The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Memo

  • Memo to President Buhari

    SIR: I write this open letter first to cheer and encourage you on the ongoing anti-corruption war. Anyone who thinks that any other matter takes precedence over the fight against corruption must have a corrupt mindset. Corruption is the bane of our pitiable and indigent social and economic condition. It needs men with a lion’s heart to lead a crusade against this national menace.

    Second, I wish to register my disappointment that not much has been done in the area of economic transformation which is key and supportive of the anti-corruption war. There is an air of despair and loss of hope in the ability of the APC government to address the dwindling economic fortunes. The high expectation that greeted your victory at the polls is fast plummeting to a level where a crash may cost your government and party irreparable damage.

    Dear President, there is so much work to do and little time. It is an understatement to say that we have a primitive police system. The British bequeathed an efficient police to us after independence but prolonged neglect of this critical security arm has left it as an oppressive rather than a protective outfit.  The police needs to be positioned to carry out their statutory duties by injecting added value in intelligence and forensic capacity. This will aid and enhance the war against corruption, kidnapping, cultism, robberies and the herdsmen/farmers crises among other violent crimes.   For those who clamour for state police, they should be told that British police and Scotland Yard have decentralized jurisdiction in all the union-states of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

    Revolutionize the economy through local production. Embrace the Organized Private Sector (OPS); Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN); and the Chambers of Commerce (NACCIMA) to formulate an economic blueprint to bounce back the real tier which is the mainstay of any modern economy. I recommend that government designates two seaports as industrial free ports for the importation of ABSOLUTELY essential industrial and agricultural equipment and essential but locally non-available raw materials for a period of at least three years.  One eastern and one western port should be declared Duty Free industrial ports with NO DUTY paid on the listed items.  All finished goods are ABSOLUTELY prohibited in these ports.

    In addition to this, the Central Bank should enter into continuous dialogue with local manufacturers to determine their foreign exchange needs and to do the needful to meet, if not all their needs, but supply part.  This singular bold measure to boost local production will generate massive employment; prices of goods will stabilize as locally made goods flood the markets and in some exported.  Forget custom duty for a while and increase local production. This measure will impact on the value of the naira as investors can source their funds and enjoy the tax free incentive.

    I recommended an Executive Bill for An Act to Provide Free TUITION for all Nigerians from the Primary to Tertiary in all public institutions in Nigeria. To achieve this, the Bill will appropriate 25% of our GDP to fund education at all levels. Involve the NUT, ASUU, ASUP and other stake holders to design a blueprint to turn around our medieval education system and chart a new course that will launch Nigeria into a techno-industrial giant in the next decade.

    Change cannot come by rhetoric but through a bold and well researched, innovative and dynamic action which can arouse this giant of our country from slumber and transform it to a beehive of economic activity where all and sundry will work and participate for the benefit of everyone and future generations. No endowment is greater than our huge and divine resource of 170 million industrious people burning to be engaged in nation-building. They are watching to see if the dreams they dreamt when they massively voted for APC last year will come to pass or become another nightmare. Time is of essence.

    • Elder Tommy U Okochi,

    Agbani   Nkanu West LGA, Enugu State 

  • Memo to northern Nigerian youths

    SIR: It is your responsibility to make our office-bearers and spiritual leaders to be responsible and accountable. The angels didn’t do it for Nelson Mandela and wouldn’t for you. Stand up to be counted for the right reasons and there is no better time than now especially as Nigeria is presently encircled with the mantra of ‘change.’

    I am in a wonderland and find it hard to understand why you have chosen to take the back seat when burning national issues present themselves.

    How else can I explain the quietude displayed by you even in the face of dire consequences starring you eye-ball-to-eye-ball?

    These issues are legion. Politics and religious tenets do not mix but you have aided the political classes today to work with religious schisms to pull the youths apart.

    Why fall for these ruses? A man who chooses to use religion as a path to seeking elective office is a demagogue with nothing to offer. How many countries in the world succeed today by interpreting religious precepts over and above democratic principles or even the constitution of the country?

    It is inappropriate for you to be comfortable with leaders whose aim is to enslave you in perpetuity. Such leaders care more about the welfare of cronies than yours and send these yes men out of the country for religious pursuits at the expense of the development of state.

    What you need are leaders that can secure your future and that of your progenies and not mortgage it.

    Unlike your forebears, who appreciated the impact of ‘people power,’ today’s elected executives fritter your commonwealth on issues not related to development and they are not denounced.

    They ask you to work with an austere regimen but dole out monies frivolously to associates, buy up most of the properties in Abuja and I am left to wonder if there would be any property left for you to buy in Abuja at an appropriate time.

    Why celebrate administrators that cannot be credited with completing meaningful projects? They leave the states massively in debt and run to Abuja when their tours of duty are over.

    Like most youths elsewhere, why do you enjoy working with typecasts shoved down your throats for decades by people who say, “hate the other side”. You have worked with the charge surprisingly well. But how long are you going to work with such prejudices and stereotypes that pit one region of the country against another?

    Education is useless if it does not impact positively on the lives of millions of uneducated, ignorant youths who are teetering on hopelessness and poverty.

    Seek education enthusiastically; ensure your children attend schools and give the girl child an equal an opportunity for learning and development as the male child. Do not discriminate against children due to accidents of birth. Only small-minded people do so.

