The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • National security

    National security

    IN recent times, the daunting task facing Nigeria is how to mitigate her daunting security challenges. All through year 2013 and the preceding years, the nation was plagued by horrendous aggression of inconceivable proportion, emanating predominantly from, but not exclusive to the attacks of the Boko Haram Islamic sect. The obviously inhuman security affront on the nation by members of the sect, kidnappers, armed robbers and people who engage in illegal oil bunkering seem to make inevitable in the New Year, a new official approach from the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. Past efforts by government seemed to have been inadequate.

    President Jonathan must see this year as one in which the country’s security problems have to be solved. And the solution lies not in mere rhetoric but in embarking on actions that would bring about pragmatic results. At the moment, Nigerians are tired of the eerie air of insecurity, whether in the north east or in other parts of the country. Whatever laudable goals the government might have on paper is only attainable if there is peace in the nation. Secured domestic as well as external environments are critical tools for global investment drive. Nigeria’s government cannot pretend not to be aware of this indubitable fact.

    The nation was in the news mostly for the wrong reasons last year. The criminal terrorist activities of Boko Haram attracted widespread global attention. Boko Haram’s inhuman afflictions have, without doubt, become externalised because of the sect’s linkage with the deadly Al’Qaeda sect. Therefore, President Jonathan must not only be thinking globally in terms of getting assistance overseas but more importantly, he should put all necessary security checks in place within. We believe that charity begins at home; the need for a complete overhaul of the nation’s intelligence network has become inevitable. The notorious sect succeeded in most of its attacks because of poor intelligence gathering network in the country.

    Moreover, we call on President Jonathan to quickly stop the misuse of the police institution across the federation to achieve selfish political ends. What we regard as classical example in this regard is the illegal use to which the police have been deployed in Rivers State, for instance. So far, the Federal Government has failed to convince Nigerians that their country is safe.

    The failure of government to guarantee security in the nation is a loud breach of one of the fundamental provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) on the responsibility of government to the citizenry. The constitution, in section 14(2b) provides: ‘The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.’ This onerous provision has not been complied with by the government, even when nearly one-third of last year’s Federal Government budget was devoted to defence and security. Today, only a handful of privileged Nigerians essentially feel safe because the impact of the money is not felt by the generality of the people.

    This year, the government should work out a programme that would see that the nation’s intelligence personnel are retrained at intervals in foreign countries with desired expertise so as to equip them with contemporary intelligence gathering techniques for better results now and in the future.

    The police especially, and other security institutions need to be properly funded so that they could be better prepared for the task of securing the nation’s territory and the citizenry. All these are necessary in 2014 because, without peace and security, there can be no long-term development and without sustainable development, there can be no long-term security.

  • Inequitable formula

    Inequitable formula

    THE delay in presenting recommendations of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to the President for transmission to the National Assembly has been blamed on the reluctance of President Goodluck Jonathan to fulfill this constitutional obligation. Since the inauguration of the Fourth Republic, there has been agitation for a wholesale review of the current formula which almost all stakeholders have described as inequitable.

    However, the formula that allocates more than half of the national wealth to the Federal Government has remained in operation since it was imposed in 1992 by the Babangida Administration. In view of the reality of military rule then, and in conformity with the central command structure of the armed forces, the Babangida government saw nothing wrong with reserving for itself such inequitable portion of the national wealth.

    Babangida’s successor, the late General Sani Abacha, simply kept faith with the distribution formula. The same mindset informed the provisions in the 1999 Constitution. Section 162 (2) provides that: “The President, upon the receipt of advice from the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, shall table before the National Assembly proposals for revenue allocation from the Federation Account…”

    It is difficult to understand why President Jonathan is reluctant to give effect to this section. Despite being informed that the RMAFC was ready to present him with its recommendations, the Presidency is said to be unwilling to grant it audience. This is unfortunate, especially as it has become a pattern with the Jonathan Presidency. He has failed to rise up to the duty of containing the fire in Rivers State where the political institutions run the risk of subversion. He has adopted the hear-no-evil, do-nothing attitude.

