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Tag: imperative

  • Imperative of Lawan/Akume ticket

    This topic has generated a lot of commentary of late that one wonders if this might not be the beginning of the end for the All Progressive Congress (APC). As I write, the APC has not made any categorical statement as regards the zone that would produce the leadership of the Eighth National Assembly. But we all know that it’s a battle royale between the North Central as represented by Senator Bukola Saraki and the North East as represented by Senator Ahmed Lawan.

    In my opinion, this issue has been over-flogged and the political horse-trading is totally unnecessary when certain variables come to play. Some of such variables include but not limited to ranking, experience, respect and support from both chambers of the National Assembly. This is where the ticket of Sen. Ahmed Lawan and Sen. George Akume comes in handy. And I know for certain that the returning senators, likewise new senators would settle for their experience portfolio. In my candid opinion, a senate with Lawan as president and Sen. Akume as deputy would experience stability and robust legislative activities.

    I do not know many senators in the National Assembly that enjoys the kind of support these distinguished senators have amassed since they signified interest in the race to head the senate. For clarity purposes, I would like to highlight on some of the factors that makes the Lawan/Akume ticket tick.

    Who is Sen. Ahmed Lawan? He is a fifth timer in the National Assembly; he has been in the National Assembly since 1999 as member of the House of Representatives 1999-2003, 2003-2007; Senator 2007-2011, 2011-2015 and he is returning to the Senate again 2015-2019. He has been in the opposition his entire political career which started in 1998. In 1998, he was elected the pioneer vice chairman of the All Peoples Party (APP), Yobe State chapter, and in 1999, he served as the secretary of the Electoral Committee of APP National Convention in Abuja.

    In the House of Representatives, he served in various capacities, including: Deputy Chairman, Committee on Environment;  Deputy Chairman, Committee on Gas Resources; Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture; Chairman, House Committee on Education; and representative of the House of Representatives in the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, ACP/EU.

    In the Sixth Senate he served as Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts; Member, Constitutional Review Committee; President, West African Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC); and member of five other standing committees of the Senate. In the Seventh Senate, he was re-appointed as Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts and also appointed Chairman, Ad-Hoc Committee to Investigate the Privatisation and Commercialisation Activities of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) from 1999 to 2011. His portfolio is quite intimidating you will agree with me.

    Senator Lawan is a ranking member of the Senate, and he commands respect from other senators, especially the set of 2003. He has been in the opposition since 1999 and won elections, which somewhat translates to grassroots support and political dexterity needed to handle the office of the Senate President. He also understands the inner workings of the National Assembly better than others that have shown interest in the race. Having been there since 1999, his support base would cut across both chambers, which will in turn pave way for a harmonious working relationship between both chambers. He may not be the most popular candidate for the seat, but that is because of his unassuming nature. He is not the loud and overtly flamboyant type. And for that reason, some see him as weak. But that is far from the truth.

    On the other hand, Senator George Akume is a former governor of Benue State and a delight any day and time. He is a third timer to the Senate having won elections since 2007 after his eight years stint as governor of Benue State. He was elected senator under the platform of the PDP in 2003 but soon left the fold to an “unpopular” party in the North Central and still won elections despite the fact that the PDP was at the helm of affairs in his state. He became Senate Minority Leader from 2007 till date.

    Akume’s contributions on the floor of the Senate since 2007 have been phenomenal. As a fact he was a top contender for the position of Senate president in 2007. It was on record the he was a victim of the Senate rule on ranking. It’s also on record that as the Senate Minority Leader, he carried himself with such comportment that gave rise to the opposition having a strong voice in the Senate.

    Be that as it may, there is an important factor that the APC must put into consideration, which is the standing rule of the Senate. The rule gives preference to seniority for positions of Senate President and Deputy Senate President because it’s just common sense that only senators with substantial legislative experience can effectively lead.

    The seniority factor was first put to test in 2007 when the outgoing Senate President, David Mark, made his first bid for the number three post in order of protocol against the present senate minority leader, George Akume. Senator Mark clearly defeated Akume even though ranking was not yet included in the Senate’s standing rules. However, the Senate, under the leadership of David Mark, considered it important to insert the clause in the standing rules of the red chamber in order to properly guide lawmakers and perhaps limit the contest to only experienced senators. It turned out to be an informed move, considering the stability in the leadership of the Senate since then.

