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Tag: crossroads

  • UN warns world AIDS still at crossroads

    The United Nations Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres has warned that the HIV response stood at a crossroads, 30 years after the first World AIDS Day.

    Guterres, in his message for the 2018 World AIDS Day, yesterday said “more than 77 million people have become infected with HIV, and more than 35 million have died of an AIDS-related illness.”

    According to him, the direction taken now, may determine whether the epidemic can be ended by 2030, or if future generations will have to continue the battle, he said.

    Noting that huge progress has been made in diagnosis and treatment, and prevention efforts have avoided millions of new infections, he stressed that “the pace of progress is not matching global ambition.

    “New HIV infections are not falling rapidly enough,” he said, adding that some regions are lagging, and financial resources are insufficient.

    He said stigma and discrimination continued to hold people back, especially key populations – including men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgenders, intravenous drug users, prisoners and migrants – and young women and adolescent girls.

    He added that one-in-four people living with HIV did not know that they had the virus, keeping them from making informed decisions on prevention, treatment and other services.

    The UN chief said “there is still time” to scale-up testing for HIV; to enable more people to access treatment; to increase resources needed to prevent new infections; and to end the stigma.

     

     

  • 2019: Saraki visits Fayose, says democracy at crossroads

    •Urges PDP presidential aspirants to accept primary outcome

    Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday visited Ekiti State in continuation of nationwide consultations ahead of the presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    He met with Governor Ayodele Fayose and other PDP delegates at the Government House, Ado-Ekiti to solicit their support at the October National Convention in Port Harcourt where the party’s presidential flag bearer will be elected.

    The presidential aspirant stressed that he possesses the qualities of the leader needed by Nigerians at this critical period of its history promising to give every Nigerian a sense of belonging.

    Saraki said Nigeria is at crossroads with its democracy endangered claiming that democracy would have collapsed but for the intervention of the National Assembly which he heads.

    The Senate boss pledged to accede to the demands of Nigerians for restructuring for the states in the federation to maximize their potentials.

    Saraki said: “We are at a cross road. We are seeing great danger with our democracy, that is why your state has had a terrible experience with the kind of democracy.

    “If not for what we have been doing at the NASS to sustain and protect the democracy, by now there will be nothing like democracy in Nigeria.

    “So, it is important that we look for a courageous and capable President that we can be proud of. A President that will ensure that we have true democracy.

    “Before now we have been voting based on sentiment, and ethnicity, so we need a leader that will allow you to reach your goal, it is time we restructure and have a state that would be able to maximise their potentials.”

    Fayose advised PDP presidential aspirants to accept the outcome of the party primary election slated for October 6, 2018 and work for the success of the party.

    The governor, who said that he was not supporting any particular aspirant, said he had cautioned his colleagues that they must allow the process to be credible.

    Fayose said: “Nigerians are waiting for PDP to liberate them and we must be united to be able to rescue them.”

    Threatening to back out of the primary election if the process is not credible, Fayose alleged that the future of the country had already been mortgaged.

    He added:  “Somebody should tell Buhari to please go home and rest. The last appointment President Buhari made into the Department of State Services (DSS) further confirmed that he is insensitive. He is supposed to be the President of Nigeria.

    “We never know we can get here. I am sure that you joined the APC because you thought that Nigeria will be better. Nigeria no longer have gear one to five, everything is now in reverse gear. ”

    On Saraki’s entourage are Director General of Campaign Council,

    Mohammed Wakil; Senate Minority Leader, Senator Biodun Olujimi; Chairman, Senate Committee on Air Force, Senator Duro Faseyi, among others.

     

  • Technical education: Nation at developmental crossroads

    The rising concerns among stakeholders on the quality of graduates being churned out by Nigeria’s Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) makes inevitable the need for a paradigm shift in our current teaching and learning model. The subsisting approach is certainly too weak, uninspiring and theory-suffused; this is why one should look no further for why we are ostensibly perpetuating the regime of ‘educated illiterates’ – lacking in functional skills for impact and societal development.

    Now is the time to think and act differently.

    Ideally, serious efforts in this regard should now be devoted to the making of youths armed with critical thinking skills, developmental and solution-focused orientation. The goal of this will be to equip them with requisite competencies to clinically interrogate the myriad of problems bedeviling the nation and provide disruptive but creative, and cutting-edge solutions. Achieving this requires a sharper focus of efforts on developing capacities in technical and vocational educational training (TVET) and by extension, the STEM paradigm.

