The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • The police paradox

    The police paradox

    •The sharp disparity in the compensations for fallen police and SSS men is a sad testament

    The paradox of the Nigeria Police Force is that it is the most important institution for maintaining peace and order, and even for the security of lives and property. It is indeed the inexorable steely arm of the judiciary which in tandem, keeps the society sane, safe and orderly. The police is arguably the most important organ of the modern state, yet in Nigeria, it is the least regarded. The Nigerian state carries on as if it could do without the police. In fact, the Federal Government, having shambled on fairly well without a proper police for so many years, today sees the police as an irritant only to be tolerated.

    Two recent incidents corroborate this mindset. Reports last Monday (which have not been refuted) show how families of men of the Department of State Services (DSS) who were killed on duty in the recent ambush in Nasarawa State were promptly handed an initial compensation of N10 million each, while the families of their police counterparts still awaited a paltry N500,000 compensation. The fallen State Security Service (SSS) men’s family members are also to enjoy a bequeathal of a befitting house each.

    The Inspector –General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, was reported to be so aghast at the demeaning disparity in the compensation packages of the two services that he immediately increased his men’s take to N1 million. But there still remains a most demoralising difference.

    Another pointer to the status of the police in Nigeria is the rehabilitation work going on at the Police College, Ikeja, (PCI) Nigeria’s premier academy for the training of the force. The institute went to seed as a result of government’s indifference to the police in the first place; until January , PCI was unfit to be a pig sty and that is not an exaggeration. PCI was in such a scandalous state that when a television station reported its dereliction, it was an award-winning scoop of international magnitude.

    What was the Federal Government’s response after some days of huffing and puffing? It drafted the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers to embark on the massive makeover of the police college, including the procurement of wardrobes, classroom desks and beds.

    This unthinking and blatant vote-of-no-confidence on the police establishment is not the most act of morale-killing ever meted out to the police, but it is quite significant with deep psychological imports. Ironically, the Federal Government is inadvertently abating the curse and damnation imposed on the police by the military hierarchy. Recent history shows that it was successive military governments that rendered the police impotent and almost worthless, to satisfy their dictatorial tendencies. At a point, the tag, ‘force’ was yanked off the Nigeria Police.

    That was the story of the police in Nigeria and the force’s troubles have not abated. No police unit would be allowed into a military barrack to do army work or contract. A military officer’s pay is miles apart from his police counterpart’s. A brigade commander’s office is a world apart from a divisional police officer’s office. When the police became so under-funded and crushed under the boots that it could not perform some of its basic functions, successive federal government simply created other organs like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC; the Federal Road Safety Commission, the National Security and Civil Defence Corps and even the WAI Brigade. When there is a breach of the peace that required the mobile police force, government mobilises military troops, on and on and the police as constituted today, is a damaged replica of the real thing.

    Again, we urge the Federal Government to borrow a leaf from some advanced countries of the world and restore the police to its status-quo ante. The police is a sacred institution of state that must be pristine in its very nature and be positioned as the bastion of any modern state. The police is not subordinate to the military class or even the political elite. The police is the state.

     

  • Emergency aftermath

    Emergency aftermath

    •Internally displaced persons in areas where emergency rule has been declared deserve assistance

    Humanitarian crisis has been reported in parts of Borno State where President Goodluck Jonathan last week announced the imposition of emergency rule. In parts of Maiduguri, the state capital where 24-hour curfew was imposed last Saturday, residents are reported to be in dire need of food supply, while shortage of water supply in the neigbourhoods is said to be causing pains. The streets are deserted and the markets closed down.

    This has added a new dimension to the refugee crisis provoked by the Boko Haram crisis. Over the past week, thousands are said to have fled border areas of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states where emergency measures were introduced on May 14. Some of the internally displaced persons have fled the country to war-torn Niger Republic, which has been facing shortages caused by political conflicts in recent times.

    Others are said to be flocking to neighbouring Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba states where there are no plans to accommodate them. This is coming about a year after the floods that ravaged most parts of the country last year, sacking entire communities and depriving the people of their means of livelihood. The people of these states are at the most vulnerable moments.

