The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • The fuel price slash debate

    The fuel price slash debate

    •This is unnecessary; FG should get more refineries on board

    In the heat of the clamour by a broad section of Nigerians for the reduction of fuel prices last December, finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had reportedly told those behind the agitation to wait until oil prices plunged below the $60 mark to have their wish. According to her: “preliminary estimates show that the break-even crude oil price at which the landed cost of PMS will equal our current price of N97 per litre so that there will no longer be subsidy is about $60 per barrel … It is only when the crude oil price (Bonny Light) falls below this level that the pump price of PMS (which includes N15.49 per litre distribution and Petroleum Equalisation Fund cost) can begin to come down”.

    On Monday last week, that moment came to fulfillment: the global benchmark Brent crude closed at $57.94 per barrel–more than two dollars ($2) below the threshold announced by the minister. The same oil sold for $115 a barrel (a reduction by more than 50 percent) in June last year – a little more than six months ago. Today, many oil producing countries have since reflected the new reality in their domestic fuel prices. These factors, including the fact that fuel price is known to be higher in Nigeria than all other OPEC members except Angola obviously makes the case for price reduction compelling at this time.

    Now, what is the Federal Government’s case for retaining the present pump price? The most obvious explanation is that the government believes that the current prices would be temporary. The other explanation stems from what the Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency, (PPPRA)’s figures indicate. We refer to the PPPRA’s Expected Open Market Price (EOMP) template for Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) of last week which read N97.90 – meaning that the government still believes that there is a N0.90 kobo subsidy on petrol price. These apparently appear to inform the government’s strategy of treading cautiously on the matter of the current pricing template. There is a possible third factor – the possibility of shoring up government revenues from the differentials.

    But should these suffice to deny Nigerians of the benefit of a price reduction? We do not think so.

    However, it would appear that the issues are far more fundamental than the current fixation with fuel price reduction would ever sufficiently capture. Indeed, the issue of fuel price reduction merely underlies a profound pathology – the astounding myopia that has afflicted government’s policies in the downstream sector. It starts with the regime under which the Federal Government has long abdicated its responsibility to some dark invisible market forces. It extends to the rent-laden PPPRA template under which the nation is fleeced of billions annually. The pathology explains why OPEC’s sixth largest producer cannot refine sufficient crude for its domestic requirements; it explains the presence of  hordes of speculators and rent-seekers in the fuel distribution chain. It explains why the government would retain N458.68 billion in the 2015 budget to fund subsidy claims. The pathology – unfortunately – is at the heart of the current discourse – the question of whether Nigerians can ever benefit in any event of falling crude price, either now or in the future.

    Clearly, we find the debate misdirected. The reason is simple: with the current wholesale reliance on fuel imports, it should not be hard to appreciate why the landing cost of fuel would remain high to the extent that costs would depend on foreign currency movements, particularly the United States dollar. In the same way, it stands to reason that a country that imports nearly the whole of its fuel cannot devalue its currency by some 20 percent without expecting to suffer cost backlash. At nearly N180 to the United States dollar, for example, as against N160 a few months back, what it means is that the country would need more naira to import the same quantity of refined products. The pressure thus generated on the foreign exchange market translates to higher possibility of more losses in value for the national currency – a vicious cycle – a potentially loss-loss situation for the country and the people whether in the short or long run.  At this time, the debate ought to be how to get out of this vicious cycle.

    Lest we forget; the obverse side is that the government actually benefits from the devaluation – the direct result of more naira from crude sales; the same government that now seeks to deny citizens the benefit of cost reduction in oil.

    We continue to make the point that the greatest tragedy in all of this is the government’s pathetic response to the oil price slump. That the emerging fallouts from the oil price slump could not have been foreseen obviously beats imagination. And while much has been said about the current situation as providing the government a great opportunity to take another look at its policies in the sector, what we have seen thus far is the government limping on as if the problems would by themselves disappear without proactive steps taken by government to take them on.

    The solution, in our view, cannot be clearer today than it was 10 or 15 years ago: the nation needs new refineries to meet its domestic fuel requirements. That way, fuel pricing would not only be less subject to the vagaries of international currency fluctuations; it would also afford the nation immense opportunities to optimise earnings on the wasting asset.