    When will you finally ask the elected, why are we so poor? Why are our youths known for begging? Why are these young boys in every major Nigerian city homeless?

    You wield a lot of power and can effect a positive change for the development of this country.

    Think about it again; at ages compared to your northern forebears ( some of you are even older now) they seized the moment to become nationalists but why have you kowtowed to intolerant politicians and some religious leaders whose mission is to pull this nation apart?

    Life has always been grim for the rural dwellers and today it is also greyer for the city dwellers with no supply of portable clean drinking water by government.

    Where then is the dole of democracy and why make the work of elected officials easy by not demanding accountability on issues impacting on your welfare?

    We need not recount the dangers of VVF caused by early marriages (child bride). How many of the rich give away their daughters at that age? They do not, because they secure the future of the girl child before marriage. Why should you – when they do not?

    Why don’t you raise awareness against the unwholesome practices where our girl-children are now abandoned due to being burdens and have become a menace to society?

    • Simon Abah,

    Port Harcourt

  • Memo to incoming legislators

    SIR: Surely, night is longer than day for those who dream; whilst, day is longer than night for those who make their dreams come true. But as you endeavour to make your dreams come true, don’t be pushed around by your plights, rather be led by the dreams in question.

    Dear incoming legislators, endeavour to take your legislative activities very seriously because that is the only reason you were sent by your constituents to represent them. In other words, any other thing outside legislation ought to be considered as secondary.

    In the same vein, please endeavour to revive constituency briefing, which is gradually fading out in the Nigerian polity. Constituency briefing is a platform on which a legislator, either state or national, establishes a cordial relationship with his or her constituents. It is only through this medium that the members of your constituency would get to know what your office has done so far as well as what you are up to. If you are not close to them, they wouldn’t realize your intention or what you have been able to accomplish since you assume duty. It is so pathetic that most of our current legislators cannot boast of even a constituency office; let alone creating an avenue for regular meeting/talk with his or her constituents.

    I urge you to be vision-oriented while dishing out your duties. Do not be deterred by any challenge you might be facing in the office, rather let your electioneering campaign promises or manifestoes remain your driving force. You must regularly tell yourself that your people cannot afford to receive excuses from you.

    The interest of your people must come first or be placed as a priority before any other one including your personal interest. Don’t be bought over by the executive arm; remain firm, determined, focused, and above all independent, in any legislative occasion you find yourself.

    Mediocrity should be thrown to the waste bin because that is where it rightly belongs. Please, let it not be business as usual; this time, we anticipate only quality laws and motions on the floor of the House or the Senate as the case might be. Nigeria deserves nothing but the best; so the best must be given to her, come rain, come shine. We do not care for second best, rather second to none.

    I enjoin you to revisit most of the already existing laws with a view to addressing some lapses or putting up an enhancement where necessary. Bear in mind that some of our laws are outdated or inactive, thus must be reviewed for the interest of the country. Also, you ought to be ready, either in your individual or collective capacities, to enact new formidable laws. Thus, all the promising bills presently lying on the floor of the various parliaments at federal and state levels should be given urgent and adequate attention as soon as you take over the helm of affairs.

    Similarly, late passage of the appropriation bill, which has become a tradition, requires radical and dogged reconsideration. An appropriation bill that is supposed to be passed into law prior to the commencement of the concerned fiscal year is now being passed at the first, or even second, quarter of the year. Isn’t it ridiculous? How can a budget meant for a certain year be made available at the second quarter of the year in question? It is indeed laughable, hence unacceptable. Frankly the Nigerian pattern of legislation needs a total overhaul. Let’s have this at the back of our minds, because that is the only way out. Please do not compromise any of the aforementioned anomalies if you are truly prepared to ignite a positive change, which everyone yearns for.

    • Comr Fred Nwaozor

    Lagos

     

  • Memo to legislators

    Dear legislator,

    “Let there become of you a nation that shall call for righteousness, enjoin justice and forbid evil. Such men shall surely triumph”. Q. 3: 104.

     Let me start this letter with a congratulatory message and a prayer. I congratulate you for becoming our ‘Honourable’ lawmakers an organ that is most crucial in a democracy. With your legislative role the destiny of Nigeria will be determined or reshaped. But more importantly, I pray the Almighty God to grant you listening ears and tamed minds against greed and avarice that became the undoing of your predecessors. Amen.

    Just as it happened to the session before yours, this letter is coming to you both as a counsel and an admonition. What qualifies this column (The Message) for writing it is that like you, ‘The Message’ is a stake holder in the great project called Nigeria. This country is like a ship in which we are all voyaging together. And we must all be vigilant enough to ensure that the ship conveying us does not hit the rock.

    A similar letter was twice written in this column to the legislators of the sixth and seventh National Assembly. The first was in 2008 barely nine months after some of them resumed in their respective legislative houses. The second was a reminder in 2012. But like a dog destined to end up in perdition would not hear the hunter’s cautioning whistle, they refused to heed the admonition contained in those letters. You all know the consequence of their refusal today.

