Category: Editorial

• Lagos State launches an innovative approach to powering schools

The recent launch of the solar power initiative for 172 public secondary schools in Lagos State is a continuing affirmation of the determination of the state government to ensure that its educational reforms are not hampered by the country’s woeful lack of power supply.

Speaking at the installation of the first solar panel at Model College, Meiran, Lagos, last week, Governor Babatunde Fashola explained that all the access to the latest technology in the world would count for nothing if there was no power with which to utilise it. He said the solar initiative represented an organised approach to tackling the many challenges facing education in the state, and was helping to change popular perceptions of public education.

The solar panels will take care of the power requirements of the chosen schools, including information technology systems and lighting. With proper maintenance, they are expected to last 25 years. Developed by the state government and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the programme will be managed by the Lagos State Electricity Board (LSEB). Eleven flagship public health centres are also to benefit from the initiative.

Coming as it does after years of frustration at the prospects of improved public power supply, the solar power initiative is especially commendable because of its focus on renewable energy. Unlike the use of generators, solar panels are relatively cheaper, easier to maintain and longer-lasting, not to mention their environmental sustainability.

Steady power supply has become a vital component of the education delivery process due to the increased reliance on IT tools such as the internet, computers and tablets. As the experience of “Opon Imo” in Osun State has shown, Nigerian students can adapt to the use of tablets as easily as their counterparts elsewhere. Providing reliable power supply ensures that such facilities can be used to their full potential, with beneficial effects upon students, teachers and the public school system itself. Schools will no longer be seen as just brick-and-mortar structures; rather, they will be able to live up to their ideal as places of wonder, discovery and achievement.

Such is the significance of the renewable power initiative that it needs to be incorporated into other aspects of life in Lagos State, especially given the state’s abundance of sunshine, as well as its unexploited capacity for wind and wave energy.

While there have been efforts to develop renewable energy alternatives, the results have been uneven at best. A solar electrification project set up in Osinowo Village in 2005 does not appear to have met its initial objectives. The state’s solar-powered street light programme also needs to be reinvigorated. Many of the solar lights on Alausa Dual Carriageway, Allen Avenue/Opebi Road, Ojodu-Ogba Ijaiye Road, the Oshodi end of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and Toyin Street are not working at optimum levels.

There does not seem to be enough interest in renewable energy from the citizenry, either. Far too many Lagosians appear to be content with petrol or diesel-powered generators in their homes and offices, in spite of their cost, and the noise and pollution they cause. Even the many deaths that have resulted from the inhalation of carbon monoxide produced by such generators have not deterred them; indeed, Nigeria’s power crisis has only made them all the more ubiquitous.

This situation should not continue. The state government’s renewable energy initiative should extend to the Secretariat in Alausa, the offices of its parastatals and agencies, and its housing estates. When more citizens are able to directly experience the benefits and advantages of renewable energy, they will be less reluctant to consider it as a viable alternative to current unsatisfactory approaches.

•In the name of elections, lawmakers have abandoned their first loyalty: the people

Even in the best of times, the country’s budget had hardly been passed early since the return to civil rule in 1999. This year, indications are that the budget may even be delayed longer than it used to be because it is an election year and the National Assembly members who are supposed to work on it have all returned to their respective constituencies to drum up support for their political parties ahead of the general elections billed for February 14 and 28.

Although the House of Representatives spokesman, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, gave the impression that the House committees may be meeting with the officers of the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government on the matter without making their meetings public, facts on ground indicate otherwise. Mohammed was quoted as saying “The committees may be meeting and holding discussions with the MDAs. There are many details to be looked at in the budget and it takes a while; there certainly will be public sittings.” This is different from what an official of the National Assembly reportedly said: “Unfortunately, that (committees meetings with the MDAs) is not happening. It is two weeks on and none of such meetings has taken place. The attention of all the members is on the forthcoming elections even though over 60 per cent of them are not candidates for any positions”.

This seems the actual position because it is in line with what the deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, said while ruling on the motion for the adjournment of the Senate on January 14. He had told the senators that the holiday was to enable them participate actively in electioneering at their respective constituencies.

We know that law makers are politicians and they cannot afford to be missing in action in an election year, particularly a crucial one as this year’s. But then, the budget is also an important issue that cannot be kept in abeyance till whenever the lawmakers are done with their political campaigns. Being an estimate of income and expenditure for the year, it deserves to be given priority attention. It is just that successive governments in the country have hardly treated budgets with the required sense of urgency, especially since the return to democracy about 16 years ago.