  • The Mbaka sermon

    The Mbaka sermon

    Truth is bitter; particularly when spoken to power

    Before God and man, at the popular Catholic Adoration Centre in Enugu, Enugu State, Revd Father Ejike Mbaka who heads the church, openly canvassed the rejection of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in next month’s presidential election. The fiery priest did not mince words and he was not apologetic about asking Nigerians to vote for a leader who can tackle the country’s many challenges. He also had harsh words for men of God who hobnob with those in power, currying one favour or the other. Indeed, the title of his New Year day sermon defined the message: “From Good luck to Bad luck.”  Give it to him, Father Mbaka did not leave his congregation groping in the dark; he itemised major areas that the Jonathan administration has failed, which naturally should have sufficed to buttress his points.

    “When Goodluck met Yar’Adua, he got bad luck and died. When Goodluck met our oil, it poured away and met bad luck. When Goodluck met our Naira, it met bad luck”, Mbaka said. Citing the problem of unemployment that has become the lot of youths in the country, the priest said: “Look at you brilliant youth but nobody has any plans for you – jobless – our leaders should come and apologise; 2015 cannot be the same. We announce change.” And, in apparent allusion to the intractable Boko Haram insurgency that has virtually crippled the northeastern part of the country, Mbaka said: “Many are saying that it is Buhari, that he said he will make our country ungovernable. Even though Buhari never said such a thing like that, but if you are the president, will you not arrest such person?” Another rhetorical question: “Are you waiting for your own church to be bombed before you speak out?” Then the clincher: “If my father will be my leader and my siblings will all die, let a stranger be my leader and let my family live.”

    In line with the mood of the nation, the video of the sermon has since gone viral. But if truly religion is the opium of the people, then Father Mbaka served his congregation the right dosage as they chorused thunderous ‘no’ when the answer should be nay and ‘yes’ when they meant yea, more or less agreeing in toto with the Reverend Father’s submissions.

    But that is only one leg of the story. The other is that Father Mbaka has come under severe criticism from two quarters. The first comes from those who see a contradiction in the Revd Father’s earlier position allegedly endorsing the president; and the second from some sections of the public, including the Catholic Church itself; that felt the priest went overboard in his sermon. The latter has rekindled the debate as to whether religious leaders should dabble into political matters and the extent to which they can go.

    The Archbishop of Enugu Anglican Province and Bishop of Enugu, Most Rev. (Dr) Emmanuel Chukwuma is unhappy with Father Mbaka. He wondered why he would criticise the president after allegedly collecting N5milion from the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, who visited the Adoration Ground, and he (Mbaka) eulogised the president. National Coordinator of the House-2-House Network, a pro-Jonathan group, Prince Chidi Ibe, also said the priest is angry over his inability to secure oil blocks in the Niger Delta region. “Ordinarily, I will not reply when a clergyman has his own views, but I can categorically tell you that Father Mbaka has travelled severally in quest of oil block in Nigeria. I know he has not succeeded and I know that he is not happy that he is not getting it. So, has he been promised oil block by Buhari to categorically stand at the Adoration Ground and say Goodluck is a bad luck to Nigeria?”

    But a socio-political group in the South-East, Ndigbo Unity Forum, defended Mbaka, and berated Rt. Rev Chukwuma. Augustine Chukwudu, President of the forum, said that some religious leaders who were condemning Mbaka were guilty of hovering around Aso Rock to get gratifications from the president. Hear him: “if Bishop Chukwuma is afraid when Mbaka said some religious leaders, like vultures, besiege Aso Rock to seek for one favour or the other, then, he should check himself and stop pointing fingers at an ordained man of God”.

    These claims are neither here nor there. But even if it is true that Revd Father Mbaka got N5million from the First Lady, for instance, what was the money for – to bribe the priest or to bribe God?

    Anyway, what is of interest to us is the message and not the messenger. Has the Jonathan administration solved the country’s power problem? The answer is no. Has it solved the problem of unemployment? Again, the answer is no. Has the government any firm grip on the economy? No. How much was the exchange rate when the government came on board about five years ago and how much is it now? Has the government tackled the problem of corruption? No. And how far has it been able to curb insurgency, armed robbery and kidnapping? Even President Jonathan himself admitted recently that these are serious challenges that his administration is now poised to tackle, about five years after he became president!

