The Nation Newspaper

Tag: looming

  • Looming infamy in Republic of Benin

    The Republic of Benin formerly known as Dahomey is an important country to us in Nigeria. The country is our immediate western neighbour with whom our country shares 800 kilometres of land border from the southern part to mid-northern part of our country. In addition, the two countries have some ethnic groups in common. In the south, the Yoruba people in Egbado and Badagry divisions have their kith and kin in the Republic of Benin, while in the northern part of the country, the Baribas in Borgu division are the same people with the Baribas in the Republic of Benin. The separation of people with the same cultural and linguistic affinities into two or three countries in Africa unfortunately came about as a result of the infamous partition of Africa by the European colonial powers at the Berlin conference of 1884. In view of the close proximity of Republic of Benin to Nigeria, a lot of trade goes on between the two countries, majority of which are predicated on unwholesome smuggling of goods between the two countries at the porous border between the two countries. It is therefore no exaggeration to say that the vibrancy of the economy of the republic depends mainly on its trade with Nigeria.

    As a big neighbour, Nigeria should feel concerned at the developing unsavoury political situation in the country which started when the present president of the country, Patrice Talon took over power in 2016. Patrice Talon took over power from the cool and calm, Thomas Boni Yayi who ruled the country from 2006 to 2016. While Boni Yayi during his tenure had friendly relationship with Nigeria and showed appreciation for the contributions of Nigeria to his country’s development, Patrice Talon has so far been indifferent to Nigeria.

    On taking over power in 2016, Talon promised constitutional reforms but unfortunately from recent events in his country, some of the reforms especially those related to elections were designed to bring back the Republic of Benin to the past political infamy in the country, which was characterised by the discredited one-party system. In the preparation for the parliamentary elections that took place in that country on April 28, only two parties, the Progressive Union and the Republican parties linked to President Talon were registered.  The other five parties linked to the opposition were not registered by the election commission controlled by the president. This undemocratic action led to massive protests led by two former Presidents, Nicephore Soglo and Boni Yayi. Despite these protests, the election commission did not relent and went ahead to conduct the parliamentary elections with two registered ‘government parties’. In this election, only 23% of the electorates voted compared with 65% in the previous elections and this turnout, showed clearly that the majority of the people of the republic rejected President Talon’s plan to surreptitiously foist his favoured parties on them.

    After the parliamentary election in which the Progressive Union won 47 seats to Republican Party’s 36 seats, there were riots in many towns in the republic especially in Cotonou, the country’s capital. At present, Yayi Boni the immediate past president of the country is more or less under house arrest,  as security forces have blocked access to his residence in Cotonou. The president of Ivory Coast, Alhassan Quattara has tried to broker a peace deal by having talks with President Talon and the opposition groups. The UN and ECOWAS have also waded in to solve the political crisis, but there is no solution in sight because of the intransigence of Talon. The Republic of Benin should not be allowed to descend to the political infamy of the past. Before the present political dispensation in the country,  which started in 1991 with the election of Nicephore Soglo as president, the country acquired for itself  the notoriety of having the highest number of coup d’état in Africa then. The country after its independence in 1960 had military incursions into its governance in 1963, 1965, 1967 and 1972. The last one was staged by the mercurial and despotic Mathieu Kerekou, who banned all the political parties and later imposed one party rule with ill-digested and little understood Marxism-Leninism as the country’s ideology. Kerekou ruled his hapless country till 1991, and he was one of the brutal dictators that littered the  political landscape of Africa in the seventies and eighties.  He was swept out of power by the democratic wave that later swept over Africa. Incidentally, Kerekou also benefitted from the democratic dispensation in his country by becoming democratically elected president from 1996 to 2006. His first election in 1996, was massively supported financially  by Sani  Abacha, the fiendish dictator in Nigeria at that time, who found the progressive Nicephore  Soglo  as an irritant because he helped the NADECO people from Nigeria to escape his draconian rule.

