The Nation Newspaper

Tag: national

  • In search of national communication framework

    In search of national communication framework

    The image of a country is crucial to attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). Experts at the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) 43rd Annual General Meeting/Congress in Akwa Ibom State highlighted the role of communications in national development and nation branding, ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI, who was there, reports

    At a time the Bristish Prime Minister, David Cameron, described Nigeria as ‘fantastically corrupt’, the focus of this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Congress of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) could not be more apt.

    With Communication As a Tool for National Development as its theme,  there was an assemblage of experts to address communication and branding challenges.

    Analysts say it is the best way to go for any government in need of the best method to communicate its policies to not only the citizens but to the outside world.

    The debate on coming out with a well-accepted marketing communications strategy for the country has been futile over the last five years. But Akwa Ibom State, where the event was held, provided a case study – development and communication – for better understanding of the  role of communication in national development and nation branding.

    The speakers, including Governor Emmanuel Udom; the Acting Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Corporation (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari; a senior advertising practitioner and the Managing Director of SO&U, Mr. Udeme Ufot, and the immediate past president of AAAN, Mr. Kelechi Nwosu, were unanimous that communication can change behaviours, entrench positive attitude and enhance national rebirth. Communication can as well enhance positive perception from external publics, especially, the international community.

    Describing advertising as a veritable tool for repositioning  the state, Udom said a communication campaign – Dakkada – adopted by the state has become a litmus test that could be adopted by government at all levels to achieve  national development, reorientation and attitudinal change. He said such business must be handled by professionals to achieve results.

    He said: “We are all guilty of the blame; we got into this mess basically because Nigerians were not interested in their own enterprises. There is an urgent need for the average Nigerian to show some level of patriotism towards made-in-Nigeria goods and patronage of our professionals in all fields. With this, we will be able to check capital flight as well as boost the naira.

    “On communication, I have always emphasised that there must be connection between the people and government mechanism and the best way to go about this is to engage professionals, who understand our culture, our programmes and our target audience.”

    Also, Mrs. Semenitari, a founding Editor of BroadStreet Journal, a publication of Tell Magazine, underscored the role of communication. She said there was the need for the government to provide citizens with information on programmes and activities, saying this is a vital function which underpins state-society relation.

    Semenitari said further that the government, being the first brand face of Nigeria, must carry its people along, making them the first advocates for Brand Nigeria. “The result of this would be a boundless subscription by all Nigerians to Brand Nigeria, an affirmative position which is accompanied by pride, sincerity and collective responsibility, knowing that no truly big or successful brand can be built in isolation,” she said.

    She noted that adopting effective communication strategy in governance would foster national pride, advocacy, behavioural changes and support for government initiatives. It will also naturally encourage foreign investors and tourist attraction. “An overall belief in brand Nigeria is just coming attractions for what the big play could turn out to be,” she affirms.

    Challenging advertisers, she  said communication as a tool for national development as seen through the eyes of communications experts must be seen as a task to probe new models and channels through which the people can be carried along.

    “The process of competently advising, guiding, processing and executing ideas at every level is the strongest challenge for advertising agents. And why do I think it’s a challenge? Taking into consideration the peculiar challenges our government is presently tackling and considering the progress we have made in these areas, it must be stated that already one thing is clear, the present administration is not turning its eyes the other way to corruption or the menace of insurgency. Peculiar times call for peculiar models, hence, we must be imaginative; be able to gain the confidence of the people while communicating Nigeria’s ideals.

    “Our offerings and response simplified, sustainable and brilliant, yet convincing,” she said.

    She said AAAN could not be ignored in the communication space, particularly in maintaining an appreciable level of ethics of practice, which she referred to as the precursor of the sanity in the advertising industry.

    In the “fantastically altered” perception about the country, she said, there isn’t a better time than now to collectively bring to the fore strategies towards adequately using communication for nation building and highlighing the role of teh government.

    Drawing attention to the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister David  Cameron’s comment, Uffot said Nigerians were responsible for the way foreigners see the country in negative light. He said Nigerians and top government officials, including the media, were responsible for demarketing Nigeria.

    “There is nothing Nigerians enjoy more, both the lowly and the highly placed, than to denigrate their nation, even in the midst of foreign audiences, (washing our  dirty linen (at their doorsteps). It is indeed a sad place to be, that Nigerians who are old enough to have seen, and been a part of this country in its better days, and some of whom had been contributory to the country’s sinking to the current sorry state, should be some of the loudest in bad mouthing and rubbishing the nation,” he said.