    In conclusion, the APC would do itself good to as a matter of sensibility and ask the other contenders to step down their ambition and present a common candidate to the Senate. The essence of this piece is to let the hierarchy of the APC know that the Lawan/Akume ticket has no equal. As a fact, this is one combination that highlights everything from experience, ranking and focus. And there is just one certainty, robust legislative direction in the National Assembly. The party would do itself good to rally support for these distinguished senators. We are watching, and the world is watching.

     

    • Etila wrote from Abuja

  • Imperative of new national paradigm

    The aftermath of the 2015 General Elections leaves our country with profound questions seeking urgent answers; questions ranging from how tenuous the woodwork of this collective edifice sustains to how variegated the fouled waters of our corporate existence appear. We cannot pretend that all is right; we cannot pretend that governance will sail pretty without national cohesion; we cannot pretend that the CHANGE we preached will not meet with despair if we do not etiolate the fires that raged during the campaigns; and we cannot pretend that all is well.

    We saw a campaign that was inundated with hate, a campaign that was replete with caustic diatribes, a campaign that snow-balled the deluge of dichotomies that litters this space; the dichotomies of creed, of clan, and of region dominated our politics. Debates on issues were in short supply, the prelude to March 28 and April 11 saw a Nigeria split effusively and profusely along the lines of ethnicity, religion and region. That the change movement prevailed at the polls compels a national task that must be handled as imperative and germane. We must heal the wounds and unite our peoples.

    The linchpin of the present challenge is a vibrant national orientation paradigm. We must above all emphasize the beauties of this enterprise. We must water the trees of patriotism. We must clear the bushes of ethnic distrust. We must level the mountains of religious fundamentalism. We must diminish the shrubs of partisan discord. We must etiolate the fires of the pre- and post-election angst. And we must coalesce at a place where Nigeria becomes the winner.

    Today our National Orientation mantra must soar beyond ONE NATION GREAT PEOPLE; we must begin to address the fundamentals of national integration, we must locate the cords that unite us and prize the jewellery that presents us as the hope of a continent in search of leadership. We must remember the halcyon beats of our history, we cannot forget that not only were we a nation of great wealth, we were the Big Brother to most African nations. We cannot overlook the realities of our history, and we must seek to replicate and surpass the great mementoes of our co-existence.

    I have worked my mind on the realities of history. I have discovered that most nations emerged like Phoenixes from the ashes of the Civil Wars that sought to immolate them to forge great symphonies of brotherhood and community. History is replete with statesmen who did not sulk over the pain of battle and the internecine conflagrations that traumatized their space, but who seized the moment and wove nations out of variegated seas of distrust and angst. We can yet do the same.

    I was born a year after the Nigerian Civil War, I did not meet three of my grandparents because they died during the War. I was suckled by the only one standing, Ma Christiana Nwanze my Mother’s mother. She did a marvellous job teaching me to love and to think. She was so forgiving that she saw nothing but a great Nigeria where the difference in creed and clan will count for nothing, where our strength will devolve on the well of our minds and the content of our character. She died at 92 never loosing that faith.

    She lived in the North before the 1966 pogrom, she returned home just before the Civil War, she lost her businesses in Northern Nigeria to the War but that did not stop her first daughter Aunty Justina my mother’s elder sister from making Funtua and later Malumfashi in Katsina State her abode and base for close to 30years after the War. I learnt from this the inviolableness of our togetherness. My Igbo brothers have made the North their home irrespective of the many pitfalls that rehearse the shortness of our National Orientation stratagem.

    Lagos is today a copious experimentation of our love for each other; we can replicate the same spectacle across the country. The shortcut to the nation we seek is to make patriotism our pride, wealth and job creation our passion, corruption our national foe, social security a collective challenge, and to make a rework of our national canvass an urgent imperative. Yes, we can together as a people create a Nigerian Dream, we can build a great nation where the prime is the primacy of lives and properties, where the summon bonum shall be the well-being of the masses, and the centre-point of our collective intercourse COUNTRY FIRST.

    I am not saying that we do not have cause to worry; I am saying that it is not sufficient to lose faith in the journey set before us. I am not saying that Nigeria has been fair to all, I am saying that we can make Nigeria a fair, just and an equitable enterprise. I am not saying that leadership has been responsible; I am saying that WE can make leadership responsible and responsive to all. I am saying that we can set forth to the Isle of Peaceful Co-existence when we make followership engaging and commit leadership to decorum and sincerity.