    The people of the Republic of Benin like their Nigerian counterparts are lovers of freedom and democracy. Although it is one the poorest country in the world, the Beninese are the most articulate people among the people of the former Francophone countries in Africa. The country has many highly educated people spread all over the former Francophone countries,  and from the recent events in their country, it is obvious that they detest dictatorship and they do not want to go back to the dark era of one-party system first foisted on them by Mathieu Kerekou.  Patrice Talon should not be allowed to bring back this ugly past,

    I will like to end this piece with a little digression. For the past few months, the people of Mozambique in the Southern part of our continent had been having harrowing and devastating experience with massive flooding of their country. The pictures of the sordid situations beamed on international television networks are pathetic, and these had caught as usual, the attention of international donors from America and Europe who had rushed down to help the unfortunate people of Mozambique. Red Cross and UNICEF are also doing their bits to bring relief to the people.  Unfortunately, I missed African Union and designated agencies for disaster relief in Africa in action in the Mozambique debacle. It seems we Africans are not our ‘brothers’ keepers’ when it comes to disaster management in Africa, as in most situations we leave this humanitarian aspect to foreigners to help our brothers in need. I know most countries in Africa are facing acute self-inflicted economic problems and Nigeria which has been in forefront  of helping in the past to bring peace through his military to many parts of Africa is  itself facing horrendous humanitarian disasters at home. However, despite our problems at home, it is my considered opinion that our presence should be felt in Mozambique even if it is in a small way. After all, recently our country gave a whopping $500,000 to Guinea Bissau to ‘strengthen its democracy’ which has been truncated many times by the ambitious military men. Any help given to Mozambique at this time, to alleviate the tremendous humanitarian problems facing the country to me would have been better appreciated than the help recently given to Guinea Bissau which has no culture of democracy. It is not too late for Nigeria to help Mozambique in this hour of need as this is a way  for our country to exercise its  leadership in Africa.

     

    • Professor Lucas writes from Old Bodija, Ibadan.

     

  • VAT increase: Looming yellow vests?

    SIR: Nigerian workers always posit that “their take-home pay does not take them home”. Such is the tale of the Nigerian worker – who lives miserly because he earns poorly. The federal government has now remarkably increased workers’ minimum wage.

    The government has hinted that it will increase Value Added Tax (VAT) to fund the new wage. This suggests that government has no sufficient funding for national expenses which spurs certain necessary logical inquires: Given that citizens pay taxes to fund public utility, then, what exactly gulps government’s spending? Has Nigeria maximized revenue potentials and why so, if not? Also, should VAT increase?

    Some countries have revenue problem, some others, have spending problem only. Nigeria has both. Additionally, Nigeria undergoes another third problem of a dangerously accelerating debt profile. Public debt accrues to N24.4trillion, presently. In three years only, external debt soared by $11.77bn at a percentile rate of 114.05 while over 50% of Nigeria’s revenue goes to debt servicing.

    The reality of a nation having to badly survive on borrowed money speaks volume of an ailing economy.

    For a stretched epoch, the dominant source of Nigeria’s revenue has been the crude oil. Once, the country accrued significant revenue through agriculture but the crude oil soon displaced it. Inescapably, need arose to diversify income due to the volatility of oil prices globally.

    Government implemented tax laws and tax reform policies intermittently. VAT was introduced, FIRS launched electronic tax remittance system, recently, government established the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) through which it purposed to generate USD1 billion by waiving criminal prosecution and other penalties for taxpayers who willingly report undeclared income.

    Despite the reforms, nothing really has changed. Tax remittance is yet enmeshed in long-drawn-out procedures, tax laws and tax policies are disjointed and cumbersome, there is low tax education as a result, also; multiplicity of taxes and ultimately, revenue is yet low.

    VAT is charged at 5% presently; a rate which government has argued is low. But given Nigeria’s economic condition, there are no justifications to increase the rate. According to Steve Hanke, Nigeria ranks sixth most miserable country in the world, world poverty clock says more than 91 million Nigerians, close to half of the country’s population, live in extreme poverty and every one minute, six Nigerians become poor. VAT is tax charged on the purchase price of a commodity. With VAT increase, prices of goods and services are bound to soar and such decision would be ill-intended and detrimental.

    The therapy to the dwindling Nigerian economy is for the country to urgently refashion itself to become a competitive producing economy.

    Any nation must solve three basic life problems; what to produce, how to produce and for whom to produce. Need for goods and services cannot end. Nations which meet these needs acquire economic strength. During the period of oil boom, Nigeria garnered massive wealth, because it met the oil demand, even though in crude form.

    Notably, industrialization fuels production because earth-moving vessels will outdo easily, cheaply and quickly too, what a hundred people will do manually. To gain technical know-how into the workings of complex machines and to be able to build new ones, human capital is essential. This is why qualitative education is non-negotiable for Nigerians. Education should be accessible for all and schooling curriculums should tilt towards technical and technological brainstorming. That way, Nigeria’s vast population would become its fortune.