    Quoting the Special Adviser on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Issues for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, Uffot said: “Nation building is about building a common sense of purpose, a sense of shared destiny, a collective imagination of belonging. Nation building is therefore about building the tangible and intangible threads that hold a political entity together and gives it a sense of purpose. It is about building the institutions and values which sustain the collective community in these modern times.”

    In the light of this Ufot, said there is need for a professional communication framework and architecture in managing government communications.

    The conference support by The Nation Newspaper, according to Nwosu, was organised to articulate options and identify strategies for addressing national issues, particularly those that relate to the advertising industry and the Nigeria economy. He also said it was meant to suggest clear ideas on how government can effectively engage the hearts and minds of Nigerians.

    Nwosu said for the engagement of strategic communication is to motivate members of the public. While pointing out that many governments, all over the world, retain the services of professional marketing communication partners to sell their policies, he tasked practitioners in the advertising business on the need to see their role in national development beyond offering marketing communication services to the private sector.

  • On national values

    On national values

    A nation that dreams greatness needs to invest in the strategic inculcation of national values. The success of such a strategic investment depends on several factors: (a) the scope of the values, (b) the source of the values, (c) the nature of the values, (d) role models and instructors, (e) institutional structures. Let us briefly investigate each of these factors.

    First, by scope I mean the reach of the values deemed national. It is unavoidably tautological to suggest that national values must be national in scope. But that is the inescapable reality. A national value cannot be ethnic orsectarian. Of course, this doesn’t suggest that a value that is acceptable to one ethnic or sectarian group cannot be acceptable to some other group. What it suggests is simply that for a value to be considered worthy of the adjective “national”, it must be embraced by or considered as worthy of the embrace of others.

    Second, one factor that determines the national scope of a value is the source of the value. How do members of the nation come to recognise it as a value worthy of embrace. National values cannot originate from divisive sources. Fortunately, despite the divisions of tribe and tongue in dear country, we have one non-divisive source of our values. It is the constitution which provides a copious account of the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy, which for all intents and purposes is a declaration of our national values.

    Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides a list of our national values, the ideals that we stand for and which government and citizens have a duty to embrace and promote. It reiterates our republicanism, which vests sovereignty in the people with the right to participate in government and the duty to discharge the responsibilities that correlate with that right. We affirm peace, progress, unity and faith as national ideals worth living for and if necessary worth dying for. We reject corrupt practices and collectively resolve to abolish them from our nation. We pledge to secure maximum welfare, freedom and happiness for every citizen on the basis of social justice. We decide that national wealth will serve the common good and not just a chosen few.

    We embrace freedom, equality and justice as the foundation of our social order. In other words, no one will be rendered unfree without due process; no one will be treated like a slave or serf; and justice will prevail because these are values that our nation is built upon. They demonstrate our belief in the sanctity and dignity of the human person. As a mark of our fidelity to these values, we pledge to give every citizen the opportunity to secure adequate means of livelihood under just and humane conditions of work.

    Our constitution even identifies boldly and unambiguously our national ethic which encompasses all of the above: discipline, integrity, dignity of labour, social justice, religious tolerance and patriotism. From south to north, from east to west, and every space in-between, these are the values that we embrace per the grundnorm that binds us as one nation indivisible. It follows that these are the values that we must seek to inculcate in young and old, officials and ordinary citizens at every opportunity in order to make our nation the pride of citizens and the envy of aliens.

    Third, by their nature, these ingredients of our national values are positive roadmaps for national development and national integration, provided there is sufficient adherence to their dictates. And that is what has been lacking. The lack is in two areas. If we are to inculcate national values, there must be instructors and role models for that purpose. But genuine instructors are lacking not because there are no expert teachers of values, but because, there is more to instruction and role modelling than rote teaching and learning. A role model sets a pattern of behaviour that is emulated by the followers. Whether in policy formulation or political practice, whether in religious instruction or sectarian preaching, there is too much of “do as I say” and not enough of “do as I do.”

    Fourth, there must be adequate institutional structures through the auspices of which national values are disseminated and inculcated. Prominent among the institutions that have traditionally taken up this task are schools, religious institutions, voluntary organisations, such as Boys Scout and Girls Guide, etc. In the colonial era and in the post-colonial and pre-military era, these were veritable institutions that took on the responsibility of inculcating national values with dedication and commitment. Discipline was enforced in schools and religious institutions. This translated into a productive workforce and a patriotic citizenry. We remember the teachers that made us who we are and the pastors and imams that lived penurious lives but delivered the words of truth without fear or favour. They are hardly here anymore.

