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Tag: national interest

  • In National Interest – book that says it all

    In National Interest – book that says it all

    The public presentation and launch of the book took place at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, recently.  Hosted by The Vanguard Newspapers, the book titled In the National Interest – The Road to Nigeria’s Political, Economic and Social Transformation, written by Olu Fasan, a columnist with The Vanguard, dwelt so much on the problem areas of Nigeria.  It also seeks solutions to the  problems.  Edozie Udeze who attended the event writes on the burning issues raised by prominent Nigerians that spoke on the book, on national issues and the ways forward.

    The programme attracted high caliber personalities who came to identify with the author Dr. Olu Fasan and the Vanguard family.  The title of the book is: In the National Interest – The Road to Nigeria’s Political, Economic and Social Transformation.  Fasan is one of the columnists with the Vanguard Newspapers.  His column on Thursdays titled Viewpoint dwells essentially on myriad of problems militating against the society.  As a lawyer, scholar and mass communication expert, who is based in England, his worldview on many  issues on global affairs, has helped him to dwell deeper on the problems of the world, mostly Nigeria and Africa.

    The book presentation saw the likes of Dr. Olusegun Aganga, former Minister of Finance, former Minister of Industry and Trade Investment, Prince Julius Adeluyi, former Minister of Health, Chief Nike Akanke, former Minister of Industry, in attendance.  Other notable Nigerian intellectuals who graced the occasion were Professor Anya O. Anya, former Chairman, Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Frank Aigbogun, publisher, Business Day Newspapers and the chief host Sam Amuka, publisher of the Vanguard Newspapers, Lagos.  Dr. Rueben Abati was the MC.  The book is totally on the issues that bedevil the nation-state and what has to be done to make it move forward, make it work in the national interest.

    Fasan confessed that he wrote the book to address some of these urgent troubles and problems in order to help the nation make progress.  He said: “Nigeria goes by the sobriquet, Giant of Africa, principally because of its size.  But the best metaphorical description of the country is a sleeping giant.  And being asleep, Nigeria is not fulfilling its potential.  The challenges are daunting and if things remain as they are, the omens are not good.  Cobbled together by Britain in 1914, Nigeria remains today, over 110 years later a deeply fractured society, lacking internal cohesion and a shared purpose.

    “The core ethnic identities compete with, and often trump, the national identity.  On the economic front, Nigeria is one of the world’s most volatile and fragile economies. Socially, Nigeria is ravaged by endemic corruption, widespread unemployment, extreme poverty and inequality and debilitating insecurity.  Put simply, Nigeria lacks the political wherewithal and institutional capacity to engender stability and prosperity.  The foregoing therefore is the context in which I wrote the book…..” (Vanguard, Thursday November 20, 2025).

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    Based on this, the book situates that Nigeria cannot move forward until and unless its leaders and citizens alike begin to act in the national interest.  In his keynote address, Dr Aganga regaled the people with the problems of Nigeria and why the nation has not made steady and meaningful progress since nationhood.  He aligned with the issues raised by the author that the basic issues troubling Nigeria come mainly because the problem of leadership has not been sorted out properly in the society.  “Three basic components of Nigeria’s problems are on – tribalism, religion and money”, he said. “As long as our political lives are tied to these three, progress will remain an illusion.  A society where leaders do not go to serve but to loot, to milk from the national coffers, where party chairmen are bigger than the parties and so on will not make concerted progress”.

    A place where religion rules the waves; where your tribe, the ethnic group you come from is more important than the national interest, cannot be said to be on the road to civilization.  Aganga has been minister twice in two different core ministries where basic economic decisions were important.  His honest assessment of the troubling situation of the nation was also troubling.  The Agip Hall of Muson Centre, venue of the event was packed full.  Both the older and younger generation of the people in the hall were amazed to hear these issues rehashed and re-presented to them.  But the core issues were made known nonetheless.  As he did so, he enlightened more people about the true state of the nation-state.  Aganga did not spare any aspect of the society and what leaders do to subjugate the citizens.