    We must create a national orientation network that must set out at dawn without hate or bias to unite all fair interests, and begin an overhaul of our collective morality where imperative. We must make noble values prime and celebrate patriots. We must lampoon quick fixes, corruption and villainy and hail hard-work and rectitude. We must salute dedication to service of fatherland and condemn any form of dereliction of national trust. We must create for posterity fabrics of reference, such that must confer honour on acts of heroism and patriotism. And we must create monuments of deterrence such that our nation must flee from fleece, sleaze and thieving.

    A national orientation praxis that seeks the reorientation of villains is germane, and the one that seeks to inspire the virtuous to continue the noble stride for the good of fatherland is imperative. I cannot be more hopeful that the incoming regime understands the urgency of now. We are here because we rode on the mantra of CHANGE; we cannot therefore sacrifice same at the altar of politics. We must fix square pegs in square holes and round pegs in round holes. We must as was promised the electorate create jobs, and kill corruption. We must ensure human capital development and improve national security. We must provide social security and more homes for the masses, and make real the promises of our 31-page manifesto. We must make true the promises of democracy.

    We are at that point in history where satesmanship latches in on the monumental goodwill it enjoys, we have an unequalled goodwill and as statesmen we must hit the ground running. We must in all that we do engrave the praxis NO LONGER BUSINESS AS USUAL in our collective thought. We must wage the war against indiscipline and fight the good fight of faith. We must make Peace, Progress and Prosperity the Nigerian Dream and work for all that must guarantee this 3Ps.

    Countrymen and women, the fierce urgency of now is such that we must bury the hatchet, all hatchets and confront our fears. Do not forget that fear thrives only when False Evidence Appears Real, the truth is that the 54years plus of our nation is not all melancholic, we have a litany of highs and lows, and we must search the reasons for the lows, fix them and soar, whilst celebrating our highs. We must create a nation that shall truly surmount her differences and build the harmony that shall lead Africa to the top of the new world. Yes we can.

    In confronting the moment we must not be unmindful of the fact that the task before us is onerous, the faint will say monumental but the faithful must seize the moment and show the world what great people we are. I cannot be more confident that WE CAN because the body language of our President-elect assures us that things will be done differently. I cannot be more hopeful now that the mantra of CHANGE resonates. I am indeed positive that we shall set forth at dawn to do that which is needful and imperative.

    • Prof. Nwaokobia Jnr is Director General, Change Ambassadors of Nigeria (CAN).

     

  • Elections and the imperative of peace

    It is heart-warming that the two leading candidates in the February presidential elections, President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari, as well as other candidates, have made public commitment to embracing peace before, during and after the elections. It is particularly noteworthy that the President Jonathan and General Buhari openly embraced and shook hands at the event while also mutually openly denouncing violence in their respective speeches. This commitment to peace was made at a recent workshop on how to ensure violence-free elections held in Abuja. The event, which was chaired by former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, also had in attendance a former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Anan and some representatives of the country’s registered political parties.

    The resolution of political parties and their leaders to toe the line of peace is especially momentous in view of the several acts of violence, arson, thuggery and the ensuing tension that have pervaded the political landscape of recent. Now that the major gladiators in the political process have openly pledged to uphold the peace, it is expected that their teeming supporters across the country would equally see the wisdom in toeing same line. It has been stated, over and over again, that elections should not be a do or die affair. If the overriding interest of all aspiring public office holders, as they often make us to believe, is to better the lives of Nigerians, it would be contradictory for them to turn the political scene into an orgy of violence. Doing this would only compound the woes of the people as violence could further complicate the economic and security troubles of the country.

    Going down memory lanes, our previous attempts at democracy were hampered by acts of violence that engulfed the electoral process. In the First Republic, the ‘wild wild west’ chaos and other such political violence that followed the 1965 general elections heralded the coming of the military. A series of events that followed eventually culminated in the civil war (1967-70), whose wounds are yet to be completely healed. In the Second Republic, yet another attempt at entrenching democracy in the country was bungled, partly as a result of the tension and crisis that followed the 1983 general elections, which were widely believed to be heavily rigged in favour of the then ruling National Party of Nigeria, NPN.