    The Third Schedule Part 1 Paragraph 32 of the same Constitution recognises that the country is dynamic and suggests a review within five-year bounds. But, for more than 20 years, the commission has been reduced to merely fixing the remunerations of public officials. All efforts to effect changes in view of “current realities” since 2002 have been thwarted by the Presidency and the National Assembly. The only minor adjustment effected so far was in 2002 to bring the formula in conformity with the Supreme Court verdict on the resource control suit filed by the Federal Government. The President came up with a Modification Order in May 2002, amended in July 2002, and January 2004, respectively.

    In place of the current formula, the governors have proposed a review of the powers and responsibilities of the federal and state governments. The Nigerian Governors Forum, in 2011, proposed that the Federal Government should have not more than 35%; states 42%; and local governments, 23%. This contrasts with the operating formula that distributes the national revenue thus: Federal Government 52.68%, while the states receive a share of 26.72% and local government areas receive 20.6%.

    We recommend that in the spirit of the on-going review of the constitution, the role of the RMAFC should be upgraded from advisory to executive. Recommendations from the commission need not go through the President to the National Assembly. Since the laws of the land accommodate Private Members’ Bills, there is no reason why the commission should not be permitted to direct its technical input to revenue sharing among the three tiers of government directly to the legislature. Besides, the five-year review band should be made mandatory. Even where the commission comes to the conclusion that the existing formula is adequate, it should make the submission in writing to both Houses of the National Assembly.

    We call on both the President and the lawmakers to wake up to their responsibilities and endorse an equitable revenue formula for the country.

  • Fitful progress in the antismoking wars

    Fitful progress in the antismoking wars

    Fifty years ago last Saturday, on Jan. 11, 1964, a myth-shattering surgeon general’s report on smoking and health brushed aside years of obfuscation by tobacco companies and asserted, based on 7,000 scientific articles, that smoking caused lung cancer and was linked to other serious diseases. Those findings expanded as more data was gathered.

    Research since then has shown that tobacco can cause or exacerbate a wide range of diseases, including heart disease, stroke, multiple kinds of cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, asthma and diabetes, and can injure nonsmokers who breathe in the toxic fumes secondhand. The death toll from tobacco remains stubbornly high but can be driven down by using a range of new and proven tactics.

    By some measures, the 50-year campaign to rein in tobacco use has been an enormous success. The percentage of American adults who smoke dropped from 42 percent in 1965 to 18 percent in 2012. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week estimated that tobacco control measures adopted since 1964 have saved eight million Americans from premature death and extended their lives by an average of almost 20 years.

    Experts attribute the gains to vigorous campaigns to educate people about the dangers of smoking; increases in cigarette taxes; state and local laws that protect half the nation’s population from tobacco fumes in workplaces, bars and restaurants; restrictions on advertising; prohibition of sales to minors; and various prevention and cessation programs financed by states or private insurance.

    Despite these gains, nearly 44 million American adults still smoke, more than 440,000 Americans die every year from smoking, and eight million Americans live with at least one serious chronic disease from smoking. Medical costs connected to smoking are nearly $96 billion a year, with an additional $97 billion lost in productivity because of illness.

    On Wednesday, several health organizations, including the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids called for a new national commitment to drive smoking among adults down to less than 10 percent over the next decade; protect all Americans from secondhand smoke within five years by having every state enact laws against smoking in all workplaces, bars and restaurants; and ultimately eliminate death and disease caused by tobacco.

    It won’t be easy. The tobacco industry spends more than $8 billion a year to market cigarettes and other tobacco products in this country, with much of its marketing slyly aimed at young people.

    The industry is also invading foreign markets, often in less developed countries, in an effort to make addicts of millions more customers to replace those in industrialized nations. Although smoking rates among adults around the globe have fallen sharply since 1980, the number of smokers has increased significantly along with population growth and will continue to increase as national incomes and populations rise. The United States government must help counter the tobacco industry’s efforts to spread its noxious products around the world.

