The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Murder at ACU

    Murder at ACU

    •Security needs to be strengthened on the campus

    Hugging the news headlines for the wrong reasons last week, the Ajayi  Crowther University (ACU), Oyo, in Oyo State, was numbered among one of those higher institutions in Nigeria with students whose conduct run contrary to the codes of cultured and disciplined behaviour predicated on sound knowledge which is supposed to be the hallmark of tertiary education. A 200-level Mechanical Engineering student of the institution, Akor Alex Timilehin, was reportedly beaten to death on the campus by a group of his fellow students who accused him of stealing a mobile phone.

    According to reports, the deceased was severely beaten and manhandled by his assailants numbering no less than 12 for several hours inside a students hostel on the school premises known as Shepherd Inn. If the deceased had indeed stolen a phone, shouldn’t the alleged infraction have been reported to the requisite authorities? The tortuous treatment of the late student was said to have begun at around 8pm on a Friday night and continued until 10am the following Saturday, when the victim gave up the ghost.

    Giving an update on the incident to the press, the vice-chancellor of the institution, Professor Timothy Adebayo, said that 18 students had earlier been arrested and handed over to the police at the Iyaganku Police Station, Ibadan, which had pruned the number of suspects to 12, even as investigations continue.

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    Exuding deep emotion on the incident, the vice-chancellor said the management of the school had put in place measures to ensure a high level of discipline and ensure safety of lives and property. In his words, “We have a monitoring team that moves around. We have a security team. The management moves around to check that things are in order, to ensure that students comply with the mechanism put in place”. Towards this objective, he said, the institution had strong rules to prevent bullying and cultism. While no bushes are allowed to grow on the premises from where cultists can operate, he said students who engage in bullying and other acts of lawlessness are immediately dismissed.

    The vice-chancellor understandably tried to sustain the confidence of parents in the security of their children in the school’s care when he said, “Ajayi Crowther University is safe. We raise students with godly character. We are telling the parents now that their children are in safe hands here”. But it will take more than mere words for many parents to believe this as the tragic incident leaves a number of critical questions unanswered.

    How effective, for instance, were the security measures put in place in and around the hostel where this murder was perpetrated and, by extension, in other places on the campus premises? Was it that there were no other students around who could have raised the alarm when their colleagues were carrying out this dastardly act? How could the beating and torture of the deceased have gone on without attracting the attention of the security personnel attached to the facility, if any?

    A member of the delegation from Uvwie and Warri kingdoms of Delta State, where the deceased hailed from, who visited the school on a fact-finding mission, Yemi Otuedon, complained about the condition of the hostel where the atrocity was perpetrated. According to him, “If you see where these children are staying, they are like prisoners despite the kind of money paid to the school”. Alleging that the school authorities had tidied up the residence of the deceased where he was killed and arranged his things on the floor before their arrival, he said, “There were injuries all over his head and body. If you saw the body, you would know it wasn’t a small bleed, and they went to clean the house where he was beaten. They mopped it off. Is that not a wicked school?”

    Ordinarily, the police to whom the incident was reported ought to have sought to assess the scene of the crime before the place was tampered with. There is no indication this was done. We join the call for diligent investigation of this crime by the police so that the culprits will be made to face the law and justice done.

    Those who are familiar with the institution say it was not like this before. Not that they never had bad students like some other higher institutions, public or private, but such bad eggs were identified and dismissed, no matter how highly connected, before they could cause serious problems for the university. That was a time that ACU lived up to its motto of ‘Raising Godly Intellectuals’ who “proceed in their lifelong experience to become agents of great positive change and transformation in their immediate environment, the nation and the world as a whole”.

    Anyway, the vice-chancellor has stated that the management has learnt pertinent lessons and that new measures will be put in place to improve security. These include increasing the number of security operatives and porters, complementing existing security personnel with officers of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and ensuring that all students, porters and security personnel undergo mandatory drug tests. This is welcome. Nothing should be spared to guarantee safety of lives and property in the school and ensure that due value is received from the school fees paid.

