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Tag: Labaran Maku

  • Between Femi Fani-Kayode and Labaran Maku

    Between Femi Fani-Kayode and Labaran Maku

    Because we love the unreal and hate the truth, we appear incapable of holding a meaningful dialogue -Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

    The above quote from Dim Chukwukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s famous book – ‘Because I am Involved’, came to my  mind after I read the vituperations of the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, insinuating that the opposition party is responsible for the Boko Haram’s insurgency that is threatening a large swath of our country. Interestingly, Maku’s assertion is glaringly contradictory to the averments of President Goodluck Jonathan and the Chief of Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Bada, that what we locally refer to as Boko Haram, has become a West African version of Al-Qaeda.  While I was ruminating on Mr. Maku’s thesis, it also served as a fitting assessment, after I managed to rouse myself, to read Femi Fani-Kayode’s recent ‘dirge for Nigeria’, or if you are excitable, ‘ode on Oduduwa’.

    But for hindsight, many can mistake Fani-Kayode’s Oduduwa as one of those several damsels, he likes to boast about having had an amorous relationship with; but who against fairness, equity and good conscience, has been snatched from him, making him to contemplate suicide. On realizing that Femi was romanticizing about an Oduduwa Republic, Balkanized from our present day Nigeria, the late Biafran Warlord, Eze-Igbo Gburugburu Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s further insightful words in that book, again came to my mind. Where he said: “The true problem with Nigeria is that she is fully embroiled in an identity crisis. The effect of the shibboleth called dichotomy is so very well-known that it has become a cancer in our body politic. Because we have found no cure, and because we do not even seek a cure, it continues to spread thereby enhancing its virulence. Today, when we look at Nigeria – no matter from whatever direction, no matter the focus of our perspective, everything which we see bears the frightful aspect of a dichotomy”.

    That dichotomy must also have informed Maku’s odoriferous assertion against the main opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) with regards to the Boko Haram’s insurgency. According to Maku, “The entire money we are spending is to maintain security in states controlled by that party…. Ninety per cent of all insurgency is in states controlled by that party…. We did not create this insurgency or the structure that led to it. You know where they came from but you are now blaming the fire fighter for the fire”.  Conversely, the man who should know better, the Chief of Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh said: “We are fighting more than Boko Haram. We are no longer fighting Boko Haram but Al-Qaeda in North and West Africa. Al-Qaeda is formidable, but we will defeat them”. In his last Democracy Day anniversary speech, President Jonathan even acknowledged: “For our citizens who have joined hands with Al-Qaeda and international terrorists in the misguided belief that violence can possibly solve their problems, our door remain open for dialogue and reconciliation, if they renounce terrorism and embrace peace.”

    So Labran Maku was on a reckless frolic, when he turned the serious matter of national insecurity, for which many Nigerians have paid the supreme price, into a political gimmick. Maku ridicules his office, and the authority of the federal ministry of information, when he summons the media to play politics with the crisis that has rendered the North, particularly the north-eastern part of Nigeria, a war zone. While it is correct to assert that the seeds that germinated into the current crisis were laid long ago, it is silly for the Minister to lay it at the door step of the opposition party, simply because some political actors from the zone are in the opposition party. It is even more disheartening that the Minister called the press conference to make light, the national trauma, over the 200 school girls kidnapped from Chibok.

    On his part, it can be said that Femi Fani-Kayode was on a foolish frolic, when he wrote “Give Me Oduduwa or Let Me Die”. A notable missing point in the work is the absence of an addressee, to whom the demand or plea was made to? I have since been wondering whether Mr. Fani-Kayode took the request to President Jonathan, when he recently visited Aso Rock, after his lost love with the opposition party, or is it possible that he penned it after the visit. I recall that after the recent visit to the President of the country, he now desperately wants Balkanized, the former Minister for Aviation, came out to declare his unyielding love for the beautiful people in Aso Rock. Could it be that the beautiful people in Aso Rock have failed to extend the beautiful things of the present government to him, making him to realize like Ayi Kwei Armah that “The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born”?

