The Nation Newspaper

Tag: landscape

  • Complex lifts Enugu landscape

    Complex lifts Enugu landscape

    A multi-purpose commercial edifice, Pliis Place has been inaugurated in Enugu by the Anglican Archbishop of Enugu, Rev. Dr Emmanuel Chukwuma.

    It is owned by Nigandi Engineering Limited.  Archbishop Chukwuma applauded the owner of the building project, Mr.  Gandi Obiefule Ekwegh, for bringing the project to Enugu as it would encourage other investors to come home and create employment opportunities for the unemployed.

    He also used the opportunity to counsel the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration on the need to lead the nation to prosperity.

    He said almost two years since the president came into office, “nothing tangible has been achieved”, adding that the president should use the period of his return from medical vacation to ensure progressive governance and positive change in the nation’s body politics.

    “It’s not to be back on seat from vacation, he should be back on seat for a reactivated progressive governance. We don’t want it to be decorative; let him think of how to make Nigeria better than he met it. Change is not a matter of making things worse, change should be about making things better for the citizenry, we are looking forward to that.

    “Life is worse now than when he came in; we are looking forward to an improvement in our economy; our naira should improve, inflation should come down, intensive security care for the people should be guaranteed and then power that will encourage more investments to come in should be improved upon,” he said.

    He advised the president to desist from further apportioning of blames to previous administrations in the country but to remain focused and deliver good governance to the people.

    The Archbishop, who is also the Bishop of Enugu Diocese of the Anglican Church, said the project was a clear indication that Enugu has become “atmospherically conducive for investment”.

    ”I want to say the building will invite more investors particularly now we are looking for investments that would employ our youths. I want to encourage our people to come and invest, we need businesses and housing, our well-to-do individuals should come home and invest, most of our people invest in recycling themselves in politics, we don’t want further recycling in politics, politics is to serve not to sap, government cannot do it alone,” he said.

     

  • Pen and sword in a changed landscape

    Pen and sword in a changed landscape

    Few developments illustrate how much Nigeria has changed in the past 16 years as the bubbling kerfuffle between the Nigerian Army and the online newspaper Premium Times.

    Back then, you could not even have framed the issue as I have done.  There was no symmetry between the military and the media as public institutions. If any section of the news media or for that matter the collectivity went beyond its bounds as defined by the military, it was taught in sundry ways to stay in place.

    The rules were unspoken and unwritten, but the news media learned them by osmosis as it were.  Abiding by them was the beginning of journalistic wisdom.

    Here, in all its improbableness, is the scene that has been playing lately.

    On December 22, 2016, the Nigerian Army wrote a letter, signed by Maj-General IM  Alkali and addressed to Premium Times publisher and managing director Dapo Olorunyomi, demanding retraction of “unauthorised, false, libelous and defamatory” statements it said the paper had made about the person of Lt. General TY Buratai, the Chief of Army Staff, and about the army’s counter-insurgency operations.

    In substantiation of these charges, the letter cited three stories Premium Times had pubilshed, the latest of which appeared on December 12, 2016. The story was to the effect that Buratai had appeared before the Code of Conduct Bureau in connection with a false declaration of assets.

    The second, published on October 21, 2016, stated that 83 Nigerian soldiers were missing days after a Boko Haram attack.   The third, said the letter, alleged without evidence that the army killed a priest and                then put on the body a label identifying the deceased as a “militant.”  It was published on November 19, 2016.

    These publications, the letter said, were “unprofessional through and through, and confirmed the paper’s unalloyed loyalty to the terrorists’ cause.” 

    The letter closed with a demand that  Premium Times retract the stories and apologise to the Chief of Army Staff, General Buratai, the retraction to be published  in three national dailies and online media on three consecutive days, December 29-31, 2016, and the apology to be executed in like manner,

    Failing this, the letter stated, the Nigerian Army‘s team of lawyers would be instructed to proceed at law against Premium Times.

    Not too long ago, the military would not have bothered with such niceties.

    Why take the trouble to write a letter when you can invite the editor for a “chat” and from there whisk him off to detention in places unknown? Or invade the paper’s premises and seize the editor and the staffers who wrote the stories? Or shut down the newspaper until its proprietors promise solemnly never to publish any material that could move the authorities to anger?

    Why risk legal action that will drag on interminably, with an unpredictable outcome, when you could storm the printing hall, collect copies of the paper as they rolled off the press, and cart away the entire day’s print run. Or blockade the newspaper’s premises.  Or arrange a fire to put the newspaper out of business.

    Those at the receiving end had no recourse at law.  They could not demand compensation for any injury,

    The Nigerian Army’s current mode of engagement is far different from what Dapo Olorunyomi, to whom the letter was addressed, experienced.  It was being bruited that he was one of the operators of a clandestine radio station that was broadcasting pro-democracy messages during the “June 12” crisis, to the discomfiture of the military authorities.  The Abacha regime placed a price on his head and he went underground.