  • Senegal’s romance with Sahelian Junta

    Senegal’s romance with Sahelian Junta

    On June 1, Senegal played host to a conference with the theme “The Alliance of Sahel States, a new platform for Senegal’s regional integration”. The development has potential implications on the unity and cohesion among ECOWAS member states. Junta leaders in Mali and Burkina Faso along with their counterparts in Niger, had set up what they called Sahel Alliance States (AES/ASS) last September and announced their countries’ withdrawal from ECOWAS in January this year.

    ECOWAS, after lifting the sanctions imposed on the three countries along with Guinea over the military takeover of elected civilian governments, has insisted on the return of the four to constitutional rule. However, the junta leaders have proposed long political transition timetables of three to five years, with provisions that they will also be eligible for post-transition elections.

    Analysts consider this confirmation that the soldiers are out for a power grab rather than their professed salvation of the population.

    On May 16, President Diomaye Faye had paid a lightning visit to Nigeria for talks with President Bola Tinubu, the current chairman of ECOWAS. During their discussion, both men agreed to work together, toward the return of the four countries to the ECOWAS fold.

    ECOWAS has never recognised the AES/ASS as an entity, neither has any country or organisation. The regional bloc also maintains that the withdrawal of any member state takes a one-year procedure according to the organisation’s protocol.

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    Assuming Faye is working on behalf of ECOWAS, his government’s hosting of a conference with AES/ASS member states as a group could be interpreted as a recognition of the group and this could pose a diplomatic problem for his administration and the cohesion/unity of ECOWAS.

    Senegal as a sovereign nation can engage in bilateral cooperation with any of the three countries but engaging them as a group could constitute an affront to ECOWAS and undermine the collective efforts by the regional bloc to win back the four countries.

    Senegal’s Minister for Livestock, Dr Mabouba Diagne, was quoted during Faye’s visit to Bamako on May 21, as saying that Senegal in 2022, exported goods worth more than US$1 billion to Mali, with petroleum products as the main export followed by cement, while meat imports from Mali contributed “significantly to the development of Senegalese agriculture.”

    The AES/ASS countries have established joint forces to fight terrorism and armed groups while sharing intelligence, and Senegalese Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko is quoted as saying, that he “shared the visions of the AES/ASS leaders and was ready to support them.”

    The big question is whether Senegal is pursuing its bilateral/national interests or working for ECOWAS by hosting this meeting?

    •Paul Ejime, <paulejime@outlook.com>

  • Food security

    Food security

    •We must curb importation to save forex

    Despite loudly pronounced efforts of successive administrations, including the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and that of the incumbent President Bola Tinubu to boost agricultural productivity in order to diversify the economy, it is ironical that Nigeria continues to expend scarce foreign exchange on food importation. Statistics from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicate that the apex bank released $2.13 billion to Nigerians who imported food in 2023. A breakdown of the details showed that $245.7 m, $163.6m, $268.4m, $240.9m, $238.3m and $206.1m were utilised for food imports in January, February, March, April, May and June, 2023, respectively.

    In a similar vein, $58m, $95.3m, $119.9m, $132.4m, $235.9m and $126.2 m were expended on the importation of food from July to December, 2023.

    Indeed, the nation’s food imports had witnessed a steady increase from N886.8billion in 2017 to N857.6bn, N959bn, N1.2 trillion, N2 trillion and N1.9 trillion in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.

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    In contrast, the statistics of food exports by Nigeria showed a consistent trade deficit as the country exported food worth N170.4 billion in 2017, N302.3 billion in 2018, N269.8 billion in 2019, N321.5 billion in 2020, N504.9 billion in 2021 and N598.2 billion in 2022.

    The food items imported included wheat, rice, sugar, fish, milk/dairy products and vegetable oil. However, given her large mass of arable land and conducive climate to grow a diversity of food products, experts contend that there is no excuse for the country not being a net exporter of food, contrary to the case today. That Nigeria’s agricultural sector is grossly underperforming is indicated by the current astronomical rate of food inflation which, as at March, was estimated by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) at 40.1% on a year-to-year basis, as a result of sharp increases in the prices of basic food items. By April 2024 the food inflation rate had been estimated to increase to 40.53% which was 15.92% higher than the comparative rate of 24.61% in April 2023.