    To join the nations that will attain the global resolution as enshrined in the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, Nigeria must focus on developing essential skills for work and life among its teeming youth population. This, perhaps, is the only way that the nation can salvage itself from the looming explosion arising from consistently escalating acute youth unemployment. There is, therefore, a national imperative to articulate policies and programmes specifically designed for the skilling of our young people at all levels of education – including both formal and informal educational settings.

    Beyond paying lip service to the review of our curriculum, government must do the needful by ensuring that courses undertaken in our institutions of higher learning conform to a set of measurable developmental goals. It is not just enough to establish universities and faculties for courses that are neither filling a knowledge gap nor tailored to developing specific critical human resource capacities that will propel the nation towards economic prosperity and independence.

    As the pioneer vice chancellor of Nigeria’s first technical university, The Technical University, Ibadan, it is gratifying to champion the evolution of a TVET-based template that is poised to becoming a national standard ultimately.  Whereas the technical university, only made its foray into the nation’s burgeoning tertiary education space one year ago, it has nonetheless created a niche for itself to say the least. Though established at a time the Nigerian economy is at its lowest ebb, our job at the Tech-U is clearly cut-out, having set out to address the daunting challenges of disturbing youth unemployment and skills gap. Tech-U seeks to produce a new generation of innovative graduates who are fully equipped with technical, vocational and entrepreneurial skills.

    As elaborated in the UNESCO Strategy for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) (2016-2021) (UNESCO, 2016), TVET encapsulates such education, training and skills development relating to a wide range of occupational fields, production, services and livelihoods. It provides the kind of education that helps youths and adults develop the technical and vocational skills they need for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.

    It is particularly sad that in Nigeria, TVET has been largely restricted to the informal sector and lower educational levels. The direct consequence of this is that, it is unable to keep up with rapid global technological growth, and has consequently resulted into sheer irrelevance of the curricula taught.  Added to this, is the challenge of a negative perception of TVET as education of the last resort. This principally accounts for the reason TVET has remained unattractive in our tertiary institutions. Rather than benefit from the well-rounded education the adoption of TVET brings in promoting entrepreneurship, self-employment and creation and growth of new businesses, students have been limited as half-baked intellectuals, deficient in critical thinking and innovation skills.

    At the Tech-U, we are already moving towards this direction, deploying TVET and STEM paradigms in developing the minds and training the hands of our students. Just recently, the university brought together a host of key industry regulators and employers to contribute to the review of curriculum and to give informed feedbacks on its relevance to industry needs and trends. The reason for this is clear enough. Since the Tech-U has been established with the bold and daring ambition of changing the narrative about employability and entrepreneurial deficiencies skills among our youths; the least that could be done as a serious institution is to ensure that such an exercise was done in tandem with the expectations of the market.

    Tech-U intends to advocate the mainstreaming of TVET into university curricula as a means of nurturing self-reliant graduates. Recognizing that regular weekly scheduled practical classes will be inadequate for the acquisition of the required skills, the university established a Centre for Entrepreneurship and Vocational Studies to offer all students a range of skills development opportunities attuned to national and local contexts. This will give students complimentary exposure to different forms of work-based learning like attachments, apprenticeship and internships.

    The incorporation of entrepreneurial skills into the curricula is intended to strategically prepare our graduates for the transition from education to the world of work in a seamless manner – more like in a ‘plug and play manner’. This is one cardinal mission we are committed to. We are not just interested in imparting our students with theoretical knowledge only, but also in motivating and supporting them to acquire skills and competences that deepen their understanding of scientific and technological basis of issues.

    We are convinced that to achieve our vision, we need close collaboration between the academia and labour market stakeholders as well as strong linkages with employment agencies and employers. This is the reason for locating the university on a 200 ha expanse of land along the Lagos/Ibadan expressway, in the Free Trade Zone Area designated as the industrial hub of the state and in which about 175 manufacturing companies under the Pacesetter/Polaris (Chinese) Consortium will establish full presence and carry out their operations.

    For us, the future is here!

     

    • Professor Salami is the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of The Technical University, Ibadan.
  • How Boyega’s bodyguard humiliated me – Toke Makinwa

    How Boyega’s bodyguard humiliated me – Toke Makinwa

    Media personality and writer, Toke Makinwa has criticized a newly opened restaurant, Crossroads, for watching and doing nothing while she was bullied by the bodyguard of British-Nigerian actor John Boyega.