    It is understandable then why government officials worry about national values. The Nigerian Educational and Research Development Council (NERDC) has refocused on how schools can re-engage in inculcating national values. But how might schools disseminate national values? And how might religious institutions? There is an undeniable synergy between national values and religious values. Our major religions preach love, peace, unity, respect, hard work, etc. Therefore, churches, mosques and traditional worship spaces are well-positioned to help inculcate national values.

    Public and private schools are also best suited with appropriate curriculum development in social studies, history, and civics, which focus students as citizens and future leaders on the history and value priorities of their nation.

    How about subject areas like Christian Religious Studies (CRS) and Islamic Religious Studies (IRS)? Are they repositories of national values and thus agents for their inculcation? To the extent that these subjects teach positive values, they are helpful in the dissemination of national values. However, this is not their main focus. Both are to be seen as academic subjects focused on instructing students on the tenets, beliefs and history of each of the faiths. As such, there are areas of agreement and areas of conflict between them. The major prophets of these religions had differing views on the issue of faith and spirituality.

    And while religion, when it is reasonably approached, can be a positive influence on national values, it is unclear what useful purpose is served by having students compulsorily explore in curriculum settings the linkage between religion and national values. Is the purpose to understand the relationship? That is not a worthy subject area for JSS or SSS. Is it to more effectively inculcate national values? That is a less effective approach. Is it to align religion and national values? That is an unnecessary effort. In the matter of teaching religion and inculcating national values, the approach that reason dictates is to keep them clear and distinct. As one of the prophets advised: give to Caesar what belongs to him, and reserve for God what is God’s.

    At any rate, even if for some reason, we find it useful to deploy religious instruction in the inculcation of national values, it is counter-productive to combine two religions under one curriculum head. Just as we cannot combine the teaching and learning of history and mathematics as a subject offering, combining IRS and CRS as one single subject in the curriculum will serve more negative than positive purpose.For such combination cannot avoid inadvertently truncating one belief system or the other, something that can cause more social harm than good.

    By the same token, making religious study compulsory while history is removed from the curriculum doesn’t make much sense. The latter is sorely needed for a heightened sense of national values. It affords us a common memory of our core values, where we have been, and what got us to where we are. History enables us to make useful investigation of our national, social, moral and political values. And historical knowledge is a sine qua non for informed citizenry. Therefore, for promoting national values, it makes better sense to make history, rather than religious knowledge, compulsory in our school curriculum.

     

  • Bresson to add 500Mw to national grid

    Bresson to add 500Mw to national grid

    Federal Government’s efforts to increase power generation has recieved a boost as Bresson Nigeria Limited is set to add 500 megawats (Mw) to the national grid next year.

    Speaking yesterday during a courtesy call on Vice President Yemi Osibajo by a team of Bresson Nigeria Limited, Prof Osinabjo told the investors that the administration is committed to removing all bottlenecks hindering investors in the power sector.  He commended Bresson for the integrated nature of its power projects, a model of fuel sufficiency by also investing in gas production.

    While assuring that the administration is working to ensure regular supply of gas to the power plants  and efforts are on to attract investment into the sector, he said Bresson integrated  model in power generation is a good model. ’’We shall support you and other genuine investors with recognisable foot print but we shall monitor you closely to ensure you adhere to your schedule,’’ he said

    Chairman of the firm,  Gbenga Olawepo-Hasim, while briefing the Vice President said the megawatts to be generated will come from Bresson Initiative and its Magboro power plant in Ogun State.

     

  • National Troupe: For the love of Nigeria

    With series of satires and performances based on the need to move Nigeria ahead for more effective and concerted change, the National Troupe of  Nigeria has moved to Abuja, the nation’s capital to preach the message of cultural and moral rebirth. The event tagged ‘I Love Nigeria’, took place on Valentine Day at the Unity Park, Abuja. Edozie Udeze reports

    In its guest to continuously search for a better Nigerian society, the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN) has devised a new pattern of dance drama to capture the heart of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. Last weekend, in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in what was termed “I Love Nigeria” the Troupe presented series of dances anchored on the unity and progress of Nigeria.

