The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • A Dame’s jamboree

    A Dame’s jamboree

    President Jonathan’s wife grounds Abuja with a needless peace rally

    August 22, 2013, is certainly not a day the residents of Abuja will forget in a hurry. Indeed, those who live and work in the city will pray never again to witness such a day in their life time. Most residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had naturally woken up with plans to go about their legitimate businesses like they would on any normal day. Unfortunately, stern-looking security agents as early as 7a.m. had barricaded all routes leading to the Eagle Square at the centre of the city.

    Traffic was diverted to other routes that had also become congested due to the development. Yes, the residents of Abuja had been served notice that some routes would be closed for about six hours on the day for the event, a sensitive and compassionate government would have carefully planned alternative transport routes for motorists and other commuters such that the city would not be grounded as it was on the day.

    Thus, even as the First Lady, the chairman of the occasion, Vice-President Namadi Sambo, and other dignitaries relished the whole purposeless jamboree, Abuja was effectively shut down for the entire day. Workers were cut off from the Federal Secretariat on Shehu Shagari Way and Ibrahim Babangida Avenue, with many of them forced to trek to the office. Commercial and government drivers could not drop their passengers at designated bus stops around the secretariat, thereby increasing the frustrations of hundreds of such affected people. If the organisers of this event considered it so crucial to the peace and progress of Nigeria, could they at least not have held it on a Saturday to minimise the agonies to which thousands of workers and commuters were exposed?

    Of course, we appreciate the imperative of peace as a necessary condition for development. However, we consider it ironical that in organising such a massive rally for peace, the organisers could not see that they disrupted the peace and serenity of Abuja and its residents as well as even visitors to the city that day.

    Unfortunately, this is becoming a habitual pattern with the First Lady anytime her rather rancorous peace train berths in any part of the country. Once when she visited Lagos for a rally at the Tafawa Balewa Square, for instance, the entire city was virtually locked up for the whole day. Only recently, she was in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for close to a week to attend some social functions and the duration of her stay was a period of ceaseless agony for residents of the state who had to bear the traffic inconveniences associated with her movement.

    For an office that is purely ceremonial and has no constitutional recognition whatsoever, the kind of heavy security presence that attends Dame Patience Jonathan’s public outings is most unusual, excessive and tending towards the vulgar. It is almost as if she is an alternate President of the country. Not even under the worst periods of military rule did the country’s First Ladies exhibit this kind of obsessive show of the trappings of power.

    We appreciate the premium which Mrs Jonathan places on peace. That is probably why she is the President of the African First Ladies Peace Mission. However, we find it difficult to understand how the kind of jamboree organised in Abuja can promote the cause of peace in any meaningful way. In the first place, what was the rationale in transporting about 30,000 women from all over the country to Abuja, thereby exposing them to danger on our horrendous roads? Again, couldn’t the funds squandered on the Abuja jamboree be put to better use to promote the wellbeing of the women and thus the cause of peace?

    It is also curious that the women who participated in the rally wore special native attire with the portrait of President Jonathan emblazoned on them. Was it then a rally for peace or a political rally in pursuance of the President’s partisan interests? Another disturbing feature of the rally was the presence of women in military and paramilitary outfits who gave goodwill messages to the President’s wife. If we also take into consideration the military helicopters hovering in formation above the venue of the event, does this not amount to a creeping politicisation of the military?

    Both Vice President Sambo and Dame Patience were lavish in their gratitude to President Jonathan for appointing women to key positions in his administration. We do not believe that the President has done women any favour in this respect. The unfortunate impression must not be created that women appointed to public office are qualified by their gender rather than being qualified on merit to hold such positions.

  • Gowon’s proposal

    Gowon’s proposal

    Our leaders are apparently overwhelmed by the nation’s numerous problems, and instead of rolling up their sleeves and going to work, they are hoping we can pray the country out of these problems. The latest request for prayers as the solution came from former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd). He made the call for prayers during a visit to Gethsemane Prayer Ministries, Ibadan, Oyo State, presided over by the National Coordinator, Nigeria Prays, Rev. Moses Aransiola. In his speech, Gen. Gowon urged God to uproot all the leaders with evil intentions, and prophesied that the prediction that Nigeria will break by 2015, will fail if Nigerians stand against it in prayers.