     

    Role of conscience

    “Conscience”, according to Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio, “is an open wound which only the truth can heal”. But one can talk of healing a wounded conscience only where it has not become cancerous. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) told us in one Hadith that hypocrites are known by three signs: “When they talk they lie; when they promise they renege and when they are trusted they betray”. Most of your predecessors so much typify that Hadith as if the Prophet had Nigerian legislators in mind when he expressed that axiom. I hope you learn a lesson from their case.

    You will recall that when you started nursing the ambition to become legislators, whether at the federal or state level, or even as chairmen or councillors in local governments, your first announcement was that you wanted ‘to serve your people’. Based on that announcement, people rallied round you and embraced you as their representatives.

    That announcement was your first political covenant. It was not between you and the people in your constituency alone. Since it entailed your promise and the trust of the people, Allah’s hand was in it and He will surely hold you accountable for it because you made such promise voluntarily. It does not matter whether you were genuinely elected or rigged into office thereafter usual.

     

    Deception

    Your original intension for making the announcement will be weighed against your action on getting to office. And you will be judged accordingly when you leave the office. That is quite different from a possible rigging that fetched you the status of a legislator as well as the title of ‘Honourable’.

    In the process, some of you deprived your fellow politicians of those positions which rightfully belong to them. Just as you will call on God for justice if you were in their shoes so they will take your case to God’s court. And the prayer of a cheated person, according to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), never suffers divine denial.

    You must remember that it is only God’s judgment that can neither be manipulated nor appealed. And no matter how long it may take, Allah’s judgment will be executed perhaps when you least expect. On that, you are left to your conscience if you have one.

    In Islam, two issues are exceptionally fundamental which Allah does not treat lightly. These are sacredness of life and justice. It is a great iniquity for any human being to engage in murder and injustice under any guise. Thus, anybody who kills fellow human beings extra-judicially in the name of religion is nothing but a pagan. In Islam, killing of a fellow human being deliberately is such a grievous sacrilege that cannot and should not occur without commensurate punishment.

    Besides paganism, nothing draws the wrath of Allah as fast as these two crimes which Satan may continue to ask you to ignore at your own peril.

    Murder is physical termination of the life of a fellow human being. Injustice is to kill a person mentally, psychologically and spiritually by denying him his right.

    In Islam, rule of law is the foundation of justice but legislation is the material with which that foundation is built. Those who voluntarily chose to legislate for others must see themselves as the foundation layers of justice who should not, advertently or inadvertently, betray the course of justice. Can this be said of you?

     

    Where is your Honour?

    Honourable legislators, you are addressed as honourable today neither because you are more qualified intellectually than those for whom you are legislating nor because you are wiser and more experienced than them. What makes most of you legislators is sheer expediency arising from queer inadequacies sadly fostered by our so-called political system which has not been perfected against gerrymandering.

    If such opportunity comes your way illegally, let it not be mistaken for good luck. It may rather be a calamity waiting to strike in future. And when it strikes, no one except Allah can tell the extent of its effect.

    At least you can see how the consequences of the heartless annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential election have become a draconian spectre chasing the ghost of Nigeria even after two decades of licking the wound.

    That covenant is to serve them (the people). And those who serve are nothing but servants. But no sooner had your predecessors been sworn into office than they started calling themselves leaders. That is why most of them found it difficult to bend a little backwards and report back to their constituencies. Today, where are they? And their constituencies remain intact albeit backward.

     

    Surrogate spouses

    Since most of your predecessors resumed in Abuja or their state capitals without their spouses, the first thing they did after settling down was to search for alternative but illegitimate sexual partners who acted as their surrogate spouses. And the cost was borne by the same betrayed electorate. Not only that, they also began their primary duty of legislating by first fixing their own salaries and allowances against all norms of morality and at the expense of those who made it possible for them to become legislators.

    You turned the privilege of legislating into a right and used it to intimidate the poor masses and ride roughshod over them. When they occasionally pretend to interact with those masses it was for the purpose of preparing their minds for the next election in which they hoped to be returned to Parliament where sharing money was the priority.

    Some of them spent about eight years in those legislative houses without any sign in their immediate constituencies that anybody was representing the people of those constituencies. It is hoped that your session in this era of ‘CHANGE’ will show a remarkable difference.

    Self Aggrandisement

    When your predecessors travelled abroad officially, with people’s money, they were never alarmed by the way political and economic systems worked in those countries. Rather, their primary concern was the latest cars plying the roads of those countries and the most magnificent mansions that they could copy back home to match new status as legislators. That is why virtually every political office holder in Nigeria between 1999 and 2015 was either riding or eager to ride the newest vehicle from Europe, America or Asia even as they owned Nigeria’s choicest estates. In a nutshell, politics to them was a short term business that must bring profit by all means.

    Thus, at their instance, Nigeria was held to a standstill as they doctored the annual budget presented to them by the executive arm in order to share the national cake with the Executives in the spirit of ‘rub my back I rub yours’.

    Most of them were fathers and mothers who would want their children to grow up as responsible men and women, yet, refused to serve as good examples for those children. How could Nigeria be good?

     

    Reminder

    As new legislators, perhaps it is necessary to remind you that everything in this world is based on condition. The world itself did not come into existence without condition. Man was originally created and appointed as Allah’s vicegerent of Allah on earth on condition that he would serve Allah. And all other living or unloving things were divinely ordered to obey and serve man on condition that he (man) would also obey and serve Allah. That service was not an imposition. It was voluntary.