    Again, I have been unable to glean from Femi’s work why he would rather wish to be allowed to die, if he is not granted his heart’s desire. Ordinarily, I would have thought that the irrepressible Femi, who attacked ferociously any person that disagreed with his then principal, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, would simply have threatened, “Give Me Oduduwa or I will Fight to Death”. If he had written that, some would have said, yes, this is true to character, even when many would have dismissed him, as an attention seeker, albeit a brilliant one. No doubt, Minister Labaran Maku and former Minister Femi Fani-Kayode, are great polemics, who have exploited that gift to great personal advantages. Unfortunately, it appears they don’t give a damn, how that affects the polity, as long as they gain attention.

  • Maku again?

    When, these days, I listen to Information Minister Labaran Maku speak on behalf of the Federal Government, I am reminded of the feats achieved by Uche Chukwumerije, now a Senator, and Tom Ikimi, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who both served the most despicable government in Nigeria’s history and distinguished themselves in presenting black as white. Perhaps suggesting that the IQ of the average Nigerian is as low as a lamb’s, Mr. Maku does his job even when his contention evidently flies in the face of the facts.

    Last week, he came up with the theory that 90 per cent of the protesters against the abduction of the Chibok girls are members of the opposition All Progressives Congress. The spokesman for the government interpreted that to mean they were engaged in mobilizing against the government. He explained that they had no moral right to adopt the stance given the prevalence of the insurgency in states controlled by the Federal Government.

    First, let me comment on the man, Maku. He was only acting true to character. He once recanted the role he played in opposing the anti-masses economic policies of the Babangida regime. Today, as publicist for the Jonathan administration, he would justify anything. He is at home with privatization and commercialization agenda of this government. He sees nothing wrong in foisting an exploitative electricity tariff on the people without commensurate improvement in quality of service.

    It is sickening and disheartening that a former comrade could feel comfortable being associated with the views credited to him on the current spate of insecurity in the country. Let’s examine the logic. First, how did Mr. Maku come about his statistics? Yes, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States are today governed by the APC. But, assuming as he has suggested, the insurgency is a result of poor governance, when did that start? In Adamawa where the governor was in the Peoples Democratic Party till last year, should the alleged incompetence be blamed on the APC or PDP? What about Plateau State/ The insecurity of lives and property in that state that has been under the PDP control since 1999 is probably the worst in the country. Yet, the Jonathan administration shamelessly chose to back Jonah Jang as chairman of the President’s Governors Forum.

    Second, who has the constitutional duty of controlling the security agencies? In most states of the federation, the Police Force derives its funding mainly from the state governments, while the operational command is from the centre with the Inspector General ultimately responsible to the President. By the revenue allocation formula, the federal government corners the funds, but hands the duties to state governments. We saw a recent demonstration of the incongruity of the arrangement in Rivers where the Police Commissioner openly confronted the state government and the latter could do nothing about it.

    Three, the federal government should face the real issue at hand. Under its watch, for the first time in the history of this country, more than 200 girls were abducted from a secondary school and the government lacks a clear, coherent policy to rescue them and combat the trend. Till date, we do not have the exact figures of girls in captivity. At a point the military said almost all had been rescued, when in fact none had. At another, the President and his missus were expressing doubt that anyone was actually kidnapped. Then, the military chief said they knew where the girls were kept but were helpless at launching a bid to liberate them.

    Mr. Maku should face the task of confronting the issues rather than chasing shadows. I suggest he heads for a top flight institution for a course in communication.

     

    AKPABIO AKPABIO

    Akpabio is a common name in the South South state, Akwa Ibom. But, when used in the manner I have here, it refers to only one person. It does not require prefixing it with Governor or Godswill for people to know it identifies the money man of the Niger Delta.

    Akpabio is not a money man in the sense of a Dangote or Bill Gates. He is by virtue of the office he holds. Even then, it is not on account of any ingenious manner in which he has raised the revenue accruing to the state government. Akwa Ibom still precariously depends on allocations from the Federation Account. But, he has the money and has mastered how to spend it on matters, physical and political projects and persons he may choose to. It does not matter if it is as frivolous as sponsoring a musician to Dubai to take his bride to the altar. He picks bills when the ruling party chooses to fritter money on party meetings. It is the only state willing to buy delegates to a regional party meeting in another state launch in the sum of one million naira each.

    Having done all these, he has now moved to secure his post-office life in opulence. Despite showing interest in going to the Senate, he has also decided that he would require so much as pension, medical and sundry allowances. There is perhaps nothing as ludicrous as the explanations by the Speaker and the Information Commissioner on this matter.