    Key food staples whose prices have soared include gari, rice, bread, yam tubers, poultry products, fish, beef, eggs and vegetable oil, to name a few.

    In its analysis, the CBN attributes high food costs and imports largely to the effects of insecurity and flooding.

    With large numbers of farming communities across the country’s fertile agricultural zones destabilised and displaced by rampaging herdsmen, bandits and kidnappers, among other criminals, the humongous amounts invested in boosting agricultural productivity can only be minimally effective. The situation is worsened by the devastating effects of flooding, leading to the erosion and destruction

    of tracts of farmland.

    All of these call for a more urgent effort on the part, especially of the Federal Government, to take decisive steps to curb the pervasive insecurity in the land so that disrupted sectors of the economy, like agriculture, can return to optimal productivity.

    Again, state governments and disaster management agencies at all levels must take better advantage of advance warning given by meteorological authorities on impending flood occurrences to take proactive steps to protect the destruction of farming communities as much as possible.

    On the surface, large scale food importation and high food costs suggest that there is severe shortage of food in the land. But some stakeholders have pointed out that large quantities of food crops such as yam tubers, cassava, potatoes or tomatoes and vegetables are produced in states like Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Kwara or Taraba, but get spoilt due to lack of modern storage facilities as well as good roads linking rural farming communities to urban markets. Priority must thus be accorded to redressing the infrastructure deficit in the agricultural sector.

  • Parliamentary ‘coup’

    Parliamentary ‘coup’

    •Togo’s example shows how not to effect change in governance system

    A group of Nigerian lawmakers is presently plying a campaign for a change from presidential to parliamentary system of government in the country. But the experience of Togo in recent weeks shows how not to go about such a change. Even with regards to the Nigerian experience, the political actors and not the model of government are the problem.

    President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo, early in May, signed into law a new constitution that swaps the tiny West African nation’s presidential system with parliamentary system, adjusts the presidential tenure and creates a new position of head of government. By the recalibration of the law, the presidential tenure is raised from five to six years, a single-term limit is imposed on the presidency instead of three terms hitherto prescribed, and the president will no longer be chosen by direct elections involving Togolese voters as the country’s parliament will now have that power. The new framework also creates a previously non-existent office of head of government to be known as ‘president of the council of ministers’ – a position reserved for the leader of the ruling party or coalition in parliament. The occupant of that office will, of course, also be chosen by parliament.

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    The catch to all these is that the nearly 20 years Gnassingbé has been in office would not count, and he is eligible to take office under the new law when his current tenure expires in 2025.

    The Togolese president signed the constitution into law on the heels of the country’s electoral commission announcing his ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party as having won the parliamentary poll held on April 29 by landslide. That victory places the power to be exercised by Togolese parliament under the new law in the hands of Gnassingbé’s party and positions him as first line beneficiary of the changes.

    For instance, there will be no presidential poll in the country next year when Gnassingbé’s current tenure expires and he is likely to be handed a new term by the parliament in which his party holds overwhelming majority.

    The president’s supporters argue that the reworked constitution curtails his powers by changing the presidency into a ceremonial role. One of his ministers was reported saying the move would “improve democracy” in Togo, while an adviser to the president claimed the constitutional changes would strengthen political stability because “the aspirations of our people are not served by the current constitution.”

    But opponents of the amendment argue that Gnassingbé is looking beyond the 2031 expiration of the presidential tenure to an indefinite stay in the newly-created position of ‘president of the council of ministers.’ Under the new framework, the presidency will become a largely symbolic role and power will reside with the president of the council of ministers – a sort of prime ministerial office that Togolese opposition suspect Gnassingbé aims to take up so he could bypass the presidential term limit. The post is reserved for the leader of the party with the majority in parliament, and it is 57-year-old Gnassingbé who fits in that profile.

