The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Emancipator goes home

    Emancipator goes home

    He was born a Taroh boy, socialised into thinking the politically dominant Hausa-Fulani were local colonisers to be resisted. Indeed, he built his entire political career on the imperative to free his Middle Belt from all forms of internal domination, hence his political moniker of ‘Emancipator’.

    But he died a moderate Nigerian, a rally for national unity at the age divisive tendencies are becoming sharp and jagged. In an age of mass corruption, Solomon Lar died a clean symbol of public good. It was a fitting exit for a boy born in rural Pongaa, in Langtang, Plateau State.

    Yet, the late Lar was no drilled ideologue, for all his Emancipation policy. He cried and railed against any form of domination and persecution, particularly of Northern Christians in the Middle Belt and beyond; and insisted such injustices be corrected. But his political career was a study in pragmatism and mutual co-existence.

    Despite his United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) political platform in the First Republic, on which he was elected into the House of Representatives in 1959, the young Lar served as parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, aside from being a junior minister in the Federal Ministry of Establishments.

    In the Second Republic, he shunned the ideologically sharp centre left Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, for the ideological neither-nor Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe though, to be fair, both UPN and NPP claimed a place in the liberal-progressive spectrum, as counter-distinction to the then ruling conservative National Party of Nigeria (NPN). What was more, Lar was not fazed that NPP entered into an alliance of convenience with NPN. When that alliance broke down, the unifier in him promptly offered the late Mrs. Janet Akinrinade, who lost her ministerial portfolio in the alliance collapse, a job as a commissioner in Plateau State.

    While he supported MKO Abiola’s presidential win in the aborted Third Republic, Lar was part of the medley that formed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the dawn of the current Fourth Republic in 1999. Though the present ruling party had the good, the bad and the ugly, Lar as first PDP national chairman tried to infuse the party with pan-Nigerian purpose and conscience. But that was before former President Olusegun Obasanjo started remoulding the party as a lean and mean electoral grabbing machine, with nary any conscience.

    It was a matter of time therefore before Chairman Lar was sidelined, and the likes of former Vice President Alex Ekwueme (who with Lar were in the famous delegation that told Gen. Sani Abacha not to perpetuate himself), the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi and even Audu Ogbeh, were virtually purged from the party. The result is a fissured ruling party that appears a danger to itself and the democratic republic. Had the Lar strand held sway, could the PDP have averted its present sorry pass?

    But with all his ideological flexibility, Lar taught a golden lesson: public service ought to be people-focused, not self aggrandisement. In an era virtually everyone was losing his head in search of useless lucre, Lar rigorously maintained his integrity. Even when the Muhammadu Buhari military government awarded Lar a jumbo jail sentence of 88 years, it was clear that Buhari government, for reasons best known to it, locked up the old man in forlorn search of evidence to convict. It never found.

    Lar also taught another lesson: you could disagree on principle and push your case with vigour without necessarily making an enemy of your opponents. But Lar’s clearest legacy was being a symbol of public good, in an age when the politician is nothing to crow about.

    If every living politician embraced this legacy, the Nigerian polity would be far better for it.

  • SA must stand up to ICC’s detractors

    SA must stand up to ICC’s detractors

    This weekend the African Union (AU) holds an extraordinary summit to deal with its relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is in the process of trying Kenya’s deputy president and is soon to try its president for the mass violence that erupted at the time of Kenya’s 2007 elections. On the surface, the Kenyan leaders are submitting to the ICC process, but Kenya’s Parliament has voted to withdraw the country from the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding agreement.

    Kenya denies it has been lobbying for other African countries to pull out of the statute, but its huffing and puffing about the ICC has put sufficient pressure on the AU to have called this special summit.

    So what does the AU have to decide, then, when it meets?

    Surely a mass pull-out from the Rome Statute is out of the question. It would send a very negative message about African governments’ commitments to human rights. It would look as though the AU was slipping back to the bad old days of its parent body, the Organisation of African Unity, when it was known as a cosy “dictators’ club”. That cannot be allowed to happen.