    Without doubt Mbaka’s bombshell cannot but resonate the way it has given its weighty allegations and those smeared by them. Nigerians know that many men of God in the country have visited the seat of power on every ostensible ground imaginable. Some had been invited while others invited themselves, knowing they would not return empty-handed. Even vultures would have done things in a more dignifying manner.

    The sermon was particularly a damning verdict for the Jonathan administration, especially coming from a popular priest in the southeast which had been thought to have endorsed the president’s second term ambition.

    All said; the debate as to whether the church should get involved in political matters or not will not disappear anytime soon. But then, one major problem we have in the country is the failure of the church to live up to expectation as the conscience of the people, and the priests as God’s representatives on earth. Priests should not be silent when things are going awry like they are in Nigeria if only for the fact that they too would be affected when a country begins to reap the fruits of injustices and deprivations that pervade Nigeria today. How many people can go to church in the troubled regions? So, it is high time our men of God realised that many of our political leaders who seek their attention are not doing so for altruistic purposes. Rather, they do so to compromise and give them a false sense of reverence by the political leaders. If our leaders truly respect the religious leaders, they would honour God and when they do that, they would in turn govern responsibly. That, indeed, should be the message of the religious leaders to the political leaders whenever they visit or consult them for spiritual guidance.

    Perhaps many of the country’s leaders would not have failed abysmally as they did if religious leaders are courageous enough to speak truth to power. We recall those years when the (then) Archbishop Olubunmi Okogie (now a Cardinal) was in the vanguard of the critics of our military rulers. Okogie’s role then not only showed him as an activist who had the interest of Nigerians at heart but also projected the Catholic Church as a catalyst of social consciousness. What we see in many of our churches today is nauseating. After fraternising with those in political positions, many of our religious fathers lose their voice and when they manage to retrieve it, they speak, understandably, in incoherent tunes.

    We sympathise with those who genuinely fear that the involvement of religious leaders in politics is dangerous; indeed, we acknowledge the contributions of the Catholic Church to nation-building.  But we dare say that many of those asking for Revd. Father Mbaka’s head are behaving like old women who can never be at ease when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb, for obvious reasons.  If it was true that Mbaka once openly supported the president, why did they not protest then? Why now?

  • Amosun: Enigma in Ogun State

    SIR: Now that the dust has cleared and the contestants for the Ogun State governorship elections are known, it is time for comments and opinions on the contestants. Let me declare, without equivocation that incumbent Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun comes head and shoulders above the opposition. With him at the helm, Ogun State can now boast of having gotten out of its perennial political quagmires.

    Amosun deserves a second chance for a number of reasons. First, in four short years, he has stabilized the rather volatile political environment of the state. Let the people of Ogun State be reminded that, before Amosun, there was an administration that permanently grounded the state’s affairs in crisis. Governor Daniel and his House of Assembly were at loggerheads and the House of Assembly carried out its statutory functions everywhere but the House of Assembly. The mace was transported around the state as members looked for a “hideout” in various public places to meet. Lawmakers were made to swear “oaths of office” in their birthday suits carrying ritual sacrifices in place of the Bible or Quran. It was a maddening political theatre that made anybody from the state vomit. And people laughed at the state throughout the world. All that stopped when Amosun assumed office.

    Once peace and tranquility was brought back into the executive and legislative arms of government, the governor proceeded to make unbelievable advancements in the state. He spearheaded a remarkable and fantastic road infrastructure revolution which has now become the flagship of his administration with implication for job creation in the state, foreign and local investments and rapid industrialization. Where there was a foundation, he built on it and where there was none, he laid one.

    In addition, he has brought his experiences as a chartered accountant along with whatever “financial engineering” wizardry he could muster to the assignment. Because of these, other sectors have benefitted under his administration; affordable qualitative education, improved and efficient healthcare services and delivery, agricultural production, industrial development and affordable housing and urban renewal to name a few.

    One feels very proud reading of Governor Amosun opening new factories on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, in Sagamu and other places in between and beyond.

