The Nation Newspaper

Tag: burden

  • Our soldiers’ burden

    Soldiers bear heavy load. Those of us who know nothing about soldiering see them as super human. We expect them to perform gigantic feats just because they are soldiers. Yes, as soldiers they know that much is expected of them because, as a nation, we have given them much to be able to defend our territorial integrity when the need arises.

    This is precisely the point. Have we given our soldiers much to  demand that they put down their lives for our country? In the last five years that  Boko Haram has been killing, maiming, looting and burning, our soldiers have been in the news, all for the wrong reasons. It is either that they are fleeing from battle or that they do not have enough arms and ammunition. In some cases, it may be that their bush allowance has not been paid. Yet, allocation would have been made for  payment.

    On some occasions, we have heard of our soldiers’ refusal  to fight over the non-payment of their allowances. Whenever  they take such action, they are  accused of mutiny and court-martialled. In the army, it seems it is a cardinal sin to fight for your right even when  your superiors deliberately deprive you of your entitlement. What these superior officers forget  is that  only a well catered for soldier will do justice to his calling in times of war. So, when we see our soldiers in rubber slippers instead of boots and in tattered iniforms we know those to hold responsible.

    To get the best out of our soldiers, we must give them the best in terms of kitting  and equipping them for battle. We have heard stories about our soldiers in recent times that are not palatable.  If these stories are true, it means that we are in trouble as a nation because we cannot say that we have  an army in the real sense of the word.  The army of a nation should be its pride. It should be a standing force that can be called upon at anytime to defend the nation and it should be able to rise to the occasion.

    Our soldiers’ exploits in the ongoing battle with Boko Haram does not seem to  show that we have such a force. If our soldiers have  been finding it difficult to cut Boko Haram to size all these years, then we are in trouble; serious trouble. To say that they are not trained to fight an ‘enemy’ like Boko Haram, as the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Kenneth Minimah, said some weeks ago, will be begging the issue. To a layman, a soldier is a soldier and he  should be able to live up to that name, anywhere and anytime and against any opponent, whether a militia or soldier.

    Nigerians who have  been looking forward to  our soldiers  finishing  off Boko Haram never imagined that they were putting too much faith in their soldiers. To them, it was a matter of national pride to have had such expectation of their soldiers, a fighting force which they could hide under in times of trouble. So far, Nigerians have been disappointed by their soldiers. This disappointment is fast giving way to fear in case of attack by an external aggressor. Many are asking can these soldiers save us from an  external army   when they cannot fight Boko Haram?

    I share their apprehension because Boko Haram seems to be having the upper hand in its encounters with our soldiers. Whether we like it or not, Boko Haram is determined in its bid to reduce our troops to nothing. So, the sect  seizes every opportunity to paint our soldiers as sissies before the world. How does it do this? By deliberately attacking our soldiers and pushing them out of their strongholds as we  have witnessed in Damboa, Gwoza and Bama, all in Borno State, which is supposed to be under emergency.

    As at today, Boko Haram is exercising suzerainty over Gwoza, where it has declared a caliphate, meaning an Islamic republic right under the nose of our soldiers. With its flag flying in Gwoza, Boko Haram is inching towards capturing more towns in that troubled state. On Tuesday, it succeeded in its bid when it overran Bama, the second largest town in the state, which became famous in 1991 when former Petroleum Minister Prof Tam David-West was jailed there. The battle for Bama was fierce, with the sect losing no fewer than 40 militants on Monday.

    Their loss did not deter them as they returned on Tuesday to resume fighting. Their targets were said to be the Mohammed Kur Barracks and the police station in Bama, a town said to be strategic to the sect because most of its leaders have their base there. If our soldiers could repel Boko Haram on Monday, how did the tide turn overnight? Is it that we do not have what it takes to sustain such advantage? How was the sect able to rout out our soldiers? Were they better equipped than our soldiers? Do they have more men than us? If our soldiers cannot keep  a territory seized from Boko Haram elements, a band of loose fighters, I am afraid of what may happen if we fight  a trained army.

    The prayer of many Nigerians today is that Nigeria may not have cause to go to war with another country. The Boko Haram insurgency has exposed so many things about not only the army, but our military in general. There is need to overhaul our armed forces to meet the exigencies of the time. If it takes our experience with Boko Haram to reinvent our armed forces, the nation will be the  happier for it

    But first, we must reverse the Gwoza and Bama losses before Boko Haram becomes  so emboldened as  to attempt an attack on Maiduguri, the Borno State capital,  which is said to be about 64 kilometres to Bama. What we are witnessing today is highly disturbing. It is a shame that Boko Haram is running rings around our soldiers. I do not know why our soldiers, who are known for their outstanding performance  in peace operations abroad, can allow themselves to be so treated by Boko Haram?

    It is no longer tactical  for them   to hold their peace against Boko Haram, which does not deserve to be treated with kid gloves. If a loose band of soldiers feels that it has what it takes to confront trained soldiers it should be prepared to pay the price for its action. Boko Haram has made its choice, so it should be ready to live with it.  We can no longer watch while the sect treats our soldiers like a bunch of fighters, who do not know why they are donning their uniform. It is time to make Boko Haram stew in its own juice.

    If Cameroon can mount an assault against  Boko Haram,  why are we shy of doing the same? Boko Haram cannot take on the Nigerian Army; no never. So, our soldiers must wake up from their slumber  and redeem their image that has been sullied by Boko Haram. As the mirror image of our nation, they cannot afford to fail us.  Enough of running away from these insurgents. They should take the fight to the sect and flush its members out of Gwoza, Bama and of course,  Sambisa Forest and bring back our girls.

  • The burden of a nation

    TERROR. This six-letter word has unfortunately become the face of Nigeria. Hardly a day passes that hoodlums do not strike, especially in the north and whenever they do they leave death, destruction, sorrow, tears and blood. In the past five years, we have known no rest from these terrorists who appear not ready to stop their dastardly acts.

    To many Nigerians, the face of this terror is Boko Haram. They may be right because the Islamic sect seems to have declared war on the country, with the way it has been killing and maiming people in the Northeastern  states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.  The Northwestern states of Kaduna and Kano have also  joined the league of states under terror attacks.