    At the same time, there needs to be action from the ICC itself to counter the kinds of claims some African leaders are making. Ethiopia’s Hailemariam Desalegn, for instance, accused the ICC of going on an “African safari”, hunting Africans in particular; to such critics, it does look as though the court is unfairly targeting the continent. Certainly, almost all the cases before it now are African, and cries such as Desalegn’s resonate with Africans who see the ICC as a Western institution sticking its nose into African affairs and wagging a moralistic finger at Africans while ignoring the sins of Westerners such as the warmonger George W Bush.

    Last week in Cape Town, the former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan reminded us that, of the six African cases the ICC is prosecuting, five were referred to it by the nations involved, so they obviously support the ICC process and find it valuable in dealing with human-rights abuses in their countries. The exception, however, is the troublesome one: Kenya.

    Can the ICC and the AU, as they reconsider their relationship and/or the way they interact, find a practical solution to this problem? The plea that the Kenya trials be postponed fell on deaf ears at the ICC, which looked like a distinct lack of sympathy for a country dealing with the aftermath of a vicious terrorist attack. Perhaps that is one area where the ICC could show some flexibility; it would help to ameliorate the perception of bias against Africa, and could be a first step towards restoring good relations with African leaders.

    The ICC’s African opponents need to be reminded that the Rome Statute is there to end impunity when it comes to the kinds of horrors perpetrated by, say, the Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, or the Lord’s Resistance Army – to mention two African cases the ICC has handled. Seeing what had happened in places such as Rwanda and Sudan, African leaders rightly agreed to do whatever they could to stop such atrocities from recurring in future.

    South Africa was a key driver of the Rome Statute, and the victory of human rights in South Africa’s own struggle made it a powerful advocate for a court “of last resort” such as the ICC. Now, at the AU summit – and even as it helps to find practical solutions to the Kenya problem – South Africa should be pushing hard against those who want to exit the Rome Statute.

     

    – Mail & Guardian

  • A sacred duty

    A sacred duty

    THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has served notice of its willingness to review the current 360 federal constituencies and state constituencies, with a view to aligning them with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. The commission’s chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, said two committees had been set up to perform the task. They are the National Commission on the Delimitation of Constituencies and the Technical Committee on Delimitation of Constituencies.

    As the commission pointed out, the current constituencies were established in 1996 by the Abacha administration’s National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON). At the time, there was no constitution being operated and, since then, no effort has been made to make the constituencies conform to the supreme law of the land.

    This is despite the realisation that delineation of the constituencies is at the heart of democracy. The fundamental principle is that constituencies should be as close to the population quota as possible. As the INEC National Commissioner, Dr. Nuhu Yakubu, pointed out at a retreat on the exercise earlier in the year, the quota was derived, for the House of Representatives, from a division of the national population (140 million in 2006) by the number of seats stipulated in the constitution (360), that is, 388,899.

    Yet, as is the case now, there is a wide disparity between the constituencies. One constituency has about 1.32 million people and another just about 122,000. This is clearly unfair to the people of the large constituencies who are thus not fairly represented.

    It is clear that, within the purview of section 73 for the federal constituencies, and sections 112 and 114 of the constitution, INEC has the duty to revisit the constituencies about every 10 years, especially as a census had been conducted within the period. The 2006 national census has played no part in delimitating constituencies in the country, seven years after it was conducted nationwide.

    It is our view that INEC has taken the correct step in getting relevant government agencies involved. The commission’s identification of the National Space Development and Research Agency (NASDRA); National Population Commission, NPC; Nigerian Postal Service, NIPOST; Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation, OSGOF; the National Environmental Standard Regulatory Agency, NESRA; the National Boundary Commission, NBC; and Border Communities Development Agency, BCDA as strategic partners would help in doing the job professionally.

    The redrawing of the Nigerian boundaries in some parts of the country and alteration of state boundaries, too, have made it imperative that even the senatorial districts are revisited with a view to ensuring their conformity with the constitution that they must fall within existing state lines. Both the NBC and court judgments had made changes to the boundaries as at 1996.

    Since the return to civil rule in 1999, Section 91 of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended) has been observed in the breach, The section states that”… a House of Assembly of a State shall consist of three or four times the number of seats which that State has in the House of Representatives divided in a way to reflect, as far as possible, nearly equal population: provided that a House of Assembly of a State shall consist of not less than twenty-four and not more than forty members”.