    “Elsewhere, in the world people go into government as public servants.  In Nigeria, it is the opposite”, he bemoaned.  Aganga, author of many books and someone who has formulated economic blueprints for many society, across the globe went on.  “This society is founded on primordial triangle.  Nigeria is indeed hybrid, nothing is working that will take us to the next level of development and growth.  It is not that Nigeria is bereft of good leaders.  No.  In all facets of life, Nigerians are there to offer good and sound leadership.  Anywhere you see or encounter Nigerians in the world, they are doing well.  The problem is the type of democracy we practice in this clime.  Once a good leader gets in there, the issues that rule others also rule him.  These issues are money, tribe and religion.  A place where you use money to obtain favour, to obtain form to contest and to do other things in politics breeds corruption, greed and avarice”, he said.

    He went further: ‘We have policies, sound policies but they cannot be truly and honestly implemented.  We have laws that only the less privileged can obey or you go to jail.  Laws are based on who you are or such.  No society grows where the obedience or compliance to the law is selective, a place where you cannot call political office holders to order.  Even in the US and other developed climes, political office holders are answerable to the people.  In England, for instance, when you are given a national honours award and you mess up or misbehave, government can withdraw it from you.  But has it ever happened here?  We have to be seen to serve the people so that the society will grow, the economy will be sound and buoyant for employment to be available for the youths”.

    The country has to be restructured to accommodate fairness in all facets.  There has to be equity based on merit, based on your capability, irrespective of who you are or where you come from.  We have trained many people to work in this regard.  Today Rueben Abati is one of them.  Unfortunately, the potential of Nigeria is locked up somewhere.  It is nowhere near progress. The Asian tigers did their own by looking inwards.  Nigeria has to device its own mode of government.  Presidential system of government is too unwieldy, too expensive and extravagant for Nigeria.  It is time to go back to the parliamentary or device our own native or home-grown system to suit and guide us.  Yes, in all, leadership is the main issue here.  We need sincere public office holders with genuine national interest and that is what this book, in all intents and purposes, entails”.

    Professor Anya who was the chairman of the occasion berated INEC for its shoddy way of conducting elections in Nigeria over the years. “May be we are confused or that democracy is not supposed to work well here”, he said with all seriousness.  “Democracy here in Nigeria is not the same as it is in other nations and societies.  INEC told us they registered 93 million voters in the last elections.  In the end no single candidate got the constitutionally required votes to be declared winner.  INEC should have done a re-run or call for an inclusive government. Yet it is not that Nigeria lacks competent and sound leaders.  Then we ask: is our democracy different?”.  He went on: “About 160 million Naira was budgeted for each official car for each of our federal legislators.  No single one of them raised an objection that this amount was too high.  This is in a society where poverty is ravaging the people.  That shows you that none of them is there for the national interest, for the overall good of the people”.  Democracy is meant for all, for all the people in all situations.

    In his comments, Amuka said: “It is an honour and pleasure to have you all here today.  But I know the author of the book.  He is a columnist in the Vanguard, very deep and incisive.  I do not miss his columns every Thursday. And here we are today to see, read and know what he has written to help Nigeria advance further as a nation.  So, get a copy of the Vanguard and red to see the quality of his writings to help grow the nation.  He lives in London but he knows more about this society than many of us who live here.  His grammar is impeccable.  His views carry weight.  His insight on issues call for a rethink.  You learn a lot when you read him.  This book, no doubt, will help to change this society…  The killings in Nigeria are too many.  Fear everywhere.  But what can we do to stop all that?” he asked.

    Abati, the MC was good at his job.  He recalled how he got to know Aganga and how he has trained them to make a change in the society.  The event was well attended as people bought copies of the book to be able to have closer glimpse into the many problem areas of Nigeria and what to do to correct the anomalies.

  • Yar’Adua placed national interest above personal, says Jonathan

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was a selfless leader who placed national interest above personal interests.

    On his Facebook page yesterday in commemoration of the ninth year of Yar’Adua’s death, Jonathan said he used the opportunity he had in public service to build bridges of love, foster unity and give hope to Nigerians.

