The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Farce imitates life

    Farce imitates life

    •Nigeria’s flared gas can generate her electricity need, says minister. Nigeria’s power plant to rely on Niger Republic’s gas, says another minister

    Nigeria’s power sector, currently bedeviled by bourgeoning ineptitude and intransigent graft, has become so farcical it titillates. It indeed presents great material for a sardonic cartoon serial.

    Two separate news items early last week illustrate the situation most graphically. First was a report on December 1st in which the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Laurencia Mallam lamented the volume of gas flared in Nigeria currently, noting that it was estimated at 27,612 gigawatts hour of electricity. According to her, “this could effectively double Nigeria’s electricity targets for 2014 and could provide 40 per cent of Nigeria’s total electricity requirements based on current needs assessment.”

    Following from Mrs. Mallam’s ‘great’ discovery of this mindless flaring of gas, a gas flare tracker was formally deployed in Abuja last week. She ‘revealed’ to newsmen that the success recorded in a recent oil spill mapping prompted her ministry to seek further assistance from the Department of International Development to build an online tracker that could capture the number of gas flares across the Delta region.

    It is troubling enough that Nigeria flares most of her enormous gas deposit which could have been harnessed for electricity generation, especially in the face of a power situation that has become utterly pernicious. More remarkable is the fact — as presented by the minister – that Nigeria is not up to speed in tracking the gas flares across the oil mining fields; and had to depend on a foreign donor to acquire the requisite tracking equipment. This was only installed last week as the honorable minister had informed us — and not without a tinge of triumph.

    But if you think the above scenario is farcical, consider this next narrative. The day after the Environment Minister lamented her ‘shocking’ discovery, another honorable minister, the very one charged with making sure the country is lit up with electricity power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, announced, again, rather gleefully that a new power plant is in the making in Katsina and that gas would be sourced from oil wells in neigbhouring Niger Republic to fire the plant. The event was  the signing of a reported $1 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a private firm, Strancton Limited for the construction of a 1000 megawatts power plant in Katsina.

    If this were a carefully planned and discharged strategic initiative to exploit and harness certain economies of scale inherent in a neighbouring country, tapping gas from Niger would have been a most intelligent and laudable gesture. But a Nigerian power plant is growing near Niger Republic’s oil wells because that country is not flaring her gas but has instead, harnessed it for productive uses.

    The inherent lesson here is that if Nigeria had developed her monumental gas deposit, numerous private power plants would have sprouted around it. Today, Nigeria would not be suffering from her current dire of power supply situation.

    If the government was up and doing, firm directives to oil producing companies insisting on a no-gas-no-oil policy was all that was required perhaps four decades ago. Ironically, as Mrs. Mallam has ‘revealed’, Nigeria cannot by herself, track the sites where gas is being flare in her territory for over these years.

    It is sad to note that the ludicrous turn of events in Nigeria’s power sector has become like life imitating a grand farce or vice-versa. More than $36 billion is alleged to have been spent in the quest for electricity power in the last decade yet the country is today, still bound inextricably to darkness. Each succeeding government only raises the bar – not of power generation – but of inherent systemic graft and insouciance. The recent so-called privatization of the sector was a dubious exercise of handing over of public assets to cronies and party stalwarts.

    In the midst of all this, nobody seems to hear the wailing and wallowing in darkness of the people who are pushed to pay more in the face of receding service. Dare we admonish that this abhorrent situation cannot stand; government must quit playing the ostrich with Nigeria’s the power sector.

  • Knee-jerk reaction

    Knee-jerk reaction

    •By rejecting US military training, Nigeria cuts her nose to spite her face

    The United States’  cancellation of scheduled training, of a battalion of the Nigerian Army, was surprisingly effected at the behest of the Federal Government. Yet, the nation’s military has increasingly become a virtual captive to Boko Haram insurgents due to poor training, low motivation and largely obsolete equipment.

    Curiously too, Nigeria had benefited from earlier two, out of arranged three, phases of the training between April and August, 2014.  Aside from regular military drills,  untrained civilian personnel were given basic soldiering skills.

    So, what then could have  informed the sudden change of position by government?