    It took us another 15 years, from 1984 to1999 to be precise, before we could have another go at democracy. Presently, we have had an unprecedented 14 years of un-interrupted civil rule. This should be enough motivation for principal actors in the political process and all stakeholders to play according to the rules. Doing anything to the contrary would only make a mess of whatever gains we have made in the past years, in our bid to build a virile democratic culture. This is why it is vital that political parties and, indeed, all concerned Nigerians, must maintain decorum in all they do, with regards to the coming elections, so that the future of the nation’s democracy will not be jeopardised.

    The elections, therefore, offer us another huge platform to get things right. We should no longer hide under the usual pretext of a ‘nascent democracy’ to do things crudely. This is the time to get it right. The only interest that should be paramount in the ensuing political contest should be that of the country. It is not in anyone’s interest for the country to be engulfed in crisis because of election; something that is a mere routine in other climes. We have had enough of bloodshed in the country. In the past four years, we have lost too many innocent souls to the criminal activities of insurgents. It is, therefore, irrational to adjoin political turmoil to the growing lists of our national troubles. In the 21st century, killing or maiming people in the name of an election portends backwardness and barbarism. If relatively smaller and less endowed neighbouring countries could conduct peaceful and credible elections, it behoves on the most populous Black Country in the world to demonstrate the needed political leadership, worthy of emulation across the continent.

    However, it is often said, there can be no peace when justice is compromised. It is, thus, very crucial for INEC and the various security agencies to be fair to all in the coming elections. From past experiences, the inability of past electoral umpires to conduct fair and credible elections had been largely responsible for the resultant chaos that trails the outcome of previous elections. Hence, INEC’s officials, at all levels, must not compromise the electoral process. The vote of every Nigerian must be made to count. Same goes for the security agencies. It is unethical for security agencies to display partisan tendencies while overseeing the conduct of a national election. The police, in particular, should be civil and impartial in their conduct before, during and after the coming elections. Their allegiance should be solely to the country, and not any parochial political interest.

    Universally, peace is a vital precondition for development. Without peace, no meaningful development could take place in a chaotic atmosphere. According to Martin Luther King, “peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” It is, therefore, essential that the media, political parties, civil society organisations, the academia, faith based organisations, electoral monitoring groups, NGOs and other related bodies come up with well streamlined political education and enlightenment campaigns that would centre on the need to embrace peace in the political process. As it has been rightly highlighted, irrespective of our varying political leanings, we remain brothers and sisters living in the same house. It, hence, behoves on us to ensure that the house does not collapse. It will be foolhardy to do otherwise. Long live Nigeria.

     

    • Ogunbiyi is of Features Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • Tragedies and public relations imperative

    SIR: On Saturday, March 15, 19 Nigerians died in a stampede during an ill-fated recruitment exercise for the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). The exercise, which was carried out across different recruitment centres across the nation, allegedly had over 500, 000 applicants in attendance – a mammoth figure by any standard. The fallout from this was swift and criticisms from different quarters trailed the exercise; the Federal Interior Minister and the Comptroller General of the NIS were also officially queried by the presidency.

    The tragic incident exposed the NIS and the federal government to public scrutiny and ridicule, with many calling for reparations. In an attempt at damage control, the government announced the cancellation of further screening of candidates and also directed that employment slots be reserved for the families of those who died during the stampede. Not only that, President Goodluck Jonathan, also ordered that employment automatic be given to others who sustained injuries during the exercise and were subsequently hospitalised.

    The incident was a Public Relations disaster, as evidenced by the first, crucial mis-steps: at the initial stage, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Abba Moro, blamed the dead youths by saying that “the applicants lost their lives due to impatience and for not following the laid-down procedures spelt out to them before the exercise.” This reaction was widely condemned and tagged as showing insensitivity and a lack of remorse on the part of the government. It also showed a lack of skill, tact and preparation in dealing with sensitive issues; for example, a government that wishes to be seen as caring and responsible in times of crisis must show empathy to the affected parties, particularly when there is a loss of life and property.

    There is undoubtedly a need for governments around the world, Nigeria included, to incorporate Public Relations (PR) into every area of policy formulation, execution and management. Besides offering adequate publicity to every policy thrust or drive, it helps deal with crises when they occur – and they do occur. The NIS incident is a good example of a crisis that would have been better handled given proper PR management and ill-advised utterances such as Moro’s would never have found their way into the press.