By pushing the budget to the background, our lawmakers have only confirmed our worst fears that most of our public servants place self first before service. Yet, if only they could invest 60 percent of the zeal with which they are pursuing the election into their legislative business and be diligent at it, the country would have been a lot better; most of the corrupt practices that have become daily occurrences now would have been drastically reduced.

We urge the National Assembly members to henceforth regard the budget as the important document that it is. Although we know that the government as well as MDAs can still spend up to a certain percentage of what they spent last year pending the approval of the budget proposal, this is not the best of times to trivialise the budget.

This is a year with a difference, given the drastic drop in crude oil prices. With the executive arm of government insisting on leaving the budget benchmark at $65 per barrel when right now, the commodity has dropped below the $50 mark, in the hope that the prices would return to about $65 per barrel before the second quarter, there is much work to be done to ensure that the country fixed a realistic benchmark so that the budget would not be dead on arrival.

 

SIR: Nigeria has continued to have the misfortune that just very few of its politicians spare a thought for the existence of Nigeria as a nation. Majority of them only concentrate on grabbing power at the wake of an election period either for protecting their vast economic empires or for projecting clannish interests.  It becomes doubly heartbreaking that majority of the electorate who are often at the receiving end of the antics of these unscrupulous politicians decide to align with them and fight among themselves, perhaps in anticipation of crumbs from the fiefs’ tables.  No one appears to give a thought to the real problem besetting the nation, causing the series of crises in the country, and how it could be dealt with.

What is this real trouble with our nation, blessed as it is, yet unable to outgrow certain threats identifiable with nascent states, even when it has existed as a country for half a century?

Everyone recognizes the diverse nature of the nation.  There is, therefore, the inevitability of conflicts which stream mainly from our differing backgrounds – political, religious, economic, cultural, even a general view of life. To achieve harmony and peaceful coexistence in a situation like this, it is essential to define terms which should be mutually agreeable to every unit of the union, which Nigerians have not been able to do to the extent that sections and tribes feel used by others. Under this situation, crisis is perpetual.

Since the end of the civil war, Nigeria has continued to operate a false federalism where the central government dictates the pace of how every Nigerian should even breathe. If we must answer federal, let it be a true one, at least because of its inbuilt mechanisms that are capable of taming avarice and corruption which have become known characteristics of a Nigerian. We have had enough of the cap-in-hand begging from our regions to the centre. A national order specifies everyone’s right and banishes the emerging neo-feudalism. So much pillage, injustice, impunity and disrespect of the next-door neighbour’s feelings have been going on in the nation such that everyone chases the ultimate federal power, mainly to be on top, be the hammer rather than the nail.

Under true federalism, rather than this winner-take-all system, power would devolve more to the federating units. When there isn’t much to loot at the federal level, the “hawks” will be boxed within their own home units and would have no hold on the wealth of another federating unit. If nothing is in the hawk’s home, he is forced to make his home fertile instead. Well, home hawks are easier to manage than the visiting hawks. The latter strike and run back to their own base while the prey suffers the pillage.

Whether we accept it or not, one thing is certain, that the rumble in the house of Nigeria is an indication of disquiet, disagreement, unrest, bottled up strife and this makes the country a seething volcano. In the interest of all of us, all areas of interest need to be discussed and addressed for us to enjoy our stay in this house.  That candidate averse to a national order, a true federalism, is an enemy to the country. If we don’t get it we will continue to wallow in a false federation where some of us remain, as late Ikemba Nnewi Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu would say, like Jonah in the belly of the fish. And peace will remain elusive. It is too late to postpone the election. What we must pray for is a set of men and women who would actualize this much needed national order for peace to reign. Those beating the drums of war should recognize that war is a gale that blows no one any good. This is a period that calls for circumspection.

• Richard Dirim Odu 

Owerri, Imo State

•President Jonathan runs the risk of being a co-conspirator if he does not arrest the Niger Delta militants who threatened the country

It is frightful enough that a coterie of ragtag individual gangsters who enjoyed state pardon could shout their ingratitude by threats of treasonable violence. What is frightful still is that they have the capacity to foment turbulence with the knowledge of the same state.