    Interestingly, General Gowon ruled Nigeria relatively well, compared to the wobbling and fumbling leaders that have, largely, imposed themselves on Nigerians in the past decades. Yet, instead of General Gowon speaking truth to power by urging concrete actions to solve the myriad of challenges, he extols, “we believe that only prayers can solve it”. The general, instead of naming the bad leaders with evil intentions and asking them to desist from their evil ways, is asking Nigerians to pray against the intentions.

    Again, Gen. Gowon instead of naming the over-ambitious politicians that he referred to in his speech merely asked Nigerians to ignore them. Yet, these people are having a tight hold on the nation and unless directly challenged, will continue hemorrhaging the country.

    So, our dear general, we beg to differ on your call to prayers as the solution to our national problems. What Nigeria needs is quality leadership; for, no amount of prayers will cure our infrastructural deficit, nor will it stop the criminal despoliation of the country, championed by the same politicians and the economic elite that Gen Gowon referred to. Specifically, prayers will not give us a single more kilowatt of electricity; it will not tar one kilometre of road; it will not provide needed equipment for the hospitals; it will not gift the country quality education; it will not give us functional democracy; it will not stop the ruling class from over-pampering itself at our common expense; it will not prosecute the thieving politicians and economic despoilers, and it will not provide affordable food and housing for Nigerians. Indeed, it will only give the soul false comfort, instead of galvanising it to action.

    But General Gowon is not alone in this crusade for prayer without work. About this time last year, President Goodluck Jonathan had ministered that ‘with prayers, we will overcome Nigeria’s problems’. We note that Jonathan has been president for more than three years, apparently praying more than working, and the result is that he has not made any significant difference in the lives of Nigerians. As we have noted, what Nigerians need is purposeful leadership, unfortunately President Jonathan and most of the present political actors have shown the lack of capacity to deliver.

    What Gen. Gowon can do for the present leadership is to teach it how he was able to accomplish the economic achievements he recorded as head of state. He should tell the Federal Government that most of the infrastructural leaps achieved during his era are all rotting away: the National Stadium, National Arts Theatre, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway which he initiated and several other achievements. He should tell them Nigeria needs maximum quality in leadership, to steer the country away from the predictions of doom which increasingly look like a foresworn tragedy. As a general, he must not suffer fools gladly; after all, he has nothing to lose, but all to gain, if he says it as it is.

     

  • Echoes of Fagunwa

    Echoes of Fagunwa

    Literature provided a forum for an examination of culture at the international conference held recently in Akure, Ondo State, in remembrance of Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa, the acclaimed pioneering figure in the production of Yoruba fiction who died 50 years ago. This fecund master of Yoruba language, better known to the literary world as D. O. Fagunwa, was not only a veritable vehicle for the rich verbal resources of his race; he also represented an instructive repository of indigenous philosophy. As things stand, he has acquired the image of unrepeatability.

    It is ironic that the celebration of his lingual charm and imaginative fertility is against the background of an observable present-day context that reflects the trivialisation of his mother tongue by native users who would rather associate with English language. Regrettably, there is no doubt that Yoruba language, which Fagunwa so brilliantly championed through his writings, is faced with a potent challenge of survival. Indeed, it may not be an exaggeration to describe the situation as a crisis.

    The tragic import of this perceivable decline in linguistic pride is the concomitant loss of cultural capital, for language is the fundamental carrier of a people’s way of life. Sadly, in a world of globalisation and unrelenting Western influence, indigenous languages appear to be disadvantaged. It is interesting that, in Fagunwa’s case, the centrality of language in culture can be demonstrated in reverse. For, while translations of his work in English and French may have extended circulation and readership,  especially  in the foreign market, there is no denying the fact that much must also have been  lost in terms of originality and essential fabric of Yoruba culture.

    When the threatening implications of the “visual age” are considered, this further complicates the production and patronage of indigenous literature. Not surprisingly, the Fagunwa Foundation is reportedly interested in film adaptations of the late writer’s work, which is heart-warming and deserves the support of culture-conscious individuals and organisations.

    It is a testimony to his genius that Fagunwa’s place in the literary pantheon is assured, even though he wrote in an indigenous language in a world dominated by so-called international languages. It is the ultimate tribute to his cultural assertiveness that he chose to write in his native Yoruba language, although he was sufficiently educated in English language, having trained as a teacher.  His 1938 magnum opus, Ogboju Ode ninu Igbo Irunmale, widely regarded as the first Yoruba  novel and one of the first to be written in any African language, was in 1968 translated into English as The Forest of A Thousand Daemons by Wole Soyinka. It is noteworthy and bespeaks the quality of this debut that a stage adaptation of the work by Wale Ogunyemi, Langbodo, was Nigeria’s entry at the monumental Festival of African Arts and Culture hosted by the country in 1977.