    He has been able to accomplish all these against all odds, especially, the on-again-off-again posture of the federal government denying and mismanaging much of the federal contributions due to the state. His critics, in good conscience, cannot but give him credit for what has been a five-star performance.

    It is for all these reasons, plus, that the governor deserves consideration for a second term. He must be appreciated and assured. It is my personal conviction that his opponents in this race are political neophytes; very light on the ground and wet behind the ears on the Ogun State political terrain. It is a terrain that angels fear to tread; slippery when dry.

    In Governor Amosun, Ogun State has finally found that elusive enigma in its puzzle. There is, simply, no one better! He is the definite and right choice come February.

    • Angelicus-M. B. Onasanya,

    Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

  • Corruption-friendly governance

    In spite of former leaders’ flaws, Jonathan’s rot is worse

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and one-time military strongman Ibrahim Babangida delivered a blow to Jonathan individually and in separate contexts, and suggested that his government scandalously encouraged corruption.

    The nation’s president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, had ironically earlier identified corruption as one of Nigeria’s twin problems.

    At a special New Year service at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Abuja, Jonathan had said: “There are two main problems confronting us as a nation: The issue of insecurity in the North where we have the Boko Haram terrorists and in the South where we have commercial kidnapping. The next thing that people worry about after security is the issue of corruption.”

    It is noteworthy that the country has an undesirable international reputation for official corruption, and Jonathan, perhaps unwittingly, reinforced the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) of Transparency International (TI). The assessment was based on the extent of public sector corruption in 175 countries and Nigeria was ranked 136th. The country scored 27 out of a maximum 100 marks, and was listed as the 39th most corrupt nation in the world. This has happened on President Jonathan’s watch.

    Against the background of this ugly picture, Babangida’s interview with the media unit of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) may be appreciated and contemplated. Babangida was quoted as saying, “I don’t have the facts but if what I read in the newspapers is currently what is happening, then I think we were angels.” It is an instructive reflection of corruption perception relating to Jonathan’s tenure. Although  Babangida headed a military regime discredited for  allegedly institutionalising corruption in Nigeria, it is a statement on the scale of corruption in the country that it could confer  sainthood on a Babangida regime that sullied the nation’s moral landscape. So terrible was the corruption and depletion of public treasury in the Babangida era that he once wondered why the nation had not collapsed.

    In his own case, Obasanjo lamented: “Our nation is plagued with insecurity, economic downturn, increase in poverty, corruption and impunity in doing things.” He told visiting Southwest women leaders at his Presidential Hilltop Estate in Abeokuta, Ogun State: “Nigeria does not deserve the position it has found itself today.”  Although, on the surface, his comments had a matter-of-fact ring, it would appear that he conveniently glossed over his own contribution to the observed regrettable state of the nation, especially in his  years as a democratic president and even beyond. The truth is that the Obasanjo administration had its own condemnable dimensions of corruption and impunity.

    However, in spite of the shaky platforms on which Obasanjo and Babangida made their observations about the country’s slide, and their own questionable morality in the context of governance, it must be noted that their interventions are not without a redeeming quality. At least, by their negative evaluation of the performance of the Jonathan presidency they helped to further highlight the present rot, which should be viewed as a positive role.

    It is remarkable that, while pinpointing the problems of insecurity and corruption, Jonathan boasted: “We are coming out with programmes and plans to clean up. These are things you just don’t use a magical wand to wave off; otherwise even before I became President, there wouldn’t have been corruption in Nigeria.”

    The disturbing implication of his reasoning is that the country has been a victim of a chain of corruption-friendly governments. Jonathan should be told that words are not enough. His track record offers little hope to a country in dire need of correction. He has been in the saddle for about six years, and if he had no plans for corruption since, how can he boast one now?

  • LASAA Vs Lagos CP

    •Legality and fairness are the keys to settling this needless quarrel

    In Lagos, an election time trouble is brewing between the police and the Lagos State Signage Advertisement Agency (LASAA).  But the dispute would be absolutely needless, if both parties followed the basic tenets of legality and fairness.