    The regime went for his wife.

    In the dead of night the security people stormed her residence with such a show of force that the entire neighourhood was paralysed with fear.  They tore down the door and ransacked the place, without the slightest regard for their little boy and his infant sibling.  When they did not find Olorunyomi, they took away his wife and left her children to fend for themselves. Only when it was clear that the raid was over  did the neighghbours venture outdoors.

    Nor was this a singular incident.

    When they wanted but couldn’t find Paxton Idowu, editor of The Republic, since defunct, they went for his wife.  She was eight months pregnant. The calculation was that if he truly loved his wife and cared about their unborn child, he would give himself up.  He did, and his wife was freed.

    It did not matter whether the publication at issue was scrupulously factual.  The governing principle seemed to have been taken straight out of the rulebook of Star Chamber:  The greater the truth, the greater the libel.

    Despite its apparent civility, the Nigerian Army’s letter nevertheless contains language that would have in those dark days sent many an editor scurrying out of town, unless he or she were possessed by a death wish.  Remember how the security people confronted Dele Giwa with an allegation that he was stockpiling  munitions with the aim of overthrowing the military government, and how, less than a week later, he was blown up by a parcel bomb delivered to his home?

    That section of the letter that said publication of the stories at issue “confirmed” the paper’s “unalloyed loyalty to the terrorists cause” must have set off alarm bells in Olorunyomi’s head, perhaps even leading him to see with his mind’s eye Dele Giwa’s mutilated body on the bed in a hospital in Opebi, Lagos, that unforgettable third Sunday in October, 1986.

    So, Olorunyomi did what Giwa had done when similarly circumstanced:  He referred the Nigerian Army’s letter to the principal attorney for Premium Times, the human rights lawyer and activist, Jiti Ogunye.

    Whereupon Ogunye struck back with the pugnacity of an attorney determined to keep his client out of harm’s way.  In a letter dated January 9, 2017, he stoutly contested and rejected the Army’s allegations against Premium Times and instead literally put the complainants in the dock.

    He said he rebuked the “false assumption” that the military, exclusively, are “an epitome of patriotism and national sacrifice,” or that they love Nigeria more than Nigerians do.

    “Sir, the Nigerian Army, of which you spoke so glowingly,” Ogunye continued, “is an heir to a military that unpatriotically subverted, many times, constitutional governance in Nigeria, plunged Nigeria into a three-year internecine civil war, committed unspeakable human rights violations against the Nigerian people and thwarted the efforts of Nigerian s  to restore democratic governance to Nigerians.”

    Ogunye said the Army’s letter had threatened the” lives and well-being” “ of his clients, and that his clients were therefore obliged to put the public on notice that,  should any harm come to them, the Chief of Army Staff and the Nigerian Army would be held accountable.

    The Army’s allegations, Ogunye noted, falsely imputed to his clients the commission of treasonable offences and aiding the enemy, offences punishable by 20 years imprisonment.  He  demanded that the Nigerian Army publish a letter withdrawing the allegations and assuring his clients of their safety and protection  by the security and law enforcement agencies, in particular the Nigerian Army, within seven  days of receiving his letter

    Failing that, Ogunye said, his clients would not hesitate to take legal action against the parties identified in letter at issue, their principals, the Nigerian Army and the Federal Government of Nigeria, to enforce their fundamental rights under the Constitution.

    This back and forth, as I see it, is a healthy development.  The Nigerian Army deserves praise for pursuing its grievances in a civil manner in place of the reflex rush to self help of a bygone era.  Premium Times has done well to stand its ground, to refuse to be intimidated.

    But its response is a tad overblown.  In this kerfuffle, the Nigerian Army as an institution is not on trial any more than the media as an institution is on trial.  The issues should have remained narrowly defined.

    The various deadlines set by both parties have expired, but I do not know at this time whether court filings have been made.  I hope the matter does not go that far.

    A person of stature and of undoubted goodwill and who enjoys the confidence of both parties should step in and reconcile them.

    I am thinking of Dr Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, if he is not now irretrievably absorbed in the effort to restore amity in southern Zaria after the latest slaughter of innocents.

  • Tourism landscape in 2016

    Tourism landscape in 2016

    NIGERIA has always been seen as a land with huge tourism potential both in the area of eco-tourism and cultural tourism. While some see the huge eco-tourism assets as the way forward, many believe the country’s diverse and rich culture is an area that the country has huge potential and as such should be developed.

    However, 2016, especially at the beginning, saw little or no activities. The country missed many of the international fora through which it had in the past showcased its tourism assets to the international community.

    In many events, such as FITUR in Spain (January), ITB-Berlin (March) and many others, Nigeria was conspicuously missing. It was as if the tourism industry was on a downward spiral. The industry in the first quarter of the year was comatose until the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, decided to call a stakeholders’ summit in Abuja.