    In a post shared on her  Instagram page, Toke said she was assaulted and intimidated while she visited the restaurant on a drink date with her best friend.

    She wrote, “I cannot believe I stayed up this late to write this. I have an early flight to catch in the morning and I would normally just ignore it all but I thought about the number of women this can/might happen to and thought naaaaa, I’ll share it anyways. My experience at crossroads tonight was very interesting.

    “P.S it was the Wizkid show and not rhythm unplugged.”

    Here’s what she wrote:

    Swipe left.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BdgnsLuF2ju/?taken-by=tokemakinwa

  • At the crossroads

    Ever since independence has there been such a hot debate as to the future of Nigeria. Many are not satisfied with the present arrangement; they feel shortchanged in a country to which they believe they are making enormous contributions, but are not getting a just reward. Whether in the South, East, West or North (S.E.W.N) as All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Tinubu tagged it, the sentiments are similar.

    To the north,  the other sections are better off than it and so also do the other sections see one another. All the sections believe that they are marginalised. If that is the case, who is marginalising who then? The fact is whenever other sections are not in power, the next thing they cry of is marginalisation. So, if the north is in power, it is not marginalised. If the south, east and west are also in power, they are not marginalised. But once they are not in power, it is marginalisation.

    We should not dismiss the fear of those shouting structural imbalance because marginalisation goes beyond one section lording it over others. Even among people of a particular section,  there are cries of marginalisation. In a state with diverse ethnic groups,  not all the people get along because they do not trust one another when it comes to the issue of power.  Every ethnic group will prefer to hold power rather than trust it with the others because of the fear of marginalisation.  If kinsmen cannot trust themselves,  what do we expect of the larger society?

    We have tried so many things to correct this social imbalance. Former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan held national conferences during their respective tenure to find a way out of this problem. The reports of both conferences did not see the light of day. They are gathering dust where they are kept. Moreover, there is no consensus on which of the reports we should settle for.  Those who attended the Obasanjo conference are flaunting their report as the panacea for the nation’s ills. Delegates to the Jonathan conference believe that the adoption of their own report will settle all our problems.

    As we turn 57 on Sunday, the national question has yet to be settled. What do we do with Nigeria as presently constituted? Is it restructuring we want? These posers,  among many others, gave rise to the clamour for restructuring.  What is it about this restructuring that it has become a singsong in the polity? We will not do justice to the issue by giving it its ordinary and dictionary meaning. The restructuring Nigerians are clamouring for goes beyond reorganising a set up to enhance efficiency and cut cost.

    The restructuring Nigerians are seeking has to do with the way they are governed.  What powers should devolve to the three tiers of government? What happens to the resources of the nation? How should the resources be shared? Who gets the lion’s share – the central government or the states,  where the resources are found? To some, restructuring is all about state police, to others, it is resource control or principle of derivation. Yet to others, it is true federalism or devolution of power.

    As we turn 57, may we find the grace to turn this bend in our national life without turning everything upside down.

  • Ibadan chieftaincy system at crossroads

    Ibadan chieftaincy system at crossroads

    In this piece, Chief Theophilus Akinyele urges the people of Ibadan to protect the tradition, unity and progress of the ancient city under the paramount ruler, the Olubadan of Ibadanland.

    As the Bobajiro of Ibadanland since 1978 and the person who voluntarily in 2011 published the book “Ibadan traditional system: Reform and regeneration: and who took the trouble to submit a memorandum to the Justice Boade Commissioner of Enquiry set up by the Oyo State Government, I owe it a duty to categorically state my position on the issues involved in the current development enveloping the Olubadan Chieftaincy system for the sake of constituency, truth and personal integrity, and to avoid the possibility of being misquoted or misunderstood by anybody or group.

    My book examined the eighty years of Ibadan military exploits and imperial adventurism which earned Ibadan the incontrovertible position as the bulwark for the existence of Yorubaland. It highlighted the inherent systematic structure weaknesses and adverse effects of governmental and other external interventions, which became pronounced in the last two decades.

    The book then in Chapters 7 and 8 made a number of recommendations regarding pointers to the need for reform and regeneration including measured operational steps to be taken in the short and long term regarding feasible logistics over a decade or two.