    Held at the Unity Park, Abuja, the dances were done on Valentine day, to show love, true love, rooted in the heart of people can help to move Nigeria to the next level where ethnicity, religious bigotry, hatred, narrow-mindedness and political thuggery would soon be flushed out in the national psyche of the Nigeria society.

    This was why the dances and dramas were performed essentially to touch on those terrible habits Nigerians display that have not encourage the society to prosper. All aspects of professional misconducts in the society were harped on, in which every body was asked to sit up to ensure that Nigeria is made a better place for all and sundry.

    Thus doctors were cajoled to be upright in their treatment of patients. It was good remind them that the head condition of the vast majority of people lay in their hands. Therefore it behooves on them to use their sound professional ethics to give the people the best medical facilities ever. In it, Sobifa Dokubo who acted Nigeria was decked in the National colours of green-white-green, designed to represent the Niger Delta symbolic designs. Dokubo, a veteran of stage, used the opportunity to scold all professionals represented in the play to do the best for the total cohesion, progress and development of Nigeria.

    Each profession has a duty, to perform to put the Nigerian society on the right track to stardom. Both doctors importers, farmers, teachers, civil servants, engineers, the youths, artisans, artists, owe it to the people to discharge their duties diligently for Nigeria to measure up with the rest of the world.

    What will it profit a farmer when he uses fake  and inferior fertilizers to produce crops, that will be harmful to millions of Nigerians? Most of the organically produced food crops pushed into the market pose serious health hazards to the people if all professionals adhered  to safety of their professions; if they truly love the Nigeria society and its teeming people, then they will have the heart to commit less atrocities in order to save the people. No society ever gets it better when its engineers keep building substandard houses that collapse at the slightest whim. No government will be happy to see its engineers do roads that do not last longer before they begin to develop potholes. This was why the drama infused with heavy dances were quite appropriate to pass the message across to teeming crowd that gathered to watch the shows.

    In their midst were soldiers, both serving and retired who saw in the plays renewed zeal to fight more to liberate to people for clutches of Boko Haram. Also present were top civil servants who were told to be more punctual to work and produce more to help the economy grow.

    Civil servants who report to duty say by 10am and register 6.30 am where admonished to desist from the habit forthwith. In his fatherly artistic way, Dokubo intoned “ Oh, it is not good when you falsify your age to remain for ever in the service. It is not good when you habitually produce ghost workers in order to cheat the system; when you make people’s files to disappear at random. And then threaten to go on strike for salary increase for works you did not do diligently. For most part, the arena was silent; people were somewhat reflective and sober. The messages hit them hard on the head. The usual clapping and acclaim that accompany such satires and hilarious place did not happen. Nigerians were told the truth in a way that was new on them.

    “Oh yes,” Akin Adejuwon, the Artistic Director of the Troupe said “it is to make the messages clearer to the people. Change has to be made concrete; people have to know what it is to make a meaningful change. It has to start from each and everyone of us. So, while the NOA uses speeches to do it, we use actions, performances, shows, plays, dances, songs, etc, to permeate the people. The beauty of artistic demonstrations or performance art is that its effect is instantaneous. You feel it as it is being released and you take the message home and chew on it. Most times, they message is addressing you in particular, noting those bad habits you have which you must shed to make progress. This is why we have adopted this method and I hope it is catching on fast.”

    In a way the project is a continuation of the vow and promise Adejuwon made at the initial beginning to take the Troupe to all the crannies of the society. “Yes, we are taking the Troupe out of the National Theatre, Lagos to other places to let Nigerians feel the impact of the Troupe. The dances, the dramas, the songs, et al must reflect on the areas of the Nigerian problems in order for us to move on ahead.”

    In his own speech, Mike Omeri of NOA reiterated the need for Nigerians to fall in love with what is their own. “On a day like this and even beyond, Nigerians need to show real love to one another. This show today is to remind us that love is in the air and it has to be a continuous habit. We need to overcome prejudices and ethnic problems in order to grow as a nation. What is right for the society is what we should do. Let us always remember to show love whether we here or somewhere else. For, to us, love is universal”

    “In other words, let love be our armour. Today Nigerian soldiers have to be celebrated for having degraded Boko Haram. No territories are in the hands of Boko Haram today because our soldiers have been diligent. It is time therefore to dedicate today to them and ask them to do more for the good of nation,” Omeri said.