    He said: “On this day nine years ago, I lost a friend, colleague, brother and boss, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. He was a selfless leader who placed national interest above personal and ethnic gains.

    “(The late) President Yar’Adua was a man of integrity with a humble spirit who always took upon himself the burden of national reconciliation, peace-building and democratic consolidation.

    “Today, I remember and celebrate him for the works that he had done. Peace he lived for and homes of peace he built. Democracy he loved and democracy he nurtured. We will always remember you for your service. A servant leader truly you remain.”

    Also, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar described the late President Yar’Adua as a man of peace.

    In a statement yesterday, He wrote: “On May 5, 2010, Nigeria lost a man of peace and a leader with a vision in the person of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua.

    “The late President Yar’Adua was a man I was closely connected to. First, because his late brother, the great Tafida of Katsina, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, was my political mentor who taught Umaru and I the ropes in politics.

    “Obviously, with Umaru, the apple did not fall far from the tree.

    “Secondly, we worked very, very closely when he was the Governor of Katsina State at the time I was Vice-President to our leader, President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    “In this period where Nigeria is facing almost unprecedented violence and insecurity, the world will remember that it was President Yar’Adua who bequeathed peace to the Niger Delta through his futuristic and visionary Amnesty and rehabilitation programme.

    “That singular action saw an unprecedented improvement in the performance of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, which led to record-breaking five per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

    “Beyond that, the late President Yar’Adua was an advocate and proponent of the rule of lLaw and the doctrine of separation of powers. His was the only administration that did not suffer from Executive-Legislative tensions in this Fourth Republic.

    “I am proud of what he achieved and the fact that such a decent leader was produced by my political family (the Yar’Adua political family) and my political party (the Peoples Democratic Party).

    “May the Almighty Allah continue to shine His noor (light) on the face of our late dear President Umaru Yar’Adua as we mark nine years of his passing and may Allah (SWT) grant him Al-Jannah Fir’daus.

    “I also pray that God continues to bless the family he left behind. A grateful nation appreciates the labours of their beloved son almost a decade after his passing.”

  • National interest versus rule of law

    Since President Muhammadu Buhari posited that for national security, individual liberty must give way, bang at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference, the polity has been in a whirr — torn between the lobbies of security (the law and order ensemble) and the lobbies of liberty (press your freedom and the heavens won’t fall).

    Both however would appear to hug the extreme, the fantastic black-or-white.  Much –if not all — of life is the ordinary grey.

    For starters, pristine government came with some surrender of individual rights, to a common collective.  To checkmate the strong from rolling over others, the collective craved a Leviathan, surrendered some of their rights to this all-powerful juggernaut, so the Leviathan be a protective shield for all.  It was the original “social contract”.

    But down the ages, that contract had somewhat been abused: first, by the absolute monarch, by the so-called divine rights of the king, put in place in concert with rogue priests; then some rogue theocracy itself, with the church or mosque, grabbing power; then by feudalism, in which the quickest to seize the means of production crowned themselves the lords the land must worship; down to the tragedy of military rule, where the gun, and absolutely nothing else, shot up the wielder!

    Still, all through the ages, something has stayed constant: the imperative to balance the security of the collective with the liberty of the individual.  That ding-dong is not about to be settled.

    But while this tension rages, there is always the penchant, by both sides of the divide, to wax emotive, abuse the process and swing the balance to their side.

    A law-and-order government would often wave the security imperative; and why, before it, every knee must bow — and be slaughtered.

    But that is not the only guilty party as, from the citizen liberties front, smart crooks often forge citizens’ right as shield against just comeuppance, waxing lyrical and romantic over the rule of law, even if their motive is to escape due and fair sanction.

    With the British Common Law legal system without the British ethos that makes it work, it is natural for frustrated governments, who want to do good, getting justice for the majority but being pecked back by legal technicalities, to flip; and show their frustration by waving the security imperative.

    But the good thing is for the courts to be alive to their responsibilities, to interpret the law, fair and square.