    Before putting man in charge of the world at all, Allah had consulted far and wide with all the stake holders concerned. Each of them declined responsibility except man who, out of greed and arrogance, volunteered to take charge and be responsible for it.

    Allah states this clearly in Q. 33 V. 72 thus: “We offered the ‘TRUST’ (of the world) to the heavens; to the earth and to the mountains; but they refused to bear it and were afraid of it. Man, who undertook to bear it, has proved to be unjust, foolish”.

    By consulting so far and wide, Allah had elicited and got covenant from every creature. Those among them, that declined responsibility cannot and will not be asked to account for the occurrences therein. Accountability of the world solely rests on man’s shoulder according to the covenant he reached voluntarily with Allah.

    Covenant with Allah is the most fundamental law of existence. It is not one sided. As man has responsibilities to bear so does Allah has obligations to fulfil. It is from the covenant with Allah that all other covenants in the life of man, including those of marriage, trust and confidentiality, are derived. That covenant is what others call oath.

     

    Oath of office

    In Islam, oath, whether private or public, does not necessarily require Muslims to carry the Qur’an in one’s hand as done in Nigeria particularly at this time when oath of office has become a meaningless symbol. No oath is ever made without Allah being a witness to it. Besides, He has assigned two Angels (Raqib and ‘Atid) to every human being as secret police officers. The duty of these Angels is to record all utterances and secret actions of each person to whom they are assigned. The one records good deeds, the other records evil deeds. Their recordings are both in video and audio forms.

    This fact is contained in Q.50: 16 where Allah states that: “We surely created man and ‘We’ know the promptings of his mind and are closer to him than his jugular vein. We assign two guardians to watch him, one on his right and the other on his left. No utterance (from him) or action shall escape the records of these vigilant guardians….”

    It is from the functions of these invisible police that researchers  came about the idea of video, audio and other technological devices used especially for espionage.

     

    Rare opportunity

    Legislating is a rare opportunity to serve one’s nation meritoriously. But most of your predecessors turned that opportunity into one of self-enrichment as well as that of securing the future of your own children at the expense of the lives of other children. All these are done at the expense of the wretched people around them whose role in democracy was relegated to voting once in four years. They forgot that wealth is Allah’s endowment which cannot be inherited except by Allah’s will.

    My dear honourable legislators; search your conscience and fear God. Remember that some people had legislated for this country in the past. Some usurped the roles of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary together, in the name of military rule, made possible by coup d’état. Where are they today?

    Legislation, like governance, has its tenure. Today, four years may look endless, but for the wise, it is not more than a flash of lightening  which only a fool may want to rely upon while walking his way through the darkness of the night.

     

    Peculiar factor

    You are in the legislative houses to make laws for today’s generation and that of tomorrow. Ordinarily, that duty should be on part time and not full time basis in a serious country where patriotism holds sway. But since everything in Nigeria has a peculiar factor, it has become a rule that those who are legislating for us must take the lion’s share of our national cake even through the budget. That is why your predecessors randomly roared to the total embarrassment of the country that the President or the Governor must be impeached.

    Such impeachment became a serious business only when their salaries, allowances or social welfare were not provided as at when due or at the expected volume. It did not matter to them whether or not the entire workforce in Nigeria remained unpaid for years or all the Universities in the country closed down completely and permanently. And in all these charades, religion had no role to play an indication that politics is indifferent to God’s ordinances in Nigeria.

    Conscience, though invisible, has a mirror which only a few people know of. That mirror is shame. A person without shame is a person without conscience. And that is the main distinction between a genuine Muslim and a nominal one. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) admonished thus in respect of shame: “once you are bereft of shame, you can go ahead to do whatever you like”. This means that without shame you are such a nonentity that can even choose to strip naked in the market place. That was some of your predecessors did while in office.

     

    Service to humanity

    Honourable legislators, let it be kept permanently in your hearts that the only thing which keeps people alive in history even long after their demise is service to humanity. Prophets Isa (Jesus), and Muhammad (SAW), had neither bank accounts nor estates to bequeath to anybody. Their heritage is more than any material wealth for the entire world today. That heritage is service to humanity. What is your own planned heritage if only for posterity? That is a big question which only people with conscience can answer. The rest is left to you. While wishing you a memorable era in in Nigeria’s democracy, I pray Allah to guide you aright that you may not end up like your predecessors. Amin.

  • Memo to Buhari on art, culture and tourism

    The resourcefulness and resolve of the leaders of the legacy parties that formed the APC in the face of phenomenal distractions and the attendant overwhelming victory of the party at the recently concluded polls, as well as the track records of the President-elect and the APC government in various states of the federation, all point to the fact that the long-awaited change for Nigeria is here. Change many Nigerians hope will rescue the economy from years of lack lustre policy implementation.

    There is no doubt that these are exciting times for Nigerians and giving them the desired change that will turnaround living and lifestyles calls for a   redefined strategy of governance, and critical appraisal of the various sectors of the economy. It must be done objectively, with a view to effectively diversify the economy in pursuance of the party’s manifesto and fulfilment of the yearnings and aspiration of the masses. It must also be with a sense of urgency that will take the country beyond the hackneyed accolade of being the biggest economy in Africa.