    In the memorandum sent from abroad, where I still am, to the Boade Commission of Enquiry, after inviting attention to Chapter 7 and 8 of my book, I wrote inter-alia as follows:

    “It is my humble opinion from the outset, that whatever will emerge from the outcome of the current Enquiry, two desiderata must be observed, namely the oneness of Ibadanland under the suzerainty of Olubadan and secondly the unique position of Ibadanland in the scheme of things pertaining to traditional systems in Oyo State in the light of historical antecedents and favour of geographical location on Ibadanland.”

    I must categorically state that at no time did I suggest that Ibadanland needs the proliferation of Obas nor the wearing of beaded crowns. In this regard, I would like to invite attention to the portion of the following pages of my book (pages 83-84), which would appeared to have become a self-fulfilling prophecy:

    “I also want to believe that the issue concerning wearing of beaded crowns has become the Sword of Damocles dangling over the Ibadan Traditional System now that some unwary Baales in Ibadanland have been surreptitiously lured into turning themselves into pawns in the hands of politicians with the juicy carrot of wearing beaded crowns even if the beads are nothing more than Chinese-made artificial beads! The hood does not make monk.”

    Eternal regeneration in a well-restructured manner that recognizes the uniqueness of Ibadan Traditional System under the leadership of the Olubadan of Ibadanland is the perfect assurance for a virile and vigorous system in order to cope with the envisaged challenges of modernity.

    “How could I in one breath defend the suzerainty of the Olubadan of Ibadanland and ipso facto the unity of Ibadanland and later support or advise the Governor to “enthrone” a multitude of Obas in Ibadanland thus unwittingly destroying the very fabric of Ibadan unity and weakening the suzerainty of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, seen as a bonding instution and not just a personality?”

     

    • Chief Akinyele, OON, wrote from Ibadan.
  • A society at a crossroads

    A society at a crossroads

    Title: We Can’t All Be Wrong (Conversations On Restructuring Nigeria)
    Author: Ethelbert Okere
    Reviewer: Mike Onuoha
    Pages: 340

    Expectedly, the ongoing discourse on the restructuring of the Nigerian polity is moving beyond newspaper opinion articles, interviews and editorials into more enduring formats. The book, WE CAN’T ALL BE WRONG (Conversations On Restructuring Nigeria) is perhaps the first narrative on the history of agitations for restructuring and the subsequent responses by successive administrations, beginning from the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914. According to the author, Ethelbert Okere, “restructuring became an issue right from 1914 when the amalgamation was consummated owing to the fact that the process that led to it was faulty and, therefore, did not get down well with the people…”

    The author notes that Nigeria has had “no less than seven forms of restructuring in its political system” beginning with the first in 1939 when the colonial government created a three-region structure, namely, Northern region, Western region and the Eastern region. The author notes, however, that the creation of the three regions did not stop the clamor of restructuring. “Apart from the discomfiture that was caused by the skewed geographical and demographic composition between the Northern region and the two Southern (Western and Eastern) regions, there were a number of small ethnic minorities in each of the three regions which felt that they had been robbed of their primordial sovereignty and freedom by being made to be superintended over by the larger ethnic groups within each of the regions”, writes Okere.

    Subsequent restructuring exercise, as the author narrates, were to take place in 1967, 1976, 1989, 1991 and 1996 when the country was, respectively, split into 12, 19, 21, 30 and 36 states. The author goes ahead to point at the difference between previous agitations and the current one, which is that with the exception of the creation of the Midwest region in 1963, the current agitation is the first under a democratic setting.

    Still on state creation, the book delves into the controversy over the inadequacy of state creation exercises and which has resulted in the continuous agitation for further restructuring. Okere writes: “… there is this belief  in some quarters that the various state creation exercises since 1967 did not amount to restructuring… others believe that the exercises, apart from shying away from the basic tenets of and expectations from restructuring, lacked the inputs of the Nigerian people… the state creation exercises were seen by some observers as representing a desire by the then military elite, together with their civilian counterparts, carve out spheres of political influence and control.”

    The book, is divided into ten parts. Apart from Part One which deals on the history of agitations and restructuring exercises, there are: Part 2: Federalism: An Imperative For Nigeria’s Survival As A Nation; Part 3: The Key Features Of Federalism And The Deficiencies Of Its Nigerian Version; Part 4: Lessons From Other Countries; Part 5: The 2014 National Conference And Its Recommendations On Restructuring; Part 6: The Conversations; Part 7: The Other View Points; Part 8: Restructuring: A Southern Agenda? Part 9: What Will A Restructured Nigeria Look Like?; Part 10: Epilogue.