    National Summit on Tourism and Culture

    Mohammed said the summit was designed to explore all the various opportunities in tourism sector to improve the economy. He said the change mantra of the Federal Government could only be sustained, if culture and tourism provided needed drives.

    He said: “We want to turn adversity into sustainable fortune by tapping our national cultural heritage and tourism.”

    Mohammed said the challenge before the country was to work out long-term strategies to develop the country’s culture and tourism sectors and move them into the mainstream of the economy, “while not failing to design ways and means of plucking some low-hanging ‘fruits’ along the way.”

    The President, represented by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah, promised to encourage public and private sector participation and partnership in all the desired areas of transportation, beach and resort development and other tourism sub-sectors as a deliberate effort to develop tourism as a catalyst for economic growth and diversification of the economy.

    “Tourism, therefore, is a resource of development and means of providing an additional opportunity for a non-industrialised country like ours, to diversify its economic base for the betterment of all,” he said.

    Akwaaba 2016: Problem with aviation in West Africa

    11th edition of the Akwaaba Travel Fair was held in Lagos. The fair,which has become the prime tourism event for West Africa, had more than 15 countries in attendance. The high point was the discussion segment that discussed issues affecting the travel and tourism industry in Nigeria and West Africa at large. Aviation experts, which included Mr. Yomi Jones, Mr. Femi Adefowope, Mr. Dapo Olumide, Mr. Richard Aisuebeogun, former  Managing Director, Virgin Nigeria, identified the problems affecting the growth of the aviation industry in Nigeria and Africa and why airlines failed.

    Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer of Ropeways Transport and former Managing Director of Virgin Nigeria Airlines, Captain Dapo, said lack of good corporate governance and ethics was the major reason why African airlines failed in Nigeria and Africa.

    Olumide observed  that the ownership structure of the airlines was another factor. He said “the owner appoints family members as directors instead of independent directors who are experienced in aviation business”.

    He stressed the need for airline operators to have the right aircraft in their operation.

    According to him, it does not make economic sense in deploying big aircraft instead of a small one on a route with less passenger traffic.

    He observed that the business plans must be right, adding that in most cases the airlines business plans are always wrong.

    Olumide identified the problem of maintenance where there are no maintenance facilities in the country to carry out major repairs and overhaul on aircraft as another problem facing the industry in the country..

    Hotel standardisation by SON

    A major feat towards the regulation and standardisation of hospitality business in Nigeria was achieved by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria as its National Mirror Committee (NMC) on Tourism and related activities has successfully completed work on the first ever national framework on standards of Nigerian hotels which is expected to form the baseline for the grading and classification of hotels in the country once approved.

    The National Mirror Committee was inaugurated by SON in April this year in Lagos with the mandate to review and adopt the International Standard Organisation (ISO/T228) and Africa Organisation for Standardisation set up by ECOWAS in accordance with international best practices for use in the tourism industry.

    Three other documents, which are meant for use in the Nigerian tourism industry, were also presented and adopted by the committee making it four documents that were deliberated on and adopted.

    Speaking on this development, Mrs. Chika Balogun, the head of the committee, said it had great import for tourism, as it would further boost the image of the country, inspire confidence in investors, encourage more investment and create jobs and wealth for the country.

    “This would attract the Direct Foreign Investment (FDI), local and regional investments, to the country and the tourism industry because it would not put their money where they are not sure, but with such an important document as standards for hotels, it would boost the confidence of investors to now trust the industry and invest in it because it has now become more reliable and respected as there are now standards of operation to guide operators and investors,” Balogun said.

    Removal of NTDC Director General

    The end of November saw the disengagement of the former Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) Director General, Mrs. Sally Mbanefo. In the letter signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal, her two-year tenure was said to have elapsed. She was instructed to hand over to the most senior civil servant in her parastatal.

  • Osun’s emerging beautiful landscape

    Osun’s emerging beautiful landscape

    Building up on its profile as a peaceful state with regular power supply and adequate security, Osun State inches towards an emerging tourist beauty.

    Cities the world over acquire reputation of being visitors’ and tourists’ haven because of their beauties.

    Cities are not just beautiful but are products of careful planning by the leaders or rulers of such cities.

    Today, people celebrate Dubai. The city, in the heart of the Middle East, rose to prominence less than two decades ago.

    That the city of Dubai now plays host to tourists, businessmen and women, world top sporting activities, political, economic and education summits is a testimony to the vision and planning virtuoso of one of the country’s greatest leaders, Sheikh Rashid Makhtoum.

    Not quite long ago, we used to hear the phrase: ‘See Paris and die’. It was nothing but the planned beauty of the French capital city.

    So also for the outstanding recreational and aesthetic beauty of Orlando’s Disney World in Florida, United States, that attracts millions of tourists yearly from all over the world.