    Togo, a French-speaking country of about nine million people, has been ruled by the same family for nearly 60 years. Faure Gnassingbé came to power in 2005 after the death of his father, Gnassingbé Eyadema, who seized power in a 1967 military coup and ruled the country with iron fist for 38 years. It was the military that installed Faure Gnassingbé as president upon his father’s death; but following intense domestic and international pressure, he called an election that he won against fierce protestations by the opposition that were suppressed by harsh security crackdowns. Gnassingbé has since won three more elections: in 2010, 2015 and 2020 – all of which were disputed as sham by the opposition.

    Togo is implementing a change of governance system when the principal operator of that system – Gnassingbé – is apparently digging in for the long haul. The regional body, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has a role to play in dissuading the Togolese leadership from this constitutional coup.

  • A welcome idea

    A welcome idea

    • We agree that election petitions should be concluded before swearing-in of winners.

    The post-mortem assessment of the 2023 general election petitions by members of the tribunals and courts who had firsthand experience of the proceedings is a welcome development. No doubt, their recommendations, if implemented, would have far-reaching impact on the laws governing the practice and procedure of election petitions.

    The former tribunal members at a two-day workshop in Abuja, advocated that all election petitions and appeals should be dispensed with, before persons declared as winners are sworn into office.

    We agree with this suggestion, if enduring measures, laws and regulations can be provided to make it happen. Our concerns are the same reasons why such practice in the second republic was jettisoned in the present constitution, as amended. Such practice was abandoned when litigants and lawyers complained that the time provided for the trial and determination of the election petitions before swearing in date was too short to allow a full ventilation of cases by petitioners, a thing that impinges on fair hearing.

    Sadly, when the law was changed to allow litigants and their counsel take necessary time to file their papers and argue their cases, unscrupulous parties and lawyers amongst them foisted an unending cycle of litigation on the courts, which allowed the party wrongly declared a winner to enjoy the unearned office. In some states, those who were eventually adjudged as fraudulently declared winners of the election nearly finished the term of office before the cases were finally determined at the apex court.

    The compromise was an elaborate Part III Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which provided for time within which an election petition or an appeal shall be determined. Section 285(6) provides that “An election tribunal shall deliver its judgment in writing within 180 days from the date of the filling of the petition” while section 285(7) provides “An appeal from the decision of an election tribunal or Court of Appeal in an election matter shall be heard and disposed of within 60 days from the date of the delivery of judgment of the tribunal or Court of Appeal.”

    To ensure that election petitions are concluded before the person declared winner is inaugurated, the election may have to hold nearly one year before the end of tenure of an incumbent, unless the time for hearing and determining the cases and any appeal therefrom is further reduced.  If the first is done, incumbents who would become lame ducks after the elections may protest the extension. Similarly, if the time for hearing and determining the cases are reduced, litigants and lawyers may complain.

    So, the task for the legislators is how can that desirable recommendation be achieved without creating another undesirable outcome.

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    In the communique issued, the workshop also recommended that “Section 187 of the 1999 Constitution should be amended to include a new sub-section stating clearly that the disqualification or non-qualification of a deputy governor shall not affect the governor-elect or governorship candidate of a political party.” Furthermore, that “Section 246 (3) of the extant constitution is proposed to be altered to reflect the finality of decisions of the Court of Appeal in all election appeals, governorship appeals inclusive.”

    Another far-reaching proposal made by the former members of tribunals is that “all pre-election appeals should terminate at the Court of Appeal.” An even more revolutionary proposal from the workshop is that Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) be applied in dealing with pre-election matters.

    Perhaps, the august body may be hinting at a shared electoral banquet, instead of the winner takes all of the presidential system of government. While the jurists may have spoken from experience, and with great insight, the challenge lies with the practicability of their suggestions.

  • NNPCL routs illegal refineries

    NNPCL routs illegal refineries

    • The biggest single score still underscores its urgency

    The latest discovery by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), of 122 illegal oil refining sites across the Niger Delta region in the week just gone by is heartwarming. It shows the company is focused on removing the scourge. it also underscores the gravity of the menace of crude theft in the region, and its staying power despite the heightened offensive to take it out.