    The government must learn from this incident and incorporate PR into all areas of administration. Proper crisis management plans must be put in place to mitigate damage and key government officials or spokespersons must be educated on just how to respond to sensitive issues to avoid instigating public ire. The art and practice of Public Relations by the government must to a large extent reflect honesty, openness, advocacy, fairness and most importantly; constant communication. If these tenets had been followed in handling the NIS crisis, the public backlash might have been potentially substantially reduced.

    • Adeolu Isadiran

    Lagos

  • Facilitating trade, a devt imperative, by US envoy

    Facilitating trade, a devt imperative, by US envoy

    The United States of America (USA) Ambassador to Nigeria, James F. Entwistle, has said facilitating trade among countries of the West African sub-region is not merely a development objective but a development imperative.

    Speaking yesterday at the Lagos Shaeraton Hotel, venue of this years’ edition of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID/West Africa)-sponsored Borderless 2014 Conference, he said the alliance has been at the vanguard of identifying barriers to trade among member countries of the sub-region, adding that the US government will continue to assist the sub-region at ensuring that trade among countries is encouraged.

    The third in the series, the annual conference themed ‘Borderless 2014: Enabling Growth’ was organised by the Borderless Alliance, in conjunction with the Nigeria Export Import Bank (NEXIM).

    He said: “Facilitating trade is not merely a development objective, it is a development imperative. Since 2011, the Borderless Alliance has been the focal point for identifying barriers to trade and bringing together trade and investment professionals to work on common solutions. With freer trade comes increased economic growth and prosperity throughout the region. The US is here to lend our assistance to reach these goals. We do this because free trade is good for America, good for West Africa, and good for the global economy. Free trade provides jobs, increase commerce, promotes transparency and good governance, and stimulates productivity and innovation through competition.”

  • 2015: Imperative of a North-east Presidency

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has just released the timetable for the 2015 general elections. This means political activities will soon pick up and the atmosphere will once again be charged. The most important of all the political horse-trading that will soon ensue is determining who occupies the presidency by the year 2015. There is so much interest and calculations across a spectrum of stakeholders on this all important position. Many political gladiators are jerking up their sleeves for a showdown in the contest of who grabs his party’s ticket for presidency.

    As it can be recalled, the North ought to have taken over the presidency in 2007 for a period of eight years; that is after President Olusegun Obasanjo had ruled for a stretch of eight years. It did take over. But fate conspired to deny the North of the eight years. Expectedly, and as provided for by the constitution, then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan took over from late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, first as acting president and later (on Yar’Adua’s death) as president. However, instead of President Jonathan to complete what remains of the Yar’Adua/Jonathan tenure and let the position come back to the North again, he manipulated his way to getting a fresh mandate.

    However, as the political mill begins to roll once again, there is a resounding agitation to send President Jonathan parking. First, to most patriotic Nigerians, the man has only managed to hold the country in one place: stagnant, without any progress. On the extreme side, others are even lamenting that the country only witnessed retrogression on many sides, under the watch of President Jonathan.

    For the North-east, the six years or so of Jonathan presidency have been most uneventful ones. For us, it has become what the Latin would call annus horriblis (year of horrors). The time-bomb planted by years of neglect of this area has suddenly gone off and to the chagrin of all, the government seems helpless on the two expected directions: containing the insurgency, and cushioning the impacts on the victims and the affected towns. While the government’s security forces daily avenge attacks on them by the insurgents on the hapless civilian population, the civil government has shown no willingness to help victims recover psychologically and materially. The pointer to this is the paltry budgetary provision of N2 billion for the entire North-east, after all the promises.

    For the average person from this region, our people are being treated as second-class citizens in their own country. First and foremost, federal presence in this vast zone is, for lack of better word, abysmal. Strategic and key institutions of governments have not been sited here. There appeared to be no deliberate industrialization policies by the federal government to develop the region. The scattered industries around have also been left to rot in neglect.

    It is the opinion of our people here that things have been allowed to degenerate over time in this region because its capable and competent persons have been tactically shut out of power at the highest decision making level. For a very long time, there seems to be silent but dangerous trend in the politics of the North, and Nigeria in general where there appears to be a sort of consensus or conspiracy against the North-east geopolitical zone.  This dangerous trend, whose unfortunate manifest is now the insurgency in parts of the area, which goes on unabated, is a direct result of neglect and marginalization.

