The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • The Gwoza debacle

    The Gwoza debacle

    •The hoisting of Boko Haram flag in the town reflects a new low in our anti-terror fight

    The reported seizure last Thursday of Gwoza town in Borno State by Boko Haram insurgents and its purported re-designation as an Islamic caliphate constitutes an egregious insult and assault on the integrity and sovereignty of the Nigerian state. A 52-minute video footage obtained and released by Agence France-Press last week showing the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, celebrating the capitulation of Gwoza indicates that the claim of the insurgents cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand.

    The video reportedly featured images of armed militants taking over a military base, stealing arms and ammunition, firing rocket-propelled grenades atop pick-up trucks and carrying out gruesome executions. All this is obviously part of a planned attempt to further frustrate and demoralise the Nigerian military, humiliate the Nigerian state, instil fear in Nigerians and create the impression that the religious extremists are achieving their declared objective of establishing an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

    Gwoza’s capture is another clear indication that the Nigerian state’s war against religious terrorism in the North-East is feeble and faltering. As a town that hosts a training academy for Nigeria’s elite mobile police, Gwoza should have been better fortified and protected. It is inexplicable that before seizing control of the town, the rebels had successfully attacked the police academy and looted the armoury. The batch of 159 policemen undergoing training at the time had to flee for their lives as they had reportedly been instructed to deposit all their arms in the armoury. There was, therefore, no way they could have offered any meaningful resistance to the insurgents. If a strategic security facility could be so vulnerable, the fate of civilians in the affected areas can be best imagined.

    The Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, was understandably doing his job when he defiantly asserted that the military would not allow any part of the country to be ceded to insurgents. Describing Shekau’s claims as empty, Olukolade said “The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nigerian state is still intact. Any group of Terrorists laying claim to any portion of the country will not be allowed to get away with the expression of delusion and crime”.

    This is good rhetoric. However, it is unhelpful for us to live in denial. The reality is that the Islamists’ black flag is flying over Gwoza. Beyond this, the United Nations humanitarian office had earlier this month reported that Boko Haram is in control of other areas near Gwoza in Southern Borno as well as considerable territory in neighbouring Yobe State.

    The Gwoza debacle should be a wake- up call for the Nigerian state to confront the Boko Haram menace with greater sense of purpose and urgency. We continue to have faith in the professionalism, courage and patriotism of the Nigerian military. But the root causes of the evident low morale and poor motivation among officers and troops responsible for the recent reverses the country has suffered in the war against terror must be urgently addressed. It is illogical to expect soldiers to courageously put their lives on the line for their country when they see a political leadership that engages in the most wanton and reckless acts of corruption.

    The on-going war against Boko Haram is unfortunately widely seen as another avenue for corrupt enrichment by our thieving elite to the detriment of the country’s territorial integrity.  The pathetic state of the Nigerian military is only a reflection of the sorry state of the nation. Now is the time particularly for President Goodluck Jonathan to show leadership as Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces. He must arouse the nation to confront this affront as one and instil new faith and confidence in the fighting forces. He must demonstrate that it is intolerable and unacceptable for an inch of Nigerian territory to be under an alien flag even for a second.

  • Still on Ebola

    Still on Ebola

    •In spite of hearty news, some concerns linger

    Thankfully, the anxiety that pervaded the country  when late Mr. Patrick Sawyer brought the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) into the country in July, has subsided. After some deaths and scrupulous surveillance, the authorities say we have only one case in the country, and the patient is in stable condition.

    Praise must go to the Federal Government for its collaboration with the Lagos State government to contain the disease. Special commendation also goes to the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, for mobilising the state’s institutions with those of the Federal Government in restoring hope after a frenetic month. We can only expect such intergovernmental cooperation to extend to other spheres of life.

    However, the issue has remained in the front burner of national discourse. It has brought about all kinds of requests, demands, campaign and what have you. All these are expected given the emergency that the disease represents. One of the latest issues about the disease is the demand by health care providers in the country for the Federal Government to carry them along in the current war against Ebola. Another is the postponement of the resumption by pupils in public and private primary and secondary schools across the country, currently on holiday.