    In her comment about the play, Josephine Igberease who conceived the show said, “On a search to reward true patriotic citizens in the season of love, Nigeria (a father figure) assembles all contestants from all works of life – From the teachers, to the doctors, engineers, farmers, artisans, youth groups, business tycoons, to mention but a few. Everybody gathers together in groups with the song of ‘I LOVE NGEIRA’ in their mouths, singing praises of themselves with pride. After all the merriment and boastfulness of individual group achievements, the story take a new turn when Mr. Nigeria announces no one is the winner. He goes further to show them the areas where they all fall short, and motivates them to change their ways if truly they love him, Nigeria. It is a story of CHANGE.

  • A national emergency – 2

    Looking at the new dispensation and the PDP’s potential role as a credible alternative, the horizon is still hazy. Possibility of new outspoken national leaders, young national Turks from the north, rising up to prominence, seems remote for now.

    Looking at the much heralded but highly politically inexperienced ex-policeman, Nuhu Ribadu and his fickle political tendencies, what really are his antecedents, his contributions to this nation? What can he point to as relics of his achievement in national life?

    Largely incorruptible, yes, but what are his achievements, to becoming a political warhead in a new cause? As the anti-corruption Czar, he certainly filled many political office holders with fear but the conviction rate of the big cows were minimal. He fell to being a lackey of the government that hired him and stayed out of hurting some sacred cows and letting many unconvicted felons go scot free. Despite his much publicized national admiration, certain things from his past will always hurt him politically and he seems not the type to indulge in political drudgery and political mudslinging. But there is still however a thinking that the man that can unseat the present president must be a suave educated young northerner. Someone like Ribadu. Someone well groomed, focused, highly articulate, a national figure, forward-looking and a workaholic like Babatunde Fashola.

    But a presidential candidate will come in much later. The PDP needs a national leader now, perhaps a figure from the South. A visionary, who can present articulately, an alternative national platform, a rallying cry of civil opposition to the present occupants of Aso Rock. The present natural leader of the PDP, the deputy senate president has ruled himself out of this position. The two other visible easterners of the party, the acting chairman and the publicity secretary, who had arrogated to themselves the leadership of the party, don’t necessarily look charismatic and the type that go the whole hog. They seem hardly the ones to rally a complex nation like Nigeria. Never mind that Ahmed Gulak has succeeded in raising the blood pressure of the acting chairman to truncate his quest to perpetually live on illegally as an unelected, unappointed leader of a national party.

    I’m tempted in my quest for a credible opposition alternative to turn my searchlight on a southern state which has a huge PDP following and have produced exemplary governors in this political dispensation. He has many harsh critics but many will also agree that Governor Donald Duke was visionary and a forward-looking leader. His concepts of government and ideas can see him take up office in 10 Downing Street. Duke is a potential national leader. His years as governor laid a foundation for his next political level. The years that followed his administration are largely unsung across the nation. It is debatable the footprints his successor made. Perhaps pedestrian, perhaps blazing a new trail. But the new man in there now, the professor, is just like the political son of Duke; Ideas, vision, action. He is suave, presidential and seems a good dreamer. Apart from Fashola, never seen any Nigerian governor who hit the ground running after his inauguration. Prepared to lead.

    But both Duke and Professor Ayade are high admirers of the ruling general. They appear too close to posit any raw opposition and alternative to him. I guess they don’t even want to be seen largely opposing and contradicting him. Wise policy if you are not that ambitious. But these men are inherently endued to rally the opposition troops with a civilized viable alternative that will draw the crowds.

    The nearby state of Akwa Ibom has a huge political figure though heavily censured by a section of his kinsmen and elders. They wanted and love all the iconic development that Godswill Akpabio gave them but they wanted him to be a kitten, a man they can order to kneel before elders and assault like the once naïve Chris Ngige. In other words, he would only open the state’s treasury, award viable contracts as these certain men bid him to. Governor Akpabio is presidential, he can be an African equivalent of General Marshall who got Europe out of the ashes. He brooks no nonsense, he can smash glasses. He can get massive things that benefict the lot of the people done and empower them just like the hugely loved Ibori. He is daring, highly intelligent and a true African politician and leader. See Wikileaks. He understands local politics. He knows the terrain of political patronage, has tremendous goodwill and is not known to be stingy, close-fisted.

    Godswill Akpabio, a power broker and a good one at that, is accused of installing his protégé by those who all along were his protégé and those who wanted to install their protégé and failed. The Jagaban has successfully installed two of his protégé as successors now, the Atlantic Ocean did not submerge Lagos. But the rising star Godswill Akpabio is presently playing nice with the ruling party. He seems comfortable with the present castrating bi-partisanship of the Senate leadership. Perhaps, at least for now.