    Could it be Boko Haram that is operating in these two leading  Northwestern states? Or could it be the handiwork of another group, which is banking on the public blaming it all on  Boko Haram? The public should not be blamed if it fingers Boko Haram for  attacks in Kaduna and Kano in the last few days  because they carry the sect’s  imprimatur.

    Until the sect claims responsibility for these attacks, the citizenry should give it the benefit of doubt. Many will not want to hear that – give Boko Haram benefit of doubt when it is known for such attacks!  This actually is the  problem. Some people somewhere may be using these attacks as a ploy to destabilise the country, knowing that the incidents may not be traced to them since there is a  fall guy – Boko Haram – to always carry the can.

    Yes, Boko Haram is evil, but let us look beyond the sect in unmasking the perpetrators of the Kaduna and Kano attacks. If we do not do this, I am afraid, we may never win the war against terror. Boko Haram, we all know, but what about the other faceless  groups that are  wreaking havoc on the country, using the dreaded Islamic sect as cover?

    Indeed, we are lucky as  President Goodluck Jonathan said on Sunday  that former Head of State Gen Muhammadu Buhari was not killed during last Wednesday’s attack on his convoy in Kaduna. If Buhari had been killed as the President noted, the nation would have been in turmoil. Buhari narrowly escaped death, but over 100 others were not so lucky. Must we continue to lose our compatriots this way? Week in, week out, we lose hundreds of people to these recurring  terror attacks.

    The worst part of it is that there is no sign of respite. It means that we will continue to be at these hoodlums’  mercy  for as long as they wish. Can our country afford that? Of course, we cannot, but what can the people do in the face of the  seeming helplessness of the  security agencies. The other day, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Kenneth Minimah, said soldiers are handicapped in the war against terror because they were not trained for such. What this means is that we are in  for a long haul with these perpetrators of evil.

    Boko Haram, we know, but who are the others making life uneasy  for Nigerians? It is only when we are able to identify the others, that is assuming Boko Haram is not the sole evil doer, that we will be able to stop these terror agents, who struck in Kano barely 24 hours after the Kaduna incident.  For now, we do not know where they will strike next. Kano, however,  seems to be their main target. They have hit the North’s commercial nerve centre thrice in the last five days.

    To add to  the series of bloodbath, Boko Haram came on the scene last weekend, rampaging through Kano, Adamawa and  Cameroon, where the sect kidnapped the country’s vice Prime Minister’s wife and killed three persons. In three villages in Adamawa, they killed 30 persons and abducted a village head. A family comprising the father, his son, daughter-in-law and maid were killed by a bomb thrown at a church congregation. All these happened during  the celebration of the Sallah festival to mark the end of Ramadan.

    As if this is not enough, the nation is being buffeted on other fronts by Ebola and a  gale of impeachments. In Nasarawa State, Governor Tanko Al-Makura is battling to save his job. The House of Assembly is determined to impeach him  just as the lawmakers in Adamawa did to Governor Muritala  Nyako a few days ago. Al-Makura and Nyako are members of the All Pogressives Congress (APC), which is determined to wrest power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015. PDP is not ready to let go of  power just  like that and it is  determined to use everything in its arsenal to crush the leading opposition party.

    There are also speculations that the Houses of Assembly in Edo, Rivers and Oyo may move against Governors Adams Oshiomhole, Rotimi Amaechi and Abiola Ajimobi. Ask the lawmakers why they are making such move and you are likely to get  the mantra  ”gross misconduct”. Under the Constitution, the lawmakers are empowered to impeach a governor for gross misconduct, but it does not define what amounts to  gross misconduct. So, Houses of Assembly have been hiding under this indefinable phrase to cause all sorts of legislative mumbo-jumbo in order  to impeach a governor whose face  they do not like.

    The Constitution demands that details of the gross misconduct must be specified but in most cases what the lawmakers itemise are laughable, but they usually have their way because they have the number or, at times, the backing of  the central authority. This week, Al-Makura is expected to appear before the panel raised by the Chief Judge, Justice Suleiman Dikko, to probe the allegations of ”gross misconduct” against him. Many will be shocked if the panel absolves him of the lawmakers’ allegations. These panels are a smokescreen for lawmakers to do whatever they want with an ‘uncooperative’  governor.

    Like play, like play, Ebola has sneaked into the country through a Liberian,  Patrick Sawyer, who  died  of the disease last Friday,  about five days after his arrival in the country for an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) event  in Calabar, Cross River State. Since Ebola  is said to be highly contagious, the fear is do we have what it takes to contain the deadly disease?  We have heard the authorities speak on efforts so far made to check the spread of the disease.

    We commend their efforts, but they need to do more in order not to endanger the lives of millions of Nigerians. Are they sure that one of  those that the late Sawyer came in contact with has not escaped, carrying the deadly virus without him or her unwittingly? Whenever I see those treating Ebola patients in their coveralls, I get a chill down my spine. Is that how bad Ebola is, I ask subconsciously, while praying that it does not get here.

    Now that it is here, how do we fight  it beyond the personal hygiene of washing our hands with soap and water? This is the question we must  address our minds to before the disease spreads like wildfire.

  • My burden as an actor -Nollywood actor Yomi Fash-Lanso

    My burden as an actor -Nollywood actor Yomi Fash-Lanso

    With long years behind him and countless flicks to his credit, smooth-talking actor, Yomi Fash-Lanso can be described as a veteran in the world of make-believe. Fash-Lanso is not only a household name in the Nigerian film industry, his trade has taken him to places where many of his contemporaries can only imagine. KAYODE ALFRED engaged the actor in a conversation and he went down memory lane, narrating his journey into Nollywood, an industry that has raised him to a height that would be the envy of many.

    It is almost a decade since Yomi Fash-Lanso came into full consciousness of movie lovers. That was on account of his role in Jide Kosoko’s film, Omolade. His dream to become an accomplished actor began as a teenager, but that remained firmly in the realm of a dream until he met the late movie director and actor, Lekan Oladipupo, popularly known in the movie world as Lekinson.