    The government, through Mike Omeri, coordinator of the National Information Centre (NIC) and director-general of National Orientation Agency (NOA), gave an insight, which would appear unconvincing: “The training that is being offered by the American government did not also come with the equipment component …Nigeria and America have strong military bilateral relations and till date, it’s still ongoing and strong. Therefore, when such equipment are available, I’m sure the final phase of the training will be concluded.”

    The government seems to be economical with the truth.  Otherwise, the Information Office of the US Embassy in Abuja would not, through a statement, describe the stoppage as ‘premature termination’, which, according to it, would have ‘trained Nigerian soldiers to build their capacity to counter Boko Haram terrorists.’

    Despite the US government’s pledge to continue to support the nation in ‘other aspects of the extensive bilateral security relationship, as well as all other assistance programmes,’ we wonder why such an action should be taken by government at this critical period of Boko Haram insurgency, when all hands, both foreign and domestic, must be on deck to bring the insurgents’ threat to a necessarily compelling end.

    Why the needless fuss over a free training that the US government does not even owe the country any compelling need to discharge? Moreover, we are aware that the training is free, and an opportunity which we thought the Nigerian government should have grabbed without blinking an eye lid.

    What the government ought to realise is that no training is a waste, especially for a military that has over time been wantonly disgraced by the ragtag Boko Haram insurgents. By its abrupt termination, the government is yet to let the public know the true reason(s) behind its action in this prevailing circumstances .

    We are aware, however, that the US based Human Rights Watch has given a damning report about the poor human rights record of the military/police under  President Goodluck Jonathan.  While admitting that the US human rights record, within and in other territories, might be poor, we do not expect Nigeria to follow suit. Rather, we expect this administration to admit its failings; rather than pursue this abrupt denial of the nation’s military the benefit of such vital security training from a militarily powerful and sophisticated country like the United States.

    More shameful is the fact that Nigerian soldiers are reportedly not adept at handling sophisticated weapons, a reason that has accounted for the huge casualty figures recorded in the ongoing battles with the insurgents in the north eastern part of the country.

    The Nigerian government will not be doing the nation any good if the expertise the US military training they are denying the soldiers would later be sought, at a huge cost, and perhaps less quality, from other countries, in the nearest future.

    The truth that must be told is that Nigeria should refrain from crass display of undue smugness when, in reality, she has nothing to back up such hauteur.

  • Imperative

    Imperative

    •Nigeria must build own DNA testing capacity

    For all her posturing as Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria continues to fall behind in crucial yardsticks of development. One of the most depressing is the fact that the country is unable to carry out most of her DNA testing within her own shores; and instead has to send them to countries like the United Kingdom, the United States and South Africa, at an estimated cost of about N1 billion yearly.

    Deoxyribonucleic acid testing, better known as DNA testing, has become a crucial tool of identity management, law enforcement and public health policy. It involves the examination of human cell tissue found in blood, skin, hair, saliva or semen to  confirm paternal or maternal relationships, conclusively identify corpses, and recognize diseases long before they actually manifest.

    It is hard to over-estimate the benefits of DNA testing, especially in the area of crime-solving. When it is combined with a comprehensive regimen of fingerprint identification, DNA testing helps to establish the culpability of perpetrators of crimes like rape, murder and armed robbery, thereby increasing the probability of successful arrest and prosecution. Suspicions about the paternity of children, which have often torn families apart, can now be resolved without doubt. Vulnerable individuals can be tested for their susceptibility to certain diseases and medical conditions.

    Perhaps the clearest advantage of DNA testing is in its capacity to detect the presence of diseases like Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and avian influenza. When EVD hit Nigeria in July, DNA testing enabled the country to know the exact ramification of the problem and respond accordingly. By constantly testing those who came in contact with Ebola patients, the outbreak was restricted and ultimately contained.

    Given the obvious benefits of DNA testing to the smooth functioning of modern society, it is truly shocking that Nigeria has not done more to avail herself of its undeniable benefits. Apart from two centres sponsored by an oil company and the World Bank, most DNA testing has to be done abroad. The Nigeria Police did set up a facility as part of its efforts to revamp its forensic investigative abilities, but the laboratory was allegedly burgled and the project was discontinued.