    True patriots should not relent on this until the brazen misappropriation of public funds in perpetuity by AKPABIO AKPABIO is reversed.

  • Govt knows what to do about Chibok girls, says Maku

    Govt knows what to do about Chibok girls, says Maku

    The Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, has said the Federal Government knows what to do to bring back the schoolgirls abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, over a month ago.

    The minister said the rescue process would not be disclosed to the public, except its result.

    He also said the government did not jump to the situation because it did not want to confuse the people.

    Maku said the fight against terrorism seemed to be dragging because of the nature of the war, which he described as “urban and guerrilla warfare”.

    The minister explained that the war is difficult because the Nigerian Army had never fought such war.

    He said the government decided not to join issues with anybody on the rescue of the abducted schoolgirls but use the rescue efforts to reunite the nation and avoid further endangering the people’s lives.

    Maku spoke yesterday in Abuja at the inaugural lecture of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).

    He said: “We are looking at the perceptions about what Nigerians think, but the position of the government is to unite everybody. This government knows what it wants to do and what it will do to face the challenges of Chibok. But I am not here to tell you what it will do.”

    On the abduction saga and why it seemed the government delayed its rescue operation, Maku said:  “By the time we could define our story, it took time. We have tried to take that off and, up till this moment as we talk to you, there are still aspects of this story that are very confusing. But we say stop the confusion, the blame game, and leave everything first. There is fire on the roof. Let us put out the fire, after which we will analyse every other thing.

    “So, that is the approach of the government. If we don’t do that, we will be delaying the search and endangering the lives of these young children. Our approach is to unite the nation in the search for these girls and get them out. That is what we are doing at the moment. No matter or and what they are, whether they disagree or agree, our target is finding our girls.

    On the impact of terrorism on Nigeria, the minister said: “Terrorism is very complex, and because it is our society and because it is new to us, we feel it will end tomorrow. We ask: what is the government and the Armed Forces doing?

    “This war is a mixture of politics and other things. Politicians react quickly on the matter as if we have a disagreement. We must all agree that terrorism is bad and must be scrapped from Nigeria. To defeat terrorism, we need everybody.

    “This war is a symmetrical warfare and it is an urban and rural guerrilla warfare whose enemy is not defined. The enemy has no territory; the enemy lives among the people. It is not a war that the military can carry tanks and planes to go and bomb a particular area. This war is not so…”

     

  • Absentee Commander-in-Chief

    Absentee Commander-in-Chief

    If you watched Labaran Maku’s encounter with the ace CNN journalist, Isha Sesay, last week, you will understand why the Information Minister, and even more, the Jonathan administration on whose behalf he purports to speak, deserve neither our empathy nor understanding on the handling of the insurgency. Not that anyone ever doubted the handling of the insurgency as anything but flawed. Certainly not with the serial misjudgements and endless dithering that has defined its approach to the crisis.

    But rarely does one find an official spokesman of a government so pathetic and flatfooted before a global audience as we saw of Labaran Maku on CNN last week.

    Asked to respond to the finding by Amnesty International that the federal government actually had prior warnings before the abduction of the Chibok 276, the minister described the charge as “incredible”. When confronted with the statements from eyewitnesses which suggest something to the contrary, he could only stutter and waffle; at some point, he would attempt to blame the “regional government” for the initial “misinformation”. And when prodded further, he could only mumble something to the effect that the crisis area was far-flung from the seat of the administration something that made it nigh impossible for it to get first-hand reports. In a fit of exasperation, he even dared to ask the CNN correspondent whether the administration was on trial!

    For all its unfortunate twists and turns, there is at least some good that this latest tragedy has taught us all.

    First is that the administration is incapable of guaranteeing the safety and security of lives and property of citizens. From the midnight hacking to death of 59 hapless pupils of Federal Government College Buni Yadi in Yobe State on February 25, the spectacular attack in the Abuja suburb of Nyanya on Monday, April 14, followed by the daring come-back barely two weeks after on May 1, all of which left their trails of broken dreams and shattered lives; and now the abduction of 276 girls from the dormitories on April 14 in spite of a blanket of emergency rule; it seems only a matter of time before the entire nation unravels under the watch of its absentee commander-in-chief. The administration would appear to have resolved that the problem was best kicked down the road having long persuaded itself that the insurgency has come to stay.