    Without Lekinson’s tutelage, Fash-Lanso, perhaps, might have just been another ordinary Nigerian struggling somewhere to make ends meet. He recalled with infectious nostalgia how he embraced theatre through the efforts of Lekinson “after years of tutorials in acting and directing.” He is therefore quick to attribute his success in the trade to the discipline and professionalism he imbibed from the late actor, whose trademark was his peculiar usage of high-faluting words and expressions in films. But for the fact that providence brought him in contact with Lekinson, Fash-Lanso says he would have gone into fashion business, “buying and selling fashionable apparels.”

    But while he appreciates the strides that Nollywood has recorede, Yomi firmly believes that there is still a lot of ground to cover, saying that Nollywood is not yet qualified to be tagged an industry. “It is a pity we are yet to have a film industry in Nigeria,” he laments. “What we have now is what I would call a workplace.”

    He particularly frowns at the division that threatens the sector, especially the Yoruba movie industry where actors and actresses have broken into so many associations lately. According to him, “there is nothing like the Yoruba sector in the film industry in Nigeria. I look forward to the near future when we would have a formidable motion picture association that would represent the interest of all practitioners, irrespective of their geopolitical zones. Then we will have a visible and promising direction,” he said.

    He also bemoans the dearth of well trained professionals in the sector. To him, formal training will always give an aspiring actor the leverage to attain an enviable height among his peers, even though he maintains that the roles of talent and hard work cannot be overemphasised.

    But in a professional world where brand loyalty is vital if one must remain relevant, what has been Yomi’s staying power in an industry that seems to be saturated with brands? Yomi attributes his staying power to the consistency of his brand.

    He said: “The magic of any brand is consistency, which I hold on to strongly. I was able to carve a niche for myself in the industry very early in my professional career, and I remain true to my niche.

    “The movie world is as dynamic as the viewing audience and technology make it. As such, I have continued to be as creative and innovative as I can without losing my identity and niche. I am very mindful of what I do before the camera and my approach to it as a professional.”

    His inspiration comes from events around him and the reading that he does. And if he is faced with a choice between acting and directing, he would opt for the latter.

    Reputed as one of the busiest and most hardworking actors-cum-directors in Nollywood, Yomi does not believe that his celebrity status has any bearing on the way he relates with his family. Rather, his family, which he describes as affectionate, appreciates “where I have been able to place them in the society, even beyond Nigeria, through my profession, and they love me for it.

    “Celebrity status has not succeeded in changing me from the same level-headed Yomi they knew when he was not yet a public figure. Yes, outside the family circle, it is a different ball game because the society expects certain ethos from me when they encounter me but I have tried as much as possible to be my natural self. At the same time, I believe I have been able to record a measure of success by minimising my exposure to the paparazzi.”

    Nollywood has afforded Fash-Lanso all that he is today, but it has also robbed him of one of much of his private life. According to him, his privacy is the price he has had to pay for stardom.

    He said: “Sometimes I just want to be me, but where I’m placed in the society and the world simmers me down a lot. Quite a number of times, I just want to be lost amongst people in joyful frenzy, but again the knowledge that all eyes are on me prevents me from doing that because any idiosyncrasies exhibited by me on such occasions would find their ways into the press the next day. In fact, pictures and tweets of such moments will adorn Nigeria’s blogs and micro-blogs.”

    It is to Fash-Lanso’s credit that many of the graduate actors and actresses the Yoruba movie industry parade today found the courage to venture into the movie world. “With all sense of modesty,” he said, “I can say that I gave so many refined graduates in the industry now the courage to come into the make-believe world through my first major film, Omolade, in 1995. It was produced and directed by Prince Jide Kosoko.

    “The film gave birth to young promising faces in the industry who saw Yomi Fash-Lanso as a model of success because the film was a huge success at the box office that year. And up till today, I still sensitise my co-actors to what we need to do to make it better than we have now.”

    Yomi Fash-Lanso is not only blessed with good looks, he is one of Nigerian actors the opposite sex appreciates the most. This, of course, does not come without a price in the form of pressure and advances. And the actor admits that he has had to employ a measure of level-headedness to live above board in the face of the advances that come his way on a regular basis.

    His words: “I appreciate the compliments wholeheartedly and I have been disciplined enough to draw the lines when the advances come in different forms and guises. The fact that ladies do walk up to me and tell me sweet things shows how much they adore Yomi Fash-Lanso, but I don’t let it get to my head.”

    Fash-Lanso maintains a triangular friendship with two other top practitioners in the movie world, namely Kunle Afolayan and Funso Adeolu. But the fair complexioned actor and movie director says he extends his open arms of fellowship to “anybody that shares the same ideology with me about the profession. Such a person automatically becomes my friend; like Ibrahim Chatta, popularly known as Ojooja.

    “Those two you mentioned earlier are very close to me because we talk passionately about the industry most times we meet, because it is our major.”

    Like many of his colleagues have done in recent years, is there any plan by Fash-Lanso to go into politics soon? He says he does not mind embracing politics, but he expressed his hatred for the dirty nature of the vocation at the moment.

    “With what is flying up and down in the Nigerian politics one will tend to have a rethink. But if sanity and ideology becomes the order in the nearest future, why not?” he said.

    The acceptance hr enjoys in the society has not distracted his attention from his family as he speaks glowingly about his wife and children who, according to him, “are very cute, very loving and affectionate.

    “With regards to my wife, we respect and value each other. We are blessed with kids who are equally loving and understanding. They appreciate the demands of Daddy’s trade, and as such, they make no extra demands that may stretch me beyond my limit. They have been very supportive and the least I can do to reciprocate this is to love and care for them immensely.”

    But how does the busy actor relax?

    “I grab every available opportunity I have to spend quality time with my family, and have massive fun. You know our work takes us away from them most times. At times I relax with my friends in or outside my profession over a drink. At other times, I sit among the elderly and listen to what my ancestors call oro agba (words of the elder).”

    “So, I’m trying hard to give my children love and respect, so that they will in turn share it with the world, because that is what we need to make this world a better place for us all to live in.”

    He has a word for young people who hope to take acting as a career: “Never run away from knowledge. Never see the industry as an all-comer affair. Get trained formally, even if you have the talent or you are discovered in a club, and you will earn your rightful place among star actors.”