    Apart from the police, there appears to have been little interest from the government. In spite of the continuing need to identify the victims of plane crashes, road accidents, communal disturbances and similar occurrences, the Federal Government is yet to propose any initiative aimed at setting up DNA testing centres. Private initiative is limited to acting as local representatives and collation centres for foreign DNA laboratories, with a consequent restriction in the range of services on offer.

    The main obstacle appears to be cost. A standard DNA-testing facility could cost at least N100 million; and would require continued regular funding to pay for consumables, personnel and equipment, in addition to the provision of constant power and other infrastructure.

    Doctors, policemen, lawyers and other professionals would have to undergo extensive training in order to know how to properly utilize the findings of such facilities in their work. Prevailing cultural norms, regarding family relationships, medical checkups and the handling of corpses, will have to undergo significant change.

    In spite of these challenges, however, there is little doubt that Nigeria can no longer avoid the necessity of developing her DNA testing capacity. The resolution of the EVD crisis has clearly demonstrated that the benefits far outweigh the costs.

    The incorporation of DNA testing into the investigation process could actually revolutionise current approaches to crime-solving, and help to reform an antiquated and backward-looking Nigeria Police. Medical diagnoses would become more accurate, thereby reducing costs in the long run, and enabling potential victims to adopt remedial strategies.

  • Playing god

    •Except for foreign loans, the Federal Government cannot interfere in transactions between state governments and local banks

    It is true that the downward plunge in the international price of crude oil has had very serious negative implications for Nigeria’s economy. Indeed, so critical is the situation that the crude oil price benchmark of $78 per barrel, adopted for the 2015 budget projection, has been lowered to $73 per barrel.

    Yet, it is no less true that no level of government can exonerate itself from part-responsibility for the profligacy and fiscal irresponsibility that have made Nigeria ill-prepared to absorb the shocks, resulting from dipping international oil prices.

    This is why the Federal Government’s grandstanding and ‘holier-than- thou’ attempt to hold other levels of government responsible for the unsavoury economic situation is most unhelpful, to say the least.

    The Federal Government’s latest stance in this regard is its reported directive to banks in the country to obtain the approval of the Federal Ministry of Finance before granting loans to any state government. This measure is purportedly to check alleged abuse of the money market by some state governments.

    Of course, we appreciate the responsibility of the Federal Government for the overall coordination and management of the national economy. However, the government at the centre is entirely deluded if it assumes that it has managed its own share of accruals to the national treasury with a higher degree of discipline and transparency.

    Today, the Federal Government is statutorily entitled to 56% of all revenues remitted to the Federation Account and distributable to all tiers of government. On the other hand, the 36 state governments and the 774 Local Government Councils share 44% of accruals to the Federation Account.

    The implication is that each state and local government accesses less than one per cent of funds shared from the Federation Account. Yet, neither the Federal nor most of the other levels of government can show any appreciable level of development commensurate with the quantum of funds they share at their monthly allocation jamboree.

    No level of government is, therefore, qualified to try to paint the others black as the Federal Government tries to do in this instance.  This is even more so because the Federal Government’s failure to effectively discharge its responsibility of securing the country’s oil supply pipelines has considerably worsened the economic crisis.

    Thus, despite yearly contracts worth N5.06 billion awarded to former Niger Delta militants to protect oil pipelines, the theft of the country’s crude oil continues on an astronomical scale; with the consequence of drastically reducing the funds remitted to the Federation Account.

    The revenue accruing to states thus continues to fall monthly, with many states now owing a backlog of salaries to workers. Therefore, to make it virtually impossible for states to access the money market for short-term loans for development purposes, which is the implication of the new Federal Government directive, can only inflict further injury on the national economy.

    The Federal Government’s directive to banks, as regards loans to state governments, negates the spirit of federalism. As an agency of the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Finance has no business guaranteeing domestic loans to state governments. Such powers can easily be abused in an immature and overly partisan political process like ours, with negative implications for development.

    Rather, the country’s money market should have clearly stipulated guidelines and regulatory laws for granting loans to private and public entities, including the Federal Government. The operations of the money market must be guided by the laws of supply and demand, rather than the partisan proclivities of any arm of government.