    Second, aside the episodic mouthing of the we-are-top-of-the-situation refrain, the administration does not even pretend to any understanding of the complexity, let alone the enormity of the problems on the basis of which it could proceed to solve them. Nigerians are simply asked to accept the fact of the existence of safe havens for the Boko Haram– in the vast and un-governed mass on the Nigerian territory – inaccessible to the security forces – as the reality we must live with perhaps till kingdom come.

    Now, this is an insurgency that is known to have gulped something in excess of three trillion naira from the exchequer in the last three years.

    That is why I believe the global spotlight has done a lot of good. First, no longer is the traditional indifference to the farcical motions described as governance in Abuja. A commander-in-chief who opted to play the victim while his homestead was literally on fire obviously deserves more scorn than the outraged world can ever pour. Nigeria may not have qualified for the pariah status as yet, or its current leaders among the unwanted guests in global capitals, they are unlikely to remain on the A-list of leaders that really matter after this episode. Imagine US Senator John McCain telling his countrymen and women:  “we shouldn’t have waited for a practically non existing government to give us the go ahead before mounting a humanitarian effort to rescue those girls”.

    That is what President Jonathan’s absentee government has cost us; loss of respect and pride as a nation. Next time around, expect the US Marines to come with their raiding party and stunts before the fiddling somnambulist manages to make up his mind.

    We are a long way from when the official tale was that the insurgency was a scheme to hobble the Jonathan administration; and while there is no shortage of the cynical exploitation of the tragedy by different actors in the political spectrum, the truth is that the terror machine actually festered because one man the country elected to get the job done couldn’t figure things out.

    Now, the story is out: a government so quick to accuse local authorities of not cooperating in volunteering vital intelligence to security agencies could not maintain a vestige of security anywhere near the vast theatre of insurgency. Before, it was the governors of the three states under the state of emergency shouting themselves hoarse over the near absence of ground troops; today, it is the villagers making their voices heard over the international networks that the government, sworn to protect them, has never been there for them. Between the absentee field commanders and the revellers of Abuja on one hand, and the hapless villagers on the other, the world now knows whose tale to believe.

    Today, Sambisa Forest, the 60,000 square kilometres swathe south of Maiduguri is supposed to be no man’s land, well beyond the reach of the security forces. Not even the 200 aerial sorties mounted by the Nigerian Air Force, according to Doyin Okupe, the President’s spokesman could find the trace of Boko Haram in the thick Sahelian jungle! The villagers couldn’t find any aircraft hovering over them not to talk of the show of air power that a sortie is supposed to be.  And not even the two battalions said to have been put together by the Nigerian Army appears to be in hurry to get the job done.

    No doubt, everything about this war, stinks. We are not even talking about the money poured into the insurgency and the fledging industry that it has spawned; we are talking about government’s pathetic indifference to the sufferings of its own people – the human dimensions to the terrible tragedy.

    The current global attention has hopefully changed that.

    By the way, my sympathy goes to the amorphous group – the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria. The Abuja machine may have transformed their pockets; from the look of things, their man may have become a damaged good. As for the prospects of their man carrying the PDP flag in 2015, I wager to say that it is no longer done deal. That should be pricey enough for the absentee C-I-C.

     

     

  • Badagry to host biggest seaport

    Badagry to host biggest seaport

    PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in Badagry pledged that the Federal Government was planning to build the biggest seaport in Badagry, Lagos State.

    He made the pledge at the 37th coronation anniversary of the Akran of Badagry, Aholu Menu-Toyi I, held at his palace in Badagry.

    The president, who was represented by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said the decision to establish the seaport was part of the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda.

    “Badagry is a historic town and it is the cradle of tourism, so we hold it in high esteem. For over 100 years, Badagry was the exporting point in Nigeria but back then, it was slave that was being exported out of the country.

  • FG okays $152.12m for agriculture

    FG okays $152.12m for agriculture

    …Presidency yet to receive 2014 Budget

    The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved the acquisition of $152.12 million loan from the African Development Bank (ADB) towards boosting agricultural produces in the country.

    The Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina and Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting Presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Adesina said the loan will be used to boost cultivation of rice, sorghum and cassava in 14 staple crop processing zones in the country.