    In carrying out this assignment, INEC has a responsibility to identify the general public as a strategic partner. The people should be informed how the task is being performed and assured at all times that the commission has nothing other than the national interest to protect. Given its sensitive nature, it is our view that the process be concluded at least one year before the next general elections since the agencies to supply the necessary inputs are already drawn into the project.

    The Nigerian people deserve the best and the people of the populous states should not be made to face disadvantages.

  • Exported militancy

    Exported militancy

    THE saying, “You can take the pig out of the mud, but you can’t take the mud out of a pig,” was dramatically concretised by six former Niger Delta militants who lost their Federal Government scholarships for allegedly masterminding a protest at the Nigerian Embassy in Moscow.  The Presidential Amnesty Office announced their withdrawal from the Peoples University in Russia where they were students, with 18 other ex-agitators under a special scholarship scheme for Niger Delta youths. The rebellious six were reportedly implicated in connection with the arrest of 16 Nigerian students by the Russian authorities, following a demonstration over alleged non-payment of outstanding allowances for six months, among other grievances.

    The Nigerian Ambassador to Russia, Ekanem Assam, who said he was in Nigeria when the incident happened,  accused the students of destroying furniture, cars, computers, television sets, communications system and a 17th century artefact donated to the embassy by the Federal Ministry of Culture. Assam stated that the deputy defence attaché was beaten up by the protesters who made demands, including an increase in their housing allowance from $200 (N32, 400) to $1,600 (N259, 000) a month and immediate payment of their monthly stipend. According to him, “Each person is claiming about $7,800 (N1.26 million) and they wanted it paid before they leave the embassy.’’

    It is not clear what sanctions their collaborators, whose identities were undisclosed, would face; but an official statement justifying their withdrawal  said, “For going on the rampage and violently attacking the Nigerian Mission, the students breached the code of conduct for delegates on scholarship, which they all signed before their departure from Nigeria.”

    Curiously, the official repudiation stressed that, contrary to their claim, the affected students were “not being owed their in-training allowance (ITA) for six months”, but conceded that “the only unremitted allowance was for September (2013).”  Arrangements for payment of ITA for September and October were said to be on course, with the information communicated to the students, at the time they attacked the mission.

    The discrepancy in the claims regarding the period of default provided no illumination. However, the students’ resort to self-help was extreme and, in the end, unhelpful. Their action, informed by poor judgment, gave absolutely no credit to their scholastic status. It is shameful that not only did they organise a protest, they also exhibited incredible crudity by employing physical violence, prompting the intervention of the Russian authorities. If indeed they had reasonable grounds for complaint, they spoiled their case by the display of primitive instinct.

    Apart from the disappointment that the six in particular did not allow the expected mediation of reason based on their exposure to higher learning, it is baffling that they showed a lack of appreciation of the opportunity to be better. It is a fact that there are very many of their compatriots back home who desperately desire university education but are hampered by a variety of factors; yet they blew their chance, not only to get such training, but also to have it abroad at government expense.

    Unfortunately, their indiscipline does disservice to the government’s amnesty programme, especially its overseas scholarship content which, incidentally, has been criticised in some quarters as wasteful and wrong-headed. This incident again raised worrying posers about the scheme, as well as its handling by government.

    Certainly, the episode represented yet another dent on the country’s image. However, it is not enough to focus solely on the reprehensible conduct of the protesters, who should have been conscious of the fact that they were unofficial ambassadors, and guided by patriotism. Hopefully, the programme’s managers would have been jolted out of any complacency, for the incident apparently points to possible lapses that need to be addressed urgently.

  • Testing Europe’s Conscience

    Testing Europe’s Conscience

    After the drowning of more than 300 Africans near the Italian island of Lampedusa, the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, pledged 30 million euros, or about $40.7 million, last week to help Italy deal with an overwhelming influx of refugees. While this is a good start, it is far from enough.

    On Friday, another boat carrying more than 200 refugees capsized off the coast of Sicily, leaving more than 30 people dead. Over the past two decades, 20,000 migrants have died trying to make it across the Mediterranean to Europe’s shores. According to Frontex, the European agency charged with managing Europe’s borders, 73,000 migrants illegally crossed Europe’s borders in 2012 and 115,000 more were turned away. Most flee political turmoil and economic collapse at home, with thousands seeking refuge in Europe after regime change in Tunisia, the war in Libya and, most recently, the conflict in Syria. These numbers have spawned organized criminal networks that prey upon desperate refugees.