  • Kashim Shettima’s burden

    Kashim Shettima, Governor of Borno State does not fit into the profile of someone that should be envied. Not with the Boko Haram insurgency that has left his state despoiled and devastated. Not with the controversies that have surrounded events emanating from his state in the last couple of months.

    By the same twist of circumstance, it has also become very difficult to assess his government in terms of how far he has been able to keep faith with his electoral promises.

    It is also possible that for the same predictable reasons, he may get away with some of his actions or inactions if they do not tally with the expectations of the people. He could as well take cover in the dire security situation in his state to justify his inability to perform very optimally. To that extent, he may be taking advantage of the good, the bad and the ugly on account of the delicate nature of events in his state.

    Borno State has been in a very precarious security situation since Shettima assumed office in 2011. Either by error of omission or commission, the state has since then come to carve out an unenviable record for itself as the lynchpin of the Boko Haram insurgency.

    But the phenomenon predated his regime as its foundation was laid during the regime of his immediate predecessor, Ali Modu Sheriff. It was during Sheriff’s regime that the original spiritual head of the group made his initial devious appearances that left in their wake, the destruction of lives and property of inestimable value.

    Events that then followed, controversial as they were, culminated in the killing of Mohammed Yusuf who was the rallying point of the radical Islamic sect. That is now history.

    Opinions are divided as to the reasons behind the escalation of the activities of the insurgency group since the death of its spiritual head. There are those quick to locate the upsurge in the untidy manner Yusuf was extra-judiciously executed. Others blame it on the abysmal living conditions of the people. Yet, some others are wont to heap the blame on partisan politics.

    From whatever prism one views the issue; it is trite that Shettima inherited the fallouts of the controversial handling of the uprising by Yusuf and his sect. He may not have had anything to do with the sect prior to his becoming the governor. He may have found himself a victim of circumstance thereafter. But he cannot run away from vicarious responsibility being the chief security officer of a state where the insurgents have left no one in doubt that they are largely in control. Shettima has by this twist of fate found himself between the devil and deep blue sea. And with every devastating move by the group, his predicament is even more compounded. Such has been the situation and frustrations of the governor.

    It was perhaps a mark of this frustration that a couple of months back, he had cried out that the Boko Haram insurgents are better motivated and better armed than our own troops. Hear him, “believe me, I am an eternal optimist. But I am also a realist. Given the current state of affairs, it is absolutely impossible to defeat Boko Haram. Have we ever succeeded in thwarting their plans?” he queried.

    His comments drew serious criticisms from the military, the federal government and the larger public. They saw such outbursts as an attempt to embolden the insurgents and dampen the morale of the military that have been making serious sacrifices fighting an asymmetrical war. Shettima also came under heavy fire for not appreciating the delicate nature of the war and for relapsing into self-pity instead of assisting the government to win it.

    He made efforts to rationalize his views but the harm had already been done. His motive became suspect because of the three states under a state of emergency; Borno has been the most problematic. It hosts a disproportionate percentage of the escapades and murderous activities of the sect. Matters were not helped by revelations that in some local governments, Boko Haram had been in charge replacing the Nigerian Flag with theirs. All these are bound to arouse suspicion around the leadership of that state.

    When last week Shettima alleged that a cabal was working hard to create disunity between the federal government, the military and the Borno State government in resolving the Boko Haram crisis ravaging the state, he must have been outpouring his frustrations on the dilemma he found himself in this senseless war. He had in the statement, accused the cabal of deploying all possible means to “accuse the state government of so many wrongdoings that include unimaginable financial misappropriation that is beyond the income of the government, making efforts for personal contacts with a section of the military and other security agencies in Abuja and to feed them with falsehoods aimed at creating an impression that the state governor and his administration were funding insurgents”. These are very weighty issues.

    There was no indication who the cabal are or from where they are operating. But it does appear from the way the statement was framed, the alleged cabal must be operating from within Borno State or somewhere around there. But that is beside the issue.

    The moot point here is the perception of Shettima’s role in the battle against Boko Haram. He has drawn public attention to alleged attempts by the cabal to create the impression that the governor and his administration are funding the insurgents. That is the real delicate issue to contend with. As canvassed earlier, the Boko Haram insurgency predated his regime. But it has since then assumed a very dangerous dimension such that is bound to raise questions about the role of the state government in the matter. It is possible Shettima is just a victim of circumstance. It is also not a remote possibility that he may have been handicapped by the situation he found on assuming office. He may also have been doing his humanly best to tame the situation. All these are possibilities.

    Yet, by the circumstance of his office and unenviable niche the insurgents have carved out in that state, Shettima undoubtedly, carries a heavy burden on why his state should be the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency. He bears the burden of the killing and maiming of his people. He bears the burden of the constant sacking and razing down of villages. He cannot sleep with the constant invasion of communities by the insurgents. And when the Chibok girls were abducted in very cloudy circumstances, his travails knew no bounds.

    Matters were not remedied by the relative ease with which such a huge number of girls were ferried out into the unknown. Questions are bound to be raised and the chief security officer of the state may have to provide answers to some of them.

    It is in the nature of the office he occupies and he must come to terms with that reality. He has made references to partisan politics as part of the reasons the cabal are on him. That could as well be. But there is also the feeling that Boko Haram in its present form is nothing but political grievance masquerading under a religious garb. Whatever it is, there is the urgent need for all to close ranks and save the nation from this madness. The Borno State government and its various elite must do more to resolve the dilemma posed by the obdurate dimension of the Boko Haram insurgency in that state.

  • Burden of legacy

    Burden of legacy

    Everyone has an eye on the time after him or her. No matter our cynicism, posterity haunts us, whether we are principals of schools, paterfamilias, mothers, kings, queens, governors or presidents. We love to be loved, even if such flattery comes from our enemies.

    Those who ignore it in language do so only from the vanity of false self-esteem. President Ronald Reagan of the United States often said before he receded into Alzheimer’s disease that he did not care what history wrote of him. But he worked hard on his legacy. Winston Churchill had an activist view of his own vanity. “History,” he crooned, “will be kind to me for I will write it.” He did but could not stop the censorious eyes of others who wrote about his times. Emperor Nero, the tyrant of Ancient Rome, hid his anxiety about the judgment of history. After making waste of the Christians, he said that by the time he had expunged the adherents from Rome, history would not be sure that the followers of Jesus ever existed.