    Kayode Aderanti, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police (CP), had it announced that he would henceforth arrest LASAA officials who removed any campaign billboard or posters, adding that his decision was based on a torrent of complaints by politicians that LASAA was unfairly removing their posters and billboards. A news report even claimed the police boss would still carry out the arrest, even if the posters were illegally erected.

    If that report was true — but we hope it was not — then the Lagos CP would be guilty of lawlessness, which would indeed be a profound paradox. There is nothing arbitrary in police arrests, only if it is based on legality. Inasmuch as the police can arrest citizens for breaking the law, it cannot touch them for obeying the law.

    So, if LASAA cadres remove billboards or posters, that, by law, have no business being erected or pasted where they are, the police cannot, by any logic or common sense, arrest those officials. Police cannot arrest citizens for doing what the law prescribes.

    But that is one aspect of the matter.

    The other leg of the LASAA response is the issue of fairness and equal access by all political parties to erect campaign messages, without let or hindrance. It is fundamental to the concept of free and fair elections.

    Reacting to CP Aderanti’s threat, George Noah, LASAA’s managing director, practically called his bluff, daring the police to go ahead, and see if they could arrest LASAA’s staff for doing what the law prescribes. That would appear a clinical response to the police threat; which also underscores the lawful limits of police powers.

    “Let me state clearly that the removal of posters that deface our environment is a statutory obligation of LASAA,” Mr. Noah said. “The agency is therefore baffled that the Nigeria Police responsible for enforcing the laws of this nation is by the statement encouraging and expressly supporting the flagrant disregard and contravention of environmental guidelines issued to all political parties.” An obviously angry  Noah said the police threat came despite that he fully explained the situation to the CP, who nevertheless went ahead with the threat, thus appearing to brush aside his explanation.

    But is LASAA fair to all parties, in carrying out its lawful duties? If it is not, it contravenes the law, by carrying its duty in bad faith. So, LASAA must be fair to all parties.

    Having said that, however, both parties must handle the situation with tact and honour. An election year is especially delicate; and you do not need two government agencies adding fire to the tinder.

    LASAA must be careful not to create the impression that its actions are skewed towards favouring the ruling party in the state. That would be putting itself under needless controversy that would doom its brand equity and poison its public perception.

    But CP Aderanti too must be tactful in his pronouncements. He cannot afford the perception of a police officer driven by sentiments — or worse, a viceroy of the federal authorities to bring to heel some errant state rascals. That would be a wrong mindset: that the police is centrally controlled does not insulate it from local laws. In fact, the law is the oxygen of police operation. Without strict compliance with the law, the police loses its essence.

    In his reaction in the billboard/poster excitement, Mr. Aderanti sounded too close to a putative partisan-in-uniform: what the opposing politicians seem to lose in LASAA’s alleged partisanship, he seemed to ooze, they would gain in police arbitrary power! That is the illogic of threatened arrest, even if LASAA followed the law.

    Let the police and LASAA follow the law and fairness. The beautiful result would be peace in Lagos, anchored on justice and fair play. Lagos needs no less in a crucial election year.

  • A refreshing departure, but …

    •The IGP’s visit to wives of slain officers is good but a lot still has to be done to boost morale

    The news that the police authorities would award scholarships to orphans of officers killed in the ambush by the proscribed Ombatse militiamen at Alakyo Village in Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa State on May 7, 2013 must have gladdened their hearts. The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Suleiman Abba, who also promised to ensure that their late husbands’ entitlements were paid soon said all was being done to assure officers that the authorities were behind them at all times.

    We commend the IGP for sparing time to visit the widows and their children at a time people were celebrating Christmas, the New Year and Eid-el-Maulud. We hope this would, as intended by the police, boost the morale of officers and men of the force in particular, and all security agencies in general.

    It is also a refreshing departure from the norm that the IGP took time to address the case of officers who have been missing in the aftermath of the attack on Gwoza by insurgents since August last year. The police chief gave them food items and cash gift of N500, 000 each to wipe their tears, while pledging that the search for them, dead or alive, continues. We urge the security forces to do everything necessary to bring that episode to an end by definitively making pronouncements on the state of the men.