    Increased migration has been exploited by far-right political parties to fan fears of refugees as threats to living standards and national identities. Polls last week showed that, ahead of French municipal elections, there was record-breaking levels of voter support for National Front, the far-right party led by Marine Le Pen.

    To prevent more tragedies, the European Commission proposes expanding search-and-rescue operations by Frontex. Such a move would need additional funding from European Union members, which may prove a political challenge. Equally challenging is breaking up the human-trafficking networks and providing aid to those who qualify under immigration law to stay in Europe and arranging for humane repatriation for those who do not. It is cruel to impose, as does Italian law, stiff fines and deportation on survivors of human trafficking.

    President François Hollande of France says he will discuss migration policies with European leaders this month. The international community could help by offering more refugees sanctuary beyond Europe’s borders. Europe alone cannot deal with the consequences of war and repressive regimes in Africa and the Middle East. The tragedy near Lampedusa is more than an European tragedy. It is a human tragedy.

    – New York Times

  • Fleeing hell

    Fleeing hell

    •Again, more Africans seeking greener pastures abroad perish 

    It is a most perilous journey. Those who undertake it do so at great risk to their lives. Thousands have perished by drowning over the years, as they sought to cross the Mediterranean on rickety, unseaworthy and overcrowded vessels. Others have been shot by border guards at their countries of destination. Many of those who try to reach their terminus through the land route die of thirst in the Sahara desert or freeze in the mountains along their way.

    There is also the strong possibility of their being repatriated home even if they succeed in arriving at their choice destinations. Yet, despite these evident dangers, thousands of migrants seek desperately to flee Africa on a daily basis in search of perceived greener pastures in Europe. They would rather risk the dangers than continue to endure what they obviously perceive as their existential conditions of hell on earth.

    The dangers faced by illegal migrants from Africa was, once again, vividly demonstrated when a decrepit and fragile trawler, overloaded with about 500 migrants aboard capsized near the Island of Sicily on October 3. The ill-fated 66ft boat had left from Tripoli, Libya, for Lampedusa – an island lying between Tunisia and Sicily. Most of the migrants on board were reportedly from Eritrea, Somalia and Ghana. While 150 of the 500 passengers survived, about 111 died and 250 could not be accounted for.

    Rosario Crocetta, President of Sicily graphically captured the enormity of this tragedy: “This is a huge tragedy that causes great suffering. I want to go and see the dead to pay homage to our brothers who had a dream, to come to Italy, to Europe, to Sicily, in search of work and freedom but instead are now dead”. The Sicilian leader could not have put it better. These migrants seek to live in countries where they can find work and earn a living as well as enjoy the freedom that guarantees their dignity as human beings. These conditions are largely absent in their home countries.

    According to statistics by a Non- Governmental Organisation (NGO), Save the Children, about 21,780 migrants reached Italy during the first nine months of the year, including 4,000 children. There is no doubt that illegal migrants, particularly from Africa, will face even more strenuous and life-threatening challenges. For one, the crisis in such countries as Libya and Syria in the Middle East has significantly increased the number of migrants from the area seeking haven in Europe.

    Again, plagued by their own severe economic crisis, European countries such as Spain and Italy – the target of most migrants – are tightening their immigration laws just like most other countries in Europe. Indeed, it is because of the greater difficulty in entering Europe by land that most immigrants opt for the suicidal sea route.

    In his first journey outside Rome to Lampedusa, Pope Francis decried the lack of care, love and understanding for those immigrants who “were trying to leave a difficult situation to find a little peace and security…” While we identify with the Pope’s view, we believe that the greater onus rests with African leaders to ensure good governance, accountability and respect for the rule of law. This is an imperative for the economic progress and political stability that can help stem the tide of desperate attempts by their citizens to migrate to Europe.

    We recall the recent case of the school boy, Ricky Daniel Ohikhena, who hid in the wheel compartment of an Arik aircraft from Benin to Lagos. He took such a risk because he thought the flight was headed for America! Africa is simply too richly endowed for the current pervasive level of poverty across the continent that makes so many of her citizens so desperate to flee.