    His  later works, which  include Igbo Olodumare( 1949), Ireke Onibudo (1949), Irinkerindo ninu Igbo Elegbeje ( 1954), translated as Expedition to the Mount of Thought  by Dapo Adeniyi, and Adiitu Olodumare (1961), translated as The Mysteries Of God by Olu Obafemi,  reinforced his stature.  Fagunwa’s alluring forte was the highly creative use of folkloric material to weave fantastic and gripping adventure tales that mirror the journey of life with a didactic slant. It is no accident that Fagunwa remains the most widely-read Yoruba-language author, and a major literary influence.

    It is a measure of his enthusiasm for Yoruba language and a felt need to encourage its use that, among other works eclipsed by his main fictional writings, Fagunwa co-authored, with L.J. Lewis, a primary school Yoruba reader, Taiwo ati Kehinde. Though significant, it is inadequate that Fagunwa, born in Oke-Igbo, Ondo State, and honoured with the distinguished award of Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1959 for his services to Literature, is being celebrated for his cultural contributions without  convincing efforts to  sustain Yoruba language.

  • Saving Egypt from Syria’s fate

    Saving Egypt from Syria’s fate

    IN THE spring of 2011, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad responded to the first massive protests against his regime with unrelenting violence. Security forces opened fire on unarmed civilians who joined demonstrations. Proposals by Western governments and neighbors for democratic reforms or negotiations with the opposition were evaded by Mr. Assad, who insisted on tarring all opponents as terrorists. The scorched-earth policy soon prompted the United States and many of its allies to impose sanctions on Syria, and two years ago this month President Obama called for the end of the Assad regime.

    Now Egypt’s military-backed government appears to have embarked on a frighteningly similar course. Rejecting U.S. and European proposals for a de-escalation of its conflict with the Muslim Brotherhood, the armed forces have brutally attacked the group’s supporters, killing hundreds. The regime is orchestrating a propaganda campaign labeling the Islamists as terrorists, even though there is no evidence that the movement’s leaders — many of whom are being held incommunicado — have given up a decades-long commitment to nonviolence. Critical Egyptian media have been silenced and foreign journalists attacked. Meanwhile, security forces have failed to protect Christian churches from assaults by mobs.

    This is not only a moral challenge to the United States. If continued, Egypt’s crackdown may lead it toward the catastrophe Syria has experienced: civil war; massive flows of refugees; the appearance of a powerful new branch of al-Qaeda. While it may be difficult for outside powers to restrain the generals, the Obama administration and its allies are not doing all that they can. The crisis demands the delivery of an unambiguous message to the regime that a continued attempt to repress the Muslim Brotherhood by force, or the installation of a new autocracy, will leave Egypt isolated from the West. That means the immediate suspension of all aid and the promise of further sanctions if the deliberate killing of civilians does not stop.

    Some argue that if aid is suspended the United States will lose influence with the military. But the past seven weeks have clearly shown that maintaining aid has bought the Obama administration no favor with de facto ruler Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, who has repeatedly disregarded U.S. counsel. Some worry that Egypt would react to an aid suspension by backing away from its peace treaty with Israel or its fight against the real Islamist terrorists based in the Sinai Peninsula. But those policies are in the country’s vital interest, and the armed forces will not abandon them.

    In reality, Egypt is far more vulnerable to U.S. and European pressure than is Syria or most any other Arab state. Not only is the military dependent on U.S. weapons, spare parts and training but the economy, based on tourism and foreign investment, also has no chance of recovering without Western support. The billions in cash supplied to the new regime by Saudi Arabia and other Arab supporters is a temporary salve; in the end, any government seeking stability will need to come to terms with the International Monetary Fund, where U.S. influence is strong.

    A forceful and united stand by Western governments against the course the Egyptian military is pursuing could bring the generals to their senses before it is too late. They must be made to understand that a new Egyptian autocracy will never be accepted by the United States or Europe. At the moment, they believe otherwise. There is an opportunity this week, as European foreign ministers meet to discuss Egypt. They should resolve to suspend all aid and cooperation until the crackdown is halted and a credible movement toward democracy begun, and the United States should join them.