    However, we call on the Federal Government, the Police Service Commission and related agencies to accord priority to serving, retired and dead officers and men. It is only when the personnel and their dependants know that their entitlements would be promptly paid in case they lose their lives that they would be willing to confront crime with total commitment. The same treatment should be extended to those maimed or critically wounded while combating crimes and other social ills.

    We are however disturbed that the reach-out to the dependants is seen and treated as a product of the magnanimity of the IGP. It should be institutionalised. It is further disturbing that all the IGP could announce was that the entitlements were being processed almost two years after the incident. It is better imagined the fate that had befallen the widows, orphans and other dependants since the departure of their loved ones.

    This probably explains the recent demonstration by wives of officers posted to the battle field in Borno State. They said their loved ones were ill-equipped for the deadly task. It must be demonstrated in word and deed that the Federal Government, the armed forces and the police have provided the best needed to confront militias and insurgents. Until this is done, embarrassing defections by the fighting forces and even sabotage would continue.

    It is unfortunate too, that even the scholarships being promised are not fully by the police authorities or agencies of the Federal Government. It is subject to the success of discussions with institutions abroad. Some of the children would have lost precious time already. It should not be further delayed.

    Schemes such as the Police Pension Fund, the insurance and micro credit for wives of officers should be optimally run for the benefit of those for whom they are established. The police authorities should ensure that scams and corrupt practices are stamped out by punishing those involved.

  • Aliyu’s toxic sermon

    • How a governor should not talk

    When he assumed office as Governor of Niger State in 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Muazu Babangida Aliyu chose to be addressed as the Chief Servant of the state. The loquacious governor projected the image on every occasion of a public officer motivated by an elevated perception of politics as an opportunity to offer selfless and dedicated service to the people. The idea of the occupant of the elevated office of governor perceiving himself as a ‘chief servant’ suggested that he would be an embodiment of the highest and noblest ideals of altruistic leadership.

    It has however turned out that nothing could be further from the truth. Governor Aliyu, whose second term in office ends in May has been engaged in a most cruel game of deception with the unfortunate people of Niger Sate. The governor’s irresponsible remarks while inaugurating the PDP gubernatorial campaign committee this week reveal that he has been a closet Machiavellian, after all who believes that his perverse ends justify any means however immoral and despicable.

    In Aliyu’s shocking words on the occasion, “If you cannot lie, get out of politics. Anything you are involved in has its own rule. You are in politics to win, win first and let other things follow. Don’t be the one crying louder lest you will be the one they will take to court. If you are talking of honesty or morals, go and become an Imam or pastor. Politics cannot be the way it used to be. The challenges are more now, the variables have changed … Our society is not as grateful as it used to be, the values and morals have gone down. If you want to win, use the modern morality”.

    That a man who, by his own admission is so completely deficient in moral integrity occupies high public office is symptomatic of what is grossly wrong with Nigeria. It explains the abysmal level of corruption and impunity that have severely undermined the country’s security, stability and development. Alhaji Aliyu’s noxious sermon illustrates to what depths of depravity Nigeria has sunk under his party, the PDP’s watch in the last 16 years. We shudder to imagine what negative impact the governor’s views will have on impressionable young minds that innocently see a state governor as a role model.

    Given his low estimation of the role of positive values in politics, Aliyu could not certainly have taken the oath of office he swore to uphold as governor with any seriousness. For, the oath presupposes a fidelity to moral values that he has shamelessly disavowed. He openly advocates lying and deception as political virtues. Such a man cannot be trusted with public funds. His temerity indicates an utter lack of respect for the people of Niger State and Nigeria as a whole. Even more dangerously, a close interrogation of his utterances to the campaign committee suggests that he is not averse to election rigging as a means of acquiring political power.

    Aliyu was one of the governors and other top officers of the PDP who left the party in protest against the perceived anti-democratic inclinations of the Jonathan presidency. It is not surprising that he abandoned the struggle against impunity in the party and ran back to his vomit. That is his strange brand of political morality. The same man has canvassed support for the PDP governorship candidate, Umar Mohammed Nasko, as his successor as governor in next month’s election. We hope they are not birds of the same feather with disdain for moral values. Politics is forvalues, not for carpet baggers. men like Aliyu should be shunned in the coming election cycle.

  • Why is Ironsi not on the naira?