    As the incoming government takes giant strides, it must be noted that one of the sectors of the Nigeria economy that genuinely deserves a searchlight is Tourism. This is not only because of the rich resource endowment of the country, but also because of the capacity of the sector to significantly contribute to the economic well-being of Nigeria through creating jobs, and generate income to enhance the country’s GDP. With the daily upsurge in insurgency occasioned by poverty and unemployment, tourism is the industry with the panacea to impact poverty alleviation positively.

    The incoming administration can do this by moving away from the uncoordinated strategies of previous governments to develop the sector, and deploy strong political will to support the industry through policies that will eliminate all the critical constraints of the past. The best foot forward is the revisit of the Tourism Master Plan of 2000, as well as the various studies and recommendations to the past Presidential Council on Tourism, and use a fine-tuned instrument from these to evolve an industry that has the promise to play a critical role in nation building and development.

    A key component of this process that will facilitate the success of the industry should include: ensuring public sector leadership at all levels and segments of the sector, that have a sound understanding of  issues and complexities of the industry including the capacity to stimulate inter-governmental and public private sector networking and collaboration; monitor the impact of policies of other sector of the economy on Tourism at the various ties of government; institute and implement tourism product development, capacity building and manpower development. Accomplishing significant improvement in the sector will be accentuated if the government pursues a comprehensive programme for the sector that creates connectivity between local communities, various tiers and department, of government and regional institutions, as have been successfully done in East and Southern African countries with rewarding economic results.

    This time around, the role of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation should be redefined while Tourism in Nigeria must by deliberate and focused action of government be made to generate worthy economic return for all stakeholders, including local communities even as conservation of Nigeria’s cultural and environmental heritage is appropriately promoted through the instrumentality of Tourism.

  • Memo to in-coming President

    On May 29 2015, Your Excellency will be sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the most populous and most vibrant black nation in the world. Congratulations! There is no doubt that Nigerians survive on hope, but please give us renewed hope for a better tomorrow.

    Nigerians appreciate that there are numerous problems confronting our country but the most essential ingredient for citizenship engagement is sincerity of purpose. So, it will be good to see you adopt an open system of administration. The experience of the past 16 years of democratic dispensation has shown clearly that a Nigerian voice is evolving, albeit slowly, and that any serious minded politician or political leader must rethink if he intends to go far.

    Most Nigerians can tell you how not to rule this nation. Nigerians are now, more than ever before, very protective of the integrity of their fatherland and would not appreciate a President that does not pay attention to and invest in creating a positive image for our homeland.  The good people of Nigeria want to walk tall wherever they go and with whomever they interact. Indeed, they want to be recognised for all the good things: in academia, sports, entertainment, industry, technology, healthcare, education and now, more than ever before, good governance. Still on corruption, Nigerians feel sad when stolen monies are stashed abroad and the economy suffers as a result.

    Mr. President, there is no gainsaying that our youth groan under the yoke of unemployment and under-employment and they frown when economic policies and over-bloated budgets do not translate to employment for them. It is painful that Nigerian graduates roam the streets looking for jobs, unappreciated for upwards of five years and without any support system. For instance, Nigeria needs to keep a databank of these unemployed youth which could then be a basis for prioritising employment interventions and ensuring that the economy benefits.

    Infrastructural development must be given utmost priority. Your Excellency, citizens dislike a fire brigade approach to infrastructural development and worse still, when developments are undertaken solely for political reasons or when cosmetic works are ventured into to potentially hoodwink citizens, the populace get tuned off. The President should adopt a zero tolerance for abandoned projects and the presidency must foster effective collaboration with states on developmental issues.

    Though tribe and tongues may differ, Nigerians celebrate their diversity and do not take kindly to a president who rules according to ethnic and religious divides. You can be rest assured that when presidents tow the line of division, cronyism and nepotism, they will be serving the interests of very few people to the detriment of the whole country and this approach will inevitably backfire. Nigerians love federal institutions established to foster unity such as the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Unity schools, federal universities, polytechnics amongst others but would appreciate a review of our quota system policies in line with modern trends. For instance, would it not be better to enthrone meritocracy in these institutions by making admissions into them 70 per cent merit and 30 per cent quota so that Nigerians can be better benefitted.

    It may be important to have a role for the President’s wife, but please be assertive so as not to allow such roles to distract government from its business so as not to allow frivolity get in the way of good governance with unsolicited gender comments on sensitive national issues. Also, if it is possible, make sure that whatever role the President’s wife is given that it is not funded by taxpayers’ money. Nigerians love their women and the motherly role they play, but not at the expense of the citizenry.

    Your Excellency, you will definitely earn the trust of your citizens if you can sincerely commit to providing stable electricity for the country as people feel distressed that this is one product that Nigerians may have the money to afford but cannot find in the market. Citizens are yearning for genuine commitment to privatisation of the power sector; for example, questions have been asked in some quarters as to why very few players with the capacity for huge capital outlay are allowed into the market and that this might be a factor in those granted opportunities to form oligopolies, effectively holding this nation to ransom.