What is more frightful though is that the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces is the excuse and platform for that subversive, hectoring voice from the nation’s wilderness of mayhem. And when the president’s name resounds with those threats, the president himself keeps a treacherous silence.

This is the disgraceful story unfolding before the dazed eyes of Nigerians. The saga began in a meeting in the state house of Bayelsa State in Yenagoa barely two weeks ago, presided over by the state’s chief executive, Seriake Dickson. According to reports, three forgiven militants and subversives uttered incendiary statements. They included MujahidDokubo-Asari, leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force; Victor Ben Ebikabowei, a.k.a. Boy Loaf; Government Ekpodomenowei, a.k.a. Tompolo. Also present was UdengsEradiri, president-general of the Ijaw Youth Council.

As part of the meeting, the militants threatened that if President Goodluck Jonathan does not win the upcoming presidential election, they would foment trouble. They boasted that they would shut down the oil rigs, and make the nation at large pay for not voting in their son as the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

The statement generated shock among peace-loving Nigerians because of its audacious inanity and subversive content. In outraged response, former chief of army staff and defence minister, retired General TheophilusDanjuma, urged the president to arrest the insurgents for their treasonable effusions.

The president said nothing, and the impression lingered that President Jonathan would probably sooner or later dissociate himself from them and condemn them. No such thing happened.

Rather, Tompolo waxed even more defiant, and he insisted that if President Jonathan did not win the February 14poll, he would unleash turbulence in the land. He added to that insistence a seven-day ultimatum to General Danjuma to apologise over his call for their arrests, failing that the militants would destroy his investments in the Niger Delta.

Two clear things are wrong with what these dedicated outlaws did. One, they confessed contempt for democracy. They did not say that they would foment trouble if Jonathan won and was denied his mandate. They say if Nigerians did not vote for Jonathan, they would reject the democratic verdict and cause trouble. What can be more irresponsible and subversive as that!

Two, they invoked the name of the President for legitimacy. They are invoking the name of the ultimate legitimacy to solemnise an ultimate illegitimacy. They are dipping in blood the name of the hallowed office of the land.

Yet, the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces has said nothing. The paradox is that the president presides over a legitimate army, while his supporters lead illegal forces. They are pledging their outlaw brigandage to the service of a legitimate president and head of the army. It is also ironic that Danjuma, who once led the legitimate army and asked the legitimate president and commander-in-chief to sanction the miscreants, is being ignored by President Jonathan. Meanwhile, Tompolo and fellow acolytes in violence are snorting arrogantly about their power.

Governor Dickson tried with little success to dissociate himself from the rhetoric banditry of the militants. At least he tried, if unconvincingly. But what about the president? He has done nothing.

Was it not the same president who could not rein in Tompolo over the conflict in Ogidigben? Is that not why he could not unveil the Export Processing Zone, a project that has revived the rivalry and suspicions between the Itsekiris and Ijaws in Delta State? Did he not show his lack of gumption as a nation’s leader?

What is most outrageous is that these militants have committed what everyone understands as treason and, therefore, by all accounts a crime against the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They calling for the collapse of the institution, and the implication of their threats is the shedding of blood of the innocents.

It is also an invocation of war in a nation already harried by the sanguinary episodes in the northeast where territory after territory has fallen to the insensate advances of another set of militants known as Boko Haram.

The militants cast the president as an Ijaw president foisting his Ijaw will on over 200 other ethnicities, and the president has not helped matters by not showing himself as above parochial affections.

The right thing for the president to do is to arrest the miscreants. That is what the law demands. That is what his office as commander-in-chief dictates. That is what honour demands since he signed the peace pact with his All Progressives Congress (APC) opponent, General Muhammadu Buhari.

But the president has not done anything. The Department of State Security, which is often quick to move against the opposition, has not uttered him a whisper of condemnation, no less act on this great act of treason.

If the president and commander-in-chief does not move against these men, it shows that Dr. Jonathan has abdicated his role as the chief guarantor of the people’s security and subordinated himself to the capricious tyrannies of gangsters.

Everyone who follows the affairs of the militants understands that the Jonathan presidency has legitimised, by way of contracts and symbolic public activities, the lifestyles and impunities of these men. They have played roles not only in government in dispensing the largesse of office as well as offices, they have also acted prominent parts as PDP apparatchiks.

We cannot accept as a nation when a group of militants is allowed to walk the streets free and the president acts as though impotent. President Jonathan knows his powers, and if he does not, his attorney-general does and he can seek advice from him on this matter.