    SIR: I could be off beam now, but I am at a loss as to why General  Thomas Aguiyi Ironsi is not on any currency note in Nigeria. I am equally curious to know why those of his geographical block have not thought it fit to celebrate this man and have left it to the federal government that has chosen to consign him into the quarters of irrelevance.

    It is shocking that in this country some individuals are handpicked to be celebrated and given special recognition, and sad that no one has ever deem it right to inform the youths about our past great leaders. ‘Stomachism’ rather than ‘Intellectualism’ mindset has become the order of the day.

    Nollywood has by the same token failed as most of the movies presented to the world are laced with superstition, black magic instead of showcasing the qualities of great and inspirational leaders of the nation to our tender and yet-to-be corrupted school children.

    It is not surprising to read that some of the persons, who aided Ironsi to the other world, are called statesmen, brave men. Somebody is blessed to be celebrated nationally on Nigeria’s national currency and even all over the world by the naming of a major airport in a strategic part of the country after him.

    It is disappointing that Ironsi’s constituency – the Army has under no circumstances tried to clear his name and honour a gentlemanly soldier and a former head-of-state as it should be.

    As stated by this writer elsewhere, “General Aguiyi-Ironsi was entreated to be head of state and he rose up to the occasion without fear; a leader who truly knew the problems of Nigeria, who was marked to be slain in a coup but foiled it and whose only sin according to his detractors and their ilk was that he didn’t kill the coup plotters because he was sane enough not to shed blood because there was no law or decree allowing him to do such.”

    Is Nigeria not living on a lie and is this bias not a fraud? If the military lacks the guts to remember this man, how come no elected governments at the centre have done so since 1999?

    It was Napoleon who said, “Any commander-in-chief who undertakes to carry out a plan which he considers defective is at fault, he must put forth his reasons, insist on the plan being changed and tender his resignation rather than be the instrument of his army’s downfall.”

    Is the celebration of Ironsi defective and why? Can Nigerians see his photograph on the 50 Naira note or even the 1000 note? Can we see other important federal monuments named after him?

    Can the president now and any other in 2015 buck the trend and celebrate General Aguiyi Ironsi appropriately for posterity sake?

    We need to lessen pressures of ethnicity which is so high, and it does no good to suggest incorrectly that Ironsi himself stood in the way of development 47 years ago. It is a huge wrong to him, Nigeria and to history.

     

    • Simon Abah

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State

  • To the rescue

    To the rescue

    •New national health law guarantees victims of auto crashes and violent crimes prompt medical attention

    The heartening news could not have been more opportune than now –when patients with medical emergencies, in road crashes or victims of armed robberies, in dire need of medical attention, are  callously rejected by public and private health institutions, on the basis of a so-called Police report.

    The signal of hope, regarding their care, is the National Health Act which President Goodluck Jonathan just signed.

    One of the new law’s finest implications is its worthy acknowledgement of human life as something to be accorded utmost care and attention.

    The law provides that there will be no excuse for failure of health services for Nigerians.  It also stipulates severe punishment and imprisonment terms for removal of human organs and also the reproductive and therapeutic cloning of human kind.

    Dr. Muhammed Lecky, Executive Secretary, Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC), a watchdog group on the national health system,  declared: “Now that we have the Healthcare Act, we expect that health services for Nigerians would be transformed’’; — and we add: especially under an administration in which healthcare is witnessing incredible retrogression.

    We hail the coming into being of the law but regret that it is belated; coming over 54 years after Nigeria’s sovereign existence as a nation.

    We bemoan a situation where successive administrations in the land took the lives of accident/emergency patients with levity under various guises. The most common and reprehensible guise is the insistence that Police report must be produced before accident victims or anyone with gunshot wounds could be treated.

    The genesis of this trend, peculiar only to Nigeria, emanated from the up surge in armed robbery and violent crimes. If the intent of the authorities was to deny criminals medical attention, therefore prompting medical personnel to avoid subsequent query from the police authorities, they are completely off the mark in global medical best practices.

    The truth is that even armed robbers, wounded during criminal operations, have right to good medical treatment, prior to their eventual arraignment, trial and conviction, if found guilty.