    New York Times

  • The sacrilege in Rivers

    The sacrilege in Rivers

    Those who bombed courts in the state have gone beyond the limits and should be fished out and punished

    The bombing and burning of two courts, respectively, in Rivers State last week is ominous, and those responsible for this degeneration to anarchy in the state must stop on their track. Importantly, the full arsenal of our country as a modern state must be marshalled to duty, to stop this descent into anarchy in the state and also to bring to justice the perpetrators of this dastardly act. Let nobody be fooled, the resort to bombing and burning of the very hallowed chambers of the temple of justice which is designed in any modern society, to arbitrate centrifugal forces of partisanship in governance, is akin to unsettling the very equilibrium on which the society stands.

    We commend the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for its timely condemnation of this brazen desecration of the judiciary, and recommend that it unflinchingly follows up its demand from the security agencies of the Federal Government. The demand that the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Inspector-General of Police should fish out the perpetrators of this crime within the next 30 days should be insisted on by all Nigerians. As the lawyers stated, the Nigerian people will not accept a lackadaisical investigation of this heinous crime, or the police tendency to keep this serious criminal infraction against the state under investigation for eternity.

    It is also very important that an independent enquiry, independent of the state police command, which is in a running battle with the state governor, be given this responsibility. As we have severally argued, it is important that the ongoing madness in Rivers State be stopped. It is a crying shame that for whatever reasons political partisanship is fingered as the root cause of this breach of national security. There is therefore the urgent need for President Goodluck Jonathan who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the chief security officer of the country to transparently extricate himself, his wife, his minister of state for education and his party from the partisan interests alleged by the governor and his group to be at the root of the crisis in the state.

    In investigating this clearly unacceptable descent into impunity, the police should beam their searchlight on the claim by the Rivers State government that the courts were burnt down by those opposed to the interim injunction granted by the courts in favour of Amachree Otelemaba as the legitimate speaker of the state house of assembly. According to that allegation, the courts were burnt by elements beholden to the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, and the illegitimate surrogate speaker, Evans Bipi; fighting a proxy war on behalf of the wife of President Jonathan. We urge the police to thoroughly investigate this lead that the destruction was carried out to frustrate the courts’ adjudication of the impasse in the state assembly.

    We also urge Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the political leadership in the state, to show clearly that they are above the allegation by the opposition in the state, that they are responsible for this willful desecration of the third arm of the tripod in the state. In investigating this criminality visited on the courts, the police should spare no leads, but must ensure that they do not fall into the advancement of partisan interests against their constitutional responsibility to protect the state. Unfortunately, the current leadership of the police in the state has been so embroiled in a tug-of-war with the state government such that it will be against the principles of natural justice to expect them to be neutral in their investigation, which is very embarrassing for the institution of police.

    Unfortunately too, in our distorted federation, the governor of a state merely answers the chief security officer, when in fact he is not effectively in charge of the security apparatus of the state. So, the responsibility of ensuring that this criminal infraction against Rivers State and the constitution of our country lies with President Jonathan and the federal authorities, and it is important that they discharge that responsibility vigorously. As we have stated severally, it is important for our democracy that President Jonathan should rise above the fray in Rivers State politics, to ensure that the culprits behind the desecration of the courts are brought to justice in the overall interest of our country. Let no one make any mistake about the repercussions of neglecting the arson and assault on the temple of justice in Rivers State, for that will amount to playing the ostrich, when the national edifice is on the brink.

  • Rescued refugees

    Rescued refugees

    A country which responds promptly when its citizens abroad are in need is a nation indeed. Nigeria’s efficient evacuation of some 1,200 of its nationals stranded in the strife-torn Central African Republic (CAR) is a commendable demonstration of national effectiveness.

    Working in close association with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), as well as the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence, the Federal Government rescued men, women and children who had been stranded in the central African nation. They were airlifted to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, where their details were taken and were provided with relief materials and medical assistance. Several state governments have undertaken to convey their indigenes to their states of origin.