    Part 10 (The Conversations) is a compendium of views expressed by eminent Nigerians on the subject of restructuring. Those profiled in this section include former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, former vice president, Abubakar Atiku, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Professor Wole Soyinka, Cardinal Anthony Okojie, Emir Sanusi of Kano, president-general of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, Ikedi Ohakim, Emeka Anyaoku, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, Mao Ohuabunwa, Balarabe Musa, Edwin Clerk, Nyesom Wike, Ayo Fayose, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Nasir El-Rufai and a host of others.

    Written in a racy prose and elegant style, the book, “We Can’t All Be Wrong…” is the eight book by veteran journalist and publisher, Ethelbert Okere. Okere’s first book, Nigeria: Agenda For A Modern Police Force, published in 1991, won the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) prize for literary excellence in 1992. He also has to his credit two novels: No Trace Of Zakki (2012) and Ogbanje Currency (2017)

    Okere, now an Evangelist, has worked in several newspaper houses including, This Day, Champion, Satellite newspaper, Daily Times, New Breed magazine, The Financial Post etc. He served as Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment and Documentary to the governor of Imo state between 2007 and 2011.

  • Again, at the crossroads

    We have passed through this path before. We are again on it. Curiously, all indicators point to the direction that no gainful lessons have been learnt from our encounter with that tortuous terrain.

    That perhaps, explains why events seem to be following the same predictable but ruinous pattern. If we have a country of leaders with direction; a country of selfless and patriotic leaders; a country where the overall good and interests of the constituents form the basis for collective action, we will not find ourselves repeating the same mistakes that nearly brought this nation down so soon after- a mistake whose deleterious fallouts are yet to wane.

    And since we trod this path very recently, it is curious how easily we forget the past. It is surprising we are unable to take advantage of past experiences to address emergent national political issues that are repeating themselves in a manner to demonstrate very unambiguously that we are learning from history.

    That is ones reading of the uncanny fate surrounding the controversy over the health of President Muhammadu Buhari and the attempt by some people at the corridors of power to repeat mistakes of the recent past. The same display of ethnic card and sectional supremacy that dominated the political scene when last Nigeria passed through that path are gain at play this time, with higher prospects of tearing the fabric of this wobbling nation apart.

    We can do with less of cabalistic manipulations especially given that our easy resort to ethnic shortchanging in serious national and constitutional issues, has been the nation’s greatest undoing, accounting in the main, for our failures to make meaningful progress despite the enormous resources mother nature endowed us very bountifully.

    We were treated to this theatrical during the regime of President Umaru Yar’Adua and it dragged the nation to the precipice. For about 55 days, there was a vacuum at the highest administrative echelon of the country due to the absence of Yar’Adua who was in Saudi Arabia for treatment for some illness. He left the country on November 23, 2009 without transmitting a letter to the National Assembly to then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to act in keeping with constitutional stipulations.

    A vacuum then arose as some influential persons close to the ailing president capitalized on the situation to hang on to power, issuing directives in the name of the president. They feared that if power was handed over to Jonathan, it may see them out of office. They preferred Yar’Adua to hang on for them to be now calling the shots as the powers behind the throne.

    Such was the situation and so chaotic was it that the nation drifted towards the abyss. The then Senate was to save the situation citing the doctrine of necessity thereby empowering Jonathan to act. So debilitating and insidious was the power game until the sad news of the demise of Yar’Adua.

    The way Jonathan was treated during that period by the cabal at the corridors of power may have accounted for his conduct thereafter especially his determination to run for another four years despite the understanding said to have been agreed upon for him not to run.

    With all we passed through, it is indeed sad that history is about to repeat itself soon after with frightening prospects for the unity and stability of this unity in diversity. The inherent danger was brought to the fore by a statement last week by the founding national chairman of the All Progressives Congress APC, Chief Bisi Akande. In that highly loaded statement, Akande identified what he called two great red flag dangers capable of plunging the country into unprecedented chaos, with the health of the president as the most critical and the disorder and lack of cohesion between the president and the National Assembly as the other.

    But the greatest danger he said is for “political interests at the corridors of power attempting to feast on the health of the president in a dangerous manner that may aggravate the problems between the executive and the National Assembly and drag the country into avoidable doom”.