    Stressing that the loan will go a long way to add 20 million tons to Nigeria’s food production by 2015, he said that 120,000 jobs will be created from the initial staple crop processing zones.

    He said: “Council today gave approval of a loan of $152.12 million dollars and a grant of $385,000 from the ADB to support the agricultural transformation agenda of Mr. President.”

    “We are all excited about this because it is another affirmation by global institution of what we are doing and that we are on the right track as regard to agricultural development. Mr. President set a strategy that we will run agriculture as a business which is a major shift from how agriculture had been run before.”

    “We no longer just focus on production but we focus as well on storage, warehousing, processing, value addition, marketing, logistics and trade. In other words, agriculture today in Nigeria is a business which we have to make sure that we provide enabling environment in supporting it to grow and to generate wealth.”

    Maku on his part told journalists that the issue of 2014 Budget was not discussed during the FEC meeting, saying the National Assembly is yet to transmit the passed budget to the President.

     

     

     

  • Rehabilitation of Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line for completion in 2014, says Maku

    The federal government would complete the ongoing rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri rail line by the end of 2014.

    The Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, announced this at the PDP North-East Zonal Rally in Bauchi yesterday.

    He said that the Lagos to Kano line was completed last year.

    He added that government was determined to revive the agricultural sector through encouraging the shift from subsistence to commercial production.

    He added that this had attracted a private firm to invest 40 million dollars in rice production in Taraba for domestic consumption and for export. “The project has taken off’’, he said.

    According to him, the Federal Ministry Agriculture has undertaken massive intervention to make the North-East zone the lead producer of cotton and sorghum in the country.

    “Farmers in the zone have been supported to produce cotton, sorghum, tomato and other vegetables due to their rich agricultural heritage.

    He said farmers’ income in the zone had increased to N75 billion due to government’s intervention through its Agricultural Transformation Agenda in the past three years.

    On education, the minister said government had established 10 universities in the north in the past four years – five in north west, three in north east and two in north central.

    “We have also constructed 125 Almajiri schools in the north, mostly in the north eastern states, furnished and handed over to the states to ensure that we take our children away from the streets.

    “The idea is that in addition to Qura’anic education, which is important, they would also learn modern education for the growth and development of the nation.

    “The President has also ordered the production of text books for supply to all public primary schools in the country.

    “The books, which have been handed over to the various state governments, would be distributed free of charge to all pupils from primary one up to J SS3,’’ Maku said.

  • Sanusi not a whistle blower, says minister

    Sanusi not a whistle blower, says minister

    Minister of Information Labaran Maku, yesterday said it is a misnomer to call suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi a whistle blower.

    Maku who spoke at the National Assembly after defending the 2014 budget of his ministry noted that no governor of any country’s apex bank could act as a whistle blower.

    The minister said President Goodluck Jonathan did not query Sanusi because he raised issues about alleged missing $20 billion in Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)

    He said: “I have not heard of any nation where the central bank governor is a whistle blower. He is the manager of the nation’s monetary policies as an adviser to the president on those issues. So the fact that he has moved from being the CBN governor to whistle blowing is a problem in itself.

    “No CBN governor make statement on his nation’s economy without verifying. Things were done and the president didn’t worry about it and his removal had nothing to do with that.

    “These days we see a lot of outlandish allegations. People just make allegations and turn the country into one huge investigation panel, every day the National Assembly is investigating.”

     

    “The role of the CBN governor is that of a quite role, you don’t even hear them talk and if he makes any statement, it affect the capital market and the entire economy.”

     

  • Maku’s unguarded outburst

    Maku’s unguarded outburst

    SIR: Information management is about creating understanding in a society and between various interests. The responsibility of a minister of information should be to market aggregate values of a country to the audience that should include those within the country and outside. It becomes tragic and bizarre when the instrument of communication falls into the hand of those who see it as opportunity to disparage a section of the country.

    Every reasonable Nigerian should condemn the recent outburst of the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku. It is evident that the minister is becoming irascible in his attempt to cover up iniquities or disappointment of the PDP-led government. His tirade against governors Wamakko and Kwankwaso of Sokoto and Kano states respectively failed to address the burning issues confronting the nation today. Indeed, being a northerner, Maku is fully aware of the weight of his ranting and no amount of apology can attenuate a deliberate insult on a people.