    But two recent developments compel reflections on legacy in our country. The one was the decision by Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, to cut down the controversial school fees for students of the Lagos State University. The second was the decision by Governor Godswill Akpabio to exercise a pirouette on the pension law for governors and deputies and their spouses in Akwa Ibom State.

    Both governors decided on their steps for two reasons. One, a mass clamour for reversal. Two, a consideration of the impact on posterity. Both have been praised for the courage to look at the policy in the eye and effect a turn to the old ways of safety. But what is instructive is that that singular step to impose high fees and enjoy high pension bore the mischief of defining all they did for their states for eight years.

    It is the malevolent scorn of history. It is the burden of legacy. Both men thought their decisions were right for their states. But when public outcry dwarfed soft voices of their logic, they yielded. So, for the governor of example, the issue at stake was the odium of a generation. How could all he has accomplished in infrastructure, environment, security, be defined by a generation of young men by a decision to bar them from an education. They would write the history of his time, and they could seal it with an epitaph: he ran an elitist regime. Example: impossible fees.

    The ebullient Akpabio may have done what many who visit his state see as massive infrastructural development as well as the nail he dealt the house boy and house girl syndrome. Yet they would seal his glorious epitaph as governor with a single line: he gave himself N100 million pension. The details do not matter.

    That is the tyranny of history. The LASU fees have been seen as high and they were. Given the rampant poverty in our society and desperation of the average student to afford the constancy of a meal and nourishment of mind through accessible books, the school fees soared out of their ken.

    That is the sentimental reason. But as Oscar Wilde said, human beings are not rational beings but sentimental. Whether in callow or advanced democracy, experiencetrumps reason. While the LASU fees go down, we still seek a good education. A good education is the root of a prosperous society. Do we want a cheap education that overshadows progress or an expensive education that restricts access? That is the dilemma of tertiary education in Nigeria. All the great universities in the world are not cheap. But there is a reason why it is accessible to the brilliant and ambitious. The government invests, but the society plays partner with the plenty of its riches and the liberality of its hope. I know a Nigerian whose two sons are in upscale universities in the United States, but they pay a fraction of the fees that amount to about $40,000 a year. They pay less that $5000 a year, and even that is paid all year long. They are not enjoying government scholarships. They are bright students who feed from plenitude of corporate investment in the university. Whether it is Harvard or Princeton or Yale, students benefit from the money of business. In Nigeria, the rich are not invested in our education because they have no stakes. Their children school in Harvard and Yale and Imperial College and Cambridge and they can afford to pay the fees without a drip of sweat. Many American students have access to loans. President Obama paid off his loans when he was a senator.

    But government cannot spend all of its resources on one part of a sector, important as universities are. The LASU strike, like the strike of polytechnics and other ASUU institutions, is an indictment of our cancerous philistinism. Yet the students cannot bear the burden of running a university. School fees are never enough to run a university. It is the wasteful folly of this generation that is ravaging our educational system. A generation ago we competed with the best in the world. Today can we swagger to our neighbour, Ghana, where our students flock giddily?

    This is an important battle to fight, but no governor can change this mindset in a generation that would build an entertainment centre rather than a laboratory, sponsor a reality show rather than a readers’ club. That is the dilemma that could force a Fashola to save his legacy of a stouter character than the image of sterilising the dreams of the young.

    By whatever standard, N100 million as pension for any public servant for medical care is stunning. But it stumbled as a reaction to a political class of footloose largesse and extravagance. For me, no public servant should be entitled to any care unless the illness is extraordinary. Public service is sacrifice. But the retirees have been taking advantage of open-ended pension arrangements as though medical care was an ATM to draw money from government. An ex-governor can force any bill on government on the grounds that they have bellyache. Hence Akpabio placed a cap that turned out to be more controversial than the system in place. Rather than carry the albatross of the N100 million man, he yielded. His more enduring legacies beat out his meddling in medical pensions.

    This lesson in legacy has history. Nixon is sullied by Watergate in spite of his stellar achievements in foreign affairs. Clinton gave America its greatest economic expansion in history, but is that as sexy as Monica Lewinsky? Lyndon Johnson could not run for another term because of Vietnam, even though he gave America civil rights law and the war on poverty. De Gaulle fretted over the youth revolts of the 1960’s. Poet William Blake wrote, “to see a world in a grain of sand.” One decision, like a grain of sand in a person’s bloodstream, could overwhelm a legacy.

    Fashola and Akpabio are probably aware that they may be defined by the wrong image as their tenures turn the corner to the last year. Wrote Victor Hugo in his Les Miserables, a novel of legacy; “Woe to the man who leaves behind a shadow that bears his form.” Better the form of achievements than the shadow.

  • ‘Parasites are burden to human development’

    A lecturer in the Department of Animal and Environmental Biology at the Delta State University, (DELSU) Prof Andy Egwunyenga, has said burden of parasites posed greatest challenges to development in the tropics.

    Prof Egwunyenga said this while delivering the 35th inaugural lecture of the university held at the Pre-degree Auditorium.

    In the lecture titled: Monsters inside us: killing and eating us alive, Egwunyenga noted that even though  malaria parasite was the most important human parasite, it was not visible to the eyes as it was fifty times less than the size of the smallest sand particle, adding that it kills over two million people every year.

    He said parasites were real life monsters, saying all infections were products of parasitic presence.

    Egwunyenga, a professor of Parasitology, said parasites were more prevalent in the tropics where people are less equipped to deal with  problems as a result of mass poverty, high infertility rate, slow economic growth, deforestation, rapid urbanisation and increased migration, war and natural disasters which contribute to increased transmission and distribution of diseases caused by tropical parasites in developing countries.

    He noted that in Africa, 30 million women living in malaria-prone regions got pregnant each year. According to him, malaria remained the greatest threat to women and their babies.

    Prof Egwunyenga said the burden of tropical parasites on their victims were mainly those of the menace and threat to public health posed by the vectors that transmitted the parasite from one person to another.

    He advocated the need for innovative pest management system such as insecticide-treated nets and mass drug administration and general hygiene as some of the ways to fight the prevalence of parasites.