    He also accused certain Nigerian leaders, blinded by corruption of assuming “the possibility of using money in manipulating the national security agencies to intimidate, suppress and hold down certain ethnic nationalities or playing one ethnic nationality against the other with a view to undermining the constitution and perversely upturning the rule of law”.

    These are very loaded statements especially coming from a key stakeholder in the current regime; somebody who played a crucial role in all the events that shaped and saw the current regime cruise to power two years ago. If he is now crying out in the manner he has done, we can appreciate the level of his frustrations.

    As a key player, he wears the shoes and knows where it pinches most. Though he spoke in a veiled form, it is not difficult to read his lips.  And we have every reason to take him very seriously. Akande is such a serious mind and well respected statesman that the events that propelled him to speak the way he has done must be that critical.

    Before now, well-meaning individuals and groups have expressed dissatisfaction with the management of the president’s health by those close to him. This was especially the case in the weeks he was away to London for medical treatment. The impression we were given was that the president was not ill and was only undergoing laboratory tests from Nigeria House in London.

    It took the return and honesty of the President himself for Nigerians to get to know that he was really sick. When on return, he told the nation he has never been that sick in his life, it dawned on all that his handlers were all along, being economical with the truth. The President was also honest enough in hinting of the possibility of further medical checkup.

    The way he handled the matter and the fact that he transmitted a letter to the National Assembly for his vice to act before departure, endeared him to Nigerians and they fervently prayed for his quick recovery. During his absence, the Vice President did not allow any vacuum as he attended to state matters as if the President was on seat.

    In the last three weeks, the President has not been able to fully attend to state matters given his continuous absence from the Federal Executive Council meetings. Speculations have been rife as to his state of health with his media managers explaining that he is resting following advice from his doctors. That could be understood.

    But there are views that the President’s health is having a toll in the running of the affairs of the county especially given the enormous challenges confronting the nation. While some have called for full disclosure on the President’s health, others advised he should take some time to address his health challenges as his life is more important than the office he holds.

    If he adheres to the last option, it will again see him transferring power to his vice to act until he fully recovers. But there are vested interests within the corridors of power afraid of such scenario playing out again. And like the situation during Yar’Adua, they fear loss of influence and power should power be transferred to the vice to act. They want the President to be around for them to be wielding awesome powers from behind. They are propelled by the satisfaction of their selfish predilections irrespective of where that leads the country.

    That has been the greatest undoing of this country. That is why the contest for the presidency will remain largely bitter and rancorous until there is a fundamental restructuring of the polity. We cannot build national institutions with our current disposition to ethnic domination and primordial ascendancy.

    If the President’s health cannot permit him to fully attend to state matters, he should do the needful so that the wheel of the administration does not grind to a halt. We should learn from the mistakes of the Yar’Adua episode in the current handling of the President’s health.

  • Anti-corruption fight at a crossroads   

    SIR: The non-confirmation of Magu erodes the anti-corruption credibility of President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime. There appears to be some infighting by some unseen forces in the drama that is playing out. The current situation seems to be giving an unrestrained license for the corrupt elite to swamp the system.

    We are at a crossroads as far as the war against corruption is concerned and we expect Mr. President to rise up to the challenge and assert himself. We know that when you fight corruption, corruption fights back. Mr. President should take some concrete steps to show that he oversees the Presidency and not some cabal.

    The seeming inability of the organs within the Presidency to work together exposes a problem of coordination amongst the anti-corruption agencies. These agencies ought to be working together and not to be promoting unhealthy rivalry amongst themselves.

    We believe that there is a strong need for transparency and accountability around asset recovery in Nigeria. Nigerians want to be briefed regularly as to how much or what was recovered and how recovered assets are being managed or disposed of. It must be seen to be re-ploughed in a way that it benefits the victims of corruption. This is important so as to give Nigerians a sense of belonging and clarity in the spirit of the recently signed Open Governance Partnership (OGP).

    This fight against corruption is not about the person of Magu. But what is happening around his non-confirmation is sending a very wrong signal about the country’s war on corruption. The nation’s anti-corruption fight is under threat and we want President Buhari to see it from our lens.