    The 122 illegal refineries were said to have been found in Tomble II, III, IV, Umuajuloke in Rivers State, and Oporomor III, Eduwini, and Ajatiton in Bayelsa State. Also in the same week, 65 illegal pipeline connections were said to have been identified and removed by the national oil corporation. Indeed, in the week May 18 – 24 alone, 310 incidents of vandalisation were said to have been recorded across the region, the most notable being the vandalised wellheads in Tomble IV, (Rivers), and Egbema (Imo State). Also discovered was a pit filled with crude oil from a vandalised wellhead, including five illegal storage sites with oil stored in sacks, pits, cans, and a filling station in what has remained a thriving network of illegal oil refining and trade.

    It is not hard to decipher the motivation of the disparate actors on the illegal oil trade divide. For those in the business, the risks have come to count for nothing in the face of the potential fortune to be made. In other words, the illegal business goes on because the potential benefits far outweigh the risks. With a ready pool of suppliers and demanders to play in the absence of effective containment, the business doesn’t stop at merely breaching the pipelines or the associated refining and infrastructure; the environment is routinely violated just as product standards and performance are sacrificed on the altar of illicit gain while ignorance and criminality intermix.

    Surely, the menace is now such that can no longer be ignored. The NNPCL success shows this. As a matter of fact, the more those crude refineries are destroyed, the more it seems that

    nimbler and more sophisticated ones emerge to replace them, and these despite the humongous cost to the treasury, the environment and the social fabric.

    For the government, the choice isn’t whether to surrender to operators in the criminal enterprise but how to finally put them out of business. We are aware of the argument about the menace as being a derivative of alienation. Flowing from this is the equally persuasive argument that the government somehow find a creative way to accommodate them as against the current standard practice of destroying them. This, some have argued, will at least ensure some standards in the trade, promote inclusiveness while hopefully, helping to fill the perceived domestic supply gap.

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    We consider those as specious arguments to make. There are, doubtless, countless ways to address the issue of widespread poverty and the resultant alienation without resorting to an open endorsement of criminality and impunity. Given that the crux of the matter is poverty and unemployment, the challenge comes to how the youths in the Niger Delta might be further assisted with expanded opportunities to undertake legitimate businesses. 

    We note the common thread in all the stories about the discovery of illegal refineries and their associated infrastructure of pipeline vandalism – which is how the NNPC Ltd is finally squaring up to the menace. We have seen private surveillance companies brought in, the result of which oil production has been ramped up. So has the synergy between the different arms of security agencies improved. While these efforts have become necessary and should be sustained, what we expect to see, going forward, is greater use of satellite technology for round-the-clock surveillance of the pipelines and the entire environment where these nefarious activities take place. Surely, while commending the NNPCL breakthrough, the onslaught should not be considered over until the sector is fully rid of the menace.  

  • 25 years on

    25 years on

    Nigeria can do better, but it is a worthy milestone

    So much has been said and written about the Nigerian propensity for democracy. So much bile, so much contempt and so much dismissal. Yet, we have had the longest streak as a democratic nation, a whole quarter of a century.

    For many who saw the turbulence of our history when civilian and military

    intercourse gave us an instable elite, governments and bloodshed, 25 years of democracy must come as a miracle. Since independence, the country has played coquette with tyranny, and at one time, the youth elevated military officers as icons and role models.

    But today, the military has receded to the background. Not that we have not shown some hint about their return. It is a credit to easing political culture that the ethos of a people’s government smothered any temptation to reabsorb the soldier.

    Yet, we cannot say this is a democracy as we want it. It is still under the thrall of the power of individual, that is a democracy of strongmen. To win an election, persons have to seek the big man in the community. To join a party, individuals have to bow to the local chieftain. Sometimes, to defy such big men, you have to come with resources of your own. You must have what politicians call a structure, which means a well-oiled machine propped by men and money.

    We also have a contentious political elite that would not accept when they lose, and sometimes bend the rules to win. A sense of cynicism still persists with vigour at our elections. This is because citizens believe that winners used unethical and criminal influences to win elections.

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    Again, we have seen that corruption has soared over the years. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has revealed quite a few politicians in public office who have

    salted away billions of Naira of public funds. This explains why many think the fastest way to wealth is politics.