    Someone once said that a high number of past and serving northern and western state governors, are presidential materials in the making but never is any of their counterparts from the east. Just look at them. The one exception probably was one who gave his godfather a bloody nose and enough hell. He got things largely going on. He was full of zest, he could talk, was an intellectual and had the mind to move mountains. But alas it seemed the perks of office ensnared him and he turned out to be working largely for himself.

    I am wont to lose faith if the ruling party will ever have a credible opposition. But in my distress, I thought of another alternative political centre (AAPC). If ever Nigerians are going to see any genuine alternative rise, an opposition to protect us from unfettered tyranny and a militarily-styled democracy, it might, very might just take an implosion in the ruling party. The hens might just come home to roost. Just like this ruling party balkanized the PDP and formed an alternate political centre, (APC), Nigeria might get another alternative in the form of disgruntled members of the ruling party, pushed out and alienated by the present kitchen cabinet and by its increasingly bizarre manners and decisions. These will necessarily align with outside forces especially segments of the civil society and the PDP for a storming of the political Bastille. If it does happen, the present occupants of Aso Rock will start reading their dictionary to find out the true meaning of accountability. It might just be an AAPC to save this democracy.

     

    • Barrister Chima is a public affairs commentator.
  • Danladi promises better outing for national teams

    Danladi promises better outing for national teams

    A member of the newly constituted Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) technical & development committee,  Isaac Danladi has assured that all the national teams would flourish during their reign.

    Danladi and eight other members of the committee were announced on Friday.

    The committee is to be chaired by Christopher Green and Ahmed Yusuf Fresh will serve as Vice Chairman. Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme is the Secretary of the committee.

    Other members are Paul Bassey, Mutiu Adepoju, Victor Ikpeba, Garba Lawal and Christain Chukwu.

    In a chat with SportingLife, the chairman of Nasarawa United stressed that he and his members will work assiduously to give Nigerians the best they desired.

    He praised the former member of the committee led by Felix Anyasi for a good job.

    “It is not only the Super Eagles; all the national teams would thrive under this administration. The good thing about the committee is that it is full of tested and trusted people,” Danladi told SportingLife

    “Anyasi is a very good person and he has done his best and he has left and if you look, Green has been there before and under him, at least the Super Eagles and other national teams achieved lots of success and there was vibrancy. What happened is that Green is a lawyer and people always believe that lawyers are difficult people to control.

    “Apart from that, Fresh is someone who is vibrant and the other members are former Super Eagles players. We are hoping that they will bring their own experience to bear and we will bring our own experience to the table, we will merge it together and see how we can move all the national teams forward,” the chairman of the club owners said.

  • De-Royals FC crowned National Football Fives champions

    • To represent Nigeria in Thailand

    Nigeria’s Premier National Football Fives Tournament ended on Saturday at the Campos Mini Stadium, Lagos Island. Over 1,000 teams from across Nigeria were registered to compete in the six geo-political zones of the country and from the regional qualifiers 16 teams qualified to compete in Lagos for the title of National Champion and with the honour of representing Nigeria at the 2016 F5WC holding in Bangkok, Thailand.

    Defending Champions, De-Royal FC of Lagos Island successfully retained the title they won last year after a nail-biting final game against Ago FC of Ogun State.

    De-Royal were stunned early on in the first half when Ago FC opened scoring against the run of play, De Royal levelled up the score a few minutes before the end of first half.

    The second half was a delight for the neutrals as both teams gave it their all, but it eventually ended 1-1 and it was down to the luxury of penalties which which was won by the DE-Royals FC.

    Kabiru Nasiru of De-Royal FC was voted the Most Valuable player and his seven goals at the National Finals were enough to also see him win the Golden Boot award.

    The Olympic Milk sponsored event witnessed a huge turn-out of fans who were treated to scintillating football displays by the various teams mixed with musical performances, free-styling, Olympic branded giveaways and lots of Olympic Apple fruit drinks.

    Bayo Akande of FiveSports, Organisers of the event said: “We would like to thank our sponsors, Olympic Milk for their immense support; we really appreciate the fact that the brand has come to identify with Nigerian sports through their various sponsorship of sporting events.”