    Rule of law, though a right, comes with grave responsibilities.  That is why a convicted criminal, once in gaol, loses the most basic of citizens’ rights: liberty.  Even pre-conviction, it is trite that personal liberties are subject to collective security — and no amount of poetic gushing on the rule of law can wish that away.

    But then again, it is the courts’ bounden duty: to push back a government gung-ho on the security imperative but also hold to account lobbies that seek undue advantage, by crass abuse of the rule of law, to corral illicit gains.

    The courts therefore hold the ace to maintain this delicate balance, of personal liberty and security.  They must never surrender it, no matter what.

  • Soyinka criticises Buhari on rule of law, national interest

    Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for saying that rule of law can be suspended for the sake of national security or interest.

    Soyinka claimed that Buhari was preparing an alibi for disregarding judicial decisions.

    The President made the comment on Sunday at the opening of the 58th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja.

    Relying on a Supreme Court judgment, he said: “Rule of law must be subject to the supremacy of the nation’s security and national interest.

    “Our apex court has had cause to adopt a position on this issue in this regard and it is now a matter of judicial recognition that; where national security and public interest are threatened or there is a likelihood of their being threatened, the individual rights of those allegedly responsible must take second place, in favour of the greater good of society.”

    But Soyinka, in a statement titled Buhari’s pernicious doctrine’ faulted the President’s position.

    Soyinka said: “Here we go again! At his first coming, it was ‘I intend to tamper with Freedom of the Press’ and Buhari did proceed to suit action to the words, sending two journalists Irabor and Thompson to prison as a reward for their professional integrity.

    “Now, a vague, vaporous, but commodious concept dubbed ‘national interest’ is being trotted out as alibi for flouting the decisions of the Nigerian judiciary.”

    Soyinka wondered if President Buhari’s incarceration by the former President Ibrahim Babangida’s regime was also in the ”national interest”.

    He thanked the President for notifying Nigerians of his intentions in advance.

    Soyinka said: “The timing is perfect, and we have cause to be thankful for the advance warning, since not all rulers actually make a declaration of intent, but simply proceed to degrade the authority of the law as part of the routine business of governance. We have been there before.

    The playright challenged the the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to give a “robust response”.

    He said: “It should be of mere interest, not despondency, that this latest proclamation of dictatorial recidivism has also been made before an assembly of officers of the law, the Nigerian Bar Association. We expect a robust response from the NBA as part of its conclusions.

    According to Soyinka, “There is no short cut to democracy.

    “The history of law, even where uncodified, is as old as humanity. Numerous rulers have tried again and again to annul that institution. Sometimes, they appear to succeed, but in the end, they pay heavy forfeit. So does society.

    “The Rule of Law, however, outlasts all subverters, however seemingly powerful. If the consequences for society in defence of the Rule of Law were not so costly, any new attempt would be merely banal and boring, hardly deserving of attention. We know, historically, where it will all end.”

  • ‘Buhari’s elevation of ‘national interest’ above rule of law legal, constitutional’

    Project-2019 (P2019), a civil society organisation on Thursday said that President Muhammadu Buhari‘s statement on national interest and the rule of law is legal and constitutional.

    Mr Wale Ogunade, Convener of the group told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)  in Lagos, that President Buhari ‘s statement was a restatement of the provisions of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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    According to him, the President’s statement takes its foundation from the fact that, the rule of law can only exist when the national interest and security is secured in a state of peace and tranquility.  Otherwise, it is a farce.

    President Buhari while flagging off the 2018 Annual General Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja on Sunday,  asserted the supremacy of national security and interest over and above the rule of law, quoting a judgment of the Supreme Court.

    He said: “Rule of law must be subject to the supremacy of the nation’s security and national interest.

    “Our apex court has had cause to adopt a position on this issue in this regard and it is now a matter of judicial recognition that; where national security and public interest are threatened or there is a likelihood of  being threatened, the individual rights of those allegedly responsible must take second place in favour of the greater good of the society”.

    Ogunade said that fundamental rights of citizens are not absolute as there could be limitations.

    ”As active stakeholders in the political development of the country, it becomes imperative to examine the statement dispassionately and objectively for the collective good.