    This is as it should be. No nation worth its salt will stand by while its citizens are in harm’s way, regardless of where they may be or what the circumstances are. In the past, Nigerian governments have been slow to respond effectively in similar situations, even when it was clear that other countries were evacuating their own citizens. Such tardiness has resulted in the needless death and suffering of Nigerians whose only crime was to reside outside their homeland.

    Although the rapid evacuation of Nigerians from the CAR is commendable, the Federal Government must move beyond treating symptoms to addressing root causes. Why are Nigerians so thoroughly dispersed across the world, including in countries that would not normally be considered attractive destinations from a Nigerian standpoint? Even while making allowance for the famously peripatetic nature of the average Nigerian, it is obvious that many of these emigrants feel compelled to seek greener pastures because of the perceived lack of opportunity at home.

    Such deficiencies can be seen in the unacceptably high rates of unemployment, especially among the youth, and rampant infrastructural shortcomings, particularly in roads, electricity and potable water. A host of increasingly intractable security challenges within the country have also contributed to the continuing exodus of Nigerians. Thus, they can be found all over the continent, often in menial employment and always vulnerable to ill-treatment in times of instability or crisis.

    The loss of valuable human resources to other nations is a problem that the Jonathan administration should seek to seriously address. The energy expended on rescuing Nigerians stranded abroad would be better utilised in ensuring that they are able to fulfill their hopes and dreams at home. Fortunately, the country is wealthy enough to create an enabling environment in which all Nigerians can maximise their potential: what is needed is the political will to fashion out the policies that will bring this about.

    Expediting home-grown development is all the more imperative given the fact that the African continent is going through particularly turbulent times. Apart from the troubles in the CAR, there are crises in Somalia, South Sudan, Congo Democratic Republic, Mali and Egypt. Coming five decades after the attainment of political independence, such widespread instability is testimony to the relative ineffectiveness of regional and continental bodies like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU), to ensure the peaceful resolution of disputes.

    The nations that make up the continent are fractured along ethnic, religious, linguistic and other lines. These fissures are aggravated by the inordinate desire of many of Africa’s leaders to hang on to power, even when it is clear that they have outlived their use. The scarce resources which should be ploughed into development projects are spent on arms which are used to repress the citizenry.

    Nigeria has an important role to play in the maintenance of peace and security in Africa, but the effectiveness of that role should be predicated upon the creation of a society that its own citizens do not feel compelled to flee from.

  • Pathetic plight

    Pathetic plight

    If the report in this paper on January 6 is anything to go by, the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was not only unfair to Nigerians, it was also unfair to its own. According to that report, Mujeeb Olayiwola Shokunbi, a former employee of the company was abandoned by it despite the fact that he fell off a pole in the line of duty a little over two years ago.

    Shokunbi tells the story better: “I was a staff of the extinct PHCN. I was on official duty on June 2, 2011 when I fell off an 11KV high-tension cable pole. I sustained a spinal cord injury from the fall. As a result, I lost the use of my upper and lower limbs. I was admitted at the National Orthopaedic Hospital (NOH), Division of Clinical Services with No 568009 for treatment, but up till date, instead of any sign of improvement, my health has been deteriorating”.

    Now, there is no controversy over whether Shokunbi was a member of staff of PHCN. There is also no controversy as to whether he sustained the injury while on official assignment. These much could be deduced from the response of Mr Godwin Idemudia, the Assistant General Manager (AGM) and Public Relations Officer (PRO), Eko Zone of Eko Electricity Distribution Company, who, according to this paper’s report merely said that Shokunbi’s matter “has been referred to NELMO in Abuja – the body set up by the Federal Government to manage the assets and liabilities of the defunct PHCN. Even his family knows that.” Moreover, Shokunbi’s appointment was only terminated in October, last year, alongside those of other PHCN staff, as part of its winding down process, and that was about 28 months after the accident.

    Mr Shokunbi’s response to Mr Idemudia’s statement is that it was not a true reflection of what actually happened. “What the AGM, PRO told you is a lie. When we contacted him, we were told to write a letter to the then MD, PHCN, Eko Zone, Oladele Amoda, an engineer. Till date, they did not give us any response. And I have since remained in this state while watching my legs get thinner by the day.”