    The health providers, under the aegis of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria and the Guild of Medical Directors of Nigeria bared their minds at a meeting with the health minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, and top officials of the ministry in Abuja on August 22. They also complained that the government has not provided any of their members with the protective wears used in treating the EVD patients.

    We may not agree entirely with the health providers that it is the duty of government to provide all they are asking for. For instance, as the minister noted, the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that they want are meant to be used at the Ebola isolation centres and not in the hospitals. Moreover, face masks, fresh pair of gloves for each patients; aprons; etc. that they said they need are supposed to be the standard tools that they should have been using even before the EVD became an issue in the country.

    Nonetheless, it is our view that the government still has to integrate them into its anti-Ebola war. As the health providers noted at the parley with Prof Chukwu, they are at risk probably more than even their counterparts in public hospitals.  The first case of the deadly disease, we should not forget, occurred at the First Consultants Hospital, a private hospital owned by a member of the association. Although suspected cases of Ebola still have to be referred to the appropriate quarters, patients somewhat believe that their confidentiality is better protected at the private hospitals, hence the likelihood that they would make the private clinics their first port of call. Again, because of the emergency that the disease is, government should assist the private hospitals in the special training on how to handle the disposal of hospital equipment. These are not normal times, and no amount is too much to be invested in safeguarding Nigerians against the Ebola disease.

    We commend the Federal Government for postponing schools’ resumption. Although it would seem a contradiction for the same government that says EVD has been contained in the country to also postpone schools resumption, the decision is one of the good things it has done since the outbreak of EVD. Containment does not imply elimination.

    Although many people, particularly proprietors of private schools may not be comfortable with the postponement since their income depends on school fees paid by the students, the fact is that this is not the best of times and nothing should be left to chance concerning Ebola, particularly where our young ones are concerned. They are highly vulnerable and should be well protected. The proprietors have to realise that there comes a time when people have to make sacrifice in the interest of all. This is one such moment for them.

    However, the Federal Government has to ensure that the extension of the holiday is not in vain by implementing the preventive measures it promised,   before the students resume . We should avoid being carried away by the gains we have recorded in the containment of the disease so far, as a new case has just been detected in Port harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

  • A confab of disappointment

    A confab of disappointment

    Nigerians should stand up and dissociate from the just concluded National Conference as it failed to resolve core issues bothering on the nation’s unity.

    The recommendations of the conference, which President Goodluck Jonathan said he will do all within his power to implement, will amplify gross inequality, marginalization and injustice. There will be deeper displeasure; crisis and conflict shall continue. The conference resolutions will not change anything from current pains; not even did it agree to increase the minimum wage of the working poor.  Yet politicians will continue to misappropriate and embezzle billions.

    The conference, which delegates were mostly nominated by government so raised curiosity about hidden agenda to protect status quo, cognizance of the fact that Nigeria was illegally imposed on free pre-colonial independent ethnic nations, refused on the instruction of Jonathan, to discuss whether the different ethnic nations forced to be Nigerians against their wish can and are willing to stay together as one, and on what terms.

    We hold strong the belief that all humans, ethnic nations and indigenous peoples have inalienable right to freedom and thus self-determination which grants the power to design and control their destiny. This fundamental right makes the forcing of people to live together without prior and informed consent unlawful as operational in Nigeria.

    Although the conference created the wrong impression that it recommended true federalism, it is based on false premise. There can’t be true federalism where three ethnic groups: Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo maintain that they’re the major groups while the rest are minorities and so used the conference as means to protecting about 21 out of current 36 states they have and maneuvered the recommendation for the creation of more.

    More than 90 percent of current states depend solely on oil money from Niger delta which has six states and has about 30 ethnic groups. These states are mostly composed of multi-ethnic groups against the about 21 states which are members of the tripartite ethnic groups above.  There can’t be true federalism where the conference recommends 18 additional states that are mostly non-viable and some added to the 21 states for these three groups and spread the rest around remaining 15 states.  These new states will, as usual, wait every month instead of thinking and creating more, to share oil money confiscated from mostly Niger Deltans, from so-called federation account.