     

    Washington Post

     

     

     

  • Thumbs down, NYSC

    Thumbs down, NYSC

    The NYSC should avail wounded Bayelsa corps member prompt treatment, and quit quibbling over the extent of her injury

    The reaction of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to a grievous injury to Folakemi Akinbode, a corps member currently serving in Bayelsa State, has again brought into focus the relevance or otherwise of the scheme.

    Miss Akinbode, serving at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobi, Bayelsa State, where she is now hospitalised, was attacked by some hoodlums who aimed machete blows at her head. But she fended off the blows with her right arm, which was almost severed in the process. She has since been bed-ridden on account of that grievous injury.

    But in reacting to her trouble, the NYSC headquarters seemed more riled at the media report of the injury than moved at the plight of an innocent young woman serving her country. In a release by Brig-Gen. Nnamdi Okore Affia, the NYSC director-general, he claimed media reports that Miss Akinbode’s arm was chopped off were exaggerated, claiming her two arms were intact, just as he announced that the Bayelsa State government was about flying her out for further treatment.

    For starters, such shocking insensitivity on NYSC’s part must be decried by anyone with compassion and conscience. The NYSC anger is absolutely uncalled-for. On the contrary, Nigerians must be furious with the body for shirking its responsibility to guarantee security for its corps members.

    Indeed, there is nothing to the NYSC claim but cheap and regrettable quibble. How “intact” could an arm dealt severe machete blow, probably aimed to kill, possibly be? The grim fact is that the cut is so deep as to endanger the whole arm. And NYSC claims it is intact!

    Has anyone thought of the possibility of a beautiful young lady losing an arm just because those who sent her on a mission could not guarantee her safety and security? Aside, has anyone thought of the trauma on Miss Akinbode’s parents and siblings? It is even no less annoying that the NYSC has deliberately tried to play down the gravity of the injury, claiming it was “exaggerated” and that the aggressors were “armed robbers” rather than “cultists” originally reported. Would that reduce the trauma of the affected and her loved ones?

    It is true no society is crime-free. It is also true Miss Akinbode’s case could be a one-off event that should not be used to gauge the security or otherwise of corps members. Still, NYSC and the Bayelsa State government should have been more prompt in availing the victim the needed medical attention, instead of NYSC bellyaching over the injury and the government still procrastinating over Miss Akinbode’s airlift. Whatever is intended should be done now before it is too late.

    Given the general state of insecurity in the country, NYSC, if it has not already done so, should take a comprehensive insurance cover on its corps members. If it doesn’t, then it should not complain when parents and guardians keep on questioning the relevance of the scheme; and preventing their children and wards from taking further part in it, despite that the law makes it mandatory for every Nigerian graduate of tertiary institutions.

    Above all, the criminals that caused Miss Akinbode’s anguish must be caught and punished. That is the least the Bayelsa State government can do to reassure other corps members that all is not totally lost.

  • Privacy on the line

    Privacy on the line

    – Content of rules matters more than identity of regulator 

    A coalition of US telecommunications and cable providers is lobbying to be regulated in privacy matters by the Federal Trade Commission instead of, as now, the Federal Communications Commission. Privacy advocates – emboldened by a debate on government monitoring of telephone and internet use – are crying foul: the companies’ aim is to elude privacy rules altogether, they fear. Both sides have a point.

    That cable and telecoms companies are regulated under a separate regime from internet companies is a historical artefact that is also increasingly an anomaly. The advent of the internet and the phenomenal growth of bandwidth means internet companies increasingly substitute for television and voice services offered by traditional providers – through email, streamed or downloaded film and music, and new forms of communication such as social media. Cable and telecoms companies have a good case for saying that largely similar products should be regulated according to equivalent rules.

    The prize, of course, is the monetisation of the vast information they accumulate about their users. Facebook and Google make money from the power to tailor advertising to user behaviour; so could Comcast and Verizon if they were allowed. They are not, because the FCC has more teeth and enforces tighter rules than the FTC.

    If cable and phone users want to pay less for services in return for their private data being used to target ads, there is no greater case for the law to ban this than in internet communications, where it is the standard business model. But the basic principle must be for this to happen only with the genuine, informed and active consent of consumers. On this, privacy advocates are right to sound the alarm. Many internet companies – recall Facebook’s unilateral service changes and Google Street View – treat privacy as an afterthought. Some industry leaders are genuinely puzzled why users care.