    He recommended the establishment of a Centre for Tropical Disease Research and Control (CTDRC), Laboratory Skill Improvement Training (LSIT), Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) law and increased funding focused on Basic Sciences and Arts as panacea towards winning the war against parasites.

  • The Boko Haram burden

    In this business, the chances of being misunderstood are high.  Of course, not everybody will agree with what we write, but when people leave the issue at stake and impute other motives, there is a need for clarification. Last week, this column looked at the report of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the September 20, last year killing of the Apo 8, which indicted the State Security Service (SSS) and the Army.

    My position was clear. I concurred with the NHRC Report, but that did not say that I am in support of the activities of Boko Haram. For the sake of emphasis, what the article said was that there is need for our security agencies to get their acts right before embarking on any operation, which may result in the loss of lives and limbs. Our security agencies are not paid to waste people but to enforce law and order. The article was clear on that.

    Expectedly, there were reactions, some in support and some against. One of those who felt bad about the article went a step further on Monday after the suicide bombing in Abuja by calling me. The reason for his call is to know what I have to say about the bloody incident in which scores died. “What do you have to say about this Boko Haram attack?” I pretended as if I did not hear him. “Answer me now I am the one who sent you a text message on the article you wrote last week… What will you write now with this attack? Are you happy that Boko Haram has killed a lot of people? Answer now, I am ….”(mentioning his name). He cut off the call when I did not answer him.

    Whenever or not I got this call, I would still have written on Monday’s senseless suicide bombing in which over 70 people were said to have been killed. Although, my caller feels that Boko Haram is behind the dastardly act, which I also do not put beyond the sect, but until it claims responsibility it may be too early to hold it responsible for the tragedy. However, the attack has the imprimatur of the group. It is likely that Boko Haram is behind the bloody attack. It is something you cannot put beyond the group.

    For years, we have been at the mercy of the group because it seems to know when to strike and hit, so to say, the bull’s eye. Any time it strikes, it leaves death and destruction in its wake. The sect, it seems, is more adept at intelligence gathering than those trained for that job. If it is not so, it will not be catching our security agencies flatfooted whenever it strikes. By now, the security agencies ought to be conversant with the sect’s modus operandi. The sect bides its time before it strikes as shown by Monday’s invasion of the Nyanya Park in Abuja.

    From my little assessment of the sect, its targets, in the main, are churches, mosques, schools, parks and at times vulnerable individuals. The sect knows what it is doing. By its action, it seeks to deceive the public that it is after “soft targets”. But, so far, what is “soft” in the way it has killed thousands of people since it began its murderous campaign about five years ago. I don’t know what Boko Haram is fighting for, but whatever it is it is not worth the shedding of blood the way it has been doing. Only the group knows what it wants and what it is fighting for because all efforts to get it to come to the roundtable have failed.

    Boko Haram listens only to Boko Haram. The situation has become so dicey that we cannot continue to allow it to operate freely as if it is law unto itself. The government must find a way round this Boko Haram threat because things have got out of hand. For many Nigerians today, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states have become no go areas because of the fear of Boko Haram. Graduates can no longer be posted to these states for the mandatory one-year Youth Service; pupils can no longer go to schools and traders dare not venture to these places.

    Must Boko Haram hold us to ransom? The answer is no. We must find a way of containing the sect now. We can no longer wait to take drastic action against the group. It has shown that human life means nothing to it. If it can take lives in a callous manner, the government too should not hesitate before descending on it, except if it is saying it has no capacity to do that. If we wish to give the sect the benefit of doubt over the Nyanya bombing, we cannot do so in respect of the abduction, barely 24 hours after the Abuja incident, of over 100 school girls in Chibok, the boundary town between Adamawa and Borno states.

    The abduction is the handiwork of the sect, which name translates to “western education is a sin”. Before the abduction, it had warned parents to withdraw their children from school. What I do not understand is what is the business of Boko Haram with the way a parent decides to educate his child? Is it the sect that will determine how parents want to bring up their children? It is sad that this Boko Haram nonsense has been allowed to last this long. Yes, we know that security is a collective thing but government should not hide under this assertion to shirk its responsibility.

    It is its job to make the country safe not only for the citizens, but also for the foreigners in our midst, who no doubt will be sending reports of what is happening back home. As we have always maintained in this space, Boko Haram cannot be bigger than the government. No matter what it takes, the government must bring Boko Haram down to its knees in order to make the country safe for all. Enough of the tough talks, it is  time for action.

    But whatever we do. we should not shed the blood of the innocent under the guise of tracking Boko Haram. If our security agencies get the Boko Haram elements and bring them to justice, they will hailed. But, they will not get our support if they kill the innocent.  The security agents are not immune from the Boko Haram terror. They have suffered losses in men and materials. So, they too feel the heat like every other Nigerian. In this fight against terror, we are with them. But, let them discharge their duties with the highest sense of responsibility. As for Boko Haram and its sponsors, I leave them with these words: “Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with him”.

  • The burden of a critic

    Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things –¯ Winston Churchill

    Something happened on Saturday last week. Though that was not the first time that such would be happening, what makes it unusual was the timing. Around 6.15am, l received an SMS on my phone from a reader of this column. It was a one-sentence stinker: ‘You are … Sanusi.’ It was sent in from +2348105419482. The text obviously was in response to my last week’s column titled: ‘Feeble leadership in troubled times.’ My mind started wandering over why someone would wake up early in the morning to start cursing fellow being for saying the truth. The kernel of disgust of this particular reader, like other respondents that earlier sent in mild responses, must have been my catalogue of the inadequacies of President Goodluck Jonathan during this troubled period of Nigeria’s history. Some in those numerous text messages actually accused me of putting all the nation’s problems at the door step of the “innocent” president. But they failed to tell me who else should be held responsible. They must have forgotten the cliché that uneasy lays the head that wears the crown.

    It was in the process of my cogitation over that indecorous text message that the federal government released on Sunday, its curious rebasing of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) index. That index rebasing has been widely acknowledged to be necessary and laughably unrealistic for putting the country as having the biggest economy in Africa – when empirically, the reversal is the case. However, no matter how long overdue the rebasing might be even with the touted last one reportedly done in 1990; it is unhelpful and deceptive for government to put Nigeria’s GDP at $509.9b, far above South Africa’s $370.3b. Could this be another pre-election year ego massaging for the federal government?