    ”While it is a recognised fact that the rights of citizens are fundamental according to the constitution and international treaties of which Nigeria is a signatory, it’s also a fact that such rights are not absolute on their own, but with limitations.

    ”For example, the right to free speech is limited by the aftermath of libel or slander by whoever has been defamed.

    ”Also, the fundamental right of a citizen to free movement can be limited in the public interest or national security, if his or her actions constitute a threat to societal order through the provocative act of assaulting public sensibilities. For  example, exercising the right to movement naked.

    “‘Again, the right of an individual or group to practice his/their religion is not an absolute right to permit the infringement on the rights of other citizens through making the public space inaccessible to them in the discharge of one’s religious rights.  This is tantamount to a threat to public or national interest.

    ”Again, the fundamental right of association of citizens, of being members of an ethnic nationality or group does not confer on them, the absolute right to undermine national security by deriding and threatening the lives of other citizens who are not of same ethnic stock.

    ”This act if not curtailed is a threat to national security and interest.

    ”Furthermore, under our laws, an individual right to property can be abridged in the public or national interest by the state, through acquisition and the right of the former owner can only be remedied by compensation in most cases only on the basis of the owner having legal documents to the property.

    ”This again is a reaffirmation of the fact that where national or public interest comes into contact with individual right, the latter becomes subsumed, ” he said.

    Ogunade said that section 45 sub-section 1 of the 1999 constitution is clear on the issue.

    According to him, the power to determine what constitutes a threat to national security and national interest  is solely vested in the executive arm of government for now.

    ”Section 45 (1) of the 1999 constitution states explicitly that:

    “Nothing in sections 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 of this constitution shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society –

    (a)  in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health; or

    (b) for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other person’s.

    ”Therefore, instead of dissipating energy of whipping up emotions and sentiments in condemning Mr President’s statement which is in alignment with provisions of our constitution, we will be more interested in extensive public engagement on this matter if and only if genuine and legitimate concerns are directly focused towards curtailing the abuse of power likely to arise from the power to determine what constitutes a threat to national security and national interest which is solely vested in the executive arm of government for now.

    ”Like the French philosopher Montesquieu posited, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

    ”Unless and until the law is amended  to take care of the concerns noted above, President Buhari’s statement is a restatement of the provisions of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is indisputably right, ” he said.

     

  • Minister accuses NLC of undermining national interest

    •Labour explains position

    Minister of Labour and Employment  Chris Ngige has said   the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)’s decision to report the country to the Committee on the Application of Standard of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was done in bad faith and against national interest.

    The NLC had written to the committee reporting both Kaduna and Kogi state governments and asking the ILO to send a high-powered delegation to Nigeria to investigate infringements of the right of workers by the states.

    The report by the NLC against the two states was one of the issues discussed by the Committee on Application of Standard at the just-concluded 107th session of the ILO and the decision of the committee is expected to be ready in November.

    The NLC is asking the ILO to send a high-powered delegation made of experts to visit the country on a fact-finding mission, but the Federal Government delegation said there was no need to send experts as the issue was already being handled.

    The minister, in an interview in Geneva, Switzerland, said the retrenchment of unqualified teachers in Kaduna State, which the NLC stated in its petition, was being tackled at home and needed no mention at the international labour forum.

    He said: “We don’t need to wash our dirty linen in the public. My ministry summoned both the Kaduna State Government and the Nigerian Union of Teachers and they presented their cases. We know the truth and don’t need to bring such to the ILO. Some of the people disengaged by the Kaduna State Government from the records tendered to us are not qualified teachers.

    “They don’t have the prerequisite certificate and competence. They got smuggled into the system, but we don’t need to come here tell the world that Nigerians get jobs with fake certificates. We don’t need to engage in such de-marketing of the nation.”

    The minister said based on agreement with the Kaduna State Government, about ten thousand out of the number that failed the qualification test have re-applied, and the Kaduna State has re-absolved some of them.

    The state government, he said, promised to move others to another jobs.

    It has besides recruited more qualified teachers into the system.