  • Baby boom in adversity

    Baby boom in adversity

    • Even with their baby boom, over 7,000 fleeing Nasarawa natives in camps in Plateau State is heart-rending

    THE sheer number is benumbing: more than 7, 000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), consisting of some 1, 420 families, in three camps in Quan-Pan Local Government of Plateau State, enjoying a baby boom, with some 55 expectant mothers putting to bed!

    Should one laugh or should one cry?

    That is the extent of dislocation, in the Ombatse communal crisis in Nasarawa State. It would appear Tanko Al-Makura, the Nasarawa State governor who visited the victims in their Quan-Pan camps and even – unconvincingly – appealed to them to return home, is doing his best. But it is even clearer that his best is not good enough. Indeed, such a scale of human displacement in peace time Nigeria ought to sober everyone!

    If there was need for any further evidence, the Nasarawa example is another notorious proof of Nigeria’s ruinous federalism, even from the basic prism of security. Governor Al-Makura was anxious to appear in charge – an altogether not illegitimate posture. But on what basis was he inviting back families that just escaped from the jaws of death, back to a killing field that used to be their homes? Is he in charge of the Police? And if he is not – as it is clear – with what authority is he asking people to return?

    No doubt about it: the governor means well. Unfortunately, the federal structure in which he is supposed to take responsibility for the safety of people under his charge does not. It is true the federal authorities may have crammed the place with the Police and Department of Security Services (DSS) operatives, not to mention the military.

    As laudable as the federal show of force appears (at least it shows the security chiefs and their political masters are not snoring), it is no better than securing the stable door after the stallion had escaped. To avert future hideous violence, a security restructuring, entailing the advent of state police and the state version of DSS, the secret police, is inevitable. Intelligence is vital to sort out communal crises even before they happen. A more local police and intelligence unit would appear better suited for that chore.

    It is therefore no surprise that the displaced Nasarawa 7, 000 have told their governor to keep his invitation to himself. Though their present situation is stressful, they would rather ride it out – at least in the camps, they are sure of being alive. It is an instructive vote of no confidence by distressed citizens in the Nigerian state and how its security is structured. Those who are planning President Goodluck Jonathan’s national conference/dialogue would do well to take note of the general anomie in the land, while making their recommendations.

    But the violence, by Boko Haram, the anarchists hiding behind Islam, the Ombatse, linked to the Eggon ethnic group in Nasarawa, and even the on-off ethnic and sectarian violence tearing apart Plateau State, the present haven of the Nasarawa IDPs, could well be a democratic reaction to bottled up injustices of the autocratic military era – and even before. While the hideous violence is bad, reprehensible and should not be condoned for any reason, there is an imperative to look into age-old grievances with a view to fixing them.

    What, for instance, do the Eggon want, that murderers among them would hide behind such to kill and maim innocent and law-abiding fellow citizens? If their grouse, whatever it is, is isolated and redressed, those criminals committing mass murder in the ethnic group’s name would be exposed and punished for the hideous criminals they are.

    That is the conceptual way to go to end the current season of anomie.

  • Happy Eld-El-Kabir

    Happy Eld-El-Kabir

    •The muslim festival gives us time to ponder

    Muslims on all continents are celebrating Eld-el-Kabir, known to be of high significance in the Islamic Calendar, today. The festival is in commemoration of Abraham’s unalloyed obedience to Allah’s commandment that he should sacrifice his only son, Ismail, to Him. But, at the nick of time, Almighty Allah sent Angel Jibril to stop Abraham from killing his son, and replaced him with a white ram. Ever since, Muslims observe annually, this age-long ritual, as epitomised in the slaughtering of animals, including cows, rams, goats and even camels. The feast of sacrifice is inimitable for its spiritual connotation and underlying divine commandment.

    Today’s feast, as usual, falls on the 10th Dhul-Hyjah-coinciding with the climbing of Mount Arafat to mark the end of the on-going annual holy pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Almighty Allah was satisfied and convinced with Abraham’s abiding faith in Him. And since then, He foreclosed the use of human beings for any sacrifice. Abraham’s venerable decision to sacrifice his only son, even at an old age, in little hope of having another, remained the profundity of his faithful act.

    In Islam, submission to Allah is unconditional as typified by Abraham who did not compromise his faith during the several decades of his childlessness. Today’s commemoration remains so dear to true Muslims across the world.  They will eat and be merry with friends and well wishers. More important to this great feast is our living together as brothers, with mutual benefits of harmony, peace and stability.