    What the emergent frightening economic scenario calls for, from all levels of government, is greater discipline, transparency and accountability in the management of public funds.

  • UNILAG’s harsh policy on new students

    SIR: The screening exercise for fresh undergraduates recently carried out by the authorities of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) left much to be desired. There is no gainsaying that the institution is an attraction to many students from within and outside the shores of the nation. It has also made its mark among the tertiary institutions in the country, which belong to the old generation.

    I am inclined to suppose that the institution enjoy to a great extent, the monopoly of deciding on the manner and pattern of conducting the process of screening fresh students offered admission. Such policy, however should consider the safety and security of the students. From the admission stage, students had to shuttle Cybercafés to access information about screening which could have been better communicated through text messages via SMS. This made many fresh students to be late for the screening exercise.

    As a concerned parent, I particularly frown at the mode of screening. The students were required to be on campus for about three weeks to carry out the exercise. This was started with completion of form online to presentation of photocopies and originals of their credentials for sighting followed by payment of relevant fees and to enrolment as the final stage.

    The exercise was faulty because none of them could be carried out without being physically present on campus. I took some of the officials up on why it was not deferred till the students resume when accommodation for them could have been secured. The answers were not encouraging: UNILAG authorities did not want to admit students with deficient results; besides, it was a way of teaching them to stand on their own. What a hard way!

    The policy of the institution provides for admission of qualified candidate with a minimum age of 16 years old. At such a juvenile age, Nigerian law does not allow that they be accommodated in a hotel as a guest. They were not even entitled to travel by air unaccompanied. UNILAG however wanted them to come for the exercise without their parents. A pertinent question one may ask is, is the school meant for only people within Lagos State?

    As my son went to some of the designated centres for the screening, I observed some hostility in the eyes of the officials. Before you blink your eyes, he was requested to present a document which he had to go back to internet to produce; before he returned they had decided to call it a day. This is the plight of almost all of them. No amount of pleading would make such student not to come back the following day for the same thing which he was not sure would be accepted.

    The policy was not friendly. Such exercise should consider the interest of those who are not resident in Lagos and who probably have no relations in the city. At best it should be carried out only at the resumption of the students. If online screening should precede the physical aspect it should be all-embracing and adequate until the students resume.

    The institution may also wish to consider approving overtime allowances for all staff who would be engaged in the exercise during screening. It looks absurd and intimidating that after a child had stood on queue for a long time, he is greeted with stern directive of come tomorrow.  And these would be from officials who would not start the day’s work until 11 am. University of Lagos should please refrain from stressing fresh students with harsh policy in future.

     

    • Andrew Adedoyin,
  • Return of Hobbes

    Return of Hobbes

    It is the era of self-help: against violence by terrorists; and impunity by the government

    Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, told the people to defend themselves from terror attacks, even if that is the fundamental and legal duty of the state.

    Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, told the people to defend themselves against brazen rights’ violation by the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, even if the Constitution compels the government to rule by law, not by arbitrary power.

    Welcome, the society of self-help: Boko Haram slays the people; the government slays their rights, even as the government fights Boko Haram.  The Nigerian citizen appears trapped between the devil (terrorists) and the deep blue sea (government)!

    Thomas Hobbes’s state of nature beckons, where life is nasty, brutish and short!  Transplanted to a modern setting, Boko Haram marks an era of acute insecurity that makes nonsense of the concept of the modern state.  Brazen abuse of citizens’ rights, in a supposed democracy, hallmarks creeping fascism.

    It is a dash into the past, on the wings of anomie, with disastrous consequences.  In any case, that appears the grave submission of the combined opinions of these two eminent Nigerian citizens.

    On November 15, Emir Sanusi, speaking at a prayer meeting, told his Kano subjects to defend themselves.  “These people, when they attack towns, they kill boys and enslave girls … People must stand resolute.  People,” he warned, apparently targeting Nigerians beyond the reach of Boko Haram violence for now, “must not assume that the crisis will not reach their area.”

    In an apparent thumbs-down for Nigerian security agencies, the Emir declared: “People must not wait for soldiers to protect them.  There are even instances where soldiers on ground ran away in the face of attack.”

    The Emir’s comment was after the November 14 terrorist bombing at the Magarsiku Filling Station at Hotoro, Kano, with casualties: six dead, five injured.