     

    • David Ugolor
  • Nigeria at crossroads over growing insecurity

    Nigeria at crossroads over growing insecurity

    Since the return of democracy in 1999, the security situation in Nigeria has been quite disturbing. Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief with the decisive manner the Muhammadu Buhari administration has been trying to decimate Boko Haram insurgents since it came to power 16 months ago. But, a fresh wave of insecurity from different quarters has enveloped the country, pushing Boko Haram into relative obscurity. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI examines the challenges facing the country in this regard.

    In line with the current harsh economic realities in the country, there was no fanfare when Nigeria marked her 56th independence anniversary recently. President Muhammadu Buhari marked the event at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa with the Service Chiefs, top government functionaries and other prominent Nigerians. The highpoint of the celebration was the Presidential Change of Guards at the Forecourt of the Presidential Villa, State House, Abuja. Attendance of the programmes was strictly by invitation.

    For six years in a row, the independence anniversary has been restricted to the confines of the country’s seat of power. Beyond the dwindling economic fortunes, the decision to opt for a low-keyed celebration within the presidential villa is also dictated by security threats facing the country. Following the bombing that characterised the 50th anniversary celebration in 2010, the authorities moved the event to the heavily-guarded Aso Rock Villa the following year to forestall the threat posed by radical Boko Haram insurgents. Since then, Aso Rock has been hosting the annual event. Hitherto, such celebrations used to take place at the capital’s Eagle Square parade ground, a large venue that allows the public a rare opportunity to be close to the ruling elite.

    It would have been a significant public relations boost for the Buhari administration to hold this year’s celebration at the Eagle Square, considering the counter-insurgency successes it has recorded since coming to power 16 months ago. After all, the administration had announced nine ago that it has “technically defeated” Boko Haram and met the December deadline it set for itself.

    But, the reality, according to observers, is that Boko Haram is no longer the biggest security threat facing the country. Indications are that insecurity is spreading in different parts and this development must be giving the authorities sleepless nights. For instance, Fulani herdsmen are causing havoc across the country, killing in hundreds and destroying farmlands and houses in communities where they choose to attack.

    In a related development, Niger Delta militants have been attacking oil facilities and dealing a serious blow to Nigeria’s crude oil export, since the beginning of the year. The violence has shut down several oil wells, claimed dozens of lives and forced major companies such as Shell and Chevron to evacuate staff and halt production in some areas. The renewed militancy has also had a devastating impact on production: the country’s crude oil output is at a 22-year low; falling below 1.7 million barrels per day for the first time since 1994, according to Bloomberg.

    The militants, particularly the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), claim to be fighting to bring prosperity and development to the region, which has not benefitted proportionally from its vast oil wealth. In their own words, as per a statement on their website: “The struggle of the Niger Delta Avengers is a genuine affront to ensure that the Niger Delta is developed in proportions that are only measurable with the immense wealth from our region and our environment remediated to its original state.

    “Unlike the blood tasty kinsmen (a reference to Boko Haram) of Mr. President (Buhari), we take no pleasure in claiming innocent lives hence our struggle is geared toward attacking the oil installations in our region and not the people. And we shall stop at nothing until our goal is achieved.”

    On the other hand, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been organising regular street protests in the Southeast, to draw attention to their quest for an independent republic. The protests have placed the Biafra issue firmly back on the national agenda, with repeated calls for a Brexit-style referendum on whether to remain within Nigeria or not. Many observers have condemned the Federal Government’s attitude of trying to crush the rebellion with force.

    Similarly, rather than discourage the idea of rebellion, the arrest last year of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, appears to have turned him into a martyr of sorts. This is so much so that the Niger Delta Avengers have taken up his cause, making Kanu’s release a condition for their negotiations with the government.

    Incidences of kidnapping, particularly of young persons in boarding schools, are also on the increase; over two years after more than 200 girls were kidnapped from a boarding school in Chibok, Borno State. Kidnap-for-ransom incidents have been on the increase in Lagos particularly for some time, with victims usually released after days in captivity and payment of ransom to the criminals.

    But, the new trend of abducting young persons from boarding schools is becoming worrisome. For instance, in February 29, three teenage school girls were abducted from Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School, a boarding school in Ikorodu, in the outskirts of Lagos. Last week, four secondary school students, a teacher and their vice principal were abducted by at the Lagos State Model College, Igbonla in Epe, Lagos.

    A group within the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Salvage for Development Initiative (SDI), has described the recent abduction at Epe as one security lacuna too many. In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Mr. Peter Ajayi, the SDI said the rate at which criminals are turning Lagos which used to be very peaceful and safe into a centre of all sorts of criminal activities is becoming worrisome.