    In describing the exit of the five governors from PDP to APC Labaran Maku said “they are like the Fulani nomads, they move from one party to another without shame.”

    One wonders how the Fulani stock in PDP would feel about a government that stoops so low to insensitively unleash inappropriate charade against their culture. In case the minister does not know, there is virtue in migration for legitimate business. It is exploration of new frontiers which helps in human evolution. A static people creates a dull, odious, nauseating and erratic environment where nothing moves – it nurtures a stock of irredeemable revelry that continually snores in hang-over while their house is on fire.

    The two governors that Maku singled out for vilification were very fundamental to PDP fortunes in 2011 general elections by their delivery of strategic votes that ensured the party’s victory. The recent change in the leadership of the party has justified the stance of the patriotic governors that had all along been drumming the necessity for that change in PDP in the interest of the country. It is unfortunate that the patriotic stance was described as “over-size ego” by Maku in a very strange context.

    PDP instigated its present fate, and now that there is strong opposition in APC, the party is at the brink of disintegration. It will be worse for it when APC takes over the mantle of leadership after 2015 general elections. People can be fooled for some time, but definitely not all the time. It is time for change and the train is meandering through every nook and cranny of this country to connect the masses that shall sweep off the debris scattered all over the political landscape of this country by PDP.

    APC is the party of the masses. It is a party that transcends every parochial sentiment. It is a party that provides platform for all those oppressed by the dictatorship of PDP. The fortunes of the party increase with every crass remark by likes of Labaran Maku.

     

    • Mohammed S. Umar

    Sokoto Liberal Democrats Media Foundation (SOLID)

    Sokoto

     

  • Good news

    • FG should deliver on its promise to build largest seaport in Lekki

    THE decision of the Federal Government to award a contract for a deep seaport in the Lekki area of Lagos is commendable. It is coming about 10 years after the idea was first mooted and lauded by experts and the general populace in Lagos. All aspects of the contract awarded to Messrs Lekki Ports LFTV Enterprise will benefit Nigeria if executed expeditiously and according to specification.

    The Lekki Seaports is intended to decongest the existing seaports that have a combined capacity of handling 60,000 tonnes but currently are made to handle about 100,000 tonnes. The effect is that vessels are delayed and businesses adversely affected. The contract for the sum of $1.4 billion or N216 billion is expected to be financed through a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) option, with the Federal Government acquiring 20 per cent equity participation, the Lagos State Government 18.5 per cent and private investors, 61.85 per cent.

    When completed, the project is expected to boost the revenue of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and generate 162,000 jobs. It is also expected to handle the largest vessels from any part of the world. The Federal Executive Council, according to information minister, Labaran Maku, is said to have negotiated the concessionary period downward from 50 years to 45, thus drawing more benefits for the country.

    It must be pointed out, however, that it is not enough to approve on paper, prompt redemption of commitments, provision of needed infrastructure, thorough supervision and due attention to details are needed to ensure that Nigeria gets value for the money being invested.

    In order to make the dream of having the port a reality, we note the need for an alternative road. The current first class road leading there is tolled. But, a road to such a facility, given the volume of traffic to be generated by vehicular and human agents, cannot be tolled. This calls for an alternative route in order to preserve the concept of the existing road meant to make life easy for motorists and commuters.

    The Federal Government should learn from the experience of previous PPP projects that led to disputes and bad blood between it and the private sector. Proper agreements must be signed before commencement of work and, as much as possible, variation should be avoided. It has been said that the contract is to be fully executed within four years; we hope that all the parties sat down to look at the technical and financial components to avoid another spell of undue delay. We recall the fate of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that was first awarded to Bicourteny until it was eventually revoked. Government should review the controversies that trailed the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project and ensure that they do not assail this one.

    The Lekki Port project has a redeeming feature for the Federal Government. It has been portrayed as intolerant and unwilling to partner with the states for development. The recent face-off with the Rivers State government over a World Bank-financed project comes to mind. Governor Rotimi Amaechi has accused the Federal Ministry of Finance of pettiness for standing in the way of development in the state. The decision to go along with Lagos State in getting the project off the ground is a refreshing departure from this pattern.

    Given the development along the corridor, including the Atlantic City, the Free Trade Zone and the proposed airport, the seaport deserves the support of all and all stakeholders should scrupulously keep their sides of the bargain.