    But on November 28 Boko Haram, perhaps provoked by the Emir’s virtual call to arms, returned with a blistering attack on Friday worshippers at the Kano Central Mosque’s Jumat, where the Emir himself usually leads prayers.  The Economist, the London weekly, headlined the attack, in its story: “Banker Vs Boko: From inflation targeter [reference to Sanusi’s tenure as CBN governor] to insurgent target.”

    The casualties: no less than 130 worshippers dead; killed by suicide bombers and gunmen; and scores of others injured.  Though the Police had earlier reacted to the Emir’s earlier call for citizen self-defence as a “call to anarchy”, according to The Economist’s report, the attack on the Kano Central Mosque, perhaps targeting Sanusi himself, had justified such a call.  The state appears unable to guarantee security, as clearly compelled by Section 14(2)(B) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

    On December 3, Prof. Soyinka dismissed President Jonathan as “worse than Nebuchadnezzar”, for the fascist inclination of his presidency; and called Nigerian citizens to defend themselves against the present government’s penchant to assault citizens’ rights and subvert state institutions.

    He named two specific examples: the police invasion of the National Assembly; and shameful tear-gassing of House of Representatives members, to prevent Speaker Aminu Tambuwal from gaining access; and the destruction of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), simply because the president’s man lost its chairmanship, 16-19 votes.

    He particularly came down hard on the empty conceit of Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba: his hasty withdrawal of the Speaker’s security details; his arrogant misinterpretation of the law to justify his illegality, and his obduracy, before a parliamentary panel, of defending his rash actions — particularly the desecration of the National Assembly grounds — which not a few feel is not only lawless but brazen.

    “Let’s not beat about the bush: the line has been drawn,” the Nobelist and social critic thundered.  “The people must decide — whether to submit or resist.  We may be no-count plebeians in the sight of the new-born patricians of Aso Rock and their apologists,” he added with biting sarcasm, “but must we revert to the Abachanian status of glorified slaves?”

    Evoking the iconic Ladi as powerful symbol of people’s resistance  — Ladi, the female hunter among men who mauled Boko Haram at Mubi, Adamawa State, even after the army had melted before the Islamists — he called on Nigerians to resist the creeping fascism of President Jonathan, insisting that Nigerians would not vanquish the Abacha military dictatorship only to  succumb to Jonathan’s civilian fascism.

    “Defend yourself!” Soyinka again thundered.  “That is what the perceptive have preached and groups like the so-called [Civilian] Joint Task Force translated into action, the real heroes of the defence of the tattered Nigeria sovereignty.”

    Still, aside from Nigerians’ right to security and legal rights, the self-defence on which Sanusi and Soyinka have harped, not a few Nigerians have since made their peace with self-help  in key areas like water-supplies (public mains are rare and far-between, leaving citizens to dig own wells and make boreholes) and electricity (electricity generating sets and inverters have taken over from scandalously inefficient public power supply, despite the ballyhooed privatisation of the power sector).

    In the field of education and health, it is at best a split scorecard: citizens who have the financial muscles take charge of their own education and health needs, while only the poor tend to leave their fate to government schools and hospitals.

    How does the government justify its existence when it fails in these very basic chores?

    These are the sober posers the Sanusi-Soyinka intervention have brought to the fore.  They bring out, in bold relief, the stark failure of governance; and the gradual collapse of the state — which must bother every rational Nigerian.

    So, rather than resort to vulgar abuse on the social media as many government supporters and other misguided citizens have done, the two eminent citizens deserve praise for hitting the problem right on the head; and challenging the Jonathan government to correct its glaring lapses.

    Nigeria and Nigerians would be better for it, if it did.

  • OPEC imperiled

    •Congratulations to Madam OPEC President Alison-Madueke but no cheers

    If it had happened about a decade or so ago, the entire country would have rolled out the drums and danced into the night for an entire week, but the times have changed drastically. We speak of the election last week, of Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources as the president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.

