The Nation Newspaper

Tag: jinxed

  • Nigeria is not cursed or jinxed – Adeyemi

    Nigeria is neither jinxed nor cursed but only developmentally challenged, Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Centre Lagos, Pastor Sam Adeyemi has stated.

    He said the nation remains the best place on earth to rise to prominence and make impact given the level of challenges and needs around.

    Adeyemi spoke on Friday after the closing ceremony of the annual Excellence in Leadership Conference (ELC) with the theme inspire that attracted hundreds of participants across the globe.

    He said: “It is a matter of perspectives but as far as I am concerned, Nigeria is not cursed. It is not jinxed. If it were cursed or jinxed, I wouldn’t have made it.

    “Yes, we have challenges and needs but they are opportunities for us to shine. It is the best nation on earth to shine if you can solve just a problem in town.”

    Adeyemi, who lamented the brain drain in the nation, said Nigerians have no business travelling overseas with the myriad of needs around them.

    “I know some will travel out but those of us left have to fix this nation. At a point in my life, travelling out was the major occupation.

    “But when I realised the purpose of God for my life, travelling out becomes just a means to the end.

    “I will tell those who want to stay back that Nigeria is a fertile ground. I would rather make it here than overseas because you require a level of sophistication to function and thrive there,” he stated.

    He stressed: “If you stay back and fix a problem, you are good to go. That is why I will always tell people that Nigeria is a good place to stay and function.”

    On killings across the nation, Adeyemi said that government must focus on fixing developmentally challenges because poverty will always dispose devalue lives.

    “We can carry all the policemen and soldiers for you care but if you don’t fix poverty among Nigerians, the killings will continue.

    “For N1, 000, unscrupulous people can get the poor to kill at will because many of them don’t value their lives and others around them.

    “But if you give them hope and something to look out for, they will be more indisposed to endangering themselves or killing others.”

    Adeyemi challenged Nigerians to build their leadership capacities instead of acting helpless.

    “We have been conditioned to feel helpless and hopeless. We always blame politicians for all our challenges. But we must start taking responsibilities and fixing needs among us. That is how we can become leaders,” he stated.

  • Atiku’s jinxed presidential bid

    Atiku’s jinxed presidential bid

    In a nation with records of ‘delegated’ Prime Minister,  Head of State  imposed through ambush by coup plotters with hidden agenda, president corralled into office despite loud protestation that he did not forget anything in State House, ill-prepared presidents who at the end of their tenure admitted being entrapped by their self-serving captors and a nation that even celebrates an ‘accidental civil servant’, as if bureaucracy has ceased being a  specialized field that requires long years of training and apprenticeship, it is an irony that leadership of Nigeria has continued to elude Atiku Abubakar, who by training, experience, carriage, confidence is eminently qualified  to run the affairs of our nation.

    And it is not as if Atiku, a grassroots mobiliser, generous giver, with friends in high places and among youths he has successfully mentored, has not paid his dues. As a  son “of an itinerant trader who travelled from one market to another selling imitation jewellery, caps, needles, potash, kola nuts and other nick-knacks…” who unfortunately passed on while he was just starting school, Atiku’s life has been  a lesson in hard work, determination  and courage. All those who have worked closely with him play glowing tributes to his humanity.

    His bid for leadership however seemed to be jinxed since 1990 when he first lost his bid to be governor of Gongola State and in 1991, when his SDP ticket for the governorship of Adamawa State was annulled. In 1993, he had stepped down as SDP candidate for MKO Abiola with an eye on the vice president’s slot. He however lost out to Babagana Kingibe and SDP governors without whose support, MKO’s 1993 pan-Nigeria mandate would have been impossible. In 1999, he traded his hard-earned governorship victory of Adamawa for Obasanjo’s vice president with the hope of succeeding him in 2003 or 2007. In the pursuit of his ambition, he had stepped on the toes of an unforgiving Obasanjo, who not only drove him out of his official residence and out of PDP but foreclosed Atiku ever becoming Nigeria’s president.