    We can understand Shokunbi’s plight. For someone in his kind of situation, what matters is getting assistance and not passing of files or exchange of letters. This is a matter that occurred about 31 months ago; long before the government closed the chapter on the PHCN. How, therefore, could the matter have been referred to NELMO? Obviously, the Eko Zone of Eko Electricity Distribution Company does not want to accept liability for Mr Shokunbi’s treatment. And that may be understood, given the fact that it was not his employer when the accident occurred.

    If PHCN had insured its staff, especially the technical and other employees who may be exposed to occupational hazards, the insurance company would have taken responsibility for the treatment. Obviously, the PHCN must have seen itself as a magnanimous institution for paying Mr Shokunbi’s salaries for over two years when he was not working.

    We understand that our report on the matter has rekindled interest in it. We can only hope this would be followed to a logical conclusion so that the young man can still be something in life.

    Beyond that however, there is a need for agencies responsible for workers’ welfare in the country to be alive to their responsibilities. Nigerian workers are not oranges that their peels are thrown away after sucking the juice. Mr Shokunbi was only lucky to have his case highlighted; there are many others who are suffering in silence over similar accidents. They should be assisted to find succour in the Workmen Compensation Act.

  • The Common Man takes on India’s elite

    The Common Man takes on India’s elite

    A general election in India, the world’s largest democracy, is always remarkable to behold – and this year more than ever. This is not just because India now has nearly 800m eligible voters, an electorate more than double the entire population of the US. It is also because India is heading for one of its most uncertain national polls in decades, one set to be dominated by public anger over cronyism in government and the country’s appalling public services.

    For the past 10 years, India has been ruled by the Congress party, the centrist reference point of India’s democracy. But under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress has become mired in corruption scandals and lacklustre economic management. For months, the assumption has been that the man to beat in poll, which must take place by May, will be Narendra Modi, prime ministerial candidate for the Bharatiya Janata party, India’s Hindu nationalist opposition. He presents himself as a new strongman of Indian politics, one who would run India as effectively as he has run his home state of Gujarat.

    However, victory for “the Lion of Gujarat” is not completely guaranteed. In recent weeks there has been an unexpectedly strong showing by the Aam Aadmi – or Common Man – party, an anti corruption movement. Its stunning performance in state assembly elections in New Delhi has led pollsters to wonder whether the AAP might ultimately block Mr Modi’s chances of forming a government. It is too early to know for sure. But the sudden emergence centre stage of a political party formed just one year ago signals how much the Indian middle class wants the status quo to change.

    If India’s voters are angry, much of this is directed at Congress and the out-of-touch Gandhi dynasty. Manmohan Singh is an erudite and morally upright figure. But in recent years he has been appallingly passive in the face of rampant corruption inside his government. Rahul Gandhi, now the most likely prime minister candidate for Congress, is nowhere near demonstrating the political energy needed for the job.

    India’s voters are also incensed about the state of the economy. India’s once vibrant growth rate has fallen by half in recent years to 5 per cent per annum. Some 10m Indians enter the workforce each year with little hope of a job. Widespread fury over the dire state of infrastructure and services is one of the main reasons why the Common Man party is surging.

    But despite that success, the big question at this election is whether Mr Modi will be the man to capitalise on public dissatisfaction. He remains the central figure in Indian politics, the one dominating the national conversation. His appeal has much to do with his economic success in Gujarat, which has seen GDP growth of about 10 per cent a year since he came to office in 2001 (higher than India as a whole). His supporters say that record of success can now be exported across India.

    Yet huge questions hang over Mr Modi. First and foremost is the pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat that happened on his watch in 2002. He has not been found guilty of any crime but has rarely shown any remorse for it. There are, moreover, real doubts about whether he can be an effective leader at a national level, given his reputation as an autocratic loner who rarely delegates.