    Mr. President, the people of Nigeria cherish exemplary leadership and as you would understand, this is why you have been voted into this incredibly important position. As Shakespeare wrote in his play; ‘Henry IV Part II’: “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” and for this reason, it is important that Nigerian citizens do not feel betrayed should ministers and top officials not be answerable to the people. Nigerians expect that you frown at, and call to task, erring officials as a sign that you fully understand the reasons they have been voted into or appointed to public office. Nigerians are now quick to point out that public office is not the sole preserve or birth right of any class or group of people.

    Your Excellency, as soon as you are sworn-in, and given your demonstrated capacity, Nigerians look forward to your assuming the position of President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria rather than that of your party. Nigerians understand that your party may wish to drag you down the route of sectional politics but, as President, you are father of all and as such should put your foot down! Also, as you would be more than aware, as President, your duty is to the entire nation and not only those that have voted for you or against some perceived enemies.  One thing Nigerians would want to see going forward in our fragile democratic journey is non-interference with other arms of government as this is an essential ingredient of good governance.

    The judiciary and legislature will look up to your office for orderliness, rule of law, probity, accountability and selflessness. If you can do it, they will not have a reason not to. This also applies to the issue of the huge wage bill and irrational allowances incurred by public office holders at the expense of the people they are supposed to be serving.

    Kindly be more magnanimous in constituting your cabinet by including possibly, some members of opposition with impeccable character and excellent track record of performance and avoid recycling very old and redundant hands who are not relevant to the vision of Nigeria in the 21st century. There are very many excellent, world class, selfless and patriotic Nigerians. Pease, take time to look for them to help move our fatherland forward. You can even be more magnanimous by encouraging a shadow cabinet, as this is healthy for any meaningful development where people with contrary views are not perceived as enemies.

    Mr. President, our institutions are weak and collapsing, so as a matter of urgency, your office should endeavour to strengthen government agencies and parastatals to ensure they can deliver on their statutory duties. Where possible, please avoid bringing public officers, especially police and the military into partisan politics. Security of lives and property is also one area in which Nigerians want to heave a sigh of relief urgently. Many Nigerians do not believe they are living in the Nigeria of their dreams with the spate of killings and kidnappings across the country. Part of creating an enabling environment for domestic and international business and good governance is security and, children particularly want to feel safe and proud that the government is in-charge.

    Your Excellency, the term ‘dividends of democracy’ is tokenistic to the people and it is certainly a military phobia sentiment. Therefore, after 16 years of continuous democratic dispensation, Nigerians deserve the dividends of good governance. As a Nigerian citizen, I have full hopes that this country will be great and I feel I have in my own small way performed my civic duty and contributed to the future that many Nigerians yearn for.

    Thank you and Long live Nigeria!

    • Mogaji, a development communications expert wrote in from Lagos

  • Ido-Osun presents memo on disputes

    Ido-Osun Community in Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State yesterday presented a memorandum before a Commission of Enquiry on Communal Clashes and Land Disputes set up by the government.

    Appearing before the Justice Oyejide Falola-led commission, the Olojudo of Ido-Osun, Oba Aderemi Adedapo, tendered several documents, which were admitted as evidence.

    The monarch, who was among three witnesses on the side of Ido-Osun, told the commission that Ede and Osogbo have always caused problem for his people.

    Oba Adedapo, who said the two communities because of their size and population were threatening his subjects, thanked the government for setting up the commission.

    The traditional ruler lamented that Ede took the compensation paid by the state government for the land where the M.K.O. Abiola Airport was situated by deceiving the  government that it was the original owner of the land.

    The monarch noted that he was not after the money paid to Ede but he wanted the state government to recognise that the land belong to Ido-Osun.

     

     

     

    The counsel to Ido-Osun community, Mr. W.O. Wemimo, told the commission that it was necessary for Ido-Osun to set the records straight on the claims of Ede community over the land where the MKO Abiola Airport was situated.

    He said that the boundary between Ido-Osun and Ede was on the land where the defunct Electricity Company of Nigeria (ECN) building was situated, therefore, submitted that Ede could not lay ownership claim ?to the land where the airport is situated.

     

  • Memo on constitution review

     

    There is groundswell of opinion that the 1999 constitution needs fundamental amendments if the country is to survive and develop; more so as the first to third amendments looked after only narrow interests. With Nigeria fast deteriorating into anarchy, it should be obvious to the political actors, that there may soon be no country for the practice of political chicanery. Now, what the country urgently needs is a fundamental restructuring, to untangle our political economy for a meaningful progress; because the current constitution has too may booby traps and unless Nigeria is extricated from its strangleholds, the vultures may soon gather.

    To achieve that, the nation needs a constitution that drives development, not one that imperils it. In amending the constitution, first, there is the need to define citizenship, and what benefits and responsibilities come with that. Under this, we must agree as to the political, economic and social rights of every citizen, regardless or limited by residency, and provide guarantees or exclusions based on what is agreed. In the face of massive retreat to ethnicity and desperate political exclusion, the fundamental dynamics of a nation state is threatened.