    Sadly, this country lost precious lives to this rather shoddy, if not outright callous, approach to medical emergencies, in these particular cases.  Who knows?  Perhaps the late Dimgba Igwe, top media figure and former deputy editor-in-chief of The Sun newspaper, and a victim of a hit-and-run driver, would have been alive today, had he received prompt and prompter first aid treatment.

    But alas!  He lost his life to the slapdash response the new law just outlawed.

    That makes the Act a right step in the right direction. But we hope it will fulfil the expectations of ensuring a truly universal health coverage that would assure and guarantee Nigerians’ fundamental human rights to life and good healthcare.

    Under this law, it is good to note that children below the age of five, pregnant women, the elderly and people with disabilities would receive free health care.

    The Federal Government is also statutorily expected to provide sufficient complimentary funding, in tandem with states and Local Government Councils across the country, so as to guarantee basic minimum healthcare for all.

    If what is currently lacking in terms of proper health focus and needless bureaucratic bottlenecks are guided against, there is no doubt that this Act has created a legal framework for a new healthcare policy regime; and could only be supported by appropriate policy guidance and mechanisms that are different from the inhuman official attitude of the past.

    The new health law has to do with sanctity of human life; and we are hopeful that henceforth, there will be undeniable compelling national acceptance of accident and emergency cases by health institutions whether public or private.

    This should, however, be complemented with adequate publicity and awareness campaigns, to make the public know, understand and buy into the programme.  If well implemented, the fruits of a sound health sector reform may well be on the way.

  • Obsolete Audit Act

    Obsolete Audit Act

    •National Assembly should pass the new bill to boost the anti-corruption war

    That Nigeria is merely paying lip service to anti-corruption is evident in the fact that it still relies on its Audit Ordinance Act of 1956. Without doubt, the Act, 58 years down the line, has outlived its usefulness. It is sad that effort to repeal the law through the proposed Audit Act, 2014 is still stalled at the National Assembly.

    Indeed, the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGOF), Mr. Samuel Ukura, is so worried that he had to make a passionate appeal for the quick passage of the bill into law. Ukura, who spoke through Mrs. Florence Dibiaezue, Head of the AGOF’s Press and Public Relations Unit, observed that the existing audit law in Nigeria was defective and so cannot effectively support the fight against corruption. He therefore called on Nigerians to support the passage of the new audit bill.

    As he noted, the bill, when passed unto law, “will strengthen the powers of the auditor-general’s office, detach it from the Presidency and establish the Audit Service Commission … The passage of the Audit Bill 2014 will boost the fight against corruption”. He noted rightly that the growth and sustenance of the country’s economy are tied to the effectiveness and autonomy of the nation’s audit office, and that the current Audit Act is not only defective but also unsuitable at this time.

    If anything, we ought to have amended the Audit Act to suit the expenditure pattern of government, especially with the discovery of oil and “the global advancement in the use of technology”. We also align with Ukura’s position that when passed into law, the bill would place Nigeria in the comity of nations that are genuinely fighting corruption; enhance the country’s image by ensuring accountability and transparency in the conduct of government business; align the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation with international best practices and empower the National Assembly to appoint independent auditors to audit the financial statement of the OAGF as well as give the AGF the power to audit public monies in private organisations and bodies.

    Of particular importance is the fact that the audit law, when passed, would enhance the already bad image of the country by ensuring accountability and transparency in the conduct of government business, as well as bring the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation with international best practices as already highlighted by the AGF.

    It goes without saying that the audit system, as we have it today, is not immune to corrupt and sharp practices. There are cases of auditors colluding with companies, corporations, banks and other public or private establishments in writing their audit reports where cases of misappropriation of funds by management and officials are overlooked and passed as “bad debts”. This is where the innovation of the bill empowering the AGF to also audit public monies in private organisations or bodies is praiseworthy. A country like ours battling corruption sure needs an effective audit system.

    We specially commend the AGF for his courage in pushing forward   an amendment that would detach the office of the AGF from that of the Presidency. For its importance and advantages, the National Assembly would be doing the nation a good service by quickly passing the bill to enable the country deal with the notorious problems of corruption, lack of accountability and transparency in the audit system.