    Before the Federal Government took “extraordinary measures” to root out the Boko Haram insurgents, it ought to have put in place a policy to protect the innocent people who are now being made to bear the brunt of the conflict. Women and children have been reduced to beggars and sentenced to starvation.

    Even before the latest development that compounded the situation, the director of Action Aid Nigeria, Dr. Husseini Abdu, had decried the absence of a policy framework to protect innocent victims of communal, political and religious crises in Nigeria. In the wake of last year’s flood devastation, millions of Nigerians were internally displaced and the country was described as the worst hit by the scourge on the African continent. Now that war has been literally declared across three states, the problem could only be compounded.

    We call on the government to immediately commence the process of enunciating the right policies. In the interim, well-equipped camps should be set up in states bordering Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

    It must also be pointed out that there is a dire need for the Federal Government to ensure that the troops deployed keep strictly to the rules of engagement while also assuring the populace that they have nothing to fear.

    It is the duty of all, including the military, to ensure that normalcy returns to the three states as soon as possible. In doing this, support of the state governments, local governments and other democratic institutions that share the burden of the conflict should be enlisted in a bid to bring the situation under control and secure the civilian population.

    Just before the presidential proclamation, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Mukhtar, had told judges and Kadhis at a workshop in Abuja that the situation was becoming alarming and called for concern. She said: “These people are forced to flee their homes, ancestral places of abode and places of business due to no fault of theirs. Now, these internally displaced persons are often referred to as refugees in their own countries.”

    It must be noted that conflicts are rocking all countries that border Nigeria in the North-Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. Yet, the terrified population is likely to be driven to those insecure territories where they could be affected by the wars.

    The primary duty of the government of Nigeria is to ensure that the welfare of the people is guaranteed. The innocent victims of this conflict, in particular, deserve to be protected and catered for. The National Emergency Management Agency, Red Cross International, Red Cross Nigeria and International Commission on Human Rights should all be immediately mobilised to wipe tears from the faces of these children and mothers who have become victims of a war they most likely do not understand.

     

  • Wipe their tears

    Wipe their tears

    •Dependants of slain security operatives deserve better treatment

    Commuters, transporters and residents of Nasarawa State had sorry tales to tell last week as widows of policemen and officers slain in the May 7 attack blocked the Akwanga-Lafia Express Road to protest the neglect of their welfare by police authorities.

    It is unfortunate that innocent people who had legitimate businesses to pursue were at the receiving end of the action, as they were stranded over days in Akwanga, with the widows refusing to quit the roads until their late husbands’ entitlements were settled by the Police Headquarters in Abuja. Many of the commuters spoke about having to check into hotels on credit while others just had to stay over in make-shift locations. Akwanga is a nodal town that links other parts of the North Central and North East.

    It is incredible that women who had just lost their husbands, and in many cases, breadwinners of their families, were subjected to such treatment at a time they ought to be mourning the loss of their loved ones. We hold that it is the responsibility of their employers, in this case, the Nigeria Police Force, to wipe tears from their faces by promptly attending to their welfare concerns. For men and women who were recruited to put their lives on the line to protect the lives and properties of others, their entitlements should be well spelt out and generous to motivate them to do their best in the process of discharging their constitutional responsibilities.

    As a spokesperson for the widows told reporters, the demands were simple: pay the entitlements without tears, grant scholarships to the children up to tertiary level and ensure that widows and children of slain officers who died in the fiasco without attaining the age of drawing pensions were granted concessions in view of the circumstances of their death.

    Another protesting widow told reporters that they were infuriated because the Police High Command did not consider it necessary to address them immediately on steps being taken for their welfare. She said the Inspector -General, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, was in Lafia days after the incident but did not think it fit to talk to those left by the departed men and officers. She also accused the Nasarawa State Government of treating them with ignominy.

    A relation of one of the dead men, Corporal Mathew Onoja hit the nail on the head when he said, “we are begging the police authority not to subject the widows and children to untold hardship in pursuing the payment of their entitlements. Most of them will not be able to withstand the rigorous process.”