    In 2007, Obasanjo, a shrewd politician, played Umaru Yar’Adua, Shehu Yar’Adua’s younger brother against Atiku, the rightful inheritor of Shehu Yar’Adua’s Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), a platform Atiku had made available to Obasanjo who had no political base having been rejected by his own Yoruba people in 1988.  Atiku took refuge in Tinubu’s AC in 2007. Both he and Buhari were however rigged out by Obasanjo and Maurice Iwu in the most scandalously rigged election in our nation‘s history where even the declared victor questioned his own victory.   Atiku, against all odds, crawled back to PDP where he lost against Goodluck Jonathan, Obasanjo’s adopted godson in the 2011 PDP primary despite his adoption as northern candidate by powerful northern PDP leaders. Jonathan’s decision to contest the 2014 presidential race against his gentleman agreement to do one term drove Atiku and his supporters to the embrace of APC then at a gestation stage. Here again, he lost to Muhammadu Buhari in a keenly contested APC primary of 2014.

    Last week, Atiku again crawled back to PDP with Jonathan’s degrading precondition that he first beg Obasanjo who is no longer a member of PDP. With the takeover of the PDP by Ayo Fayose and Nyesom Wike, two controversial politicians for whom the end justifies the means, the fulfilment of Jonathan’s humiliating condition does not seem sufficient guarantee for securing PDP 2019 ticket.  If Atiku survives the road blocks already erected by these two spiteful politicians, he will then start erasing scars the PDP left behind after 16 years of mindless looting. It will be his lot to defend the defunct CAN’s charges that “PDP turned Nigeria into a borderless land of unending misery, ethnic warfare, insecurity and torture”; allowed for the “takeover of the country by sundry armed gangs, killers of all sorts, suicide bombers who have brought Nigeria to the level of strife-torn Somalia”; made the country a morgue of decayed and obsolete infrastructures”.

    After crossing this hurdle, Nigerians have to be told how the new PDP, controlled by those who freely set thugs and armed militants after political rivals  will improve on the baleful legacies of  Babangida, Jerry Gana and Bode George’s old PDP.

    It cannot also be good news for Atiku that Buhari is likely going to secure the APC ticket to run in 2019 if he asks for it. Buhari has in spite of his initial health challenges, his government initial lethargy and insufficient support from his timid APC that is yet to appreciate that a political party is like a cult organisation that has no place for deviants, delivered on his core promises viz, anti-corruption war, revitalising the economy and ending insecurity in the north-eastern part of the country.

    In spite of sabotage by some corrupt members of our National Assembly and a few bad eggs in the judiciary, Buhari’s anti-corruption war is on course. Stealing is now corruption and as Magu, the acting chairman of EFCC observed a few days ago, ‘the days of impunity are gone’. Nigerians are today united against corruption to guarantee sustainable development peace and security.

    Recession has effectively come to an end in spite of antics of IMF and World Bank foot-soldiers in Nigeria and other prophets of doom that predicted Nigerian recession would drag on for years. Not many economies have been known to survive a recession in one year.  Buhari’s greatest success by far is in his battle against Boko Haram insurgents. Life is gradually returning to the north-east devastated by Boko Haram’s mindless killing of innocent Nigerians. Buhari’s success in routing Boko Haram out of Nigeria has been hailed by world leaders. Only last Sunday, Fareed Zakaria in his popular GPS Sunday programme quoted the latest report of Global Terrorism Index indicating terrorism in Nigeria has decreased by unprecedented 80% in two years compared to 40% in Iraq, 24% in Syria, 14 % in Afghanistan and 12% in Pakistan.

    Above all, the integrity of Buhari, who Atiku will have to square up with if he secures the PDP ticket, remains unassailable. He therefore remains a formidable opponent to Atiku who has spent a great deal of time defending his own integrity.

    Atiku’s first campaign outing last week was a disaster. His attack on Buhari’s record on job creation opens him to counter attack. By claiming that Nigeria lost three million jobs in two years will lead to how his mismanagement of the privatization process cost Nigeria the loss of World Bank projected seven million jobs.

    Year 2019, is increasingly becoming dicey for Atiku.  If he loses once again, it will not be as a result of lack trying or inadequate preparation. The fault will be in his stars. Ahmadu Bello who never prepared for leadership of the country got it on a platter of gold and gave it to Tafawa Balewa, a non-Fulani minority from southern Bauchi whose grandmother had called for the killing of all Fulani that failed to vacate their land. On the other hand, there was also the Great Zik of Africa, who first studied politics as a science and practiced it as an art in preparation for Nigerian leadership. There was also Awo (the best President Nigeria never had) who spent all his nights when his contemporaries were carousing, studying Nigerian problems and proffering solutions. Nigeria’s leadership eluded both. Atiku should be happy to be in good company of these eminent and great forebears.

  • Is airline business jinxed in Nigeria?

    Is airline business jinxed in Nigeria?