    Taxation can even turn in more. Strategic coalesce of the numerous tax categories would enhance simplified tax procedures and tax education. The law should also fully have a free course against tax evaders.

    Much as Nigeria needs revenue boosting, the country needs to be circumspect with spending; and this is a problem with both government and citizens. Enough of depleting foreign reserve by importing $18 million toothpicks yearly or $400 million tomato pastes or ridiculously continuing to import Pizza from the UK. The country has to drop the inglorious notoriety of running an expensive government at the expense of a meteoric debt profile.

    There is a limit to which any government anywhere in the world may forge ahead with an adverse policy under the guise that implementing such policy is in the best interest of the people. When President Macron of France declared that a climatic policy would inform fuel tax increase, the president’s popularity quickly declined, citizens finding the tax policy unfavorable. In no time, rowdy crowd wearing Yellow Vets littered France in protest.

    Raising VAT to fund wage increase is mixed blessing and whether yellow vests or a yellow card; it will elicit a thumbs down from the Nigerian masses that are already bearing the brunt of economic hardship and need rescue.

     

    • Tope Akinyode, Lagos.

  • Oil marketers warn on looming fuel scarcity

    The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said it is concerned about the looming fuel scarcity due to non-availability of petroleum products at the depot.

    In a communiqué, the Chairman of IPMAN Ibadan Chapter, Alhaji Raheem Tayo, said the association was worried about the situation of fuel supply in Ibandan, Oyo State capital, which had persisted in spite of the intervention of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    Tayo said the Federal Government  had made substantial re-investment through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to resurrect the Ibadan depot, which had been moribund for more than two years.

    According to him, the development culminated in the inauguration of the depot by the NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, last October 4.

    Tayo also said with the inauguration of the depot, followed massive pumping of petroleum products, mainly premium motor spirit (PMS) to the depot, which directly led to increased activity.

    Tayo said: “The loading of petroleum product was so well unhindered, thus wetting all the nooks and crannies of the depot’s jurisdiction of operation, which eventually led to cessation of fuel scarcity.

    “The primary factor that made the depot go under for some years was because of pipeline vandalism. Pipeline vandalism seems not to have been well taken care of as its resurgence becomes more daring thereby threatening another total closure of the depot with serious consequences to the supply of petroleum to the depot.

    “Loading activities, which was on the high side, progressively reduced on daily basis up until July 26, 2018 when loading activities stopped at the NNPC Ibadan depot.’’

  • Youths raise the alarm over looming boundary clash in Ekiti

    YOUTHS of Ikere-Ekiti in Ekiti State have warned troublemakers against perpetrating violence in the town. They also warned residents against sparking a communal strife between the town and nearby Ado-Ekiti kicking against any alleged attempt to annex Fagbohun community, which they maintained belongs to Ikere. Rising from a meeting under the aegis of Supreme Council of Ikere Youths (SCIY), they regretted that frequent crises in the town in the name of chieftaincy struggle and political violence are driving investors away.

    In a communique issued at the end of the meeting jointly signed by Oluyede Oluremi, Chairman, Communique Drafting Committee; Akeem Adewale and Adeniyi Ogunrinde, SCIY stressed the need to secure Ikere, ensure unity and create development enabling environment for entrepreneurs wishing to establish businesses. The statement reads in part: ‘’We warn that Ikere traditional institution should not be tampered with having spanned over 500 years with Ogoga of Ikere as the paramount ruler; any attempt to split the kingdom may heat up the polity and cause unrest.

    “The council noted that the area called Fagbohun along Ado-Ekiti Road belongs to Ikere as an important part of her territory. “It charged all residents around the area not to stir a friction between Ado and Ikere through some of their sign posts which often signify that the area was part of the state capital.” They also called on political parties to consider picking their candidates from the community, which they described as the largest in Ekiti South senatorial district that had not produced a governor since the state was created 21 years ago.

  • Obasanjo warns of looming youth anger

    Obasanjo warns of looming youth anger

    •Ex-president: don’t wish us dead because you still need us

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is worried about the anger and frustration of youths.

    He said if the youth’s anger is not well-managed, it could lead to an “explosion”.