  • Embrace dialogue, national leadership urges APC Kaduna

    Embrace dialogue, national leadership urges APC Kaduna

    The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday urged the Kaduna State chapter to embrace dialogue in resolving crisis, following the alleged suspension of Senator Shehu Sani.

    It warned against insubordination, saying it had consequences.

    “The party will not accept any act that will lead to the loss of any of its prominent members.”

    The Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Timi Frank, said the decision of the Northwest Zonal Vice Chairman, Inuwa Abdulkadir, reflected the position of the national leadership of the party in the controversial suspension of Senator Sani by the Kaduna State chapter.

    He said Abdulkadir was mandated by the National Working Committee to resolve the crisis.

    After a meeting with party stakeholders in Kaduna last Monday, the Northwest zonal vice chairman announced that the suspension of Senator Sani was null and void, a move that did not go down well with the state chapter, which said the lawmaker’s suspension remained valid.

    The Kaduna State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Salisu Tanko Wusono, faulted Abdulkadir for lifting the suspension, saying he acted without the consent of the national leadership, contrary to Section 21 of the APC constitution.

    Frank said the action of the zonal vice chairman was in line with the party constitution and in accordance with the directive of the national leadership, which wanted an amicable resolution of the crisis.

    He warned the state chapter to desist from making further utterances on Sani’s purported suspension, as the decision of the zonal chairman was the position of the national leadership, which must be respected.

    Frank asked them to desist forthwith from further actions, which might tend to embarrass the party.

    “The position taken by Abdulkadir subsists and has the backing of the national body. It is pertinent that party stakeholders and members take note of this and submit to the will of the party, no matter their interests.

    “Instead of sowing seeds of discord, we must foster unity. All hands must be on deck to achieve this.”

  • Biafra and the National Question

    It does appear that there can be no comforting respite for Nigeria from the largely avoidable multifarious political and socio-economic issues buffeting its humanity. The reason for this grim conclusion cannot be divorced from the balding fact that the country thrives on hurting escapism in different forms, and is as comfortably beholden to the culture of denials in spite of lingeringly rebuking realities just as it is joyously inured to the distasteful habit of producing and electing myopic, dull and drab minds as leaders to occupy sensitive public positions. Nigeria pretends it is a normal nation founded on a viable, sustainable, and tenable foundation. It boldly ignores the National Question and the Political Question (masterfully delineated by Claude Ake) and pretentiously sallies on as if the more than 300 ethnic nationalities which constitute it freely and graciously agreed to cohabitate under one law and system.

    Nigeria, the unstable child of Lord Lugard, has not got the good sense to reconstruct itself, boldly engage the burning question of the togetherness or otherwise of its peoples, and redefine itself in a way that it comes up with a national identity and values that give meaning to citizenship. The unnerving lie that Nigeria is a nation founded on sure foundation and so is united, with its peoples determined to live as one, is at the core of the cause of the unending agitations, uprisings, and instabilities that more than the cankerworm of corruption define the country.

    The latest of such destabilising convulsions is the renewed quest on the part of the Igbo people of the East to exit from the Nigeria house of cards. The other day it was the Yoruba leaders of thought threatening to secede if the cattle-rearing Fulanis of the North do not quit disturbing the ‘peace’ of the southern Yoruba people. There are also the barbarous minds of the viciously terrifying Islamic sect, Boko Haram, seeking to establish a Caliphate, one which admits no non-Muslims.

    The truth is that different happenings since the end of the poorly resolved Civil War in 1970 have continued to call the country’s attention to the unsustainable contradictions in its structure and, more importantly, to the vexatious issue of coexistence among the ethnic nationalities within it. But thus far, the country’s successive leaders’ responses to this structural anomaly have been shallow, ineffectual, unorganised, and misplaced.

    With the reintroduced agitation for a Biafran nation, it is our contention that Nigeria is being presented with another superb opportunity to engage more sensibly and maturely the nagging problem of the country’s National Question – the matter of coexistence and the country’s defective structure. The South-North acute dichotomy, which is often evident in matters of appointment to public offices and uneven physical infrastructural development, needs such critical attention that only structured thinking can vouchsafe.

    One contends that a truly Sovereign National Conference, one devoid of the asininities of the past ones, is critical to resolving the sore problem of sharp disunity, suspicion and distrust that continue to make lives miserable in the country. The question as to whether the peoples of this country want to be together and on what terms, or that they want to go separately must be pointedly put to them. There is nothing entirely sacrosanct about our borders as we have them today – it can be redrawn. Let no one be mistaken: Nigeria is not a nation! It is a conglomeration of many ethnic nationalities. And until we decide, either through a Sovereign National Conference or a direct referendum, whether we want to stay together or not, it will be good morning to one uprising or another from the different ethnic populations in the country.