    No country which seeks better future for its people can succeed by promoting laziness, dependency and not imagination, innovation and competition, while mounting unlawful and unacceptable pressure on the region the money the country depends on comes from. In proper federations, if you must eat the cake as a state and people, you must contribute to its baking by way of internal revenue generation to meet local needs and taxes to the centre for more to be available.

    We join hands with those who have advocated a return to the regional system of government, because of its positive promises, and the fact that people can refer to the era in Nigeria as when government worked well before the military struck in 1966. It’s no longer secret that the conference didn’t achieve any positive measure that will impact and alleviate the suffering of the masses of the common people who are working hard but finds it difficult to get by.  If implemented, it will boost corruption and protect stolen wealth by politicians, their families and business associates.

    There is therefore  need for all the oppressed of Nigeria to standup now, dissociate from the failed conference and demand a Sovereign National Conference which Nigerians have advocated and demanded but repeatedly overruled by the military and the political class which cherishes the cheating, and unjust status quo ante. Alternatively, the oppressed peoples or ethnic nations may fashion out ways to seek external self-determination or independence, where their call for a genuine conference that will take all of the above issues into account and resolve them based on equal representation and consent, honesty, equality and justice for all is ignored.

    • Ben Ikari,

    African Cultural and Fundamental Rights Council, AFCRC, USA

  • Debt and development

    Debt and development

    •We are gradually returning to the dark days

    The implications of the magnitude of Nigeria’s internal and domestic debt for the country’s growth and development have been of enduring public interest. This important issue was once again brought to the fore by the President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mr Chidi Ajaegbu. While condemning the current time lag as well as low level of budget implementation in Nigeria, he also strongly cautioned against the subsisting practice of funding recurrent expenditure with debt.

    In the words of the ICAN President, “The practice of funding recurrent expenditure through debt is unacceptable. It is tantamount to spending unearned income and therefore mortgaging the future by abating possible future economic development. This negative policy should be addressed urgently as it is unsustainable”.

    We identify fully with Mr Ajaegbu’s concern with the persistent defects of Nigeria’s budgetary process, particularly the management of the country’s national debt. Without a purposeful, disciplined and efficient budgetary system, the country’s national socio-economic and developmental objectives will continue to remain in abeyance.

    Of course, the incurring of national debt – internal and external – is not by itself the problem. In a situation of paucity of resources for rapid socio-economic development, debt can indeed be a viable vehicle for accelerating progress. This, however, presupposes that such borrowed funds are transparently and prudently utilised to boost infrastructure and stimulate the economy’s capacity for self-reliant development.

    Unfortunately, as has always been the case, there is hardly anything to show for Nigeria’s level of indebtedness as the country continues to witness so-called growth without development and the majority of her citizens sink steadily deeper into poverty.

    Figures recently released by the Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Dr Abraham Nwankwo, indicate Nigeria currently bears a domestic debt burden of N8.9 trillion while her external debt stock stands at $9.3 billion. According to him, the Federal Government’s external borrowing from multilateral institutions amounted to $3.826 billion while her loans from bilateral sources totalled $3.013 billion. On their part, state governments sourced $2.904 billion from multilateral institutions and obtained $108.9 billion as loans from bilateral sources. Even though, Dr Nwankwo sounded quite confident that Nigeria’s debt profile was still quite healthy since she has a favourable debt-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio of 12.5% against an acceptable global ratio of 25%, there is still need for a lot of caution. This is why we agree with his position that the country will not engage in borrowing spree without caution despite the re-based economy that has enhanced Nigeria’s capacity to borrow.