    India needs a leader who will give the country a new direction, build public confidence and sweep out corruption. But it is a complex and heterogeneous country of 28 states and needs a prime minister who can also unify the nation. Indians may be tired of the passive figure of Mr Singh and have an unclear picture of what Congress now stands for. But Mr Modi must prove in the coming campaign that he has a vision for India beyond aggressive Hindu nationalism.

    – Financial Times

  • Fashola’s homily

    Fashola’s homily

    The recent Lagos State 2014 Annual Thanksgiving service held at the State House, Ikeja, Lagos, afforded Governor Babatunde Fashola an opportunity to deliver an electoral homily. The governor gave a sermon on the need for Nigerians to eschew violence in future elections. Fashola hinged his decision to speak on the topic on the fact that elections ‘have become a major prayer point in the last few days heralding a new year because many are afraid’ of the impending doom should any ruling government try to rig the elections.

    Fashola went reflective on the peaceful conduct of the elections that brought him to power, first in 2007 and during his re-election bid in 2011. But of particular interest to us was his admonition that the military should, under no circumstances, be deployed for next year’s general elections.

    In his nostalgic presentation: ‘The 2007 and 2011 elections that l contested were like carnivals because there was relative peace. Elections must be devoid of violence and fear to make it possible for our children, who are up to the voting age, to participate. Why should we deploy soldiers everywhere because we are going to vote?’

    We agree with the governor that periodic elections should be moments to savour, and to make informed decisions and choices. But the do-or-die politics being ingrained in the system by the ruling political class has impeded making elections an interesting adventure to Nigerians whose votes hardly count. The need to coerce voters to toe official positions and the apprehension in the corridors of power that violence may break out when fake results are announced have been part of the fundamental reasons necessitating the militarisation of elections in the country.

    The imprints of violence are quite visible, which inform why most prayer points in the New Year, especially in the corridors of power, centred on the need to get a peaceful general election next year. The incredible mayhem being inflicted on Rivers State and the Boko Haram destructive onslaught, particularly in the north east, in the name of politics, are just two of the several examples that could be used as excuse to use soldiers during the coming elections.

    As a matter of fact, in normal climes, even police presence is not usually heavy just because people are going to vote. Therefore, the ruling party must realise that militarisation of election is obsolete and antithetical to the promotion of democratic values. Fashola was right when he said that “we must work to change the type of election that we have, to the type of election that we want.” The onus is on the political leaders to lead the path.

    Nigerians want free and peaceful elections while the politicians want to retain power; and being the drivers of state machinery, all that should be done is for those holding the levers of power to do well so that they would never contemplate any need to rely on the military or resort to undue use of the police to stamp their authority at the polls.

    Peaceful elections devoid of militarisation can only be guaranteed, with less prayer but more positive efforts from the political class. It is not only in the interest of democracy but also in the interest of soldiers, to distance themselves from elections beyond casting their votes like any other Nigerian. We give soldiers the wrong signals when we involve them in duties that they were not trained for, especially in a supposedly democratic setting. The government must empower the police to do their job.

  • Inexcusable negligence

    Inexcusable negligence

    Festive occasions such as Christmas and the transition to a new year are times when responsible organisations – public and private – do everything to ensure that they do not default on their obligation to promptly pay their workers’ salaries and allowances. This is to enable the employees meet their responsibilities to their families and participate in the joyous spirit of the season.

    It is thus scandalous that thousands of federal civil servants reportedly spent the last Christmas period and New Year in distress and deprivation because of the non-payment of their December salaries. To worsen matters, they also said they are being owed outstanding emoluments since July 2013. This clearly inexcusable situation has prompted the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) to call on the Federal Government to redeem its obligation to its members or face industrial action.

    Of course, the duty of an organisation to pay the salaries and allowances of its workers is not limited to festive periods. It is a legal obligation, which must be met at all times once the workforce fulfils its own part of the bargain. The ASCSN is thus in order when it asked the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to explain why the Federal Government could not pay salaries to its workers as and when due, especially since she has consistently maintained that the country is not broke.