    Islamic religion is all-encompassing and embraces development, growth and progress. It spreads the gospel of love; teaches peace; preaches tolerance, and so does Christianity.

    The unalloyed display of unity and love with no religious impediments, witnessed today, should go beyond the moment. Such fraternity should not be for this festive season alone; it should be for all times so that our nation could grow from strength to strength: Also, on a broader scale, for the world to be a better place for all to live in, irrespective of race or colour of the skin. Father Abraham was a recipient of immense blessings because of his obedience to Allah’s commandment to use his only son as a sacrifice to Him (Allah).

    While we as a nation anticipate such blessings, the people and the government of the country should also be prepared to make inevitable sacrifices for the country’s well being during this occasion and beyond. Unfortunately, the country is still bogged down by insecurity arising from the criminal/inhuman activities of Boko Haram. Lives and property are daily wantonly destroyed, all in the name of politics/religion. Mosques and churches are attacked by criminals that are denting the image of Islam.

    Definitely, the miscreants behind the Boko Haram need to have a re-think in their barbaric soiling of the reputation of Islam – the religion of peace. Rampant corruption in high places must stop while trust that has remained elusive should be restored as the genuine plank of public service. These vices are all consequences of official hypocrisy which Islam absolutely abhors in households and the public affairs of any country.

    We expect the nation to adhere to Allah’s commandments as against animalistic inclinations. This is achievable in our private and public lives if we are all truthful to our pledge in the spirit of what Abraham did for almighty Allah. In the true spirits of Eid-el-Kabir, we call on all Muslims and non-Muslims to reflect on the tests of Abraham and also emulate his virtues so as to ensure the growth of our society and that of the entire world.

     

  • Needless distractions

    Needless distractions

    • Religious protests against Osun’s public schools reclassification divert attention from a key development programme

    Protests by religious blocs, against the new Osun State schools reclassification policy, divert attention from perhaps the most revolutionary education policy since Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s free primary education of 1955.

    This is grave and unfortunate; for there is a limit to which people should misdirect themselves and willfully gamble with the future of their children and wards.

    Yet, the Osun government would appear to share part of the blame. It is either it had not consulted widely enough with key opinion moulders or had not, sufficiently enough, enlightened the mass of the people – or both – before launching the programme. Otherwise, the protests, across religious lines, should not be.

    The government should therefore fuse into its education reforms as many partisan or religious views as are reasonable. But it must not abandon its reforms, simply because some political and religious partisans growl at them. The future generation would not forgive it, if it did.

    If the programme is meant to better the future of children in Osun State – and there is absolutely no doubt that it is – then, with good mass enlightenment, it is only a matter of time before the majority of the people buy into it. After all, as Jeremy Bentham stipulated, government exists for the greatest happiness of the greatest number.

    Yet, before the reclassification policy can be reasonably discussed, it ought to be properly understood.

    The genesis was the cascading fall in educational standard in the state, so much so that the state came among the laggards in Junior Secondary School (JSS) and Senior Secondary School (SSS) examination results. That prompted an education summit, which recommended the current reforms.

    The imperative to properly fund education, merged with the reality that resources are, at the best of times, scarce, necessitated the restructuring of education infrastructure, starting with school buildings. Instead of rebuilding each of the existing, decrepit schools, therefore, the government would appear sold on school clusters to save costs and also ensure the economies of scale.

    Also, according to government sources, the classification into Elementary (Primary 1-4), Middle (Primary 5-6, and JSS 1-3) and High (SSS 1-3) schools, has to do with the distance covered by a child before reaching school. That means that the 100 elementary schools being built would be basically neighbourhood schools, to which every minor involved would easily trek, the 49 middle schools are a bit more distant but could be accessed by short transport. The high schools are the farthest; but then the more mature are envisaged to better cope with the distance.

    With this new paradigm, there must be need to merge schools, on the sheer economics of it all – and that appears to cause all the raucous. The sentiments by the Christian missions (the Baptists and Methodists kicking against their schools being merged) and Muslims in Iwo staking the rights of their children and wards to wear the hijab in schools bearing Christian names are understandable, even if some of the demands border on being unreasonable.