    We are not against plurality or diversity. To be sure, that has its advantages as we continue to see in many plural societies of the world. But what should be taken into cognisance is the fact that no plural society made up of unhappy, frustrated or unwilling components can enjoy the benefits of diversity. The same is true of a society with defective federal system. Nigeria takes the front seat among countries with unsustainable or wonky federal system. We wish to observe that no country structured on a flawed federal system can harvest the good of federalism when the federating units federate in un-freedom or under duress. If the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and/or the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is unhappy with its state in the Nigerian edifice delicately held together by spittle and so seeks to break off, then the response of the present leaders of Nigeria to that should not be one of force or tough words as was the case in the near past. That will exacerbate the situation and make the country more hobbled.

    The Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari must come to the realisation that shooting live bullets as a way of dispersing a people asking to be allowed to find their exit if nothing effective can be done to address their frustration and alienation will never solve the National Question. This is the time for all Nigerians who feel genuinely concerned about the unviable state of the country to intervene and demand a more sensible approach to resolving the troubling problem of coexistence and defective structure in Nigeria. This becomes more compelling in view of the fact that there is a large retinue of unemployed youths in Nigeria who will always be willing recruits for all kinds of violent agitations.

    Indeed, pacification, a la colonists’ style, is not the solution. The response of the officers of the Nigerian Police and its Joint Task Force (JTF) component to the Onitsha protest, in which about 10 people were killed, a few weeks ago is evidently and largely colonial. If the country in its structure and system has not been redefined, the police also remain a clear vestige of colonialism. The men and women of the police are neither professional nor do they understand that their loyalty is to the Nigerian Constitution (again a document which weakly sustains the lie that is one Nigeria).

    The police regress when the rest of the thinking world is progressively reviewing their systems of policing. The regression of the Nigeria Police accounts for why they disperse protesting crowd with live ammunition. Police officers in Nigeria do not see human beings – they see animals which must be ruthlessly dealt with anytime the interests of the NAPOLEONS appear threatened. Ours is a country where the concept of citizenship and the sacredness of the human life are insufficiently understood. And crucially those are parts of the areas the Sovereign National Conference should address.

    While we are very convinced that National Question and all other socio-economic problems are not unsolvable, one is strongly less persuaded that President Buhari has what it takes to ingenuously design an effective solution to the problems. President Buhari’s appreciation of the country’s Byzantine complexities appears superficial. Concerned people of this country must intervene to ensure that the Federal Government under President Buhari initiate an effective, non-combative response to the hot potato that is the unfolding Biafra tension.

    • Ademola writes from Bodija, Oyo State.
  • SMEDAN presents new MSMEs’ national policy

    SMEDAN presents new MSMEs’ national policy

    • Seeks stakeholders’ support

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Association of Nigeria (SMEDAN) is seeking the support of private sector operators on the implementation of the National Policy on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

    Speaking at the presentation of the policy  in Kaduna, at the weekend, the Director-General/CEO, SMEDAN, Alhaji Bature Masari, said to ensure a seamless implementation of the policy, a detailed and robust framework has been developed, which enunciates the various responsibilities of relevant stakeholders on the implementation value chain.

    “With this first review of the policy, I sincerely believe that the MSMEs sub-sector in Nigeria has been given a further impetus to drive the national economy towards job creation, wealth creation and poverty alleviation. In this regard, I will request for the support and cooperation of all stakeholders towards the achievement of the MSMEs sub-sector of our dream in Nigeria through the implementation of the policy,” Masari said.

    He said the policy, which will be in place between this year and  2025 will be reviewed every four years. He sai it will facilitate and sustain a vibrant MSMEs sub-sector that will be the major driver of national economic growth and development including job creation.

    He added that this will be accomplished by accelerating the profitable expansion of existing MSMEs along the value chain, ensuring transition from micro to small enterprises, small to medium enterprises and medium to large enterprises, thereby enabling them to increase their contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment generation.

    Masari added that the policy outlines key objectives, strategies and programmes for driving the development of MSMEs. It also specifies several programmatic areas such as finance, institutional, legal and regulatory framework, skills development, technology, research and development, extension and support services, marketing and infrastructure and cost of doing businesses.