    Though usually referred to as an election, in the real sense, it is a ceremonial appointment which is taken in turns by heads of member countries’ delegations. Delegations to OPEC’s meetings are led by each member-country’s oil minister. Last week at the 166th Meeting of the body, it was the turn of Nigeria’s head of delegation to emerge as president. Mrs. Alison-Madueke however, holds the singular honour of being the first female president of the 64-year-old OPEC, which has from inception been dominated by a powerful Arab oil bloc.

    We congratulate our elegant oil minister but at the same time, we feel sympathy for her while advising her jubilant associates and well-wishers that the occasion calls for no celebration. Doing so, we dare say, would amount to a public display of ignorance, if not buffoonery. The reasons for our assertion are easy to discern. First, OPEC which is a cartel of oil producers of non-industrialized countries has outlived its original purpose and therefore, is near-moribund.

    OPEC was founded as a counter-force to help regulate production among members in order to control world price of crude oil. It was a unified front in response to efforts by oil firms of the Western world to drive down the prices of crude oil. OPEC was effective in the 1970’s and 1980’s when two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves belonged to its members and members were responsible for about half of the world’s crude export.

    Recall the 1973 oil embargo by OPEC members against the United States and her European allies for supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur war against Syria and Egypt. The embargo had adverse effects on the US economy, leading to recession and forcing her government to initiate a series of drastic measures. Some of the outcomes of that altercation were that the US embarked on a massive reserve regime and a relentless drive to find viable alternative to fossil fuel.

    Today, the United States has enough oil reserve to power the entire world apart from her increased production. She also has a well-harnessed gas stock. But her triumph in shale fuel research is actually the real game-changer in today’s global energy politics. To understand the point, by the middle of the year, the United States transformed from a net importer of crude oil to a net exporter. In other words, she is capable of feeding most of the world with her stock of fossil fuel without broaching her gas and shale oil stock. It is reported that the United States will initially supply the world oil market with about 8mpd (million barrels per day).

    This is largely responsible for the crude oil glut in the market and the sharp fall in price. The immediate import of this is that OPEC stands damaged today; perhaps irretrievably. It is no longer a major supplier of crude – and it is becoming less valuable by the day. Saudi Arabia, the backbone of OPEC and still the largest producer, has enough deposit that she can afford to sell at a dollar a barrel. Besides, she has over the years, diversified her economy and built a very stable society and realigned her politics. OPEC would therefore have no significance to her today.

    What we are saying in essence is that OPEC, in the true sense of it, is moribund and our dear Diezani is actually presiding over a cadaver. At last week’s meeting, OPEC could not do anything about the plummeting oil prices. It is simply because she cannot.

    It is drowning countries like Nigeria that mismanaged their huge oil resources that are looking to OPEC to bail them out this on-rushing storm. Nigeria, particularly, has been outstandingly remiss; she is probably the only country among the OPEC lot that has no viable refineries and petrochemical complexes. Nigeria remains the joker among the OPEC bunch that still imports most of her petroleum product needs and – believe it or not – from non-OPEC countries.

    Our current OPEC president is not the cause of the rot but she has been spectacularly inept too since she took charge of the sector in 2011. The entire oil industry has been fractured, astoundingly corrupted and brought to a near disastrous collapse by Madam OPEC president.

    We warn that it is only logical that Nigeria stands today as imperiled as OPEC.  Yet here, we are celebrating a farce.

  • Kano bomb blasts

    •Maximum use of local intelligence, by security agencies, will help to defeat Boko Haram

    For a city that has had more than its fair share of terrorists’ onslaught, last week’s attack, by Boko Haram, on the Central Mosque in Kano during the Jumat service, speaks to the fierce urgency of collective action to bring the activities of the murderous group to an end.

    Black Friday indeed it was, when three Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) — two reportedly planted inside the mosque and the other outside — ripped through the hallowed ground of the ancient mosque, where the Emir of Kano traditionally leads the Friday prayers.

    In the end, more than 120 worshippers lay dead, with multiple scores injured. There have since emerged reports – although uncomfirmed – of residents foiling an attack by female bombers on Murtala Specialist Hospital Kano, where many of the injured were taken for treatment.

    Considering that it has been nearly five years since the Christmas Day bombing in Madallah, a suburb of Abuja, the Kano massacre immediately indicates how far the nation still has to go in its battle against the Boko Haram sect — and what little dent we have made on this murderous menace.