    A recent report released by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the apex regulatory body overseeing airlines in the country revealed that the number of airline operators which peaked at over 150 as at the year 2000 have gone to a ridiculous low of nine operators currently, thus making keen observers of the nation’s aviation space to wonder if airline operation is indeed jinxed in Nigeria. Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf examines the issues

    These are certainly not the best of times for the nation’s aviation sub-sector. Reason: majority of the airlines who hitherto commanded a lot of admiration from the Nigerian flying public, including the Nigeria Airways, the nation’s carrier, ADC Airlines, Afrijet Airlines, Air Nigeria, Albarka Air, Al-Dawood Air, Bellview Airlines, Capital Airlines (Nigeria), Dasab Airlines, EAS Airlines, Freedom Air Services, Fresh Air, Meridian Airlines, Nigerian Eagle Airlines, Okada Air, Sosoliso Airlines, to mention just a few have since gone into extinction, with only a fraction barely struggling to survive the hard times.

    According to the result of a survey carried out by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the apex regulatory body overseeing airlines in the country, there has been a high turnover of airlines in the last 17 years.

    Mr. Sam Adurogboye, the NCAA’s spokesperson, who shared the outcome of the survey with The Nation at the weekend, said the number of airline operators which peaked at over 150 as at the year 2000 have thinned down considerably to nine operators at the moment.

    He listed a number of factors from poor managerial capacity of the operators, high cost of maintenance, credit crunch, poor business model, poor infrastructure, to mention just a few as being responsible for the parlous state of the sector.

    Reason for high turnover of airlines

    Adurogboye’s claim is further buttressed by experts, who equally hold the view and very strongly too that the sorry state of the nation’s aviation industry is a function of unfavourable operating climate, inconsistency in government policies, high cost of maintenance, credit crunch, poor business model, poor infrastructure, among other militating factors.

    Firing the first salvo, a player in the sector who simply gave his name as Dotun said the sector is plagued by a lot of problems which is rooted in the wrong business model adopted by a majority of the actors in the industry.

    Expatiating, Dotun said, “There are lots of things wrong with the system. I think the problem with the sector is symptomatic of the trouble with the country itself. This speaks to our penchant for allowing sentiments rather than intelligence to determine our reasoning. Most of the airlines that have become extinct today is as a result of allowing mediocrity to reign supreme when logic should have been the case.”

    Pressed further, he said: “There is an unconfirmed report that a particular airline, has since gained notoriety for laying off staff at the beginning of the year. This ploy is to simply ensure that no permanent staff in on its employment so that it may not have to pay severance package when they exit from the company. Most of their staff are on a short term contract.”

    Politics not ruled out

    Besides the issue of poor management and infrastructure, Mr. Daniel Adebusuyi, a stakeholder in the sector also argued matter-of-factly that a number of owners of airlines operating in the country are politically exposed persons, PEPs, such that once they fall out with the new government, their businesses are naturally affected as they loss patronage.

    A case in point, he says, is Slok Air, owned by former Abia state governor, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, one of the political godsons of the then president Olusegun Obasanjo, who was forced to move his airline operations out of the country to the Gambia.

    “You may recall that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s led regime in 2004 forcefully revoked the license of Slok Air. Today, the airline is the major air carrier in the Gambia, and has other operating offices in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia thereby giving quality employment to the citizens of its host countries. But for Obasanjo’s vindictiveness, Nigeria and her citizens would have enormously benefitted from the operations of Slok Air, especially in the area of employment.”

    A snapshot of the sector’s present standing

    Nigeria’s civil aviation industry is currently hit by a financial crisis which affects all airlines in the country, including the nation’s flag carrier Arik Air.  Arik Air and Aero Contractors have since been taken over by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria because of their huge debt profiles.

    On the other hand, according to the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), it had enumerated about 15 different charges imposed on them. These charges are blamed to have contribution for causing financial problems for the airlines.

    A recession, combined with a shortage of dollars, high costs and scarce fuel supplies have created the perfect storm for the industry.