    We recall that in October 2005, a lot of fanfare attended Nigeria’s exit from the Paris Club of debtors. The country paid $12 billion upfront to have her external debt stock of $30 billion cancelled. In a nationwide broadcast on that occasion, President Olusegun Obasanjo attributed the indefensible external indebtedness to “political rascality, bad governance, abuse of office and power, criminal corruption, mismanagement and waste, misplaced priorities, fiscal indiscipline, weak control, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, and a community that was openly tolerant of corruption and other underhand and extra- legal methods of primitive accumulation”. These ills have only worsened with time, creating the strong probability that our renewed growing indebtedness will have negligible impact on national development.

    It is disturbing, for instance, that President Goodluck Jonathan is requesting the National Assembly’s approval to borrow $1 billion to fund the anti-terror war against Boko Haram even though N868.127 billion was allocated to defence in the 2014 budget. The reckless spending by public officers at all levels suggests that with greater prudence and less corruption, the country can progress with much less borrowing.

  • Still in captivity

    Still in captivity

    •More than four months after they were abducted from their school, the Chibok girls appear to have been abandoned by federal civil and military authorities

    The hope of rescuing the Chibok girls soon seems to be fading as the Defence Headquarters has ruled out plans to storm the Sambisa Forest where they are said to be kept. While the military authorities have attributed the reluctance to act to concern for the safety of the abducted secondary school girls who have been in captivity for about four months, recent development involving the morale of the fighting force seems to suggest that the state could not psyche up its men and officers to undertake the assignment.

    In denouncing reported plans of attacking the terrorists believed to be holed in the forest, the military also denied the statement credited to it that the captors and captives are in view. It could not come up with any alternative plan for effecting the release of the girls.

    It is unfortunate that the poor girls have been left with the kidnappers and every extra day they spend imperils their lives, puts their families through torture and suggests that no Nigerian is actually safe. While the whole world is aghast that so many young ones could be so abducted and driven into one forest or other location, it appears that neither the federal authorities nor the military high command thinks much of the development. Major-General Chris Olukolade who speaks for the armed forces has been quoted as saying, “As it is now, let the sleeping dog lie peacefully.”

    This may be so simple to the military top brass in the comfort of their homes and offices in Abuja, but not so with the poor people of Chibok and its environs. The parents wake up in agony everyday and could only wish and pray for the safe return of their children. Some of the parents have since died of heart attack and related ailments traceable to the heart-wrenching incident.

    It is sad that leaders at the federal level still consider contests for political offices as more important than the lives of these girls and the country’s image. Groups have started moving round the country propagating the ‘gospel’ of the President-Must-Run again. There is perhaps nothing intrinsically wrong in groups mobilised to do the job for as long as they are so convinced. What is surprising is that, at a time when the country is trying to combat enemies of the state, the President and his men in and out of uniform think campaign and jostling for power the most important thing. There are no clear-cut policies and strategies for effecting the rescue. The authorities have even ruled out making such moves.

    As a newspaper, we cannot support any policy that directly or indirectly abandons innocent children whose only sin was heeding the call of government to seek education. Any country that abandons the vulnerable and gives no hope to the innocent does not deserve patriotism and is unlikely to excite development. Nigeria has been so mismanaged by the governing elite that it is a crime to expect the people to repose confidence in her. When taken with the collapse of social structure, we are faced with a possible failure of the state and its attendant consequences.

    For as long as the Chibok girls are in captivity, the soul of Nigeria is seared and the future is bleak. We call on the federal civil and military authorities to do everything to rescue the Chibok girls now if only to assure Nigerians that they are not walking alone.

     

  • Marilyn Ogar: DSS or PDP spokesperson?

    Marilyn Ogar: DSS or PDP spokesperson?

    First saw Ms Ogar on London’s BEN Television about a couple of years ago.  I can no longer remember what it was she was pushing on BEN then, but I remember that it was a phone-in show.

    In my view, on that occasion, Ms Ogar did quite well speaking for the Department of State Security (DSS) and for Nigerian security agencies in general.  Oh, she veered off into non-answer and banalities once or twice – especially when asked tough or searching questions – and tried to pass those off as responses, but callers to the programme wouldn’t let her.  Her feet were held to the fire with robust questioning and counter arguments –the type that Bishop Mathew Kukah absolutely loathes.