    However, NLC Deputy President Comrade Peters Adeyemi, who represented the congress at the proceedings of the Committee on Application of Standards, said the congress took the matter to the ILO because the governors were behaving more like untouchables.

    He said: “This arbitrariness needed to be checked. We had to come here because, if we cast our mind back, President Muhammadu Buhari, out of pain, looked at governors and asked them, how you can sleep when salaries of workers remained unpaid.

    “The problem has to do with the fact that the states have become lords to themselves to the extent that all our President can do is to lament, because he is not able to make them do what is right. Some of these bailout funds were not used for the purpose they were used for. We know that at some point in time, the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC) was trying to follow up some of those who misused these funds, but we have not gotten any result.

    “What we are saying is that the ILO should send a high-powered mission to Nigeria to ascertain some of these claims. Clearly, we had to put some of these things before the international community because if, despite his efforts, the president has not been able to do what is required, maybe if it is brought to the international community, people will have reason to begin to think more reasonably that this is a disgrace to our country.”

     

  • ‘Phasing out Islamic education is inimical to national interest’

    A senior lecturer at the Department of Education, Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Prof Aliyu Dauda, has described as ‘inimical to national interest’, the phasing out of Islamic Education from the school curriculum. Dauda insists that there is no way religion can be divorced from politics.

    During the BUK School of General Studies, Class 84 reunion, held at the old campus in Kano, Dauda wondered why both Islamic Studies and Christian Religious Knowledge should be expunged from the academic curriculum.

    He challenged those in the National Assembly, saying they have a great task to spearhead the struggle to ensure government rescinds its decision.

    According to him, with issues bordering on religion relegated to the background, no political system can ever be feasible to assume same balance of legitimacy.

    Rather than religion, Dauda pointed accusing fingers  at  the ruling elite, who, according to him, had been wielding considerable influence and authority on the affairs of the country, and had used same to monopolise the nation’s resources to their advantage.

    In the same vein, a senior lecturer in the Department of History, Prof Ibrahim Khalil, warned that expunging History from the school curriculum was an ill wind that blows nobody any good, adding that without knowledge of history, one is not even fit to govern.

    “Without strong historical and empirical evidences,  facts and revelations,” Khalil contended that the “citizenry would be bereft of knowledge and the immense contribution of  nationalists and great leaders.”

  • Obasanjo: I’ll only promote national interest

    Obasanjo: I’ll only promote national interest

    Former President Olusegun Olusegun has said would not promote any narrow or sectional interest as he remains committed to the nation’s development.

    Obasanjo said having “weaned” himself from partisan politics – barely a year ago, he has made the general development of the country or its overall interest, his focus.

    The former Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said this yesterday when a delegation of the Okun Development Association (ODA) visited his Presidential Hilltop Estate home in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

    Members of the group appealed to him to assist them regarding the socio-economic and political challenges facing the Okun nation of Kogi State.

    But Obasanjo said he will support any group or association whose goals and aspirations tally with his focus on Nigeria’s development and wellbeing.

    “I am open to you if it has to do with the issues relating to national interest and development. But, I will not, when it has to do with any interest that is not open or has national interest as its focus.

    “Since I have eased myself out of what I will call centre of political activities, I have not eased myself out of the totality of development in Nigeria. This I will welcome and support from any group or association,” Obasanjo said.

    The ex – President, however, urged the group to add more value to their community development association.

    According to him, people prosper and develop when they engage in agriculture and related businesses in the face of contending demands at the federal, states and local government levels.

    “My association, Olaogun Development Association, did not wait for the government to provide water, clinic or build schools.

    “You as the leaders should meet regularly to discuss more on the good of the association. I must warn that your work, interest and programme should not conflict with the overall development of the state and country,” he said.

    ODA’s Chairman Akere Owoniyi, who led the delegation, urged Obasanjo not to relent in giving advice on matters that affect the country.

    “If the change effected during the last presidential election did not take place, one can only imagine what would have become of us as a nation today.

    “The present government is confronting the numerous self-inflicted challenges that had slowed down the development of our nation. We must play our part and come to terms with the realities of our time. We, therefore, must join hands with the Federal Government to develop the nation.”