  • Jinxed national conferences

    Jinxed national conferences

    FORMER president Goodluck Jonathan’s 2014 national conference was an afterthought that needed about five months work to reach a fair consensus on what shape and structure Nigeria needed. No group had its way hundred percent, and no group felt it could not survive with the compromises it agreed to. Though an afterthought, something much maligned when he finally conceded to it out of desperation in 2013, he was sensible enough to know that restructuring an ungainly and malformed Nigeria was inescapable. By the end of the deliberations, and given the scope of work done and the consensus arrived at, even opponents of the conference and those who thought the former president’s motives diminished or counteracted its value reluctantly agreed that it would be bad faith to dispense with the report.
    But shortly after assuming office, and particularly in his first media chat, President Muhammadu Buhari told truly baffled Nigerians that he had not bothered to peruse the report of the Jonathan national conference. It was worthless he said, and he would not even bother to read a document he thought properly belonged to the archives. He has kept his word. It is not certain that he will ever call for the document, assuming a copy exists somewhere in the State House. As if this demonstration of short-sightedness was not enough, and despite the increasing complexity and untenability of Nigeria’s so-called federalist structure, ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo last week added his voice to the anti-national conference hysteria. As far as he was concerned, said Chief Obasanjo who sometimes gives the impression that reflectiveness is a painful or demeaning exercise, the agitation for a national conference was a disdainful ploy to get a bigger share of the national cake. Yet, he organised one in 2005.
    It is not clear just how many living Nigerian presidents/heads of state, especially elected leaders, harbour such atrocious thoughts about the anodyne effects of a national conference, let alone one already concluded with evidence of clinical recommendations to salve Nigeria’s structural wounds. Indeed, to hear Chief Obasanjo speak so contemptuously of the national conference is to be finally convinced why Nigeria’s problems appear so complicated and entrenched. Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) last week, Chief Obasanjo suggested that “We Nigerians need ourselves, and if anyone thinks he does not need another person, good luck to him.” Then, still warily eyeing those who agitate for a conference, he added the clincher: “What I see in all those groups trying to break away is that they want more of the national cake.” How on earth anyone would equate the agitation for a national conference, or the implementation of one already concluded, as a design to balkanise Nigeria beggars belief. But that precisely is what President Buhari and Chief Obasanjo have done.
    Those agitating for a national conference should take appropriate and exhaustive caution from the narrow-minded views of these past leaders. They do not see the campaign to restructure Nigeria as a worthy and patriotic exercise. To them, there is little wrong with Nigeria that a president acting with patriotic zeal cannot fix. They fear that once they give in to the agitations, Nigeria could eventually be restructured in such an unrecognisable way that would delegitimise their presidencies. So, to retain relevance, their conceited private relevance, Nigeria must be kept in the same shape as when they presided over its affairs. If they are not guilty of this selfishness, then perhaps the real reason for opposing restructuring is simply because they are incapable of visualising any arrangement better than the unworkable one they had been used to. Either way, these former and serving leaders portray an unflattering view of their intellectual and leadership competence.
    For someone who also initially had a deplorable view of national conference under any guise, Dr Jonathan has become its chief advocate today. Somehow, it seems, should the 2014 conference report be implemented, it would be his only and truly substantial and lasting legacy. While he was in office, he was too much caught up in the frenetic pace of enacting or implementing one policy measure or the other to pay attention to the bigger, grander picture. Out of office, and with the benefit of hindsight, or perhaps maturing a little more as a statesman, as Chief Obasanjo said of him, Dr Jonathan has ruefully contemplated the great things he left undone. Unfortunately, he came round to the idea of a national conference too late to be able to do anything with it. The late Sani Abacha, it must not be forgotten, also put together a national conference between 1994 and 1995, which he probably had no intention of implementing. Yet that conference also came to far-reaching decisions about restructuring Nigeria. Chief Obasanjo himself inspired and put together a National Political Reform Conference of about 398 delegates to do a lengthy and exhaustive constitutional rework which he attempted to hijack for a less than salutary objective. Given his present views, it is apparent he had no deep convictions about the conference, which explains why he played ducks and drakes with the feelings of Nigerians on the subject.
    So, no past or present leader has convincingly spoken up in favour of a national conference. They are unlikely to, now or in the near future. In fact, there is no proof that all the geopolitical zones that participated in the 2014 conference are fully persuaded about its merits. It will therefore take more agitations or bigger conflicts of seismic proportion to persuade everyone of the need to embark on thorough restructuring of the malformed Nigerian federation. The present palliatives simply add to the jinx.