    But, overall, Ms Ogar acquitted herself very well and I went away thinking here was a lady who knew her job.  However, it is a whole different Marilyn Ogar that I see on Nigerian TV stations these days: overbearing, patronising, impatient, condescending, pushy and intolerant – the quintessential overzealous civil servant who ignores the demarcation between the state and a political party.  The Marilyn Ogar I see now is full of hubris, has the penchant to sermonise and talks down to people.  She also seems to regard anyone who has a contrary view an enemy of the state.

    So it was true to form when Ms Ogar showed up on Channels TV about a couple of weeks ago bristling about lack of bombing after the APC won a governorship contest in Osun State.  Ms Ogar was literarily frothing at the mouth.  She was at her acerbic best.  Her body language was something to behold.  She was basically throwing a hissy-fit.  Initially, I was confused by her general angst.  I thought that as a spokesperson for the DSS and as a Nigerian, the lady would be glad that mad people did not bomb anywhere, but her countenance and her delivery suggested otherwise.  She sermonised that every time the APC loses an election, bombs are let off in Nigeria.

    Until Ms Ogar made this assertion, I didn’t realise that this was the case.  I didn’t even know that there had been that many electoral contests in Nigeria since Boko Haram declared war on Nigerians and began bombing us almost on a weekly basis.  As far as I could count, there have been five recent gubernatorial elections.  Of the five, the opposition won four (Osun, Anambra, Edo and Ondo) while the PDP won just Ekiti State.  So where is this link between APC electoral losses and the ongoing bombings in Nigeria?

    Ms Ogar then went on to claim that a political party tried to make her organisation an offer prior to the election to influence its outcome.  Incredibly, there the story ended.

    Trying to unduly influence electoral outcome is an offence under our laws.  Is Ms Ogar content to just let this slide?  Should serious security matters be politicised like this – especially by a civil servant?

    Quite palpable was the distaste on Ms Ogar’s face as she discussed APC’s victory in Osun.  Clearly, the fact that there was no bombings post election was added merely for effect to make a larger point, to wit: how dare these people win this election?  I do not know how and why a civil servant employed by the Nigerian state would be so unhappy about a local election outcome – unless Ms Ogar also doubles as a PDP spokesperson.

    Nigeria’s unsavoury past is littered with governments using security agencies to fight the opposition.  Remember the IBB regime and its parcel bomb?  Abacha and his killer squad?  Since then it has become fashionable for overly ambitious and ubiquitous civil servants to overreach themselves.

    This is why Ms Ogar is quite happy to tell Nigerians who should be and who shouldn’t be at electoral events due to their state of origin.  A public relations person for the DSS is ready to redefine how electioneering should be conducted in Nigeria.  You see how some people take themselves too seriously?

    Back in July, Ms. Ogar labeled ‘BringBackOurGirls’ campaigners a franchise (meaning that they belong to a bigger organisation).  She also claimed they were carrying out smear campaigns against government officials.  Again, no proof, no facts, no evidence.

    The DSS is supposed to be one of our most discreet intelligence agencies, unfortunately now, it is its own PR person that is hanging a shabby image around the agency’s neck.

    There’s no gain-saying it: Ms Ogar has become the news.  She has been very unprofessional in the discharge of her duties.  She’s courted too many controversies and there have been too many instances of lack of decorum and lack of discretion.  What is on show is just plain recklessness, and frankly, I’m embarrassed for her.  She misuses information that may or may not be in the possession of the DSS.  Furthermore, the line between serving the state and serving a political party has been completely erased in her mind.  She needs help, she needs a break.