    Obasanjo spoke yesterday at the Youth Governance Dialogue organised by the Youth Development Centre, an arm of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

    He lamented that youths were not getting the required help.

    The former president noted that while his generation had “limitless opportunities but no facilities” in their time, the youth of today “have facilities but little or no opportunities”.

    He cited the insurgency in the Northeast, the separatist agitators in the Southeast and militancy in the Niger Delta region as manifestations of anger and frustrations from disillusioned youths.Obasanjo warned that should anger of youths erupt, there might be no limit to the extent it could spread.

    He appealed to the youth to work hard to help themselves and be ready to pay the price for the right cause they believe.

    But he said despite all odds, the youth still remained his greatest hope for Nigeria.

    Obasanjo noted that when he left secondary school, he received letters of appointments from five establishments and wondered whether any Nigerian university graduate could have such opportunities today.

    He pleaded with the nation’s youth  not to wish  the  elders dead, saying they need the elders as mentors and advisers in their journey of life.

    “Don’t wish us dead; don’t wish us to disappear because you will need us. You need us as mentors and advisers to mentor and prepare you for the future. You need the experience and assistance of some of us to guide you through life.

    “You should not lose hope, you should not feel frustrated. Whenever I go, they always ask me what is my fear about Nigeria and Africa. And I said my greatest fear is youth anger, frustrations and youth explosion, which have no bound.

    “We have the Boko Haram in the North, the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the Southeast, the militants in the Niger Delta and the Oodua Peoples Congress in the Southwest. All of these are expression of anger and frustrations.

    “We have what it takes to be great as a nation and we can’t transform this country without the youth. My greatest hope in this country is also the youth. You the youth should work to help yourselves. You must be ready to pay the price for what you stand for,” Obasanjo said.

    The lead speaker and former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Osita Chidoka who  spoke on the theme: “Towards a Guiding Political Philosophy for a Democratic Nigeria,” advised that the nation’s leaders should  build a society that harness human and material resources effectively, provide equal opportunities and develop capacity for innovation.

    Chidoka proposed a new charter for the country, saying the charter should contain reasons for the country’s unity, and which guarantees the basic rights, privileges and obligations of citizens.

    “Our national aspirations should inspire the next generation and provide them with the existential meaning of Nigeria; a meaning that transcends geography, natural resources and ethnicity. To grow Nigeria, we must build a society that harness human resources, provides equal opportunities and develop capacity for innovation.

    Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, who spoke on the topic:”Preparing Successor Generation for Effective Participation in Governance”, urged leaders to put structure in place for the youth to advance to position of leadership.

    “We cannot keep calling them the leaders of tomorrow without ensuring that we put in place deliberate measures that will aid their quest for public service.

    “Sometimes candour and youthful excitement can cause as much harm as the most venal form of corruption.

    “We have to find the means to reduce unemployment. There is no doubt that the current diversification policy of President Buhari government will eventually provide broader opportunities for self-employment,” Tambuwal said.

     

  • Looming displacement in Jigawa

    SIR: Yakubu Mato is a peasant farmer in Danmadai village under Gagarawa Local Government Area of Jigawa State. Like hundreds of thousands of people living in this semi-arid, Sahel-savannah region, Yakubu relies on subsistent farming to earn a living for his large family of 27. Every rainy season, he grows millet, guinea corn and sorghum for food, as well as cash crops like sesame seeds and sorrel or local zobo, which he sells to earn cash which he uses to cater for his family needs.  The people of this area have no other occupation or ways of earning a living, apart from this rain-induced farming that normally lasts for three months.

    This had been the way of life in the area until one Chinese businessman convinced the state government to sell him 12,000 hectares (about 22 kilometres, cutting across 36 communities) of the farmers’ land, ostensibly to grow sugarcane on commercial scale. But then, as they say, the devil is in the detail; this “investment” has raised so many unanswered questions and suspicions.

    First of all, the state government rushed and unilaterally issued a certificate of land ownership on the said land to the Chinese company without bothering to consult the affected landowners, despite the fact that this is solely a private investment by a private company in which the state government has no share or partnership agreement. Ideally, the state government should only play the role of an observer, allowing the Chinese firm to meet the farmers one on one to purchase the land directly from them, and, as the representative of its people, to make sure the citizens are not cheated or short-changed in the process. Instead, the government is acting as an agent of the Chinese company, and resorted to employing threat and intimidation to force the farmers to accept this land grab deal and surrender their lands of ancestry to a foreigner.  This is a company that has no history in farming or sugarcane growing business.