    The Baptist kicking against Methodists is queer – can’t they sink their sectarian differences in one church for the sake of their children’s future? Muslims insisting on wearing the hijab in a ‘Christian’ school betrays lack of respect and crass intolerance that appear un-Yoruba-like. The Osun State government should, however, engage these religious partisans and see how it can accommodate their worries.

    Still, the religious “warriors” must not push their luck too far. Most of these schools are “missionary” schools only in name, by virtue of founding. Since the government took over the schools, the missionaries have no dime in their running. So, as the government respects their historic links to these schools, they should also respect the government’s right to implement programmes for the citizens who elected it.

    The government should engage all the aggrieved. But it must press on with the fundaments of its policy. Like Awo, it would not be judged by the sentimental babble of the present, but by the genuine awe of an appreciative coming generation.

     

  • Return to the past

    Return to the past

    IT seems the perfect policy to stir the hornet’s nest – a chapter dusted up from the books on the import-substitution strategies of the late ‘70s to early eighties. We refer here to the new automotive policy announced by the Federal Government, which seeks to supplant the influx of fairly-used vehicles with the dream ‘Nigerian car’.

    The new policy, as announced by Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, would entail the introduction of discriminatory tariff regimes to encourage local auto-manufacture while at the same time discouraging importation.

    Other highpoints of the policy is the establishment of three automotive clusters in Ogun and Lagos states, Kano and Kaduna states and Enugu and Anambra states – to maximise the benefit from localisation; revival of the petrochemical and metal/steel sectors and other automotive ancillary industries; and evolution of financing schemes to enable Nigerians buy cars on easy terms.

    Presenting a graphic picture of the state of auto-import business, Aganga noted that the country spent a whopping $4.2 billion (about N550billion) on car importation alone in 2010.  The figure for 2012, according to him, was $3.4 billion – an amount he said was “almost head-to–head with machinery as the biggest consumer of the country’s foreign reserves”.

    In all, the new policy is planned to run as a 10–year plan to be reviewed every five years. The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) is said to be collaborating with Cena, a vehicle manufacturer in Brazil, to open automotive training centres in Nigeria.  Two Nigerian universities, he disclosed, have been designated to commence degree programmes in auto-mechanical engineering to provide adequate local manpower. The goal, according to the minister, is to create a minimum of 700,000 jobs; he was optimistic that the brand new car to be locally produced should cost not more than N1.5 million.

    The policy is certainly timely if only on account of the huge Nigerian market for vehicular transportation. More importantly, the policy appears to have tied the loose ends in the quest for indigenous auto-manufacture to some degree: the issue of tariff imbalances, the infrastructure and the provision of ancillary services all of which impact directly on the cost, as well as financing and human capital components. These are necessary foundations without which the automotive policy would flounder.

    Our problem however is the definition of the ‘Nigerian car’. Is the whole idea about a wholly Nigerian-made car? If the answer is yes, where is the local research and development base to support this quest in an age of competitiveness and cutting edge technologies?

    If it is a case of inviting leading automakers to open assembly plants, wouldn’t that be a return to the era of wholesale imports of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) parts of the ‘80s? Can we truly say that the nation has learnt any lessons from the failures of that era?

    Would that also not be a major source of foreign exchange depletion?

    We do not deny that the policy – as imperfect as it may seem – is not entirely without some merits. The argument has been well made in terms of the jobs to be created; the skills to be transferred and the linkages that will inevitably be generated in the economy in the long run; the issue of the benefit in the substantial curbs in emissions from fairly- used vehicles on the environment cannot also be ignored.

    The point is that the stated goals of the policy   are not necessarily a-given without the requisite will to drive them and to ensure that Nigerians are availed their maximum benefits. We do not need to add that to contemplate a ‘Tokunbo’ ban at this time would be futile, just as the attempt to hike tariffs on used car imports would be punitive – a needless measure to undertake. No matter what anyone may say of Nigerians’ so-called love for ‘Tokunbo’ vehicles, it is a demand driven by an exigency. That exigency is to be found in the unaffordable cost of new cars in the environment of near-total absence of public transportation system.

    While Nigerians would do well with cheap, affordable cars; it seems to us however that the economy (and society) will be better served by provision of adequate, efficient and reliable mass transportation system.