    This is perhaps, the motivational force that propelled the government of Osun State to embark on total reconstruction and planning of some of its ancient cities for upward upgrade to modern cities that will attract visitors and tourists alike.

    This turnaround of the ancient cities to modern ones is part of massive Urban Renewal projects of the Rauf Aregbesola administration in the last five years.

    Nine cities were pencilled down for renewal at a go, a massive and ambitious project indeed for a state such as Osun.

    This giant initiative has once been described as the biggest exercise in the whole of Nigeria since United Nations’ Habitat began collaboration with states in Nigeria.

    Under this programme, cities in Osun State will witness a significant turnaround in planning, beautification, aesthetics and social facilities.

    Today, Osogbo, the Osun State capital, is gradually shedding its ancient toga and metamorphosing into modern city.

    To say that the city is undergoing noticeable change in a seamless fashion might be an understatement.

    Anybody who has not visited the state for some time now is bound to be taken aback by the consistent change the city has experienced.

    One huge area of change is the centre point of the city called Old Garage. The place used to be a hideout for criminals and miscreants. Dirty, unkempt and haphazardly planned!

    The city was an eyesore and unattractive to both towns’ people and visitors. But that was in the yesteryear.

    The situation has changed dramatically that people, who have not visited the state in the last couple of years now find it difficult to manoeuvre their ways round the city.

    It is no longer the dirty Old Garage but newly beautified Nelson Mandela Freedom Park. This recreation arena has astoundingly changed the terrain and landscape of the city.

    The usual dark waterlogged, dark alley, bloodshot-eyed hemp-smoking youths which used to be the pictorial views of Old Garage have all disappeared.

    Days and nights are no longer easily distinguishable in this city centre any time of the day one visits.

    Pleasantly expansive, the whole Freedom Park has been tarred and street-lit. Equipped with a big hall for restaurants, events arena and a water fountain called the Atewogbeja Water Fountain, the park provides fun seekers the opportunity to relax and enjoy the undiluted and pure air. The emerging scenery is fascinating even though it is nearing completion.

    The park has also been landscaped with lush green grasses and trees to make it environmentally and healthily friendly.

    The place is equally equipped with a garden and playground for people around the area as well as visitors.

    Besides, the park now serves as veritable venue for rallies, social and political events in the state – very large, accommodating and well-equipped for such occasions. Indeed, the Freedom Park has a hotel for visitors who want to spend their time entirely within this cosy environment.

    It serves for other social purposes such as Motor Park for travellers who did not wish to go in their personal cars.

    Now it is easier for them to drive into the park and take tickets for the custody and security of their cars by the park management until they return.

    Opposite the park is a motor park where commuters can pick a car to wherever they are going. The makes this a sort of business district while still performing the socio-recreational functions.

    Beyond the intended renewal, beautification, recreation, the Freedom Park creatively attracts people and tourists and serve other commercial purposes that are expected to enhance the revenue profile of the state government.

    It is this new innovation that the government of Aregbesola intends to extend to other eight cities in the state so that wherever a visitor to the state finds him or herself, he or she feels comfortable and finds where to relax and rest.

    This is a project to change the face of Osun State finally; transforming it into a modern city. Not one, not two, nine cities in the state!

     

  • The changing communication landscape

    If we are to understand truly how the Internet shape the way we communicate, it is essential that we seek to understand how different varieties of language are used on the Internet. No doubt, the explosion of social media has completely changed the way we communicate with each other in an era where change is rapid. Whether via laptop computers, advanced mobile devices, Wi-Fi or enhanced 4G wireless networks, we are more connected than ever to the people we know. While those who use to “do things the old way” marvel at how we were able to make progress before this era, others are subtly drawing our attention to areas to look into as the change progresses.

    I interacted with two lectures last week who intimated me with some of the challenges they face in marking and grading seminar and examination papers. They marveled that a substantial number of their students actually write seminar papers and examinations with abbreviations! Some in the extreme even write without punctuations marks or caps. Part of the problem, they believe, lie with the usage of social media. I had to sit down for more than an hour with them to understand what or how deep the problems are and their solutions.

    Even the staunchest critic of the internet and social media – if there really are any – will agree that this communications boom has more positive educational benefits than negatives. The issue now is how we manage some of the negative side effect like “cyber slang” which is suspected of damaging students’ writing acumen like these lecturers identified.

    Writing was once a solitary activity but now it has become a very social way to communicate. Before the Internet, most people wrote to communicate with just one individual. But now we reach hundreds or thousands of people with a single post.

    With the prevalence of smartphones and popularity of texting, chances are you may have been with someone who was there, but not quite there. It’s not uncommon to see people glued to their technology even in social settings. If you can’t recall a time this has happened, you might be the offender yourself. Though we’re no less social, we are more distracted. Putting down our social media connections to focus on the ones right in front of us is something that takes a real effort.