    Why is the state government insisting on full ownership of the land by the Chinese business man, instead of going for outgrower scheme as obtained in other places, where the local farm owners would be empowered to grow the crops on their land and then sell the products to the Chinese firm? Why can’t they acquire the land on a lease arrangement in which the farmers’ fear of losing their lands would be assuaged? What benefit will the state or the people derive from this that the government is staking everything, including its goodwill and popularity, to make sure this unpopular arrangement gets through, even at the expense of its own citizens?

    We are more concerned about the imminent consequences of this unwise decision by the state government. If the Chinese succeed in taking over this vast land, there will be a massive displacement of the people whose entire existence depends on their farms. It is estimated that about 160,000 people would lose their means of livelihood across the four local government areas of Gagarawa, Taura, Garki and Sule Tankarkar, with over 80 per cent of them within Gagarawa local government.  I wonder what sense of development would lead a government to displace this huge number of people in the name of bringing a foreign investor! Shouldn’t development be people-centred? And what is so beneficial in locating sugarcane plantation in the state when weighed against the resultant consequences of human displacement? Have the state government officials that are so overtaken by the euphoria of investment ever pondered on this?

    Government’s dreary argument that it is taking the land on the “overriding public interest” is laughable. When did a private person’s business enterprise become a matter of overriding public interest? And, which provision of the Land Use Act says a government can take land from a private individual and give to another person? This is clearly an infringement of the rights of these hapless masses by the very government they worked hard to bring into power.

    Democratic governments, anywhere in the world, are elected to serve and protect the interest of their people against all odds. But, is the current action by the Jigawa State government in tandem with or a direct opposite to this lofty essence of democracy?

     

    • Hamisu Gumel,

    Gumel, Jigawa State.

  • The looming cattle war in Nigeria

    The looming cattle war in Nigeria

    Let those in authority quickly find the right solutions so we do not have another civil war on our hands

    Consistent with my  belief that a Pan-Nigerian resolution of the Fulani herdsmen’s menace, under the lead of President Muhammadu Buhari, rather than piecemeal  and abrasive reactions to their sundry attacks  should be the way out of this dangerous matter, I wrote as follows in: ‘Chief Olu Falae: Matters Arising, 15 October, 2015 : ‘the most rabid of humanity should never have had the audacity to put Chief Falae through such ordeal and the nation on such tenterhooks that the President had to intervene. Unfortunately, sad and nauseating as that is, it is the saner part of this very unfortunate incident as what emerged later as the Afenifere reaction was totally embarrassing. So uncharacteristic was it  that  you begin to wonder if it was coming from  the same elders who wined and dined with the avatar, Chief Obafemi  Awolowo. For Awo had a template as was  captured by Idowu Samuel,  Wednesday, 15 September 2010,  in the article: Obafemi Awolowo: One prediction, one democracy in which he wrote: “When Awo stepped out to speak, the shout of ‘’Awooo…! would be thunderous and almost endless. Papa would pause for more than 30 minutes to gain control. He had to do it, sensing that the message he was to pass was germane, eternal and compelling. Awo’s style was simple, direct and aimed at the amelioration of the problem. He would draw attention, complete with verifiable facts and figures, indicate the likely consequences if situation is left unattended to, and then prescribe ways out of the problem”.

    For him, decisions were never taken on the spur of the moment.

    Again relying on  the lessons of history, this time around, the ill consequences arising from King Yunfa, the Hausa Sarkin in Gobir  hosting  a Fulani immigrant  named Usman Dan Fodiyo and his group in February 1804, his murder and how his kingdom  was  subsequently  taken over by Fulanis and renamed Sokoto Caliphate,  and the Afonja story in nearby Ilorin, I suggested in: “Neither Grazing Reserves Nor Ranches –Let History Be Our Guide”, May 15, 2-016, that neither should be cited in any part of Southern Nigeria.  I took this position in view of the well-known Fulani expansionist tendencies which will make  the presence of  Fulani communities  everywhere  all over the country extremely dangerous, in my view.