    Anytime opportunity presents itself for the North to present head of government, it goes to the North-West or the North-Central, as if by act of commission – and omission for the North-east. Despite producing senior thoroughbred military officers, the region was never for once accorded the honour of producing the head of state. Those fine officers, therefore, were only used (or, expended) in military operations where, thank goodness, they proved themselves to be brave, professionals and good managers of humans.

    A quick rundown of the history of Nigeria’s military rule shows that when General Ironsi was toppled in July, 1966, the then Colonel Yakubu Gowon (from the North-Central) was handed over the mantle for eight years. From Gowon, the North-west took over via Murtala Muhammed. There then come Buhari (from the North-west) who removed a fellow North-west person – Shehu Shagari. General Babangida, from the North-central succeeded Buhari and he in turn was followed by Abacha (from the North-west). The military era ended with General AbdulSalami Abubakar, also from the North-central, succeeding Abacha. This shows North-central alone has spent 19 years ruling this country while North-west held sway for six years under the military, in addition to the Shagari and Umaru Yar’Adua years as civilian leaders.

    Yes, it is it true that late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa from the present day Bauchi State was the first and only Nigeria’s Prime Minister. But it is also true that he was just there as the errand boy of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna, who was the leader of the of the ruling Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) then. Obsessed with playing at the regional level, where he was working towards his ambition of becoming the Sultan of Sokoto, he ‘sent’ Balewa to the centre while retaining his own role as the party leader. Meanwhile, there was a president in Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

    Therefore, as the calculations begin for 2015, it is our prevent hope that this time around, the larger North plays the fair card for the North-east in picking a presidential candidate. Yes, in 2011 something of that nature was reflected but some of us who are keen students of power knew that it was not going to work. This was because President Goodluck Jonathan’s chance of getting the PDP ticket at the time was a fait accompli. But this is 2014 and all hopes for who produces the president lies with the All Progressives Congress (APC). Yet, North-east is not lacking in competent and vibrant personalities that have the qualities to be presidents, from within the APC.

    Having tried many options in the past, and bearing in mind the dynamism of the world and diversity of Nigeria, key stakeholders in APC should have a deep reflection of who the party gives its ticket. The opposition coalition this time around is in a form of make or mar union which has the vibrancy of upstaging the present administration of PDP. But to achieve that there is need to have a decent leader. Such a person should be a leader who everybody will be comfortable with for his decency, pan-Nigerian spirit, honesty and modernity. Needless to say, the North-east as a geopolitical zone have an array of personalities that have passed the credibility test and have the broad-mindedness to superintend over one united and stronger Nigeria. Moreover, we from the North-east will have the rest of mind that the current disturbing challenges here will be easily solved. The saying that only the owner of the room knows where it leaks is true in this case.

    • Bukar writes from the University of Maiduguri, Borno State.

     

  • Imperative of national conference

    SIR: Nigeria, as a nation, has not achieved its potentialities. Our country is neither technologically advanced nor economically prosperous. Nigerians call Nigeria the giant of Africa, but the fact is that it is an under-sized-giant that basks in self-adulation and deludes itself as a great country. South Africa is head and shoulders over Nigeria, technologically and economically. Years of bad political leaderships have left Nigeria prostrate. Nigeria is a metaphor for dysfunctionality.

    Our leaders’ inability to curb the menace of corruption in our polity has led to our economic and technological stagnation. Political leaders are on thieving spree while governance is abandoned. That is why our roads are death-traps. As the Ore-Lagos road is still in a state of disrepair, so are other federal roads in the country. Money set aside for road repairs and other infrastructural development is diverted into private accounts. Our leaders travel abroad to treat minor ailments because hospitals in Nigeria are ill-equipped and their personnel not motivated to perform at their optimal capacity. Public universities have been shut down for months because of disagreements between university teachers and the federal government.

    Our government has failed us on all fronts. It cannot diversify the economy to provide job opportunities for millions of university graduates that roam our streets daily. Some of these frustrated and disillusioned youths have taken to criminal activities to earn their livelihoods. Now, a state of insecurity of lives and property pervades the country.

    Against the background of the forces pulling the country apart, the convocation of national conference has become a compelling imperative. Thankfully, President Goodluck Jonathan has acceded to the yearnings and calls of millions of Nigerians by setting up an advisory committee to work out modalities and framework for the convening of the conference.