    • Michael Egbejumi-David,

    demdem@hotmail.co.uk 

     

  • Drain pipe

    Drain pipe

    •Demand for 0.5% of budget to fund political parties is outrageous

    A bizarre demand was made by the political parties at a workshop on the “Role and Responsibilities of Political Party Agents on Election Day”, which drew participants from registered political parties in the country, on August 4. The demand was for 0.5 percent of the nation’s annual budget to allow them “function effectively”. Making the demand at the three-day Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in collaboration with the Democratic Governance for Development Project (DGD) the Chairman, Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC), Dr. Tanko Yunusa, called on the National Assembly to set aside 0.5 percent of annual budget to fund the registered political parties.

    We know the issue of funding of political parties has always remained contentious, and rightly so. Without doubt, political parties, like most other things in life, require funding to be able to play their role in society effectively. Part of the reasons advanced by proponents of government funding of political parties is to ensure that no party is denied the opportunity of marketing itself on account of its inability to raise funds. Moreover, they believe that funding from government would prevent the situation where money bags would hijack the parties. A third reason, which is no less important, is the fear of some external bodies being the sponsors of political parties in the country. This has its implications for the polity.

    Perhaps these explain why our governments in the past funded the political parties. Indeed, the 1979 Constitution specifically provided for government funding of the political parties. The Babangida administration even went a step further by not only making funds available for the two political parties that it decreed into existence, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC), it also built the party secretariats.

    However, such a position would be difficult to sustain today. Indeed, since the introduction of free largesse for any group of politicians who “formed” political parties, the number of political parties in Nigeria has grown significantly to 50. This has only been pruned to about 26, with some of them operating from barbers’ shops under fake party officials with dubious spread in the country, just to collect party funding after which they fizzle out before elections. Many of them just make noise in the media. It has been such a massive fraud! Those in support of the existence of mushroom parties argue that government funding would enable all viable and unviable parties to propagate their ideas.

    But we are yet to see which ideals have been propagated and how effectively they have performed, with many of these parties usually scoring between zero and a limit of one digit in ward elections and an annoying woeful performance at the local government and state levels. Many of them have not a single candidate either in the state assemblies or National Assembly to justify being called political parties.

    Those who want to float political parties must have been sure of their capability to adequately fund the parties through their members’ contributions because the members must buy into their political parties.

    Happily enough, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has refused to fund political parties, whether registered or unregistered. So, let every political party take care of its finances without being a burden to the national purse. It is important to remind those calling for funding of political parties which are only on paper that we already have enough drain pipes in the country, mostly through corruption of various descriptions. Calling for government funding of political parties in order to appropriate funds into private pockets without anything to show in terms of good results at any election is an unwholesome addition to our drain pipes.

    We don’t need more of this criminal wastage of public funds that could have been put to more productive use. What we need to do is monitor the expenses of the political parties to ensure they do not go beyond tolerable limits within the purse of their respective members.

     

  • Wrong fall guy

    Wrong fall guy

    •It is good news that doctors’ strike is over, but FG shouldn’t have blamed media for its blunder in sacking the doctors

    It is just as well that doctors in the country have suspended their 55-day-old strike action. The umbrella body of the doctors, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) said it had to call off the strike on Sunday, following appeals from well-meaning Nigerians and in view of the medical emergency caused by the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) brought into Nigeria by the late American-Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, on July 20.

    The suspension of the strike was a big relief as many government hospitals were deserted during the strike, with the attendant loss of lives that usually accompany such doctors’ strike.

    We welcome the doctors’ decision, but we don’t praise them. They did not call off the strike to heed the sublime philosophy of their Hippocratic oath, but because they had lost anything that was left of their moral purpose. It was a desperate surrender as face-saving, rather than a noble gesture.

    But, while the issues that led to the strike are themselves important, government’s handling of it, particularly the alleged sacking of the resident doctors under the aegis of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), an affiliate of the NMA, (which government later denied), is equally germane.

    The Federal Government has denied sacking the doctors, saying that it was the journalists that misrepresented its position. According to the government, it suspended residency but did not sack the resident doctors. We find this denial quite ridiculous. Suspension and dismissal are two different things entirely.

