisations were as many as they were varied – a scene right from the Biblical Tower of Babel. They range from the hare-brained to the utterly ridiculous. From the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the official line was “panic buying”. The ruling party – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would echo: it was the handiwork of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to humiliate the government before national elections. Finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala would deny that the shortages had anything to do with “payment issues” but rather “disruption of pipelines and logistical issues”, although she would admit that there was an outstanding N185billion unpaid, and that the marketers and the Federal Government have issues over differentials caused by the devaluation of the naira.

    The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) on its part says that the fuel marketers’ claim about backlog in subsidy payment was real. Its executive secretary, Farouk Ahmed, actually confirmed to members of the Senate Committee on Petroleum that his agency was indebted to the marketers; nonetheless, he would blame the scarcity on the devaluation of the naira and the resultant impact on products delivery cost. Nowhere did the Federal Government or its agencies accept culpability in the mess.

    Not even against the background of the initial alert by the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) of an impending crisis as a result of the failure by PPPRA to release the approval for the first quarter fuel importation.

    It is noteworthy that this would not be the first time top functionaries of the Jonathan administration would seek shelter in cheap drivel to excuse a failure to perform a basic public duty. Yet again, we are forced to ask if indeed anyone is actually in charge. If we may observe, the same pattern, replicated across the board is precisely why nothing works in the country. In the power sector, we are told that a country with one of the largest proven reserves in natural gas in the world cannot avail its thermal plants sufficient dry gas; the same way that a country with a supposedly robust Navy and the Army is said to be unable to protect its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEC), the result of which an estimated 400,000 barrels of crude is lost to theft and production shut-ins.

    Couldn’t the situation that gave rise to the scarcity have been foreseen? In other words, couldn’t the crisis have been averted? The answer would seem obvious. Yes, it may well be that devaluation supplied the catalyst, the issue is that the devaluation could not have been a shot from the blues. If we may ask: shouldn’t the administration have thought through the multi-layered dimensions of the measure given the import-dependent nature of the economy? If the answer is no as it appears to have been the case, could there have been a better advertisement of the Jonathan administration’s incompetence than its failure all this while to evolve appropriate sequencing of the activities in the oil trade to forestall cyclic disruptions to the fuel supply and distribution chain?

    We have said it over and over again; the current crisis in the fuel trade is merely a symptom of a fundamental problem. At the heart of the crisis is the terrible choice foisted on the nation by successive administrations which, for reasons hard to fathom, failed to answer the question of why OPEC’s sixth largest exporter would rely on imported refined petroleum products for its domestic needs. In this wise, the Jonathan administration, which once promised three Greenfield Refineries, far from being less complicit, has merely elected to play to type.