    Nigerians from diverse ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds should use the opportunity of the round-table to state their grievances and reach a binding consensus on how we shall continue to live as one indivisible country. Nigeria, as it is constituted now, is a forced marriage of ethnic nationalities contrived and midwifed by the British.

    In many countries around the world, ethnic nationalities are asserting their right to self-determination or self-rule. It is better for us to disintegrate peacefully rather than descend into a fratricidal civil war that will claim millions of human lives and destroy people’s properties.

    And, if we choose to live as one country, Nigerians should be given a new constitution, as the current one is not a people’s constitution. Issues of fiscal federalism, indigene-ship and citizen’s rights should be unambiguously spelt out and incorporated into the new constitution.

     

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye,

    Uruowulu-Obosi,

    Anambra State.

  • ‘Uniport’ 4 and state police imperative

    ‘Uniport’ 4 and state police imperative

    As a child, I read about gladiatorial shows and public executions of slaves, criminals and Christians in ancient Rome with great fear and trepidation. Rome was a prosperous and great warrior state that controlled the whole of the Mediterranean basin and almost the entire North-western Europe. But anytime I remember ancient Rome, I remember their murderous games and this always overshadows the prosperity and excellent system of government of the Roman Empire.

    Recently, ancient Rome literally resurrected in Aluu, a community that borders the University of Port Harcourt. There, four University of Port Harcourt students were gruesomely murdered under very baffling circumstances. Indeed, it was a murderous game because spectators cheered as the mob descended on the students. Anybody watching the footage of the Uniport 4, paraded naked with their bodies soaked in blood before they were eventually clubbed and burnt to death will feel very sorry for our dear country. And like Rome, this incident may haunt Nigeria forever.

    I have listened to various versions of the story. First, the boys were accused of stealing phones and laptops. Some say they were serial rapists who terrorised the community in the preceding four months. Another version says the students were indeed cultists who had intimidated Aluu and adjoining communities for a long time. And that at the time they were apprehended by the vigilance group, they had dangerous weapons in their possession. There is even yet another ridiculous account which says that the boys actually went to recover debt from their debtor who smartly turned the table against them.

    Whatever the reason, the plain truth is that the Uniport 4 represented hope and the future, not just for their respective families and their communities but for the entire country. So for whatever reason, this is a needless death that should have been avoided. And this sordid act should be condemned by all men of goodwill.

    I understand Aluu and some neighbouring communities had been under siege for some time now. In fact, the state of insecurity within the area had deteriorated so badly that the people had resorted to self-help. Consequently, they formed vigilance groups’ with absolute powers and the death of these boys is a direct consequence to that ill-advised move. Therefore, to all intents and purposes, Aluu was actually a disaster waiting to happen. But should this brand of jungle justice be visited on the Uniport 4 in the first instance? Again, are we such a depraved people? Where are the good men of Aluu? This is definitely not what I know of Aluu, a once peaceful neighbourhood. Did they just watch while evil was perpetrated or were they simply intimidated?

    Security is at the centre of this latest national calamity and we must not pretend about it. The Aluu incident is clearly a failure of state security apparatus to arrest a deteriorating security situation that prevailed in the town for several months leading to frustration by the people who resorted to self-help. It was indeed the failure of the police to rise up to the occasion as the crime under consideration took at least two hours to accomplish. This failure drew substantially from Nigeria Police obsolete equipment, lack of modern communications gadgets and a slow response time that compounded the already bad situation, issues we have canvassed severally with no one willing to listen.

    Quite expectedly, most of the eyewitness accounts alleged that while the murderous game was going on in Aluu, two patrol vehicles of the Nigeria Police were sighted around the scene, yet their presence did not make any difference. A source I do not doubt even claim that police patrol vehicles pulled over at the scene and left without offering any assistance to save an embarrassing situation.

    But I have a personal fear for our country and I wish to express it. If what happened in Aluu could happen in Rivers, a model state in terms of security, then we must seriously guard against the fire next time. For those knowledgeable in security circles, Rivers State represents excellence in security management and hope for the common man.

    For too long, we have been dancing on the edge, and it appears we are all waiting helplessly for an avoidable accident to happen. A few weeks ago, we were all confronted with the horror from Mubi, a polytechnic town in Adamawa State. Over 40 young and promising students were murdered in one fell swoop and everybody seems to be looking for answers in the same direction. No clues yet and it does not seem to bother us.