    The next is to determine the nature of citizens we want, patriots or turncoats. Our country has perhaps correctly, been credited with the harshest type of capitalism in the world. Currently there are no provisions for social security or safety nests, while life indignities are foisted on hapless citizens as national ethos. The amendments must therefore appropriate for the benefits of the citizens basic socio-economic rights, like free basic education, housing, and employment. The current provisions known as fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy are indeed fundamental to citizenship and humanity and must therefore substantially become secured rights protected by the constitution without equivocation. For instance what dignity lies for that jobless, homeless, uneducated and unemployable Nigeria, as currently but falsely guaranteed for in section 34 of our present constitution.

    Next is the dispersal of power – economic and political. As things stand, power is over concentrated at the center, and unfortunately this was appropriated not by consensus, but by military fiat during the many years of military intervention. To make progress, the country must boldly seek a consensus on the decentralization of power. On the political front there is the need to create capable federating units that can appropriately negotiate, protect and preserve any constitutionally appropriated rights. That perhaps justifies the need for constitutional recognition of the six geo-political zones as the federating units, with the states as the third tier of government.

    If however the states are to remain the fulcrum of federating units, then there is need for equitable distribution of political power to the geo-political zones that make up the federation. Currently the south east which has lesser number of states and local governments than the other geo-political zones deserve the creation of a sixth state. To pretend that that demand is not genuine is to gloss over the historical inequities underpinning the creation of states by the military governments. Again if the present arrangements remain, then the current legislative provisions allowing hybrid local government administration will have to be redefined. We will either have the councils as the third tier government, or as in other federations operate it under the apron of states.

    Now the most important of the needed constitutional amendments is the dispersal of economic powers. There is the urgent need to whittle down the contents of the second schedule to the constitution, so that states can explore the resources in their domain. As things are, many states are poor despite their substantial endowments, and the result is the increasing extreme desperation by all the stakeholders to seek an increased portion of the available resources. There is also a disincentive to work for state’s prosperity, as the bureaucracies at the states concentrate on feeding from its share of the forcefully appropriated Niger Delta resources, instead of creating wealth at the local level. On their own part, the federal authority, with too much loose money, attract and dispense enormous resources and influence, and consequently has turned into the amphitheatre of corrupt enrichment and a thriving rent economy.

    To complement the dispersal of economic power, the coercive prerogative of the state to protect and enforce the rules of economic engagement, through policing needs decentralization. The controversy over state policing is uncalled for, if proper delineations and control measures are put in place. To complement this will be a decentralized judiciary. Exhaustive and independent judiciary to adjudicate the economic, social and political issues bordering the ordering of rights and duties within the states or zones would harm nobody or the federal judiciary. Instead the federal courts will continue to deal with matters of federal interests, leaving the sub national interests to the sub national courts.

    An interesting perspective to creating a functional country came penultimate Saturday from Professor Chidi Odinkalu, the Chair of Council, National Council on Human Rights at the installation of Rotarian Victor Achuonu, and the board of Rotary Club of Festac Town. The erudite Professor professed, “Three processes are essential to the effective functioning of a country. These are: the process of legitimating public power (elections); the processes of quantifying the democratic coverage/composition of the country (census); and the process of estimating and distributing the commonwealth (public accounts, including revenues and appropriations).”

    He furthered, “The rationales for these and relationships between them are obvious. Through the votes validly counted, government acquires its legitimacy to rule; through the census, it knows the number of people it needs to cater for and among whom the resources need to be distributed; and in the public accounts’ it knows what it needs to manage in the interest of these people…”

    This article first published here on 7th August 2012 is repeated as the Jonathan Confab winds down.   

  • Memo to Ondo State Chief Judge

    SIR: The firmament of justice is currently cloudy in Ondo State. Lawyers have down tools; judges have recessed; the liberty of many citizens have been jeopardised  while litigants’ hope that the current imbroglio that have seen the wheel of justice ground to a halt would soon come to a good end.

    The Chief Judge of the Sunshine State recently issued a circular through the Chief Registrar of the State High Court directing judges and magistrates to henceforth impose as a condition for grant of bail the production of tax clearance certificates by sureties to accused persons. The certificate is purchasable at an amount of N75, 000 from the State Board of Internal Revenue and evidence of tax payment from any other establishment is not acceptable. In effect, an accused has to look for a surety who is willing to sacrifice that amount before he could perfect his bail bond.

    Expectedly, the new directive has been greeted with protests by lawyers, leading to a massive court boycott. This is not good for the image of the Sunshine State. Therefore, I wish to most respectfully use this medium to appeal to My Lord the Chief Judge to reconsider his stance.

    Bail is a constitutional right and no statute or rule of procedure must be seen to clog unjustifiably the exercise of that right. Where such exists, Your Lordship will find no difficulty in striking down same as being inconsistent with the constitution. It seems to me that the new directive seems to impose very stringent conditions that would ultimately render the right to bail illusory.

    Grant of bail is a matter of judicial discretion; this is settled in a plethora of authorities and by the provisions of Section 122 of the Criminal Procedure Act (applicable in Ondo State) the court before whom an application for bail is made has a discretion in imposing terms as to the production of sureties for bail. It is also trite that in exercising its discretion, the court must take into consideration the circumstances of each case. In other words, each case must be an example of itself. Compelling a court to exercise its discretion in a particular manner would amount to putting an end to its discretion. I am of the candid opinion that this new directive has successfully fettered the discretion of courts in Ondo State as it relates to imposing conditions for grant of bail.