    This is the crux of the matter. It goes beyond the case at hand. The welfare scheme for policemen is appalling. When they are alive, they are denied living wages, made to face men of the underworld poorly armed and kitted, and when dead, their dependants are neglected and ignored. We call on the Federal Government and police authorities to review the welfare scheme for officers and men of the force. It is a shame that almost two weeks after the attack, we are yet to know the exact number of men killed and those abducted, let alone briefed on efforts to free those still in custody.

    It cheers the heart that the deputy commissioner in charge of welfare at the Police Headquarters, Abiodun Ige, was deployed to the state in response to the widows’ action. Also heartening is that the Nasarawa State government has made initial payment of one million Naira each to the widows. Other demands should be immediately addressed and a system put in place to assure serving officers and men that the state cares for them.

     

  • NCC deadline

    NCC deadline

    • Streamlining the subscriber base of mobile phone networks for integrity and safety is a necessary step that should proceed with caution

     

    About three years after the take-off of the National Subscriber Identity Module card registration, owners of unregistered telephone lines have been warned to register their lines or be cut off from the telecommunications networks across the country. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which gave the warning, said with effect from June 30, any unregistered telephone subscriber would not be able to make phone calls or send text messages on such lines. The commission’s director of public affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, who made this known, said the decision was part of the outcome of a meeting between the telecommunications operators and the regulatory agency.

    When the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication was launched in the country in August 2001, all that subscribers needed to do was approach a dealer for line and this was activated about 24 hours later. Nobody cared about registration of the lines. However, with the upsurge in crimes, particularly kidnapping and terrorism, the government thought it expedient to have telephone subscribers registered, at least to enable it pin particular numbers to specific persons, to checkmate the criminals who took undue advantage of the haphazard manner that characterised the ownership of the lines then.

    To demonstrate its commitment to the registration exercise, the Federal Government provided N6billion to the NCC to facilitate the implementation of the project, against strident criticisms that the registration should have been the sole responsibility of the telephone operators.

    At least 80 percent success was reportedly recorded at the end of the first phase of the exercise, with about 95,886,714 subscribers registered. The implication is that at most, about 19.16 million mobile telephone subscribers across the country may be disconnected from their respective networks next month, if they have still not registered their lines. Even though the subscriber base has since increased to more than 109,829,223 as of December 31, 2012, the new subscribers are unlikely to be affected by the June 30 deadline because their lines must have been registered before activation.

    Since nothing lasts forever, the June 30 deadline given by the NCC is a fair deal; it is long enough for any genuine telephone subscriber to register his or her line. The need for a deadline for the registration is further exacerbated by the fact that the country has no reliable data base and part of government’s intention is to use the data garnered during the exercise as a form of data base from where basic information could be obtained about quite a significant number of Nigerians.

    Without doubt, we need to know the exact number of telephone subscribers in the country. And this cannot be ascertained unless every line is registered and we can also not get this unless we put a deadline to the registration of old lines that had been in use before the registration started, since new lines are being registered before they are activated. The advantages of knowing these statistics far outweigh any disadvantage of the registration.

    But the NCC and the telephone operators have to be systematic and take extra care so as not to cut off subscribers that have registered their lines. The possibility of this is high in view of the experience of many subscribers who have registered their lines but keep getting text messages to do same. What this implies is that data collated during the registration were not synchronised. Otherwise, it is only those that are yet to register that should receive such messages.

    This is why we urge extreme care in cutting off lines even after the expiration of the deadline. Subscribers who are yet to register should seize the window of opportunity to register their lines before the deadline. However, we must remind the regulator and the telephone providers that registration of telephone lines should not be a ritual that law-abiding subscribers have to perform again and again simply because someone or some organisation failed to do their job.

     

  • Off the mark!

    Off the mark!

    •By endorsing Jonathan, S/E and S/S govs are out of sync with their people

     

    THE governors and few political leaders of the south-south and south-east geo-political zones of the country, save Edo State, met recently in Asaba, the capital of Delta State, to deliberate on the state of the nation. Amazingly, the best they could offer was to praise the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, as if they are oblivious of the grave crisis bedevilling the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the inability of the President to resolve any of them.

    Their main concern was to endorse the presidency without any suggestions as to how the country could negotiate itself out of its political cul-de-sac. This can be likened to playing the ostrich, while the nation boiled.