  • Lagos-Ibadan expressway is jinxed

    The rains are here. Thank God. The heat was becoming unbearable and many times I thought perhaps I was in hell because hell cannot be hotter than this. I hope America will experience the same kind of heat we had this year  in Nigeria to shut the loud mouths of those members of the Republican Party who deny the scientificity of global warming. Throughout the dry season from December 2015 to March, many of us anxiously looked forward to substantial work being done on the Lagos – Ibadan expressway. But alas nothing was done and hundreds of people are still dying needlessly on the most travelled road in Nigeria. Even if our government does not care for the people using the road, it should be concerned about the economic damage this bad road is doing  to the country. This road is the artery connecting the major port of Lagos which is also the economic nerve centre of the country to the north and other parts of the south of the country. Rudimentary knowledge of economics would indicate the fundamental importance of transportation in the life of a country. A country that is not in constant movement is a dead country. In our situation where we do not have railways, and where there is only primitive use of water-ways and our aviation leaves much to be desired, we just cannot do without tolerably good roads.

    We have been given some reasons for this delay ranging from various lawsuits in the courts to the need to secure adequate funding. The way things are going on in this country, we may die under the weight of irresponsible litigations. As for the lawsuits, there is need for out of  court settlement. The owner of the company suing the government is a well known patriot. Certainly, he will not like to be associated with a situation that has led to the death of many innocent struggling Nigerians whose only crime if crime it is, is that they  are struggling for their economic sustenance through the use of this jinxed road. This trajectory of out of court settlement must be embarked upon immediately. It is not one of these issues that must be allowed to linger on indefinitely. We just cannot wait. Any further deaths on the road is blood in the hands of those who should fix the road. If out of court arbitration fails, this government should be strong enough to damn the consequence in the public interest. I mean heaven will not fall! The government which owns the land should declare the company a trespasser and build the road. Enough of Turenci!

    I do not know how difficult it is for this government to borrow money for high priority and urgent infrastructural development. I am sure a loan can be easily syndicated through a consortium of banks that are daily declaring humongous profits. Funding a project like this should be regarded as part of their corporate social responsibility and support for  national economic recovery. If banks for whatever reasons would not lend to government, then the pensions commission should be approached to invest part of the trillions of Naira pension fund on the project on purely commercial basis. Their investment would be recovered by tolling the road and giving the power to collect the tolls to reputable banks rather than to government agencies to avoid sure and certain embezzlement.

    In a depressed economy like ours, road construction may actually be a panacea for employment and joblessness. In other words, we can kill two birds with one stone. I am therefore suggesting to this government a policy of country-wide road reconstruction as a way of reflating the economy, using if necessary, local banks as funding agencies and making sure all the roads are tolled. Priority roads all over the world are built and maintained in this way thus ensuring that road users pay for construction and maintenance of national highways. What Nigerians want is functionality of infrastructure. When available our people are prepared to pay for services. In the process of constructing these roads, young Nigerian civil engineers must be allowed to work along with whatever companies are given the contracts so that in future there will be a pool of people knowledgeable in road maintenance. The time has also come when we should begin to use interlocking cement and stone blocks in making critical roads to ensure  that they last long. This  policy  easily recommends itself because of our recent self-sufficiency in cement, thanks in this respect to private entrepreneurs like Dangote and Lafarge. I have said it before and I will say it again: one of our problems in Africa is that we are slaves to economic  orthodoxy. If something has not been done before, we are not prepared to try it yet the only way we as a country can make a mark in this world is to travel  the path least travelled. The greatest resource a country can have is its people. If well trained, they can be mobilized with committed and dedicated leadership to take their country to the highest point of development. We cannot say we do not have sufficiently well trained people to accomplish this rudimentary work of road construction.

    An  American academic colleague of mine  wondered recently  why Nigeria  does not have functioning infrastructure, railways, roads, reliable aviation, regular power supply and things that work generally considering the fact that there are Nigerians in the USA helping to build power stations and pipelines carrying fuel  across the country and also participating in the space projects. Nobody has an answer to our situation of arrested development. As I write this, there is pitch darkness where I am. The generator has broken down as any mechanical thing  is bound to do and the so-called privatized power companies have failed to generate and distribute power to my area of the country. Sometimes I worry if my grandchildren will in future be writing about power  after I would have passed on. There is no serious indication that this will not be the case unless God has mercy on us.

    I beg the people in authority to rise to the occasion and reconstruct this Lagos -Ibadan road and stop the carnage. I hope we do not get to a stage in this country when out of our collective frustration, citizens may be forced to take those responsible for this carnage to the world court to face charges of deliberate and premeditated murder of members of the traveling public.