    If the provision of security and welfare of the people as enshrined in the constitution are essentially the primary duty of any government, which of course includes state governments, then the issue of central policing must be revisited.

    For me, these are warning signs and we cannot afford not to heed. Today, we are witnessing very strange occurrences in our country and we must rise to the occasion. Those who opposed state police yesterday for some reasons are beginning to see the need for further dialogue.

    The arguments against state police usually dissolve in the face of logic. Police cannot be a platform for national integration and this must be emphasised. And around the world, there are not too many examples of successful policing federal states. Antagonists of state police are also quick to cite concentration of power on one single man (the governor), discriminatory tendencies, interstate rivalry and even jungle justice like the macabre dance in Aluu. Ironically, what happened in Aluu would not have happened if there was state police.

    Strangely, the advantages of state police far outweigh its disadvantages. The truth is that the federal police as constituted today lack capacity and resources and it is too bureaucratic. These also explain why they are easily overwhelmed.

    I think some Nigerians are beginning to appreciate the fact that a state police will be well funded. There is also the advantage of capacity building. There will be enough manpower and this will engender healthy rivalry. Adequate knowledge of the territory and quick response to distress calls are also possible because policemen are indigenes of the state and the environment is well known to them.

    I know that despite these advantages, abuse could still occur. That is why a mechanism of control should be instituted at the centre to subordinate to some extent, the activities of the state police.

    If we achieve the clamour for state police, a measure of frustration will leave our state governors who will then truly act as chief security officers. After all, governors will not be governors forever; they will leave someday and like every other member of society, will be subject to same laws. If while serving as governor they abuse the powers of the office, natural laws will catch up with them. More so, over time, the regulation of state police will be refined and perfected.

     

    • Peterside, a member of the House of Representatives is Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources, Downstream.

  • Why constitution amendment is imperative, by Mark, Ekweremadu

    Senate President David Mark yesterday said the amendment of the 1999 Constitution became necessary, following various contradictions and inconsistencies.

    Mark spoke at a Public Hearing on the Review of the 1999 Constitution by the Senate Committee on Constitution Review in Abuja.

    He said Nigerians agreed that the 1999 Constitution is far from perfect.

    The situation, Mark said, has brought complaints from Nigerians.

    The Senate President said the clamour for a review of the Constitution made the Sixth Senate to inaugurate a review committee in May 2009.

    He said last year’s general elections and the other elections thereafter became the instant beneficiaries of the amendment in 2010.

    “A realisation that impunity can no longer be condoned in our electoral system has been enthroned, even though I concede that our elections are yet to attain an absolute degree of perfection. I believe with time we will get there.”

    The Senate President said the review of the Constitution is work-in-progress, a fact which prompted the Seventh Senate to continue the unfinished task of constitution review.

    “The new Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution (SCRC) embarked upon its task with zest.

    “And since constitution review is too serious a business to be left to politicians alone, the SCRC at once called for memoranda from the public.

    “I have been informed by the chairman that the response was enthusiastic.

    “Today, the SCRC has invited Nigerians to a public hearing on those identified areas distilled from received memoranda.

    “I am overwhelmed to see, gathered under this roof, an impressive array of citizens, drawn from all walks of life, eager to make suggestions and contributions to our search for the way forward.

    “Your patriotic and enthusiastic response is evidence once more that our people desire to live in a democratic, united and prosperous Nigeria , governed in accordance with constitutional norms.“

    In reviewing the constitution, Mark said the National Assembly will hold certain fundamental ideals sacrosanct and will resist any attempt to erode them.

    “Any constitution worth its salt, must guarantee periodic elections, fundamental rights, a system of checks and balances, the principle of separation of powers, a vibrant legislature, a dynamic executive, an independent judiciary, and a free press.

    “We will work to deepen these fundamental principles, and to strengthen the institutions which guarantee them,” the Senate President said.

    Mark called for attitudinal change by Nigerians to make the constitution work.

    He said: “At the risk of sounding like a broken record, may I re-emphasise that we must pursue attitudinal change concomitantly with constitution review.

    “Constitution review alone guarantees nothing, without a renewed civic consciousness.”

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu said the National Assembly is following in the step of well established democratic tradition that when a constitution, or any law for that matter, falls short of salient provisions that guarantee and promote the constitutional needs of a polity and the aspirations of the people, such constitution is reviewed.

    According to him “laws are made for man, not man for the law.”