    Indeed, while the leadership of the political zones of the country is expected to consult often on the state of the nation, their followers expect that such meetings would provide answers or at least proffer suggestions that will better their lives. For instance, while the south-east is threatened by perennial incidents of kidnappings, the south-south is increasingly apprehensive of the reemergence of insurgency; yet at such a meeting, these serious challenges were relegated to the background. The governors and other political leaders at the meeting did not consider the security of lives and property of the people they are representing more important than the effusive praise of the presidency and its policies that have apparently failed the nation.

    As many believe, the politicians apparently represented their own selfish interests and not that of the people of the zones on this mission. For, we ask, how can the people of south-south and south-east be expected to endorse the current national leadership in the midst of the crises that they face in their daily lives? We know that in the south-east, for instance, the critical infrastructure owned by the Federal Government is in dire need of attention; just like unemployment has contributed to the resort to sundry crimes, by their youths. It is indeed clear that the security of lives and property is seriously under threat in the zones, yet, the political leadership of the zones met to endorse the leadership of the Federal Government that has failed the people.

    On its part, the south-south political zone is slowly regressing to its days of anarchy. Few weeks ago, security operatives travelling in the creeks of Bayelsa State were ambushed and murdered by yet-to-be indentified assailants. Again, the notorious militant leaders of the Niger Delta, despite the billions of naira spent to pacify them in the past few years, are increasingly pushing and openly threatening to revert to their violent ways.

    The presidency is accused of fuelling political instability in Rivers State, while in the nearby Delta State, the atmosphere is charged and getting fouled by desperate political actors, all claiming patronage from the presidency. In all these, the lives of the people are not significantly getting better in most of the states, yet their sensibilities are being assaulted by leaders who are more interested in power than leadership.

    While we do not begrudge politicians playing politics, we condemn political leaders behaving as if their positions and the authorities they exercise are all about acquiring power and nursing it. In our view, it is unfortunate that instead of nudging the President to deliver on his electoral promises in the interest of their people, the leaders of the two zones are more interested in appeasement. They must however note that where power is not used to advance the welfare of the people, the people will soon hold them to account.

     

  • Thanks but no thanks

    Thanks but no thanks

     Jonathan should ignore IMF’s call to remove fuel subsidy and instead focus on local refining of crude 

    IT was all so predictable – the International Monetary Fund, IMF’s call for President Goodluck Jonathan to fully remove fuel subsidy, to ensure a so-called fiscal adjustment. On May 9, Williams Scott Rogers, IMF’s senior resident representative/mission chief in Nigeria, told the media Nigeria badly needed the complete removal to record savings on recurrent spending, and further shore up the economy.

    The IMF’s latest advice is not new. With the mindset of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy, it is even likely to sit well with the current drivers of the economy, madly in love with bean-counting in reporting “growth” that seldom translates into development in a shallow economy; rather than traversing a completely different paradigm that deepens the local economy and fires it for growth, development and eventual prosperity.

    That IMF’s advice is always ideologically coloured to maintain the economic hegemony of metropolitan western powers and further subject, to their suzerainty, the Nigerian economy is no big deal to these managers, ensconced head to toe, body and soul, in neo-liberal orthodoxy.

    IMF itself does not shy from its notorious one-shoe-fits-all prescriptive arrogance, which in the past only managed to wipe out some economies, before their Lordship Majesties on the ideological throne accepted maybe they did not have all the answers. But then, most African economies were such basket cases that earned the desperation of being subjected to IMF’s experimentation or were assured of total collapse.

    In the present Nigerian case, there is a lot to be said against unsustainable subsidies; for they drain scarce resources from core development and lavish them on elite comfort – if the Jonathan Presidency’s rather phony claim that petrol subsidy only massages the taste of the rich and their spoilt offspring, who cruise around Lagos with four-wheelers with humungous appetite for petrol.

    But that is if, and only if, the so-called subsidy is really subsidy; and not some scam masquerading as one. From the clear aftermath of the 2011 nationwide fuel strike, the so-called subsidy was a massive scam, the perpetrators of which are yet to be judicially sanctioned. Yet, IMF has the temerity to advocate subsidy removal, and its local orchestra-in-government the cheek to serve notice to act in that direction. Until the exact level of the so-called subsidy is conclusively established, sans sleaze, it is irrational for anyone to even think of removing anything.