    The Economist, in a recent aftermath report, dusted government’s rebasing by saying: “Nigerians are not richer than they were on Saturday night. The majority of the country’s 170 million people live on less than a dollar a day”. Mr. Francisco Ferreira, World Bank Chief Economist, Africa Region carpeted the spurious rebasing efforts to wit: “What matters is improved living standards for everyone and the productivity that guarantees those living standards.” The Labour movement in the land pointedly told the government that a good GDP without jobs is meaningless and that the rampaging reality in the country include – hunger, unemployment and poverty. The incident gave me nostalgic feelings of when I was an editor; ordinarily, I would have instructed one of my good reporters to conduct a broad Vox Pop with the masses on the streets of this country to know their true feelings and assessment of the kangaroo rebasing by this administration. The report would have been the authentic rebasing of the GDP, not this officially doctored one.

    What is sadly emerging in the polity is a regular pattern of mischievous propaganda by this government which was meant to cover up its avoidable lapses. This column recollects that some days ago, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy openly lied to Nigerians when she was visited by delegates of the Arewa Youth Forum, that 1.8 million graduates join the labour market annually in the land. And that the government generated 1.6million jobs last year for Nigerians. She attributed source of her concocted data to the National Bureau of Statistics which she said, was arrived at “after two months of methodological work.”

    But like the newly released rebasing, she didn’t provide concrete evidence to show that the country actually produces 1.6million jobs annually, the quality of the jobs, the government agencies that gave out these jobs and names of beneficiaries if indeed they are not ghosts. Madam Ngozi ought to realise with all her international years of exposure on the global level that a concocted positively rebased GDP without sustainable and viable jobs is nothing but a ruse.

    This column’s critique of the Jonathan administration is not out of malice or personal vendetta but out of concern and patriotic fervour against the unwary ways things are degenerating in the nation. It is also not borne out of sympathy for any opposition party or particular individual but out of disappointment over the epileptic way that the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has been leading this country in the last 15 years. This column wants change in all ramifications in the land and what is quite clear is that the ruling party is now bereft of ideas on how to move the country out of the woods. Despite this fact, it remains impervious to any call for change that could possibly give Nigerians a new lease of life.

    Benjamin Disraeli once said: ‘Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power.’ Even if the circumstance of Boko Haram is beyond Jonathan’s control, could it be justified that his ham-fisted approach is also beyond his power: If we agree that the economy is not doing well, can the president, with all the awesome powers in his custody, not come up with conducts that would fix it? If circumstances of epileptic electricity is beyond the president’s control, is the power to arrest the bad situation beyond his means? Unfortunately now, this government is touting the idea of importing power from Democratic Republic of Congo – This is a shame that is dismissive of his expensive reforms agenda in the power sector.

    There is serious unemployment in the country but the presidency has been lying about this sorry state with unpalatably fictitious employment-generating figures. The president’s silence on the reckless spendings and corruption in the oil sector is condemnable, but if this too beyond what he can use his powers to curb?  The backlash that greeted the latest GDP rebasing that makes the country Africa’s largest economy seems to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back. It most importantly shows from expected reactions from especially the Economist, Labour movement, financial experts and the World Bank that columnists/critics are not unjustifiably criticising the president.

    This column seizes this opportunity to assure ardent protagonists of the present administration that except things positively improve in the country, they should be prepared for more mordant writings from yours sincerely. They should be ready to purchase more air-time that would guarantee them more reactionary text messages. Whatever it is, the assurance is that this column will not be deterred from saying it the way it is, no matter whose ox is gored.

  • Burden-some privatisation

    Burden-some privatisation

    •Govt should have sorted out PHCN workers’ entitlements before handing over to the new investors

    We were made to believe that privatisation of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was not meant to inflict spite on employees of the company but to bring about stable power supply in the country. But it is bad that the country is yet to see any improvement in power supply and even worse is the fact that thousands of former employees of the erstwhile PHCN have not been paid their entitlements months after the Federal Government publicly declared the process closed, by formally handing over to successor companies. Yet, most of these employees have been relieved of their posts, with nothing to show for their years of toil at the public utility company.

    As a measure of last resort, these aggrieved employees, under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, have embarked on spontaneous protests across the federation. The employees have justifiably embraced the best option of bringing their debilitating plight to the public domain. In Ibadan, about 150 ex-workers and some of those retained by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company reportedly marched from the NUEE secretariat on Ring Road to the company’s office on the same road.  In Bauchi, over 50 per cent of the PHCN workers that were sacked by the new owners of the successor companies trooped to the streets. At the Jebba Power Station, no less than 250 members of the union staged a peaceful protest. Quite surprisingly too, most of the more than 60 per cent of the workers that have not been paid their entitlements in Lagos were at the headquarters of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company and other district offices of the power station across the state, to express their disenchantment.

    We consider as sad the fact that about 25,000 workers reportedly could not access the pension component of their entitlements while families of about 1,000 deceased employees of the defunct power firm that died in active service are yet to receive their entitlements. Equally more dumbfounding is the revelation that over 5,000 workers who retired statutorily are yet to be paid their gratuities. Yet, it was reported with fanfare last year that the Accountant-General of the Federation had sent money to the various banks to pay those entitlements; but allegations in public domain show that some of the banks are withholding the money for inexplicable reasons.

    Mr. Wisdom Nwachukwu, Chairman, NUEE, Abuja chapter, captures the alleged notoriety of the banks: “We had learnt of what they (banks) were doing…We have cases of people that have been paid with wrong account numbers. We gave them the real account details, they paid with the wrong account details of which the money will not go and the money goes back to them.” When all these problems have not been sorted out, why the haste by the Federal Government to hand over PHCN to the investors? The commonsensical thing to do would have been for the government to create a time-lag for the payments of entitlements and hearing of complaints there-from before handing over to those that bought the different components of the company. Those investors have now compounded the problems by sacking these employees before final payment of their severance entitlements.