    The solution lies not in the specific agency chosen to regulate privacy, but rather the rules the regulator is set to patrol and the tools with which it does so. The FTC fights many privacy battles – it has charged Facebook and Google with misleading their users, and is probing brokers that sell collected data. If its powers are weak, so is US privacy legislation outside of sectoral niches such as the FCC’s remit. Washington should pass comprehensive rules, fit for the internet age, to protect privacy better across sectors. Who the regulator is matters less than what it is empowered to do.

    – Financial Times

  • New Police PFA

    New Police PFA

    •Before this programme begins, we should know the fate of the other pension schemes

    The Nigeria Police Force has established its own Pension Fund Administrator (PFA), ostensibly to curb the irregularities in the management of pensions of anguished police retirees in the country. The PFA creation that came after its purported compliance with the extant Pension Reform Act, 2004 and the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), has reportedly received the approval of President Goodluck Jonathan. But will its birth address the challenges currently being faced by police retirees? Is Mohammed Abubakar, the Inspector-General of Police’s (IG) reported optimism over the PFA while declaring open a three-day capacity building workshop for the police pension desk officers not misplaced?

    On Abubakar’s sanguinity, he declared: “I am glad to mention the creation of a Police Pension Fund Administrator… It becomes necessary that we take our destiny into our own hands … It is for this reason that President Goodluck Jonathan directed that the police should continue to be covered under the contributory scheme but approved that we should have a PFA of our own…’’

    Ordinarily, such an important workshop, with participants drawn from all police pension formations across the country should serve as a good source of education/enlightenment and empowerment for the police pension officers: It should teach them how to manage their pension fund in line with the National Pension Commission’s guidelines. The workshop ought to let them know that a selfless and properly managed pension scheme for the police could motivate not only the force’s retirees but also those still in service to give their best through noble service to the nation.

    But we have our doubts whether these lofty aims can be achieved by the force PFA. More than anything else, systemic corruption is the cause of failed pension schemes in the country. Some unscrupulous but powerful elements that feed fat on the system divert not only police pension funds but others meant for retirees across the country into private accounts.

    No one is again asking questions about what happened to the stolen billions of naira police pension. The chief culprit, John Yakubu Yusufu, a former director in the Police Pension Scheme Office was shamefully convicted to a two-year imprisonment with an option of a paltry fine of N750, 000 by an Abuja Federal High Court presided over by Justice Abubakar Talba. It is also sad that Abdulrasheed Maina, Chairman of the Presidential Pension Reform Task Force Team openly confessed that about N3.3 trillion that was released by the Federal Government for public sector retirees since 1976 was done ‘without accountability.’ What a country!

    More disgusting is the fact that those in high quarters have turned the other cheek to the awful spectacle of siphoning of not only police retirees but other aged retirees that routinely, but sadly, collapse and die in endless pensioners’ verification queues – after having been beaten by scorching sun and heavy rains.

    We demand for explanations regarding what happened to the Police Trust Fund money before the new PFA commences operation. If such funds could just go down the drain, what is the assurance that the PFA will not – not even with a largely de-motivated police force perceived in the public domain as notorious and highly corrupt.

    The panacea to failed pension schemes is not necessarily the creation of a new PFA that would be run largely by the same corrupt class of people that contributed to the demise or failure of earlier ones. Pension schemes work in other countries because in such climes, their systems work. We deprecate an evolving Nigerian tradition whereby otherwise good policies are abandoned mid-way due to avoidable manmade hiccups. The country and not only the police should endeavour to fix policy problems rather than keep adopting the easy way of coming up with new ones that would most probably also fail.

     

  • RCCG’s giant strides

    RCCG’s giant strides

    •Pastor Adeboye pulls a great crowd of the faithful again at the church convention

    The ordination of over 10,000 pastors by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) at its 61st annual convention draws the church closer to fulfilling the purpose of its mission statement. The yearly event, which took place at the expansive Redemption Camp on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway drew Christian faithful from all over the world and from different Christian denominations.

    Speaking on “Change”, the theme of the convention, the church’s general overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, a mathematics lecturer at the University of Lagos before he was sought out by Josiah Akindayomi, founder of the church went down memory lane: “Before I became born-again, I had a lot of friends. They would always branch at my house to enjoy the type of life we used to live. But as soon as I became born-again, though they were still coming, initially, my offer would not satisfy them and they all ran away.