    Between then and now, the terrorists have grown bolder and more sophisticated; just as their capacity to inflict damage on the nation and the Nigerian military have since gone on steady rise. Inversely, the state’s capacity to deal with them appears greatly and tragically diminished.

    Today, they have somehow upped their pyschological advantage choosing, as it were, soft targets whenever and wherever it pleases them. In the course of their murderous activities, nothing is seen or held by the group as sacrosanct; schools, hospitals, churches and mosques are simply fair game in their warped vision to create their Islamic enclave.

    Ominously, the group has since gone from hit-and-run guerilla tactics, with bases in the bush, to as far as carving up strategic towns and villages as their territories.

    There have, understandably, been a lot of condemnations in the aftermath of the latest bloodbath by the maniacal group.  These condemnations are in order. Boko Haram’s ritual of shedding innocent blood deserves to be condemned by every right-thinking citizen.

    If it seems ironic that a group that describes itself as “Islamic” would not see anything wrong with mass slaughter of Muslim children as we have seen in Buni Yadi, Gujba, both in Yobe, or even the School of Hygiene in Kano among others, it seems even more unimaginable that the group would ever care to draw the line when it came to a mosque.

    Beyond the routine of angry denunciations and the resort to the blame game, however, it seems about time citizens banded together to confront the menace which threatens us all.

    It is in this context that we find the statement credited to the Emir of Kano to the effect that the attack took over two months in planning rather puzzling, if not unsettling.

    We are minded to ask: how did the revered monarch come by the information? What use did he make of them? Did he alert the security agencies when he got the information?

    If no, why not? If he did, what steps did the security agencies take to forestall its occurence? These questions are pertinent because in matters of intelligence, every piece of information is supposed to count. And to the extent that absence of critical intelligence is said to be a major issue in the current war against the insurgency, it is expected that those who have privileged information should make them available to the security agencies.

    Going forward, there are important lessons to take from the collaboration between the Civilian Joint Task Force and the Military Joint Task Force.

    While it may seem premature to conclude that the collaboration would sooner extirpate the activities of the group, there is increasing evidence to suggest that local knowledge and intelligence from the Civilian-JTF are actually helping in the war against the terrorists.

    We urge the military to work more closely with the local people in its continuing engagement with Boko Haram.

  • Diatribe against Soyinka

    SIR: Most Nigerian youths nowadays suffer from memory loss – reason why they tolerate polemicists, demagogues and proselytes to redraft history for them: of course for selfish reasons.

    I have read many a diatribe from government spokespersons, laymen and many others who love to impugn the image of the revered Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka. The professor is a major stakeholder in the Nigerian project and is in his own right to express his views, for the right reasons and, for the growth of country.

    The sage, many decades ago as a young man before the Nigerian Civil War, crossed over enemy lines at a time when others could not, to persuade Colonel Odumegwu-Ojukwu not to go to war.  He was subsequently locked up by General Yakubu Gowon because he visited the supposed adversary of the Nigerian state.

    Only a man with a genuine love for the unity of his country could do that. How many of today’s numerous pseudo-analysts named the professor a ‘traitor’ when he, (Soyinka) called the bluff of General Sani Abacha, by calling for the enthronement of democracy even when his life was in danger? How many knew how he fared when he went under during those dark days but still campaigned for democracy through international channels like CNN?

    To ask the professor to sit on the fence and play “siddon look”, when the country is in a deep hole is derisory.  Didn’t today’s beneficiaries of the rewards brought by democracy play “siddon look” at a time when men needed to be counted? Of course, they were in their comfort zones, without a care for country back in the day.

    How many of today’s numerous pseudo-analysts called the professor a quisling when he sacrificed for this country as officer in charge of the Federal Road Safety Corps suffering private economic overheads to ensure that the agency functioned without gremlins.

    How many of today’s young, bogus, experts could at the professor’s age, a moment ago, challenge the nameless cabal that tried so hard to prevent Goodluck Jonathan from ascending to the presidency after the sudden death of that good man, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua? Could they at his age have gone on those protestations? That professor was a superman before these decriers at that moment, but a reprobate now.