    Democracy has spawned wealth without sweat and without imagination. It is the prosperity of opportunism.

    We have also witnessed contests for power based on structure and wealth rather than ideas. Hardly any election in the past 25 years has been one based on ideas. They are often the result of personality, tribe and religion, and of course what the locals term the right political party. The right party is right not because it has advanced a tried-and-true political ideology.

    The legislative arm has often been the obedient servant of the chief executive, making a mockery of the Montesquieuan separation of powers. Not that they should be adversarial but they should serve as a fountain of restraint for governors and presidents. The judiciary has also been faulted for selling judgements.

    We have had, until the advent of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the influence of the military. We have had two former army officers as president, a senate president who is a former soldier, and a slew of legislators and governors who were either influenced by retired army officers or were senior personnel in the military.

    Such men, like Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari, sometimes were criticised for high-handedness as reflexes of their command-and-obey temperament of their lifelong calling. President Tinubu had no such background and we do not expect such martial impulse. It is a refreshing berth for this democracy.

    We do not obviate or condemn a soldier who comes into politics. But his martial past must kowtow to the courtesies and majoritarian ethos and consultative humility of a democrat. In the United States, ex-soldiers were welcome since they had to subordinate their martial egos to the requirements of a democrat. This began with their first president, George Washington.

    It is this fidelity to the democratic values that must be isolated for the endurance of democracy so far and this republic. It is, in part, because the collective desire to avoid the tyranny of the jackboot has taken deeper root than many expected and, from month to month, year to year, it has gone deeper and Nigerians have come to accept it as a fait accompli.

    The other good feature has been an improvement in our elections. In the first decade, elections were a riot and a scream. Ballot boxes were snatched, and vote counting was arbitrary and brutish. Sometimes, votes were allocated even before the election day. But the coming of technology has cancelled the necessity. Votes now answer to biotechnology features like fingerprints and facial signatures. The votes are encoded into databases. Although this is not perfect since machines fail and can be manipulated, the capacity for such whole abuse has significantly reduced.This has forced many to take campaigns more seriously and stewardship as accountable.

    The constitution, though imperfect, has been subjected to rigours of debate, and we have begun to see evidence of moving, ever so slowly, towards a better form of federalism with the federalisation power, for instance; and the debate and agitation for state police. The Federal Government’s law suits against the states for constitutional justice for local governments in the country is not only, in the long run, about the local government, but it throws open the practice of federalism, which could also boomerang against the government in Abuja that has been charged with pocketing the resources that should belong to the states.

    In all, 25 years is still baby years in the flowering of a democracy. The big democracies are at least a century old, and they are still grappling with some of the major issues of the concept. It took the United States more than a century for a woman to vote. The blacks had to wait for about two centuries.

    Democracy is always a work in progress. We urge Nigerians to remain vigilant since it is the only way to anticipate infractions and correct a deviant course.

  • Ayo Banjo (1934 – 2024)

    Ayo Banjo (1934 – 2024)

    Longest-serving UI VC and literary giant

    His autobiography, ‘Morning by Morning,’ published in 2019, according to a reviewer, shows that he played “a major role” in the establishment of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited. It is the country’s biggest and most prestigious literary prize.  Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo was Chair, Advisory Board of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, for about 16 years. He left the position in 2021, and became Life Patron of the Literature and Criticism prizes. His legacy includes this noteworthy contribution to the development of literature in Nigeria. He died on May 24, aged 90.

     Also notable was his impact as a university administrator.  Banjo’s memoir, ‘In the Saddle: A Vice-Chancellor’s Story,’ published in 1997, captures his years at the apex of university administration at the University of Ibadan (UI), including two years as deputy vice-chancellor, one year as acting vice-chancellor and seven years as vice-chancellor (1984 – 1991), respectively. He was the university’s first two-term vice-chancellor, and the longest-serving vice-chancellor in the university’s history.  During this period, he was the chairman, committee of vice-chancellors of Nigerian universities (1989 – 1990).