    We can understand the agitation of the association when it asserts that “if federal civil servants are not paid their December 2013 salaries and arrears outstanding since July 2013 immediately, the entire Federal Civil Service will be shut down shortly”. The ASCSN can also not be faulted when it contends that “It is difficult to understand why civil servants cannot be paid their paltry salaries in an economy where the political elite are carting away millions of Naira monthly as remunerations while billions of public funds are being looted without qualms and those involved in the stealing spree are not being brought to book”.

    We find the response of the Federal Ministry of Finance to this brewing crisis rather tepid and unconvincing. The ministry gives the impression that it is unaware of the non-payment of the December, 2013, salaries as well as six months emoluments of the aggrieved civil servants. If so, this is nothing but inexcusable negligence. Again, the finance ministry claims that the feedback it got from many civil servants is that they had been paid and the problem is not thus a generalised one. It is our position that there is no excuse for owing even one worker his or her legitimate earnings.

    It is also a weak excuse for the ministry to attribute what it calls ‘few delays’ in payment to the alleged failure of individual civil servants and their ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to update their accounts to meet the requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The ministry has the responsibility to sensitise and pressurise the affected MDAs to meet their statutory requirement in this regard. In any case, if the problem is not more widespread than the ministry suggests, it is unlikely that the threat of a nationwide strike by federal civil servants would today loom over the nation over this matter.

    We join the ASCSN in calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene urgently and ensure that the grievances of the workers are speedily addressed before the situation degenerates. Incessant strikes by workers in diverse sectors of the economy have done so much harm already; another industrial action by federal civil servants will be one too many.

  • Is Mideast peace possible?

    Is Mideast peace possible?

    In its quest for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, the United States has pursued essentially the same objective over several administrations. So when Secretary of State John F. Kerry announced during his latest round of shuttle diplomacy that “we can achieve a permanent-status agreement that results in two states for two peoples if we stay focused,” skepticism was understandable.

    Not just because the peace process has been so tragically unsuccessful over the last 15 years, but because even today, each side seems intent on thumbing its nose at the other. Just last week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas enraged many Israelis when he offered a hero’s welcome to a group of recently released Palestinian prisoners, many of whom had been convicted of attacking or killing Israelis. Israel infuriated Palestinians by announcing, on the eve of Kerry’s arrival, that it would build yet more settlements in the West Bank.

    But there is also some reason for guarded optimism. First, Kerry has invested immense energy in trying to achieve an agreement. Second, despite periodic allegations of bad faith, Israelis and Palestinians are seriously talking to each other after a long rupture. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has grudgingly endorsed the notion of a two-state solution, though Palestinians and some Israelis doubt his sincerity. Finally, Saudi Arabia is supporting Kerry’s effort.

    There is little doubt about what the “framework” Kerry is seeking would contain: a partition between Israel and a Palestinian state that would generally follow Israel’s pre-1967 borders, but with exchanges of territory to bring some Jewish settlements on the West Bank under Israeli sovereignty; a resolution of the status of Jerusalem that would allow for the establishment of a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem or nearby; a recognition that most Palestinians whose families were displaced in 1948 would be able to return to the new Palestinian state rather than Israel, perhaps with compensation; and guarantees that an independent Palestine wouldn’t be a staging ground for attacks against Israel.

    In recent years, Netanyahu has demanded that the Palestinians recognize Israel not only as an independent nation but as a “Jewish state,” a designation he has called “the real key to peace.” In one sense, the notion of Israel as a Jewish state is obvious: It was founded as a haven for the Jewish people. But Israel also is home to 1.6 million Arabs, 20% of the population. For Palestinians, being required to recognize Israel as a Jewish state would be a ratification of second-class citizenship for Israel’s Arabs.

    Disagreement over this issue shouldn’t be a deal-breaker. The Jewish character of Israel doesn’t depend on any blessing from the Palestinians. If an agreement is reached in which the Palestinians recognize Israel and commit to ending hostilities — and in which both sides agree on borders, Jerusalem, security and the refugee question — that would be an extraordinary achievement that would be felt around the region and around the world.

     

    – Los Angeles Times