    The lecturers agreed that social media is definitely changing the way we communicate, but in many ways it’s for the better as we expand our social circles and explore new horizons through our online connections. But they are concerned about cyber slang which is a term used to describe shortcuts, alternative words, or even symbols used to convey thoughts in an electronic document.

    Because so many digital media limit the number of characters an author can use at a time, students are becoming more creative to get the most out of their limited space. Common cyber-slang terms that have made their way into popular speech include BFF (best friends forever), LOL (laugh out loud), OMG (oh my God; some say oh my gosh), FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and YOLO (You Only Live Once) and a host of others.

    “I think it makes sense for these social conversations to be lightweight or light-hearted in terms of the syntax,” one of them said. “But ultimately, in the world of academic or business and in the real world the students’ will live in – in terms of their jobs and professional lives – solid reading and writing skills are fundamental. I’m a little worried about where we are in Nigeria with literacy levels dropping. Are these electronic devices helping us, or making it worse? I think they may be going the other way and making it worse.”

    I understood his concerns, but pointed out that words from the social media have found their ways into the English dictionary. Ten years ago, who would have thought the word “trend” will become a verb (on Twitter we read “It’s trending worldwide”). Others still have emerged as we adapt our language to new technologies; how about “crowdfunding,” “selfie,” and “e-cigarette?”

    I guess readers might have noticed how many of these “new” words are actually just appropriated, meaning they are pre-existing words that are combined or given entirely new meanings. For example, “social network” became a word in the Oxford English Dictionary back in 1973, referring to the physical activity of networking in a social atmosphere. In the 1990s, people began using the term to refer to virtual engagement, and that became an official definition in 1998.

    As academics, I challenged them to conduct researches into how and why things are changing. I drew their attention to a research by Jacob Eisenstein and his colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA. Eisenstein conducted a study examining 30 million tweets sent from different locations in the U.S. from December 2009 to May 2011. The purpose of the study was to pinpoint the origin of popular slang words and track how they spread across the country. He came to the realisation that social media networks like Twitter allow linguists accurate and easily searchable records for exchanges.

    One of the banes of our current educational system is the dearth of quality research. Without research we cannot understand the origin or trend of a phenomenon. Eisenstein goal was to pinpoint the origin of popular slang words and track how they spread across the country. A Nigerian researcher can also track things here and see where some of the popular lingoes we use emanate from.

    Because of social media, words are moving around the world within weeks and months, whereas before, it could take a few years. Is it then that language is changing more quickly? I don’t think so, I believe technologies have developed and they allow the transmission of slang terms to pass from one group to another much more quickly.

    According to Fiona McPherson, Senior Editor in the New Words Group at the Oxford English Dictionary, the secret of a new word’s success is its longevity. She said a word must be in use for at least five years to be considered. So, whether we like it or not, when words like “LOL” become common, widespread, well understood, and stick around for more than five years, they’re eligible for a spot in the dictionary.

    As I conducted my own little research into our communication dynamics, I was able to discover that dictionary editors look to what people say when they vote on whether a word should have a place in their dictionary. Dictionaries are a valuable resource material, but they are human and they are not timeless meaning that they also can change just like the King James English changed.

    As a result of the IT revolution, there is a shift in reading practices from the paper page to the screen. This shift is more likely to occur especially among young people who grow up with computers. It will necessitate different psycholinguistic processes related to decoding information from a screen instead of a page, especially when the screen will be decoding words for the reader at the click of a finger or mouse.

    Similar to the changes in reading practices, changes are expected to be made in writing practices as well in pedagogical contexts involving the Internet. With the rapid changes brought about by globalisation and technological development, we have already entered the biggest language/linguistic revolution ever. Many people have learned to meet the demands of the new Internet conditions, such as e-mails, chat groups, Web pages, etc. The e-prefix must have been used in hundreds of expressions of people on a daily basis.

    The Oxford Dictionary of New Words had already noted e-text, e-cash, e-books, e-conferences, e-voting, e-loan, e-newsletters, e-cards, e-shop, etc. However, it is impossible to know how many of these e-expressions which originated with the Internet will remain in long-term use in the English language. We can only recognise and describe language change once it has occurred. Linguists have begun to investigate the linguistic properties of the so-called ‘electronic revolution’. Whether the way in which the English language is being used on the Internet is so different from previous linguistic behaviour, and should it be described as revolutionary.

  • 2015: Ebonyi political landscape gathers steam

    2015: Ebonyi political landscape gathers steam

    Sam Egburonu reports that the recent impeachment of the former  Speaker of House of Assembly and the battle for the successor of Governor Martin Elechi have added pep to the politics of Ebonyi State 

    In the past three weeks, since July 21, when 18 members of the state House of Assembly impeached the former Speaker, Hon. Chukwuma Nwazurunku, and replaced him with Hon. (Mrs.) Helen Nwaobashi, the political developments in Ebonyi State have been both interesting and intriguing.