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    He displayed humility by returning to the classroom to lecture after completing his tenure as vice-chancellor. He was given the title ‘Professor Emeritus’ after he retired in 1994, showing that he retired in good standing, and in recognition of his distinguished service to the university. 

    Interestingly, his retirement at the age of 60 had coincided with a new Federal Government policy on extension of retirement age to 65 years for academic staff, but he chose to exit despite a formal request from the university management that he should reconsider his departure.  

    Born in Oyo, in present-day Oyo State, he attended Igbobi College, Lagos, and the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Ibadan. He earned a first degree in English from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1959. He got a Post-graduate Diploma in Education at Leeds, and did a French course in France before returning to Nigeria in 1960.

     He later got a master’s in Linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, and a doctorate with specialisation in English Language from the University of Ibadan, in 1969.  He was appointed associate professor in 1973, and became a full professor in 1975 at the University of Ibadan. From the early 1970s until he was appointed deputy vice-chancellor in 1981, he consistently wrote English course books and dictionaries for primary and secondary levels.

    Based on his experience in university administration, he was appointed pro-chancellor, University of Port-Harcourt, 2000-2004; pro-chancellor, University of Ilorin, 2005 – 2007; pro-chancellor, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, 2005 to 2014; and chairman, committee of pro-chancellors of Nigerian Universities, 2000-2004, among others. 

    Also, he was Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL), and its president, 2000 – 2004. He was also Fellow of the Nigeria English Studies Association. He received the Nigerian national honour, Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2001, and the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) in 2009. These national honours underlined the acknowledgement of his contribution to the development of Nigeria.

    In an interview in 2017, he observed that the standard of spoken English in Nigeria had declined, and blamed the situation on the quality of teaching at the various levels of education. “I don’t think the schools have been doing a good job teaching English. Many users of the language are very deficient, whether you look at the pronunciation, the vocabulary or its pragmatics,” he said.

    According to him, “Now, with the explosion in public education, many people are taught English, but they are taught very badly. The English of the English teachers is not something to write home about and that is why the language is deteriorating in Nigeria.”

  • Regulate, not ban

    Regulate, not ban

    • NFVCB’s clarification on smoking, ritual film policy is welcome

    Just as well the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) has clarified its reported “ban” on smoking and ritual scenes in films.

    “NFVCB aims to classify, not stifle creativity, ensuring appropriate ratings for content depicting tobacco or nicotine product,” Shaibu Husseini, its executive director and chief executive officer told ‘Premium Times’.  Well said!

    To be clear: money rituals have reached an alarming level, what with the evil of the so-called “Yahoo-Yahoo Plus”: a ritual that often takes life.  Smoking is another public health nuisance, since it always seems to precede using far more dangerous drugs, especially among impressionable youths, coping with evil peer pressure.

    But to counsel moderation on how such scenes are treated is one.  To purport to ban such scenes in films is another.

    Indeed, “banning” any creative activity would be awkward: first, for the creatives themselves, as it would clearly stifle their muse; and then, the society.

    Every film or video worth its salt, even as it entertains, takes the audience through the correction of societal ills: smoking, excessive drinking and allied drug abuse; and the rat race for wealth-without-sweat, which powers money rituals.  They are all cravings that ultimately end in tragic cul-de-sacs.

    Besides, which is more correct: art imitating life or life imitating art?

    Art imitating life is a canvass on which all creativity sketches, draws or paints.  The raw material for every creative prose, happy or sad poetry, the theatre, film or radio plays, comes from the society itself.  So, art imitates life to correct such, by using teachable moments in the creative works to home in on the message.

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    At a few times, life may indeed, imitate art.  But those are few occasions when a particular scene or plot in a film, novel or play, looms large in life; and the receivers somewhat experience a feeling deja vu.  Yet, it is fiction turning real life!

    Which brings the subject back to the NFVCB message.  The event was a road show in Enugu, tagged “Smoke-Free Nollywood”, which NFVCB organised with Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), and invited its stakeholders.

    The event was to brief the stakeholders — film producers, actors, directors and the various guilds that work in the industry — on the latest government thinking; and to engage them on the policy thrust.