    “But look at you, the multitude of friends God has given me in their stead.

    Therefore, you lose nothing when you give your life to Jesus and become His friend.”

    The mission statement of one of the world’s fastest growing and most influential churches is to ensure that its members rejoice with Jesus Christ in heaven; towards this end, the RCCG wants as many as possible of its members to sit at the table with Jesus Christ at the last supper. It also wants every family in all countries to wear the RCCG badge.

    Since he joined the church in 1973, initially as an interpreter to the church’s founder, Adeboye, who was ordained as a pastor in 1975, has proved beyond doubt that he is a true man of God.

    Although he speaks truth to power, he believes that should be done away from the prying eyes of the media. As a man who is a cross between the ancient and modern school of theology, Adeboye takes to heart Saint Paul’s injunction to the Romans: “let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but of God; the powers that are ordained by God.”

    For him, Christians should be exemplary citizens, showing respect to those in positions of authority. Adeboye has lent the weight of his office to, among others, ministering to the spiritual needs of the nation. If some Nigerians have not gone violent in protesting government’s misrule, if there have not been outright sabotage of government’s policies and programmes; if some Nigerians continue to feed on hope of a better tomorrow, the credit goes to the Adeboyes.

    One of the major highlights of the 61st annual convention was the announcement by ‘Daddy G.O’., as Adeboye is fondly called, of plans by the church to build a new auditorium stretching three kilometres in length and breadth. He appealed for donations for the new auditorium so that the project could be completed before next year’s convention. He pleaded with some of his friends who could support him with N1billion or N500milion to see his secretary. He also called on those who could help with N50million to assist.

    Regular visitors to the monthly Holy Ghost service of the church will no doubt appreciate the need for the new auditorium. Every first Friday of the month, thousands of worshippers congregate at the Redemption Camp for the Holy Ghost service and the camp is the Mecca for many Christians from all over the world for the yearly Holy Ghost Congress.

    As the church embarks on what promises to be a very big and comfortable house for God, we join millions of Redeemers to congratulate it. We enjoin builders of the new edifice not to overlook the basic convenience of worshippers. At the last convention, many congregants turned open grounds to convenience spots. Small matters like adequate and clean conveniences, the issue of environmental sanitation of the camp should be accorded the deserved attention. Once again, congratulations for a spiritual experience.

     

  • Pleading poverty

    Pleading poverty

    •Government’s claim of scarce funds to meet ASUU’s demands is not tenable

    It is often said that true intentions can only be revealed in times of crisis. Faced with the five week-old strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Federal Government at last revealed itself after weeks of temporising.

    Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister for Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, last week came up with the argument that government simply could not afford the estimated N92 billion that would be required to meet the union’s demands. The minister claimed that the amount was not compatible with the Jonathan administration’s desire to reduce the overwhelming proportion of recurrent expenditure in the national budget.

    While the virtues of budget-adjustment are indubitable, it is disheartening that a person of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s calibre could resort to such disingenuous reasoning. A recurrent budget expenditure of N2.386 trillion in the N4.987 trillion 2013 national budget has not stopped the Federal Government from meeting all the expenses of the Executive and the Legislature. The Presidential Fleet is the largest in Africa, and has continued to acquire top-of-the line aircraft. Each member of the Nigerian Senate is better-paid than America’s President Barack Obama. In his extensive trips abroad, President Goodluck Jonathan has travelled with a full complement of aides and politicians, all of whom receive dollar-denominated per diem expenses.

    The Jonathan administration did not plead poverty when it set up nine new federal universities. It did not claim penury when it entered into a host of dubious financial arrangements with well-connected individuals, such as the so-called pipeline security contracts which made several ex-militants enormously wealthy. Indeed, the Federal Government appears to have so much money that it did not even mind paying trillions of naira to fuel-importers without ascertaining whether they had actually imported petroleum products.

    Given government’s unstinting generosity when it is spending money on itself and its cronies, it is surprising that the finance minister can now plead poverty when it comes to meeting its legitimate financial obligations to others. It must be remembered that ASUU’s demands are not arbitrary: they are the outcome of exhaustive negotiations with the Federal Government, concluded in 2009, and assented to by all parties. It is not a cash-and-carry arrangement, either: the agreement outlines a comprehensive spending plan aimed at the full rehabilitation of the nation’s dilapidated federal universities to enable them contribute effectively to the production of the skilled manpower the nation so badly needs.