If President Jonathan does not arrest them, then he has taken part, however tacitly, in a subversion plot against the government in which he is the head; and in the contempt of the constitution of which he is the first citizen.

The nation belongs to Nigerians, and not even the president has the right to maintain silence when our corporate peace is under threat.

The ex-CBN boss raised issues that demand answers, not abuses

After the mudslinging and other inanities that have characterised electioneering campaigns in the last few weeks, the intervention by former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Charles Chukwuma Soludo, must have come as a refreshing, well-timed contribution as the campaigns enter the final laps. The premise of his lengthy but suggestive piece with the title “Federal Government’s economic team weak, selfish” was that the two main parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may have correctly identified the major development challenges facing the nation; that it is however a far cry to suggest that they have a “credible agenda to deal with the issues, especially within the context of the evolving global economy and Nigeria’s broken public finance”.

Specifically, Soludo wanted the parties to come clean on each of their programmes and the strategies to fund them, particularly in the difficult days ahead. As the party in government, it was perhaps expected that Soludo would be unsparing of the Jonathan administration over what he called the “mess” it had made of the public finance system in the last five years and the gross mismanagement that has brought the economy to the brink. In this, he gave the administration thumbs down on several counts: its record borrowing which, he noted, exceeded the actual expenditure on critical infrastructure; its inability to add a penny to the stock of foreign reserves at a period Nigeria earned hundreds of billions from oil; the rate of public debt accumulation at a time of unprecedented boom which he insisted has no parallel in the world; and finally, the poverty incidence and unemployment currently at an all-time high levels. While scoring the administration a miserable ‘F’ on the economy, he left no doubt about his desire to see the debates properly structured along these issues.

In the same vein, he wanted APC, currently positioned as government-in-waiting, to provide more clarity on its policies and how it intends to implement them.

Soludo, it must be said, did not say anything new that several Nigerians have not said at different times and in different fora. Unfortunately, such views have gone largely ignored not so much because Nigerians would not cherish the environment for a lively debate on their future, but mainly because incumbent office-holders have somehow managed to sow distractions to escape the scrutiny on their records in office. The singular merit in the intervention would therefore lie not necessarily in its wisdom or lack thereof, but in reminding Nigerians of what should in fact be the issues of the moment.

No matter how distasteful Soludo’s views are, we must insist that like every Nigerian, he is entitled to them. The subject here of course is the future of the country and the welfare of the citizens. Given that he was until very recently a key member of economic management team as well as the nation’s number one banker, his insights would ordinarily be considered as rich and invaluable – something that the current actors can learn from.  It is something that his critics cannot deny him.

Are Soludo’s motives entirely altruistic at this time? Nothing in the world says they must necessarily be to be legitimate. Rather, what is more important is whether the views are premised on truth as he sees them. And to the extent that Nigerians readily agree that the issues largely reflect their concerns, they qualify as a good point to engage both the administration on its record, and the opposition APC on its plan, in an election year.

Was the administration under which Soludo served any less guilty of the same charge for which he accuses the current administration? That again, is irrelevant. What about his records at the apex bank, particularly the highly touted consolidation said to have unravelled sooner after he left the apex bank? Again, this is neither here nor there; Soludo after all is not known to be running for office at least at this time; even if he was, the matters under reference would still have remained no less matters of public interest.

This is why we found it rather disappointing that the PDP and the finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, have dwelt more on attacking the messenger rather than address the message. The descent to vulgar abuse is not only in bad taste, it is not the way to play politics. This, we must observe is in sharp contrast to what the APC has done in the wake of the Soludo challenge. The party not only addressed the issues raised, it provided illumination on some grey areas of its policies, leaving Nigerians with the judgment of whether or not they meet their aspirations. That, in our view, is how things should be.

Going forward, we expect that both parties would toe the path of an orderly debate of issues. With barely a fortnight to the presidential election, it seems about time they returned to the issues that truly matter to the ordinary citizen. Nigerians are interested in their thoughts on job creation, security of lives and property, infrastructure financing, corruption and the whole gamut of issues that have defined their existence. Nigerians obviously understand the current distractions for what they are: a path for the Jonathan-led Federal Government to escape scrutiny, given its monumental failures in office. The irritation of the administration’s hierarchs, in the circumstance ought to be perfectly understandable.