    The courts are enjoined not to impose excessive conditions for grant of bail (Section 120 of the CPA) because refusal of bail should not be used by the court as punishment for the accused. Where for example, an accused is arraigned for a simple offence that carries a maximum imprisonment term of three months on conviction and he is granted bail by the court but unable to get sureties that possess this tax clearance certificate, would he not have been made to remain in custody and punished unjustifiably for an offence for which he has not been convicted?

    My lord, the new trend in the administration of criminal justice the world over (including Nigeria) is that prisons be decongested, most importantly, persons awaiting trial for offences that are not serious should be kept off the bars until they are tried and if found guilty, convicted and sentenced.  Does this new directive not seek to knot that which is being sought to be untied? For if accused persons are not able to meet the conditions of bail, wouldn’t that amount to taking away by the left hand the bail that has been given by the right?

     

    • Vincent Adodo, Esq.,

  • Memo to Boko Haram

    Memo to Boko Haram

    “From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable.”– Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

    This open memo is written to you because yours sincerely assumes that wherever your members might be, whether in the forest of Sambisa or your bunkers of destruction located across Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, it will definitely be easier to gain your attention through this medium because one can reasonably presume that your sect actually has access to print and the electronics media. After all, your group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, has consistently been using the social media to convey his mostly satanic messages across to the Nigerian government and its traumatised people.

    Nigerians are more exasperated and frustrated by your group’s sustained havoc-wrecking spree on public/religious institutions as well as your having sustained effective devilish killing plots against innocent citizens of this great country. This is sadly in the face of largely un-motivated and ill-equipped military. Having perfected these heinous conducts, especially in the face of avoidable inadequacy by the state, hardly would a day pass without a destructive bang of your sect rocking one or two corners of the northern parts of the beleaguered country.

    This wanton act of disrespect for human lives by your sect has defied human reasoning and has even cast serious aspersion on the veracity of your members’ claim to be true adherents of the Islamic faith as championed by Prophet Mohammed (SAW). Personally, yours sincerely has always been seriously ashamed of your evil acts and terribly embarrassed when people asked whether my Islamic religion condones the barbarity of your highly destructive and pretentiously Islamic sect.

    This memo has become highly instructive because of the helpless state that your injurious acts have put my fellow country men and women. Apart from the routine killings and destructions by your sect’s members, the group, sadistically, moved a regrettable step backwards when it abducted in a day, over 250 school girls writing final examinations in Chibok, Borno State on April 14. This is otherwise a global record by any terrorist group like yours, which gave our government away as not in control of state security and even overall national affairs.

    By this savage act on innocent girls among others, you have become unreasonably plucky and treacherous soldiers of the Islamic faith: Through your numerous abductions and other killings, your irreligious attacks and disdainfully fearsome influence have stigmatised genuine adherents of Islam. The blood-thirsty illiterate recruits in your nest of killers called Boko Haram must have a rethink if truly they desire aljannah firdau.

    Yours sincerely is pleading with your group to please release unharmed, the school Chibok girls. Ordinarily, my pleadings should have been directed at the federal government that constitutionally ought to ensure that the security and welfare of the people are primarily guaranteed. But the response of the presidency to demands of protesting mothers when they went to Aso-Rock was heart-shattering. It is inconceivable to note that the Jonathan presidency told the protesters to direct their protests and grievances to the direction of Boko Haram. This is embarrassing because the ruinous sect is not known to the nation’s grund norm. Thence, what the presidency is saying or insinuating is that it has ceded its constitutional role to the sect. Otherwise, why should it say what ordinarily should be a shame on its professed capacity to govern the country?

    This government has broken the trust reposed in it by the Nigerian people when they voted for it in 2011. And its blame-game of putting liability at the door steps of Boko Haram is unacceptable. The blame-game of this government already connotes a lost game because blames create no change and true fighters/winners don’t apportion blames. The Boko Haram should, however, not take the timidity of this government to mean that the group would continue to hold sway forever. This column is, once again, appealing to the group to sheath its bloody sword and quickly release the school girls whose parents are still under intense trauma as a consequence of the sudden disappearance of their affectionate wards.

    The Boko Haram members definitely would have parents among their membership and it is useful to ask how any of them, despite their heartless onslaughts on the people, would feel if their kids, whether male or female, is abducted and with little hope of rescue by a dreaded group like theirs. If only they could shed off the toga of barbarity and wear the garb of humanity, they would waste no time in releasing those girls to government for onwards transmission to their parents.

    Let the group realise that its fight is not against President Jonathan who is well protected in his Aso Rock fortress, but against humanity because the entire world is now concerned and alerted to its inhuman representations as depicted by the senseless abductions of these girls and several others. Nothing lasts forever and the essence of doing anything good/pleasurable is to be imbued with the wisdom to know when to stop. This is not to talk of the evil that the sect represents.

    Yours sincerely is using this platform, once again, to tell Boko Haram that whoever might be its promoters before it went out of control; it is pertinent for the sect to know that it has exhausted its nuisance value. The moody state of the nation during the last Children’s Day and yesterday’s insipid Democracy Day celebrations were clear pointers to this fact. So, dear dreaded Boko Haram, pity the girls and their parents in the name of the Almighty Allah – and release them hale and hearty!