    Dr. Okonjo-Iweala appears to be utilising the tried-and-tested strategy of pleading fiscal constraints as an excuse for inaction. This was what she did during the oil subsidy “debate” when she quoted all sorts of statistics to buttress her belief that the subsidy should be ended. As it turned out, nobody in government could definitively state how much Nigeria paid in subsidies, or even how many tonnes of petroleum products the country imports annually. How can she expect anyone to take her seriously now?

    A speedy resolution of the lingering ASUU strike is in the national interest. Federal and state universities account for the largest proportion of university students, and their closure amounts to a colossal waste of time, energy and resources. Thousands of students are loitering in the streets and at home when they should be in school; their idle hands and fertile minds have palpable implications for the already-precarious security situation in the country. In any case, the resuscitation of Nigeria’s decrepit tertiary education sector is long overdue.

    As the strike continues and the suffering deepens, government will find itself in a very difficult position, particularly given the fact that many of the offspring of government officials are known to attend universities abroad. Instead of proffering untenable excuses, the Jonathan administration should work to implement the agreement reached with ASUU. Or at least get the union to buy into whatever alternative it may want to proffer.

     

  • Restoring Egypt’s peace

    Restoring Egypt’s peace

    • While we condemn the killings, the Muslim Brotherhood should relax its rigid position

    Egypt needs to move forward but more imperative at the moment is how to curb the negative reverberations of violent protests cutting across that country. The changes in her government, broadly tagged a revolution, have come with consequences that are of serious concerns to the world. The global media have beamed searchlights on violent protests, killings and destruction that have become the aftermath of removal of President Mohammed Morsi from power.

    There seems to be no end in sight. Morsi’s supporters , especially the Muslim Brotherhood, and on the other hand, the liberals, left-wing and Christians have brutally engaged one another. The two groups have made that country a shadow of her old self. The nation has been put under a month-long state of emergency, with curfew imposed on Cairo, Alexandria and 13 other provinces by the army-backed interim government. The uprisings have led to the death of more than 343 persons, most of them killed by security forces trying to break up protests supporting ousted Morsi. Forty-three of these were security personnel. Not less than four churches were attacked in an act perceived as a direct reprisal by the pro-Morsi Muslim Brotherhood on Copts in Egypt. The on-going turmoil was reported to be the worst violence since her 2011 uprising.

    The crisis is avoidable but for Morsi’s crass impunity in governance. He proclaimed a constitutional declaration purporting to protect the Constituent Assembly of Egypt from judicial interference in his bid to foist Islamic rule on a country yearning for secularism. He planned to govern with unlimited power and included a vindictive clause in his declaration that required a fresh trial of people acquitted of Mubarak-era killings of protesters. His draconian declaration ensured that all constitutional declarations, laws and decrees made during his reign were immune to appeal by any individual, political or governmental body.

    Until the declaration’s annulment on December 8, 2012, Morsi’s highhandedness goaded most opposition groups, including the liberals, to embark on mass protests calling for his resignation. The Egyptian Armed Forces issued a 48-hour ultimatum which gave him till July 3 to meet the demands of the Egyptian people. The military also threatened to intervene if the dispute was not resolved. Morsi’s approach to the ultimatum was supercilious and niggling as he dared to “defend the legitimacy of his elected office with his life” since, in his words, “there is no substitute for legitimacy.” This is despite the fact that he ran a non-inclusive government to the chagrin of those that fought for his enthronement in power. On July 3, the defence minister, General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi, formally announced that Morsi had been deposed and the constitution suspended.

    The rebellion and protests, especially by the Islamists, cannot solve the current quagmire. Morsi, in tandem with his Muslim Brotherhood, had the opportunity to build a secular country where gender discrimination will be prohibited and where freedom of speech ought to be allowed to flourish, but he frittered it away.

    The sad scenario being witnessed in Egypt is the consequence of a sudden change in societal guards without the ability by Morsi to carry the people along in their affairs. This is the challenge of a revolution that we think the interim government in place must address. Whatever our reservations regarding the undemocratic manner in which Morsi was removed, the fact remains that that condemnable military intervention has become a fait accompli. Morsi should play the statesman in the general interest of his country by calling on the Muslim Brotherhood to accept reality so that Egypt can move forward. Since Muslim Brotherhood does not corral an overwhelming majority, it should shift its position for the peace of all. After all, there are several Muslims, who voted for him, but are equally celebrating his demise from power today.