    Given my opposition to Afenifere’s banning of  Fulani herdsmen from the Southwest in the wake of Chief Falae’s kidnap as enumerated above, my initial  take on  Governor Fayose’s reaction  to the  totally  unprovoked  herdsmen’s attack on  a peaceful Oke-Ako  community  in the state was to see it  as  precipitate, unhelpful and, indeed, dangerous to both the state and Nigeria.  But  I have withdrawn these comments until I have reactions correcting the contents  of   a  report by the Chinua Achebe Center for Leadership and Development (CACLD), key areas of which Nigerians must see to know the danger on our hands.  Titled: ‘Fulani Herdsmen Killings; Modus Operandi, Those Involved & Possible Solutions, it is a very damning report, and  the onus is on those  implicated to let  Nigerians, nay  the world,  know  the truth.

    The report begins: “For a long time, the Nigerian state has been under siege by Fulani herdsmen terrorists operating under a predictable pattern of reconnaissance, attack and withdrawal, leading to many deaths and social dislocations. Since January 2016, there have been documented deaths of approximately 1000 Nigerians from these  coordinated Fulani herdsmen attacks.  They claimed to have dispatched a fact finding team to the Southeastern part of the country to unravel the intricacies and complexities of the Fulani terrorist group; a group, they say,  is rated as the fourth most dangerous by respected international conflict organizations (According to the Global Terrorism Index 2015 report; “Fulani militants” killed 1,229 people in 2014 — up from 63 in 2013, Making them the “fourth most deadly terrorist group”).

    These, the report said, are their findings:

    1. The Fulani herdsmen terrorists are Fulanis but mostly non-Nigerians with only about ten percent of them being Nigerians and live within the Hausa Fulani communities in Ama-Hausa and Garki’s in the South East and South-south regions. They are employees of Fulani cattle owners, who imported them from places like Chad, Niger etc.
    2. The Fulani Herdsmen terrorists do not own cattle: Fulani herdsmen killers’ major job description is just to kill. They do not own any cattle. Most of them are employed as “security men” whose job is strictly to protect the cattle.
    3. The Ama-Hausas and Garkis harbor 80% of the Fulani herdsmen killers. The Garkis are mostly Hausas but within them, the Fulani herdsmen killers reside. They are young, less religious with most using drugs and consuming alcohol. They are mostly from Chad, Niger, and other Fulani enclaves outside the Nigerian state. A small percentage of these Fulani youths are Nigerians born in the states where they reside. They lead these Fulanis on their regular rampage.
    4. The Fulani herdsmen that accompany cattle from the North to the South per season do not own cattle. They are owned by prominent Fulani leaders in the country. Most Nigerian Fulanis are no longer migratory herdsmen, but big men in Nigerian politics and business but still maintain their ownership of cattle. Instead of investing in ranches and buying of grasses from the South, they chose the cheaper alternative of having their kinsmen, imported from outside the country.

    5.There are about 5 million Fulani  in Nigeria out of which 3 million are Nigerians. The rich Fulani’s own almost all the cattle being reared in Nigeria. The remaining 40 percent, mostly peasants, are from outside the country.

    In Garki and Ama-Hausa settlements all over the country, there exist a few Nigerian Fulanis (some are born in these states) who coordinate the cattle business. Lastly, there is a group of Fulani herdsmen who rear the cattle from the north to the south. They only carry arrows and machetes to help them navigate the bushes on their way down to the South.

    1. Fulani Herdsmen Attack.

    We learned from the surrounding communities and from some of the Hausa elders about what constitutes a Fulani herdsmen attack. According to information we received, when there is a disagreement between host communities, or between herdsmen and farmers, the Fulani herdsmen who accompany the cattle will locate the nearest Fulani settlement and if there is none, they will locate the nearest Garki or Ama Hausa. When they arrive, they will narrate their story. The Fulani Nigerian middlemen cattle managers will notify the owners which in this case, include top politicians and others.  If an attack is sanctioned, then modalities will be mapped out and a date will be chosen for the attack. Most times, Fulani herdsmen in the military and police are notified and everyone sends a representative. Neighboring settlements send out representatives and arms cache are opened and arms are distributed to the participants. The major participants are the 20 to 40 Fulani herdsmen who reside in the Garkis and Ama Hausas. These are the Fulani warriors whose job is to kill.

    During an attack, every Fulani person in the area knows there will be an attack and all will contribute to make sure it goes on successfully. Fulanis in the higher levels of the military will ensure all commands under them stand down, and the top Fulani police officers will do the same – (no wonder you never hear of arrests, however heinous the attack and no matter, how many killed). The road is then clear for the Fulani herdsmen to carry out their attacks.