    Even at that, the subsidy talk is only the result of a flawed energy policy. It is a classic case of taking off in the wrong direction, hoping against hope that somehow the wanderer would hit on where he is going. It would never happen.

    The Obasanjo presidency, running away from local refining, purported to liberalise petroleum downstream by resorting to fuel importation. That has led to massive fraud by crooks, but not without collusion by government officials, for illicit gains. It is that bill that feeds the sleaze the government, from Obasanjo to Jonathan, has been brandishing as “subsidy”.

    Now, is it not common sense that the government does away with importing fuel and instead focus on local refining; thus cutting the base off this massive stealing? But no: the Jonathan Presidency would rather muscle the people to repay what a few have stolen than getting rid of the flawed policy that engendered the fraud.

    On this score, the Jonathan Presidency, even if it appears hard of hearing, must listen to sound counsel: it should invest in local refining; instead of hearkening to IMF’s removal of phantom subsidy. Otherwise it can only head for the proverbial tortoise’s journey that would end in nothing but perdition and disgrace. A word is enough for the wise.

  • Another jamboree

    Another jamboree

    •Nigeria wants to host WEF. But how will this benefit Nigerians?

    AT the close of the 23rd edition of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Cape Town, South Africa on May 10, finance minister and coordinating minister of the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, announced Nigeria as host of the next edition of the global meet. The rather exultant minister, while thanking WEF for choosing Nigeria as the next host, posited that the choice of Nigeria was appropriate, given its position and huge economic potential.

    Said she: “I think we epitomise a lot of things about Africa. We have the excitement, the passion, the entrepreneurship, the private sector drive and the glow for the future… We also epitomise all of the difficult challenges of the continent such as infrastructure deficit, governance issues, corruption and transparency”. The combination of these opportunities and challenges in one country, she further argued, “is what makes Nigeria the most exciting place to be on the continent”.

    The Director-General, Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Frank Nweke Jnr, would add that “President Goodluck Jonathan had already mandated the team to organise a successful forum”.

    After the forum’s outing in South Africa, the question for many would be – why not Nigeria? Going by the objectives of the Geneva-based non-profit foundation, to wit: “to improve the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders in the vision of shaping global, regional and industry agendas”, nothing, clearly can be wrong with seeking to host the global meet. That however must come with the understanding that it must be private sector-driven – hence, no public fund is involved.

    The more pertinent question however is what the nation stands to gain by hosting – or put in another way, whether there are additional benefits to be gained merely on account of hosting. The answer of course is – doubtful. In the first place, if our previous outings at the WEF or indeed similar high flying international conferences are any indications of what to expect, it would be illusory to expect that things would suddenly change mainly because the nation is hosting this particular one.

    But more substantively, will the hosting transform the climate of doing business in the country? Will it address those long-standing issues that impede business competitiveness? What about corruption? What about governance issues impeding the delivery of the public good? How will the fact of our hosting of the WEF improve the state of things? Will it not end up as another opportunity to regale the world with the familiar Nigerian story of wants in the midst of wealth?

    The issue is hardly about the prerogative of WEF to choose any venue for hosting its forums. So long as no public fund is involved, WEF can hold its programmes anywhere. Of course, we deplore the penchant by our officials to fall over themselves every time there is occasion for international conferences. We have seen how much this has cost the treasury over the years, even when participation by officials can hardly be justified by the value delivered in the end. The point is – our officials love to talk and travel at public expense. Now, if they are not ashamed of showcasing failures on all fronts, shouldn’t they at least be tired of the ritual of endless dissection of problems which leads to nowhere?

    The issue is simple and straightforward: we do not need the burden of hosting any jamboree. If our officials cannot sit down to do the work they are paid to do, they should at least spare us such frivolities.

  • Murky oil markets

    Murky oil markets

    The investigation by the European Commission into the setting of oil prices is still a long way from establishing whether global benchmark rates were manipulated. Yet this week’s raids into the offices of several oil majors and Platts, the world’s leading price reporting agency (PRA), have shed more light on the perplexing lack of transparency and regulation in commodities markets.