    The investors too, not only the government, should be highly bothered because they could not just be collecting money from consumers without providing service for which the company was sold to them. At a period when the electricity situation in the country is worsening, the investors/government cannot afford to further incur the wrath of these denied employees that know the nitty- gritty of operations of ex-PHCN. Further delay of their entitlements is nothing but indirect invitation to avoidable sabotage. To us, this electricity privatisation transition is becoming a burden.

     

  • Ihejirika’s burden

    Ihejirika’s burden

    The Nigerian Army was in the news last week for some curious reasons. Unidentified persons circulated documents accusing the Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika of favoritism in the recent promotions and recruitment into the army.

    They claimed that recent promotions and recruitment were done in utter disregard of such pristine principles as balance, merit and seniority. Bandying statistics of the population of some states, they argued that the South-east zone where Ihejirika comes from benefited disproportionately from the recruitment exercise.

    According to them, in the recruitment at the Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria, Abia State with a population of 2.8 million had 450 recruits while Ebonyi with a population of 2.2 million had 377 recruits. Kano, Kaduna and Lagos states with populations of 9.3 million, 9 million and 9 million respectively had only 258, 382 and 255 recruits. For them, these represent part of the plan to ‘Igbonise’ the Nigerian Army.

    Perhaps, either because the army would not want to dignify these allegations or due to their sensitivity to the overall unity and cohesion in the army, they did not react to the issues raised. But a group of concerned Nigerians under the banner of Information for Democracy and Development IDD reacted sharply, accusing the petitioners of nursing a hidden agenda of blackmailing and distracting the army from the fight against terrorism.

    Its coordinator, Joshua Yahaya described those behind the attack as “fifth columnists of Boko Haram who are feeling the heat of the war on them by the army and so feel the only way out is to create disaffection within the army”.

    Given the silence of the army, there is the temptation not to attach much value to the allegations. But the issues raised are weighty and have become a matter of public interest especially given the allegations and counter allegations that have been bandied. Having been brought to the court of public opinion in a society still battling destabilizing centrifugal tendencies, it will be a risky endeavor to dismiss the matter with a wave of the hand. This is more so, with the attempt to smuggle ethnic agenda into this singular recruitment and promotion exercise. Since the ethnic dimension has been dangerously canvassed, it is only proper that it either faces the test of empirical examination or be dismissed as an exercise in hasty generalization. On the face value, a comparison of the recruitment figures of Abia, Ebonyi, Kano, Kaduna and Lagos states vis-à-vis their population, would raise the question of criteria for the exercise. That point has to be admitted. If that was the issue the petitioners are raising, one could understand their point. But it is an entirely different ball-game to proceed from there to arrive at the very sweeping conclusion that it is all that is required to enter a case of ‘Igbonisation’ of the army. It is a very ridiculous and uncharitable conclusion that cannot fly without a total picture of the entire staff disposition of the army.

    If the petitioners were motivated by altruistic or nationalistic goals, they should have provided the entire standing of the Igbo or the South-east in the Nigerian Army. Even then, that would not suffice for the real picture until the total staff disposition of all the zones in the Nigerian Armed Forces has been analyzed.

    This point is unassailable given events of our recent past. It is trite that the South-east has been very vocal on their disadvantaged position within the federation. Such words as alienation and marginalization have come to symbolize the perception of their lot since after the civil war and these issues are not strange to any well-meaning Nigerian. Just last week, former President Olusegun Obasanjo had while reacting to accusations of marginalization by Chinua Achebe in his recent book, told the New African magazine that when he was president, “an Igbo lady was Minister of Finance; an Igbo man was the Governor of the Central Bank, an Igbo man was one of the Service Chiefs”. We may add that Jonathan has improved on that by appointing an Igbo man the Chief of Army staff. These are no doubt very positive developments. But one salient point they have exposed is that they are only very recent steps to correct deliberate scheming out of the South-east from the commanding heights of key national offices and security institutions.

    To have transformed overnight from alienation and marginalization to dominating the rest in the army, is the most uncharitable and wicked accusation anybody can levy against the South-east at this point in time. It will only take a miracle for that to happen even as Ihejirika is not known to be a miracle worker. It is true he is the first south-easterner to become the Chief of Army Staff since the end of the civil war. It is therefore to be expected that some vested interests may not be favorably disposed to his appointment.

    Even without hindsight of the entire staff disposition of the army and the armed forces, one can say without fear of contradiction that the South-east is still the most disadvantaged. The very fact that they were not part of the armed forces the three years the civil war lasted says it all.

    What has played out in the recent recruitment and promotions might be an attempt to redress perceived imbalances in the organization. After all, the transformation agenda of the Jonathan administration ought to permeate such critical sectors so that we can build national institutions rather than ones that serve sectional, ethnic or religious tendencies.

    There are also problems in using population to the exclusion of quota, equality of states and merit to assess the promotions and recruitment. If it is discovered that the South-east has been largely disadvantaged by previous recruitment exercises, Ihejirika has a moral burden to redress that. It will amount to inverted tribalism or reversed discrimination if he allows the injustice to persist because he is an Igbo man and for fear of what those who profit from it may say.

    Events during Lt. Gen. Abdulraman Bello Dambazzau’s tenure as the Chief of Army Staff come in handy at this point. Insider Weekly magazine had in its June, 2009 edition reported that soldiers were grumbling over “parochial unbalanced deployment” in the army wondering whether “he is building a Nigerian Army, a Kano army or a northern army”. The magazine alleged that out of the 32 key appointments, Dambazzau gave the north 27, the South-east three, two to the South-west and none to the South-south. It is not unlikely that what is playing out is an attempt to redress years of imbalance as reflected by the skewed leadership of the army since after the civil war.

    The use of population is also not fool-proof given that populations of states do not give the entire picture of the various groups that make it up. We have not been told the ratio of the Igbo or other ethnic groups that were counted as indigenes of states with high population even when they are discriminated against because of the unresolved issue of residency. It does seem therefore that there is more to these accusations than ordinarily meets the eyes. It is hard to ignore the point by the IDD that it is likely the handiwork of sympathizers of Boko Haram intent at creating disaffection and anarchy within the army that is at play. With the current security challenges, it is only proper that the commanding heights of the military and key security organizations are diluted so that no section of the country will have absolute control over them. It is in our national interest to do that now.