    Yet, in a memo dated August 13, the government had explained that it had no choice but to take that course of action having “considered recent developments in the heath sector.” Indeed, a circular by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr. L.N. Awute, to all Chief Medical Directors and medical directors in public hospitals put it bluntly, “The honourable minister has directed that you issue letters of termination of Residency Training appointment to the affected Resident Doctors in your hospital immediately.’’ Awute added that the development was “for the purposes of appraising the challenges in the health sector”.

    Quite naturally, the so-called sacking of about 16,000 doctors attracted widespread criticisms in a country suffering from an acute shortage of medical doctors. Whilst NARD said the sack was unfortunate and provocative, NMA’s national president, Dr Kayode Obembe, warned the affected doctors not to collect any sack letter or sign any register opened in any hospital. “For the avoidance of doubt, no doctor, no matter how hungry, should pick up any locum appointment with the government hospitals as directed by the circular. Any doctor who flouts this directive does so at his or her own peril,” Obembe added.

    The government apparently got overwhelmed by the deluge of criticisms of its sacking of its doctors and was looking for a fall guy, hence, its belated change of mind that it suspended, rather than sacked the doctors.

    This sad development is the result of yet another ill-digested policy pronouncement. If indeed, the government had not meant to sack the doctors, why did it take such a long time for it to react to news reports that the doctors had been sacked? The circular by Awute was issued on August 13, why did the government wait till August 20 to refute the story or put it in perspective, as the case may be? Clearly, the volte face was an after-thought and the government should have been honest enough to admit its blunder rather than blame it on ‘change in vocabulary’ caused by the media.

    All said, the strike has come and gone, but we hope the lessons have been learnt. There are some points in the doctors’ demands, especially those having to do with the issue of funding of the health sector and upgrading of facilities in our hospitals, welfare of the doctors, etc. But there are some of the demands too that make no sense. For instance, we do not know why nurses, pharmacists and other personnel in the health sector cannot aspire to the highest echelons of their respective professions or become consultants. We do not think there has ever been any issue as to where the ultimate power lies in the sector; so, the fear of such people taking over the functions of doctors does not arise.

     

  • If money could buy light …

    If money could buy light …

    •A rash of funds for the power sector, yet consumers reap darkness

    IF Nigeria’s power sector were ailed only by funding constraints, the country would probably have been brightly lit up from east to west and north to south. But money could not be the issue as billions of dollars have been ‘poured’ into the quest to power Nigeria properly in the past one decade to no avail. The Olusegun Obasanjo era of 1999 to 2007 reportedly disbursed about $12 billion. Subsequent governments till date must have shovelled in a lot of money too, yet the sector seems to be even more distressed now than ever before.

    Last November, the Federal Government divested its interest from most of the generation and distribution facilities across the country, allowing private investors to take controlling stakes in them. But it was a move many see as mere parcelling out of state assets to cronies and ruling party stalwarts. Such skeptics are being proved right as the new owners have so far failed to make serious financial commitments that would have the plants running better. Nigerians still live in near perpetual darkness while the only thing that seems to ‘improve’ is power tariff.

    The more effort government seemingly makes, the more everything seems to come to naught. A slew of power-generating plants and transmission units have been brought on stream, yet there have been no significant improvements in energy delivery to the consumer across the country. Generators still hold sway for the better part of the day. This is despite the fact that in 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan had boasted that before the end of 2013, most Nigerians would have had to discard their generator sets as they won’t have need for them any longer. But power condition today is no better than it was a decade ago. Indeed, power generation still hovers around 3, 000 megawatts when over 10,000 was to have been achieved going by the government’s power roadmap.

    Two little devils seem to dwell in and derail even some modest gains of the government. Some gas-powered generation plants have been completed and would have added a few thousands of megawatts to the pool but channelling gas to these plants has been the new albatross. This of course betokens a lack of thought and planning. Why would anyone build a gas-fired plant without simultaneously taking into consideration, the gas facilities; and to think that Nigeria flares 1.5 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (bscf)? Yet again, some new plants are belching out wattage of energy but it cannot be evacuated into the national grid because transmission capacity is stumped. Again, a paucity of thought and planning.