    Every day, privately owned PRAs establish the benchmark prices for hundreds of different crude blends. The agencies collect bids, offers and details of completed transactions from traders, who provide them on a voluntary basis. The commission fears companies may have manipulated their submissions in order to gain from financial and physical trades linked to these benchmarks. Those under investigation may also have excluded competitors from the process to facilitate the rigging.

    If antitrust law was breached, European authorities should establish whether this was the fault of a few traders or if senior management was involved. Platts also has much explaining to do. PRAs have the power single-handedly to exclude companies from the process. In the absence of enough quotes, reporters can use their own discretion to produce the final benchmark. The company is intimately involved in what price is ultimately set.

    It is also troubling that it has taken years for an investigation to open. Concerns about the setting of oil prices were raised at the G20 summit in Cannes in 2011. Total, the French oil group, also complained about it last year. True, financial regulators do not have responsibility for the price-setting process. But there could have been investigations on competition grounds.

    Governments should call for far greater oversight of oil price setting. The International Organisation of Securities Commissions had the chance to push for a fundamental rethinking of oil benchmarks. Yet, in a report last year, in the face of industry pressure, Iosco only suggested minor tweaks to the current system. More radical changes are needed: oil companies should not be allowed to select which trades they want to disclose. There should be greater use of actual transaction data and of mechanical calculations, which are less open to abuse. Price-rigging should become a crime.

    All of this will require international agreement and will be difficult to achieve. But given public sensitivity to petrol prices, politicians have every incentive to act.

    •Financial Times

  • Nigeria’s baby factories

    Nigeria’s baby factories

    Sex slavery for child breeding and trafficking, now exposed, must stop

     

    The recent discovery of 17 pregnant teenage girls in a so-called baby-factory in Imo State is a sober reminder of just how badly Nigeria has failed to curb the heinous trade in human beings. More than that, it manifests in stark terms the retreat to savagery and plunder of innocence in the Nigerian society.

    The girls, aged between 14 and 17, were found in a fake motherless babies’ home where they had been put by the proprietor, nicknamed “Madam One Thousand.”

    They were allegedly impregnated by the same man, and their babies were going to be sold off to waiting buyers.For a nation whose indigenes were serially victimised by centuries of foreign and domestic slavery, it is shocking that such practices are still rampant. The case in Imo State is only the latest in a series of discoveries that have included the exposure of similar operations across the country, especially in the south-east.

    The cruelty involved in this grim business is all too obvious. Most of the girls are young and vulnerable to the blandishment of those who wish to exploit them. They are often raped in the process of making them pregnant and kept in unhygienic conditions before they deliver the babies they will never see again. They are then paid paltry sums and thrown into the street. As for the unfortunate infants that have been brought into the world so inauspiciously, their fate ranges from adoption to being sacrificed for ritual purposes.

    The social consequences of this heartless business are profound and wide-ranging. Quite apart from the continuous denigration of motherhood, there is the certain rise in ritual killings that is sure to take place when the supply of hapless victims is guaranteed in this macabre fashion. Genuine adoption procedures are destined to fail in the face of this illegal alternative. Many vulnerable young women will be forced into the baby-factory trade as its promoters seek to ensure the continuity of their business. The family, as the basic unit of society, will be undermined.

    To make matters worse, the baby-factory business is likely to enhance the other illegalities that abound in Nigeria. Trafficking in human beings, forced labour, prostitution and other vices will thrive. New crimes like the trade in human organs are also likely to develop. As the promoters become ever richer, they will further distort the already-weakened moral basis of society.

    It must be wondered why there is such a profusion of baby-factories in Nigeria. These operations are often set up in urban areas, and are able to accommodate sizeable numbers of girls who are kept on the premises for months on end. Babies are delivered and sold with an efficiency that goes on for months, if not years. Records are falsified, documents are altered, lies are told. Yet nobody appears to know anything until the operation is smashed.