    Ajayi said the group is concerned about the persistent security lacuna in the state, despite huge investment in security by the state government. He added that the country has not given kidnapping the attention it deserves, judging from the treatments given to it by both federal and state governments.

    In the open letter addressed to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, he said: “While we are full of appreciation for the efforts of the police to date, we are extremely perturbed that the abduction occurred in the first place, considering the humongous funds sunk in to security by your government.

    “Sir, without sounding ungrateful, we strongly believe that you are yet to be there security-wise and hereby we urge you to re-strategise in this direction in order to make the state not conducive for the men of the underworld.

    “From the foregoing sir, the urgency of the situation at hands demands the best of your administrative acumen in not just ensuring the prompt rescue of the abductees, in good health, but to also see to the extermination of kidnappers in the state in the shortest possible time.  You may need to think out of the box, Sir!

    “We suggest that you further strengthen security apparatus around schools in riverine and distant areas. More so, since the intention of the kidnappers is to kill their captives  if ransom is not paid, then they should be seen and treated  as  murderers that should be eliminated according to the law once caught either they have killed or not.”

    The open letter titled “Insecurity in Lagos State: A cause for concern: Open Letter to Governor Ambode”, is urging SDI members and well-meaning Nigerians to send Governor Ambode an email (through email addresses provided), to demand for prompt action to rescue the abducted persons. The week-long campaign is also calling for death penalty for perpetrators of kidnapping. “We are also calling on other civil society and human rights organisations across the world to join us in this campaign to put an end to kidnapping in Nigeria,” the statement added.

    Observers say the growing criminality, unrests, militant activities and ethnic agitations have brought to the fore once again the undemocratic character of the Nigerian federation and the unresolved national question that has been there since the amalgamation of 1914 under Lord Lugard.

    The attitude of the Buhari-led administration towards the rampaging herdsmen has been a source of concern to many Nigerians. A Minna, Niger State-based lawyer, Gavers Ihematulam, is of the view that the Federal Government has not done enough to stem the tide killings across the country. He said nobody should be treated as an alien, because President Buhari swore to protect the lives and interests of every Nigerian.

    He said: “Why should Fulani men carry guns in the first instance? Were they licensed? Who gave them the guns and for what purpose? I blame all security apparatus for not doing enough because all the security agencies are expected to form a synergy to cover all tracks that could lead to shedding of innocent blood. There is no how security transits can be implemented or executed without element of intelligent report about somebody getting wind of what was in the offing before it happens.”

    Ihematulam said President Buhari should work on the response time framework of the nations’ security apparatus to guarantee timely response to security issues in order to save lives. According to him, security men should be trained to be able to get to the scenes of attacks before the damages are done. He said: “Some of these killings were not done in isolation; people saw strange movements and they alerted those who should know and those who should ask questions about intruders, what did they do?

    “The worst of it is the killing of some soldiers and policemen. That is to say that nobody is safe. I expect that with improved technologies, those manning the nation’s security sector should do something or even advise the President on what to do to check some of these killings. Why can’t the government evolve new strategies that will check avoidable killings by being more proactive than all these apologies when the deed has already been done? “

    No doubt, Nigeria is at crossroads. But, a professor of Political Science at the Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State, Godwin Dappa, said the series of security challenges facing the country as it marks its 56th independence anniversary is a wakeup call for Nigerian leaders to get their acts together to surmount the challenges.

    Dappa said he is confident that Nigeria will overcome the challenges confronting her. He said: “I do not see Nigeria breaking up for now; the country is likely to come out of it stronger and more united. I see the unity of the major ethnic nationalities becoming stronger.

    “But, to achieve this, our leaders must be sincere; for now, there is no sincerity of purpose. If our leaders are sincere, we will get it right. The biggest malady facing this country is mental poverty and material poverty. These always blur our vision when looking at national issues. As a result, if we continue to politicise and tribalise national issues, we will not get there.

    “We have the manpower, the technical knowhow and the international connection to get to where we should be. To forge ahead, our development must be rooted in our culture. We cannot progress unless we focus on agriculture; we must set up the machinery to make agriculture contribute meaningfully to our development.”

    The consensus of observers is that youth unemployment is a contributory factor to the challenges currently facing the nation. Chances are that if youth unemployment is not tackled decisively, insecurity will continue to increase in the years to come.