    Now, there is a newly put-together National Council on Power (NACOP); a new power bureaucracy at best and it seeks a budget of N160 billion to be set aside yearly, solely for funding the still government-held Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). Rising from a conference in Abuja, the council seems to have concluded that funding, huge funding is the trouble with Nigeria’s power sector, particularly as applies to transmission. According to it, “Until such a time that a cost-reflective tariff is established and 90 per cent or greater of annual earned market revenue is received, it should be ensured that annual funding provided for the TCN from the market, appropriations sources, is not less than N160 billion, with 75 per cent of the fund earmarked for capital expenditure.”

    We must remind once again that funding is not the first trouble with our power sector, thus the overly emphasis on it will take us nowhere. Second, TCN is still a government agency and ensconced under the umbrella of the council will surely ‘cancel’ the gains made by the TCN so far and we will lapse once again to the days of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). We dare to suggest that the ‘currency’ that is most scarce in Nigeria’s power matrix today is good faith. Are we true to the cause?

  • Chad to the rescue

    Chad to the rescue

    •That Chadian forces rescued Nigerians kidnapped by Boko Haram is a wake-up call on Nigerian authorities

    Reports that the Chadian military authorities had rescued about 85 of the 100 Nigerians abducted in Dogon Baga, Borno State, is an indication that international collaboration between Nigeria and her neighbours is indeed essential in the effort to curb the Boko Haram insurgency. The men, women and children had been abducted in a daring attack on August 10, and an attempt was made to ferry them across the Lake Chad before Chadian troops engaged the insurgents in a gun battle, overpowered them and made the rescue.

    It is expected that the plan to have an anti-terrorism military formation put together by the authorities in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroun would, as we had pointed out in an editorial, help to curb the menace.

    It is however unfortunate that as the Nigerian Islamic militants are becoming increasingly audacious, abducting innocent and vulnerable Nigerians at will, other countries appear to have the right attitude and solution to the problem. When the insurgents made a similar move in Cameroun, they were not only overpowered, the captive was rescued by  Cameroun’s soldiers. The more than 200 Chibok school girls kidnapped by the sect in April are still held captive with no one knowing their whereabouts and the military apparently at a loss on how to curb the growing militancy.

    Last week, the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, announced that his men had taken over the Gwoza area of the troubled Borno State and had declared it an Islamic Caliphate. A video released to justify the operation showed the men patrolling the streets and shooting sporadically. And, to drive home the point, a Mobile Police Training School located in the town was sacked and about 35 officers and men of the academy are still missing. This has led the police authorities to review security around its formations and soldiers could be drafted to take over such functions.

    One major consequence of these subversive activities is the low morale of men and officers of the armed forces drafted to combat the insurgents. The ease with which they are displaced and sacked, and their men killed has led to dread of the Boko Haram terrorists. Nigerian troops now reject postings to  areas where the insurgents appear strong and those who report refuse orders to confront the deadly men. Their wives have joined the fray, calling on the leadership of the military to spare their husbands such postings. These are indeed dangerous and could further encourage insubordination and the weakening of the coercive powers of the state.

    A major index of a failing state is the inability to enforce law and discipline. Nigeria is sliding into such a category and that could be tragic not only for the people of the affected states, but the entire country. A country that fails to secure the lives of its citizens and its territorial integrity could easily be overrun by external aggressors. It is even more disturbing that this crisis is heightening a few months to the next general elections.

    The body language of President Goodluck Jonathan suggests that he would soon declare his bid for another term of office and that could shoot up the country’s political temperature. Other political parties, in obedience to a detailed time table to be released soon by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would compel all contenders for power at the federal and state levels to go to the field, calling up all available weapons.

    We call on the military authorities to brace up to the challenge, effect a thorough review of strategies and boost the morale of the fighting men. The battle is not only to defeat Boko Haram, but prove to the world that the Nigerian State is solid and her territory inviolable.