    1. Solution

     Many natives the team spoke to suggested the following as solution: ban grazing, establish ranches for the cattle in the north, let the cattle owners pay the southerners to harvest grass and send to the north. With this, everyone would be pleased with the outcome. This solution is expected to generate 1 million jobs in the South and about 500,000 jobs in the North. Also Fulani herdsmen terror will be totally eliminated.

    I am sure neither Afenifere nor those non-Fulanis who reacted to my articles claiming they own cattle know jack about these things. I went to this length to let those in authority quickly find the right solutions so we do not have another civil war on our hands in Nigeria.

  • Looming disaster

    •Lagos State must do something urgently to avert epidemic at Iponri

    If the report on the deplorable condition of the sewage plant servicing the Iponri Housing Estate, Surulere, Lagos, is indeed true, then a serious health and environmental disaster looms over the estate, which harbours over 500 residents if something is not done urgently by the appropriate authorities. The sewage plant built to evacuate dirty water from the soakaway on a regular basis, has been non-functional for the past three months. The implication is that the estate is frequently flooded by effluents from the soakaway, causing a foul odour that pervades the entire area.

    According to the President of Iponri Housing Estates Residents Association, Mr Abdul Razaq Osho, the sewage plant was impeded from functioning when the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) cut its power supply due to unpaid electricity bills by the Lagos State government. In his words, “The sewage plant has been under the government care since we bought flats in this estate and the government has not told us it can no longer maintain it. Presently, the dirty water has flooded everywhere in the estate. We cannot even pass some routes because of the flood”.

    Should Nigerians be frequently subjected to this kind of experience? We feel in particular for the children forced to live in that kind of environment with impassable roads and a foul odour perpetually in the air.

    If the Lagos State government maintains the sewage plant as representatives of the Iponri housing estate claim, it becomes necessary to find out which arm of government is responsible for the plant. And also which officials should have ensured prompt payment of the plant’s electricity bills to EKEDC to avoid the kind of unsavoury conditions now prevalent on the estate? Any official found to have been derelict in this regard should be appropriately punished. However, it is equally surprising that EKEDC does not have officials who could effectively relate with appropriate government officials to pre-empt and avert this kind of unsavoury situation.

    Perhaps what is most alarming is the health implications of the sewage plant failure at the estate. It makes the residents vulnerable to all kinds of communicable diseases; leading ultimately to shorter life span. A widow living on the estate, Mrs Alake Oshodi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that one of her daughters took ill recently and had to be admitted at a private hospital. In her harrowing words, “I am sure the illness was as a result of the dirty water and bad odour in the estate; the government should help us before we all catch cholera”.

    But it would be a mistake to think that the plight of the residents is their cross to bear. The truth of the matter is that the looming health disaster at the Iponri estate could easily spread to other areas because Lagos is a mega city with constant mobility of people from one part of the state to another.

    Equally critical are the harmful consequences for the environment, the negative implications for the economic life of the area and the psychological trauma being experienced by the residents. We urge the appropriate authorities to take urgent steps to make the sewage plant functional and thus prevent disaster.

    Beyond this, however, government should strengthen its capacity to monitor all housing estates in the state continuously to ensure they adhere to strict environmental, hygienic and other standards.

    The government should be in the vanguard of safe environment; it should not be seen to be causing environmental pollution.

  • Looming anarchy in Edo State

    Looming anarchy in Edo State

    •Police look away as hoodlums sack legislators, threaten governance

    The drama in the Edo State House of Assembly took a dangerous turn as miscreants last week invaded the official quarters of the state lawmakers, destroyed properties and attacked their families. It was a sign that the crisis that had grounded activities of the House since May might indeed have pitched the Federal Government and its agencies against the state government, to the detriment of the welfare and security of the people for which the governments exist.

    The police whose duty is so germane to protecting the peace of the state seem to have read the political barometer and taken a decision to favour the party controlling power at the centre. This runs contrary to the expectation of the state government whose leader is dubbed not just the chief executive but also chief security officer.

    The claims and counterclaims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the centre and the All Progressives Congress (APC) that provided the platform on which Governor Adams Oshiomhole rode to power are so long and the noise so deafening that one would be correct to liken it to the noise made by tanks and ballistic missiles in modern warfare. The facts of the crisis are so clear, but the use to which they have been put are so befuddled that it would take the most brilliant judge time to make sense out of it.