    This article was written before the ghastly accident that took the life of Miss Rosemary Asuquo Nkanta an angel if ever there was one. This innocent soul came all the way from Jos where she was on the NYSC to join her former colleagues in REDEEMER’S UNIVERSITY  in FEAST of PRAISE (FOP) She was on her way to Lagos to fly back to Jos. She never made it. She was involved in an accident that took her life  near Sagamu.  She graduated First Class last September. The Nigerian condition killed this innocent soul. May God forgive all those who were directly or vicariously responsible for her death. Adieu Rosemary. May God condole your parents and all your friends and teachers at Redeemers University. You were one in a million.

     

    Corrigendum 

    My article on the Polisario Front last week contained an error. Instead of UNITA I wrote SWAPO. The Nigerian General who commanded UN troops  was Major – General Chris Garba. I omitted his first name.

  • Eagles are jinxed , says Danagogo

    The Minister of Sports and Chairman of National Sports Commission(NSC), Tammy Danagogo is still sulking over the inability of the Super Eagles to go beyond the round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup lamenting that the situation is a jinx.

    The minister declared this when he played host to members of the Club Owners Association in his office at the National stadium, Abuja.

    He said the solution to breaking the jinx lies in the hands of the club owners whom he said have the potentials of harvesting players who will match with their counterparts in the developed nations.

    Danagogo encouraged the club owners to work  together and overcome disputes among them. He charged them to learn to handle their problems privately rather than using the media to pass on their messages.

    He applauded the club owners stressing that the association is recognised by FIFA as the bedrock of any football in any country.

    Meanwhile, the association praised the Federal Government for the leadership role, intervention as well as contributions towards ensuring that the FIFA suspension was lifted.  They called on the Minister to help in urging all stakeholders to abide by the provisions of the statutes of football as sanctioned by FIFA.

  • Is Lagos-Ibadan Expressway cursed or jinxed?

    It was a Monday morning and I had to leave home much earlier to catch up with appointments after dropping my children in school. Alas! As I approached the beginning of Wawa long bridge, traffic was already on the bridge. Several questions ran through my mind: Break down? Accident? Fight between Fulani and indigenes? No answer.

    The next thing I saw was someone directing us to face the traffic coming from Lagos. I concluded then that a tanker had fallen and blocked our stretch of the road as we could see car turning back from the long bridge. My plans to drop my children at school early and meet my appointments had hit a rock. We drove slowly on the long bridge for more than an hour before we reached Kara exit. As we negotiated to our side of the road, a truck load of banana had fallen in the night with goods scattered all over the road due to the chasm in the middle of the road.

    The truck driver apparently ignorant of the terrain was cruising at regular speed, but suddenly ran into a ditch which over-turned the truck. I could not ascertain whether live(s) was lost. My brother in law who just got a new job had to quickly call his office to explain why he would resume late for.

    I happen to live on the outskirts of Lagos where is now popularly called 2nd Lagos because of the level of development going on along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway up to Sagamu intersection. However, the levels of decadence, rot, abandonment, neglect, call it any name on that stretch is converse to the rate of growth.

    The economic value of this road cannot be overemphasised. The only major link to the rest of Nigeria in terms of commerce. Lives are lost on the hour, either through accidents as a result of bad portions of the road, or people running into the hands of hoodlums and ritual killers when the vehicles break. The cost of good lost on that road every day runs into millions of naira or the cost of repairs for vehicles. In the last year, I have had to change my car shock absolver twice, including the upper and lower arms. One cannot time a journey from Berger to Sagamu as you don’t know what you will meet on the road. A journey of 30 minutes in the early 90s will now take one several hours.

    Several attempts have been made in the past to resurface, patch or reconstruct the road, but none seems to come to fruition. Since the Federal Government stopped the concession granted Bi-Courtney and awarded the contract to Julius Berger and RCC, little has been done. Could it be true that these two companies were not mobilized thus their withdrawal from site after the initial effort by JB to resurface the bad portions after RCCG camp.

    I call on the FG to please as a matter of urgency fix the road without delay. The Kara end of the road might soon give way if the rains continue with the intensity experienced in recent times.

    Ogun State government should also support development efforts in Wawa, Arepo, Magboro, Mowe, among others, by providing good roads. If individuals have invested in building houses for themselves, a responsible government should be magnanimous to construct good roads for easy access and commerce to thrive in these settlements.

    Meanwhile, the governments of Lagos and Ogun States should put in place mechanism to construct the access or by-pass roads from Lagos end to Sagamu.

     

    •Kupoluyi Ayodele lives in Ogun State and works in Lagos