    Yet, what emanated from it all, from media reportage, were a purported “ban”.  In the umpteenth bid to cut to the chase by doing interpretive reporting, the media only misled the reading public with banner headlines purporting a “ban”.  That clearly is not good enough and the media can do much better.

    By the way, how do you “ban” rituals in films when rites and rituals are basic to life itself?  Every religion, foreign or traditional, floats on own rites and rituals. Without those, you can’t fully practice the faith.

    How can you then ban rituals in films when it is routine in real life?  And if you did, how can you use films and allied creative works to correct the wanton abuse of those rituals: as a traditional medicine (wo)man putting rare knowledge of traditional rituals to evil use — in money rituals that procure fellow citizens’ lives for money?

    The message is — or ought to be — clear: film makers have the onerous responsibility to treat these scenes with utmost sensitivity, which nevertheless must end only one way: crime does not pay; money rituals lead to eventual self-ruin — as being excellently depicted in “Glass House”, a serial now on the premium belt of DSTv.  It shows how ritual money had plagued — and would eventually ruin — both protagonist and antagonist.

    A generation of Nigerians that gobbled those crime thrillers, the famed novels of James Hadley Chase , would readily attest to such sophistication in treatment.  No matter how iron-cast the crime was planned, Chase had one ending: you do crime at your own peril.

    That is the standard of treatment film makers must attain.  Even then, the NFVCB conk — the rating that restricts audience exposure — awaits works that fall below the expected thresholds.

  • The autonomy question

    The autonomy question

    • Local governments in the country are castrated under the present order

    The decision by the Senate to explore means of freeing the third tier of government from the apron strings of the states is welcome. This is especially so coming just about a week after President Bola Tinubu has gone before the Supreme Court to resolve whether the state governments have the right to exercise control over the funds due to the governments closest to the people.

    While debating the possibility of channelling funds to them directly from the Federation Account, the senators lamented what has become of the tier of government constitutionally and historically saddled with sanitation, inner roads maintenance, managing markets and chieftaincy matters. In addition, the local governments are expected to handle primary education and primary health care. If the funds due to them from the Federation Account are allowed to flow as expected, as well as the internally generated funds from the markets, tenement rates and rates from the markets, governance would be more effectively discharged in the country.

    Besides, that tier of government would then be a good source of recruitment and training of leaders who would then graduate to higher levels. As the senators pointed out during the debate, democracy would have been deepened in more than six decades after independence if the government closest to the grassroots had been permitted to play their roles.

    We must however point out that the other leg of the motion calling for abolition of the State Independent Electoral Commissions  (SIECs) calls for a deeper look. First, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that has been complaining that it is not in a position to take on more roles, such as prosecution of electoral offenders, may be reluctant to take up the new responsibility, even though its chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu, has lent its voice to denunciation of election being conducted by the SIECs nation-wide.

    If the role is handled by INEC, it will further expose the commission to

    political vilification by those who will contend that it is being controlled by the party in charge of the Federal Government.

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    But our experience in the past 25 years of the Fourth Republic during which the states have been in charge of local governments is a flagrant disregard for the law. Some states have not held elections at that level despite clear constitutional provision that only elected local government councils are permitted. Where elections are conducted by SIECs constituted by the governors, they are more of selection than election.

    So, if SIECs are to continue conducting the elections, who should fund them and how? The constitution should be amended to ensure a uniform system of electing the officials, with the tenure spelled out by the grundnorm. That should cure the aberration of having caretaker committees imposed by governors who could also fire members at will.

    It is a dilemma if direct allocation for them from the Federation Account should be enshrined in the Constitution. Where this is the case, and coupled perhaps with INEC conducting elections, the officials would be beholding to the Federal Government, and hardly a cure for the anomaly now. And, where states run the local councils, they will continue to be departments of the state ministry of local government and chieftaincy affairs.

    It is good that the President has referred issues relating to funding the tier of government to the Supreme Court that is a policy court. It is expected that the apex court will expeditiously look into the letters and spirit of the constitution in adjudicating the matter. Nigeria needs to put a final seal on the lingering dispute.