    He is a wrong doer, only because he expressed misgivings on the leadership style of the current president.

    That professor was not a troublemaker when he joined issues with the Nigerian military when some of their members a moment ago went wild beating up people in Lagos over the death of one of their own.

    Some have swiftly branded him an ally of the opposition but having observed this man from a distance, it is easy to deduce that he won’t spare any party his fiery bombardments, should they decide to engage in the politics of jibber-jabber.

    I do not celebrate his foibles because we all are subject to human frailties. But that said, the sum of the respected professor’s appeal is more than the sum of his weaknesses. Some positions in life come with a lot of responsibilities and that of a Nobel Laureate is no less.

     

    •Simon Abah,

    Port Harcourt.

  • Poet of merit

    •Professor Osundare should glow as this year’s NNOM recipient

    It is poetic that Niyi Osundare, who incontestably ranks among the country’s most distinguished poets and literary luminaries, will today receive the 2014 Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), a prestigious award that not only further cements his standing in the sphere of scholars but also burnishes even more his unambiguous humanism. Indeed, it is a testimony to the grand significance of the recognition that President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to perform the decoration at the Council Chambers, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    By this garland, it may not be exaggerated to anticipate that Osundare’s intellectual and artistic career could well be on the path to greater glory, especially internationally. It is instructive to note the citation by the chairman, governing board of the award, Etim Essien. He said: “Prof. Niyi Osundare, who through outstanding scholarship, researches and service to humanity in the field of humanities, has successfully carved his name in gold in the hearts of people of this nation and many nations of the world.” He also captured the awardee’s distinctive creative qualities and the fruit of his talent. Essien said: “Osundare, a poet, dramatist and an essayist, has been Nigeria’s noted nature poet of English language expression, and an accessible serious poet who sets out to engage the reader, and has made most significant contribution to the Nigerian poetic English diction.”

    The choice of Osundare for the NNOM prize this year is particularly remarkable because he is the sole awardee, in marked contrast to last year, for instance, when there were three laureates. It is worth mentioning that Osundare becomes the 58th recipient of the National Order of Merit since it was introduced in 1979.  It is noteworthy that Essien said: “The establishment of the Nigerian National Merit Award scheme, as Nigeria’s highest and most prestigious prize for outstanding intellectual and academic attainment, has encouraged a highly significant number of best Nigerian minds to seek accolades at home.”

    In the context of Osundare’s unapologetic patriotism, it is a fitting tribute that he is being celebrated so impressively locally. For an illustration of his striking love of country, it may be recalled that at a time when it was not only fashionable but also advantageous for many academics in the country’s tertiary education system to seek greener pastures abroad, specifically in the more advanced western countries, provoked by unfavourably harsh socio-economic conditions at home, Osundare was among the few who chose to stay back despite their high marketability. He rose to the position of Professor of English at the University of Ibadan in 1989; and it is a reflection of his touching humanity that his deaf daughter is the real reason he reportedly eventually settled in America as she could not attend school in Nigeria, and when the family found a school for her in the US her parents had to move to be closer to her.

    By the time he accepted a teaching and research position at the University of New Orleans in 1997, he was a well-established, internationally respected poet and winner of two well-regarded literary prizes among others, specifically, a  1986 Commonwealth Poetry Prize for The Eye of the Earth and a 1990 Noma Award for Waiting Laughters. His poetic voice has been consistently accessible, and constantly conscious of social and political circumstances, especially in his fatherland. It is relevant to note that he received the Fonlon/Nichols award for “excellence in literary creativity combined with significant contributions to Human Rights in Africa” One enlightening instance of his creative intervention in politics was his reaction to this year’s controversial Ekiti governorship election. Osundare penned a penetrating poem that went viral, with the title The People Voted their Stomach – Blues for an Arrested Renaissance.      

    Perhaps not surprisingly, for a writer who proudly defines himself as “farmer-born and peasant-bred”, 67-year-old Osundare has a reputation for disarming modesty and a laudable devotion to mentoring the teachable. Also a dramatist, literary critic, essayist and media columnist, it is to Osundare’s credit that the National Order of Merit is apparently uncorrupted by political meddlesomeness and abuse of power unlike, for instance, the country’s National Honours.