    Clearly, many agencies have failed in their duties. The ministries of youth and welfare across the country do not seem to have any idea of exactly how many motherless babies’ homes are operating illegally. The country’s system of birth registration is clearly not strict enough, since it appears to be possible for a baby to be born without the official notice of the authorities. Young girls are able to disappear for months on end without any alarm. Families are seen to have new babies, even though neighbours cannot remember if the “mothers” were ever pregnant. The Nigeria Police is not as assiduous in following up reports of missing people or illegal trade in babies as it should be. In essence, a comprehensive breakdown of the country’s welfare, security and identification systems has enabled this tragedy to occur.

    Part of the virtual impunity under which the baby-sellers operate is their seeming invulnerability before the law. It is rare for a case of baby-trafficking to appear in Nigeria’s courts; it is even rarer for those involved to be sentenced and jailed. When culprits are allowed to get away with their crimes in this manner, it only goes to substantiate rumours of complicity at the highest levels of society.

    The country must come to grips with this crime that targets its most vulnerable citizens. The procedures for the setting-up of motherless babies ‘homes, maternities and hospitals must be strictly followed. Birth registration processes must be completely overhauled to ensure that the registration of all new-borns is obligatory. The security agencies should be quick to follow up all reports of missing persons or baby-trafficking which come to them. When culprits are apprehended, they must be made to face the full force of the law. Babies are not for sale.

     

  • Man of the moment

    Man of the moment

    •Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United Football Club manager steps down, setting the world abuzz

    It is not likely that any single individual, coach or player, in the feisty world of football has earned the global stature and clout as we have seen in Sir Alex Ferguson, the recently retired manager of Manchester United Football Club, MUFC. Ferguson’s retirement reverberates across the world, leaping off the sports sections to the news pages and editorial columns of major newspapers in every corner of the globe. Even the New York Exchange where the club’s stocks are quoted blipped. He is no doubt the man of the moment, the poster boy of goodliness in a world hurting from political malaise, bombs and sundry vices.

    Ferguson’s era at MUFC where he held sway for about 27 years is nothing short of a modern day phenomenon. By the time he quit last week at 71, he had turned an almost anonymous club into the number one club in England, a colossal success business and a bankable brand. He garnered no fewer than 49 silverwares, dominating and shaping the English Premier League, EPL for well over two decades and making MUFC to rank among the top five football clubs in Europe. MUFC under Fergie also grew to become perhaps the most followed club in the world today, with worldwide fan base said to exceed 800 million.

    Ferguson’s huge success at the Old Trafford can be put down to a number of factors. First is his ability to blend English-style fast-paced and gritty football with the fluid, romantic South American one-touch genre. He also had eyes for quality football talents who could actualise his unique style. Indeed, during his time, he signed some of the brightest and best players of the game in this age. Consider Cristiano Ronaldo, Eric Cantona, David Beckham, Roy keane, Ruud Van Nistlerooy and Edwin Van Der Sar, to name a few. It is one matter to sign on great players and yet another to blend them, manage them, especially their star syndrome and make them deliver the desired results.

    In fact it may be said that it is at player management that Ferguson excelled the most. A firm disciplinarian, he brooked no opposition and switched his famous ‘hair dryer’ technique, especially on those who got carried away by their star status. As he stayed longer at Old Trafford, his influence and stature grew in the board, the Football Association, in England and beyond. He became a father figure and a mentor to most of the players other than just a coach. This engendered stability, team spirit and a delightful working environment with accompanying rich history and prestige. Thus, while other football clubs in Europe had rapid coach and player turn over, this was not the case in MUFC as many players were proud to remain at Old Trafford for life.

    As another manager, David Moyes steps in, there is no doubt that Ferguson’s act will be hard to follow. Even if one masters his techniques and understudies his style, his nobility of nature and solid character may not be easy to replicate. His long years as a top manager were not only glorious but largely scandal-free. Even in his retirement statement, he paid her glowing tribute saying, “My wife Cathy has been the key figure throughout my career, providing a bedrock of both stability and encouragement.”

    We commend Sir Alex Ferguson to Nigerian football coaches, administrators and football owners. They sure have a few lessons to learn from his tenacity of purpose, his carriage, his character and discipline. These traits enabled him to build a great club, a successful business and a global brand out of that round leather object called football.