    In fact, the political scene, which has remained calm and peaceful for a very long time, suddenly recorded high-wired violence that involved lawmakers.

    For example, within two days after the impeachment, two lawmakers were attacked, leading to tense political atmosphere that has left supporters of both the former Speaker and that of the new Speaker suspicious of one another.

    It began on Tuesday of the week, when a lawmaker, Hon. Nnenna Nweme, described by insiders as one of the strong supporters of the new Speaker, was attacked by some elements described as thugs.

    The next day, Wednesday, the Majority Leader of Ebony State House of Assembly, Hon. Samuel Nwali, was that afternoon abducted by unknown gunmen suspected to be kidnappers.

    Nwali, who is believed to be a strong supporter of the new Speaker, Hon. Helen Nwobasi, was kidnapped at his residence at Watchman Street in Abakaliki.

    Reports said that the kidnap of the House member, who represents Ikwo South State Constituency, may not be unconnected with the crisis rocking the House of Assembly over the impeachment of the former Speaker, Hon. Chukwuma Nwazunku.

    He was rescued by security operatives on Thursday morning “within the boundaries between Ikwo Local Government Area and Cross River State.”

    Ebonyi State Governor, Martin Elechi, as well as members of the State House of Assembly who are loyal to the Speaker-elect, was at the premises of the Ebonyi Directorate of State Services, DSS, to see the victim.

    In her maiden formal interaction with journalists Nwaobashi admitted that she never anticipated that the political landscape would swing around so much that she would emerge the Speaker at this point. “I never dreamed of becoming Speaker because we were only four women in the House. Even in the previous House of Assembly of which I was a member, there were only two of us with the other person, Hon. Dorothy Obasi, serving as Deputy Speaker. So my election as speaker came to me as a surprise but it provides hope to women in politics that the future is bright. Also my election as Speaker in an Assembly dominated by men, shows that the campaigns by the wife of President, Dame Patience Jonathan and Chief Josephine Elechi; for women participation in politics is bearing fruits. I think the men are beginning to see that women are not coming to compete but to complement their efforts in nation building. That is how I see my election as Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly,” she said.

    By insiders say the political development in the state is beyond the men in the House simply deciding to give the leadership to the current Speaker.

    “This current development is not by chance. No. It has to do with calculations for the 2015 elections. To achieve the expectation of some powerful political elements in the state, some officers and political forces considered as stumbling blocs have to be pushed aside. There would be a lot of changes in the political texture of this state before 2015. We all want obvious change,” said a top government official who pleaded not to be named.

    Nwaobashi herself, offering explanation on the process that threw her up has these to say: “The beauty of democracy is that it gives room for change. We were all elected in the first place to represent various constituencies in the State. That is to mean that all members are equal. The election of one person among us to serve as speaker or leader is just an administrative necessity for moderation and direction of debates and discussions in the plenary. The point I want to make is that the position of Speaker is by the grace and judgment of all members. Therefore if for any reason the members feel that the speaker or their leader is not behaving according to their expectations or begins to act as Lord, they exercise the right to change him or her. This is what happened. People should not forget this fact that it is the responsibility of members of the House of Assembly to choose who represents them as Speaker. You must have read the resolution of the House for the impeachment of the former Speaker. May be I should take your mind back to some of the reasons that prompted the removal of Hon Chukwuma Nwazunku from office as Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly. Majority of the members resolved that the former Speaker was conducting himself in a manner likely to cause a breach of the constitution by not ensuring that sittings were as frequent as to satisfy the demands of the Constitution. You can see with me that this is a grievous issue. The members saw this error and felt that the speaker was leading us into temptation such that at the end of the day we may be invited to sign for sittings we never had. The impeachment of Nwazunku therefore was the best way for the members to avoid a situation where we may be compelled by him to fill the sitting Attendance Register so as to escape the censure of the constitution and the wrath of those who elected us. So you can see that if after seven months of the year we were able to sit for just seventeen times, there was no way we could fulfill the 181 days stipulated in section 104 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So the members studied the situation and felt that the former Speaker was being distracted by his estate business and decided to change him. His impeachment followed the laid down procedures. The other reasons including incompetence, corrupt enrichment and violation of the code of conduct as spelt out in the constitution are also very weighty allegations. I think that is the much I can say for the process that brought about my election as Speaker.”

    Besides the impeachment saga, another issue that has added some pep to the politics of Ebonyi State is the issue of who would succeed Governor Martin Elechi. While the quest for a young governor after Elechi has dominated the demands of the youths, there is also the battle between the North and the South.