    It is a fact that four members of the assembly, namely Abdulrahzaq Momoh, Jude Ise-Idehen, Patrick Osayimwen, and Friday Ogeiriakhi defected from the APC to the PDP. The state governor and his party frowned at the move, which was seen as a grand plan to destabilise the state and impeach Oshiomhole. Realising that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, the APC that still controls 15 of the 24 members of the assembly immediately hatched plans to suspend the four legislators.

    It was against this background that we could understand the slide to violence and seeping anarchy in the state. The PDP claims that the earlier assault on Momoh was executed by the APC, with cover allegedly provided by Governor Oshiomhole, while the invasion of the legislators’ quarters and the mayhem unleashed there last Saturday was regarded as the handiwork of the PDP.

    The tragedy of the situation is that all we have are claims by parties. The state police command has its voice muffled as it is regarded as a party to the fray. Governor Oshiomhole alleged that he personally got the police commissioner informed of an imminent attack on the legislators. Rather than respond by beefing up security around the legislators and the quarters, the police were said to have merely found a way of withdrawing those already attached to the quarters, thus paving the way for easy operation by the murderous gang.

    This is quite unfortunate as it falls into a discernible pattern evolving in different parts of the country. In Rivers and Ekiti states, similar drama had earlier played out. This is clear and present danger to democracy. Where an institution like the police fail to perform its task professionally, the people are encouraged to resort to self help and the result is total breakdown of law and order.

    The people of Edo State want and deserve peace. We therefore call on the police to lift the siege on the House of Assembly, win the confidence of the gladiators and work with democratic institutions in the state towards ensuring that all act within the parameters prescribed by law. We also call on the major political parties and their leadership to restrain their members and ensure that all conform to the requirement of the law. Should the existing tension in the state be carried to next February when the governorship and legislative elections would hold, violence is likely to be the by-product. This is an avoidable ill wind.

  • Fed Govt must urgently address looming food crisis

    Fed Govt must urgently address looming food crisis

    In response to President Goodluck Jonathan’s national broadcast on the flood ravaging the country, Hardball on October 10 decried the failure of the federal government to address the looming problem of food scarcity and provision of seedlings for the next planting season. The column said among other things that, “In the 20-paragraph broadcast, the president said virtually nothing about the even more frightening cataclysm of impending food shortages, nor of how it would be mitigated both immediately and in the next planting season. It is bad enough that weeks after the flood, he is still proposing a visit to affected communities. But his refusal to say something concrete about what he intends to do both to tackle a possible food crisis and to ensure the availability and distribution of seedlings for the next farming season, and his inability to acknowledge the threat food shortages could pose to national security at a time of sundry and ubiquitous terrorist threats, is truly befuddling.”

    In the October 9 broadcast, the president merely sympathised with the affected communities experiencing flood and announced the provision of N17.6 billion to be shared among the 36 states of the federation. In addition, he set up a fund raising committee headed by businessman Aliko Dangote to raise approximately N100 billion to help flooded communities. But Hardball had criticised the fact that the monetary relief was planned before the president had the opportunity to visit affected communities or correctly estimate the extent of the floods and the crises they were likely to engender. A few days later, the president began his visits only to discover that the problem was far worse than estimated. He has belatedly started to appeal to the international community.

    Now, in the face of fresh warnings of flood in some 19 states, it is time the federal government began to look at the issue of food crisis and national security much more closely. Not only are many farming communities and towns still under water, the threat of additional flood is an even huger burden for the affected states to bear. Already, food prices have shot through the roof, and scarcity looms. For certain food crops, prices have risen by as much as 300 percent. At a time of grave terrorist threats and breakdown of law and order, rising food prices can only stoke the fire lit by years of social and economic inequalities. With poverty spreading, highways are likely to be more unsafe, while homes in towns and cities will come under intolerable siege.

    In addition to the money already voted to ameliorate the flooding problem in the 36 states, and the funds yet to be raised by the Dangote committee, President Jonathan must urgently set up a committee to look at impending food crisis, the threats they are likely to constitute to democracy and stability, and the options available to tackle them. These threats are not an exaggeration; they are real, and they must be addressed now. The three tiers of government must also manage the flood relief camps much better than they have done so far and plan for the aftermath of the floods. Nothing must be left to chance.