    It would be recalled that former governor Sam Egwu (North) handed over power to the incumbent, Governor Martin Elechi (Central). So, the calculation is that in 2015, power would move to the South, according to the principles of charter of equity. But some insiders say the camp even the governor’s family is divided over the candidate to hand over PDP ticket.

    Mazi Ukoma Udo, a community leader in Ebony South however told The Nation on Thursday that “Governor Elechi assured us that it was the turn of the old Afikpo bloc to produce his successor.  Since the proclamation, the Izzi clan has tightened her belts to ensure a twist, so that the southern agenda does not materialise. But we will not allow such a game plan.”

    Given these intrigues, Ebonyi political landscape has suddenly gathered steam ahead 2015.

  • The changing political landscape

    The winner in the current bid by three of the major political parties to merge into one formidable force can only be the people, the voting public. If the registration id succeeds, there would be a real choice in 2015. It could force the hands of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at throwing some dividends at the people. It would also force candidates of both parties to come up with some issues and, for once, it could be payback time.

    As things stand today, the allies are stronger in many parts of the country. In the Northwest, the tendency that started to manifest at the last election has come full circle. Clearly, the governors, representing the dominant tendencies in Jigawa, Sokoto, Kano and Kebbi States, all currently controlled by the PDP, have spoken eloquently.

    Their voices have not been muffled. Alhaji Sule Lamido of Jigawa was not stingy in declaring how the voting at the Nigerian Governors Forum went. He named the nine PDP governors who voted against Jonah Jang, the president’s choice who also got the backing of the party establishment. The governors dared Jang and Tukur and, when the party attempted to bare a non-existent fang, they threatened to prove that politics remains a game of numbers. The suspension of Wamakko had to be rescinded shamefacedly.

    It is a forerunner of what to expect in the days ahead. The Northwest is dead against a second-term Jonathan presidency and has shown that it would throw everything into the battle.

    This is coming after the northeast had demonstrated that it would go with any other party but PDP. A political history of the region which follows its traditional history indicates that PDP may have lost its hold forever.

    In 1999, the Northern opposition party All Peoples Party won in Borno, Yobe and Gombe States. The PDP won in the rest. Earlier, in 1991, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was victorious at the polls in Borno, Yobe and Taraba States, while the National Republican Convention (NRC) was consoled with control of Bauchi and Adamawa. In the Second Republic, the Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP) controlled Borno (now Borno and Yobe) and Gongola (now Adamawa and Taraba States), leaving Bauchi (now Bauchi and Gombe).

    The upcoming All Progressives Congress (APC), if it plans well and devices a winning formula, is poised to benefit from the anti-PDP feelings in the two far Northern states, more so in the Northeast where the people are naturally progressive. A division in the conservative bloc would therefore be a blessing to the new party.

    Unless there is an earthquake before 2015, the doors to the Southwest are shut against Jonathan and his party. The region is the bedrock of progressive politics and merely strayed from the line for a while following a perception that the Alliance for Democracy, and later the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) are too narrow to pose any threat to the national ruling party.

    The PDP remains dominant in the Northcentral, Southsouth and the Southeast. However, the APC is waxing stronger in the Northcentral with the support it has in Niger and Kwara States. The weal leadership being provided by Jonah Jang in Plateau makes it vulnerable.

    At no point in the contemporary political history of Nigeria is the opposition party in a strong position to displace the ruling party than the APC is now. Contrary to the sentiments expressed by President Jonathan that the party should win in 23 states in the general elections of 2015, the party is certainly much weaker today than it was in 2011. Then, many voted along lines dictated by sectarian values. He won even in the Southwest. But, with some unguarded utterances from him and failure to perform to the expectation of the people, it is very unlikely that he would benefit from such primordial sentiments this time.

    My interest in the direction victory would go in 2015 stems from the need to cure the polity of the dangerous ailment, impunity. True, it could be said that most of those on the political scene today were raised together. However, it has been shown that the environment means much in politics. Whoever emerges a leader in the Southwest, for example, is moved to shout the Awo slogan and thus influenced by the tradition. This is so in the current dispensation.

    I am convinced that a displacement of the PDP from the centre could only promote development as the succeeding administration would realise that the same treatment could be meted to it by the electorate if it fails the test.

     

  • Freedom Park and Osun’s changing landscape

    Freedom Park and Osun’s changing landscape

    SIR: Having lived in Osogbo in the past seven years and I can attest to the massive government projects going on in last one and a half year or so. Although these projects, especially the road dualisation starting from Old-Garage, have had a disruptive impact on the life we have been used to in Osogbo, but I’m taking it in my stride as well as many others. However, I am particularly impressed by the development of the rail terminal at Old-Garage because I am very familiar with that area, which is my major route of operations.

    The Old-Garage rail terminus, like many others around the country, had for long been allowed to lapse into a state of disrepair. But just a little over a year ago the place started witnessing resuscitation which culminated in the launch of the Aregbesola train sometime in April last year. I had thought that would be the end of the story. I was wrong. Few months later, the bulldozers came calling on the mini-shanty settlement that had developed in and around the rail terminal; and as if one was in a dream the slum had simply disappeared and the placed had been swept clean.

    As if that was not enough new sets of earth-movers, popularly called caterpillars in these parts, came on site with workers who began clearing, digging, shovelling, levelling and paving. The result is that, today, from the ashes of the old sum, a new landscape has risen, called Freedom Park. I find its sheer beauty stunning, to say the least. This is probably because I’m still finding it hard to erase from my memory the ugliness of the dead slum that had given way to the new park. The rail terminal is now a carefully paved and macadamised platform with clearly marked-out parking spaces, complemented by a giant electronic screen where residents can be entertained by satellite TV programmes such as the more comfortable enjoy in the cosiness of their sitting rooms.

    The park’s real beauty comes out at night when the bluish-white flood lights beam down on the vast space. Another impressive side attraction for me is the seal of the state government and the phrase, ‘Osun a dara’, that are beautifully and clearly engraved in stone on one side of the park. The park also serves the additional purpose of separating vehicular traffic coming from Okefia and heading towards Olaiya intersection away from that heading towards Aiyetoro and Igbono, thereby reducing the bottleneck that builds up at the rail crossing.

    The new park is now the talk of the town and it’s a compelling site for those seeing it for the first time. To my mind, if this is what this government is all about, then I think the people of Osun State are in for a new era of positive development.

     

    • Titi Ajayi (Mrs)

    Ilesa, Osun State

     

  • Mo Ibrahim Index: Africa’s famished leadership landscape

    Mo Ibrahim Index: Africa’s famished leadership landscape

    It must be embarrassing to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and humiliating to the African continent that no one was found eligible this year to be awarded the Mo Ibrahim Prize for good governance, which is given annually to a democratically elected leader who voluntarily quits office after registering great impact on his country. The award was instituted in 2006 by the communications entrepreneur and billionaire businessman of Sudanese origin, Mo Ibrahim. So far, only three former leaders have won the $5 million prize: Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique (2007), Festus Mogae of Botswana (2008), and Pedro Pires of Cape Verde (2011). In the past four years, there has been only one winner, with the foundation declaring that it failed to give it in 2009, 2010, and now 2012 because it would not compromise leadership excellence, which the prize rewards.

    Along with the inability of the foundation to give the award this year, it also issued its report on good governance, which it said reflected only a marginal improvement over previous years. Entitled the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), it uses 88 indicators supplied by 23 independent data providers from inside and outside Africa. The foundation reports, among other things: “While governance continues to improve in many countries, some of Africa’s regional powerhouses – Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa – have shown unfavourable governance performance since 2006. Over the past six years, all four countries have declined in two of the four main IIAG categories – Safety & Rule of Law and Participation & Human Rights. Each of these four countries deteriorated the most in the Participation sub-category, which assesses the extent to which citizens have the freedom to participate in the political process. South Africa and Kenya have also registered declines in Sustainable Economic Opportunity. And Nigeria, West Africa’s powerhouse, has for the first time this year fallen into the bottom ten governance performers on the continent.”

    While the four powerhouses have proved a major disappointment to many analysts, Nigeria is understandably the main focus for Nigerians. It would have been a surprise to rate Nigeria highly given how brutish life has become in the country. It is hoped that rather than join issues with the foundation, Nigerian leaders, particularly their abrasive and unrestrained spokesmen, would see the report as a true reflection of the situation in the country and an encouragement to spare no effort at reversing the negative image insecurity, destabilisation of the judiciary, extra-judicial killings, and political exclusion have brought upon her.

    South Africa’s poor rating is also not surprising, as readers of this column must have expected. This column in 2008, it will be recalled, regretted the leadership change in South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) that brought in Mr Jacob Zuma, whom it described as distracted and sometimes frivolous, in place of the aloof intellectual, Mr Thabo Mbeki. Almost immediately Zuma became President of South Africa in 2009, his country’s image began to fare very badly in the face of his superficiality, social indiscretions and political blunders.

    As the Mo Ibrahim Prize indicates, Africa is indeed a famished continent with few leaders of enviable reputation. Increasingly, the Foundation will find it harder to give the prize, and harder still not to lower its standards or compromise excellence as it vowed. Take Nigeria, for instance. In its more than five decades of independence, it has had only one leader out of 13 who vacated office in line with constitutional provisions – Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. But if Obasanjo fooled himself that he left office willingly, or that, as his praise singers chorused, he impacted positively on the country in line with the Mo Ibrahim Index, he fooled no one else. He left office groaning so loudly that the whole world noticed his pains. Even if the African leadership award were to suffer some little compromise and he was favourably considered, Hardball would himself lead the protest.