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Tag: Nigerian news

  • Dickson: APC not ready for poll

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of planning mayhem and manipulation in the November 16 governorship election.

    The governor, who spoke in a media chat in Yenagoa, said APC did not have what it takes to win election in a peaceful and democratic atmosphere.

    A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Fidelis Soriwei, maintained that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would beat its major opposition.

    He said the PDP candidate, Senator Douye Diri, had a robust history of productive public service driven by his passion and love for Bayelsa and the Ijaw nation.

    Read Also: Bayelsa polls: Who succeeds Dickson?

    He said the outcome of the APC primaries reflected the pitiable credentials of the party and its level of unpreparedness. Dickson called on the media to provide a platform for candidates to debate issues; party manifestoes, the polity and development.

    The statement reads: “This election is a very important one where you will either vote for stability or instability, security or insecurity, development or retrogression. But knowing the kind of people you are, I know the party you will vote for.

    “The candidates are all there. As a party, we are preparing to start our campaigns. I know the other side (APC) is not prepared for election; they are preparing to kill and maim. They are preparing for a fight and intimidate our people. As usual, they are also preparing to write and announce fake results. But my party will be going to all the nooks and crannies to talk to the people.

    “I urge you all to shun violence. Say no to those young men carrying arms and driving their brothers and sisters from their communities because of partisan differences.

    “I again call on security agencies to be alive to their responsibilities. I also call on the community leaders to rise to the occasion because communities are bigger than political parties. The historical, cultural and even the blood we share are more important than any partisan differences.”

  • Cokie Roberts: The voice (1943-2019)

    Cokie Roberts dies, Veteran broadcast journalist was 75, announced The New York Times on Tuesday, September 17, 2019. She has since been buried at Congressional Cemetery, Washington, DC.

    Her tart-tongued voice sounds in my ears as I write and I can visualize her, dissecting American politics and public policy on TV. She had such a professional poise and touch of class that not even President Donald Trump, ever disdainful of the press, could deny her professionalism: “She was a real professional. Never treated me well, but I certainly respect her as a professional”.

    She was the voice of radio and the voice of television. She was the voice of reason and the voice of truth. A legendary political journalist, Cokie Roberts started out as a reporter and then became an analyst, a commentator, and an anchor. She traversed four national networks—CBS, ABC, PBS, and National Public Radio. The print medium was also her terrain: She wrote a syndicated column and authored six books.

    In recognition of her contributions for over four decades, she won numerous awards, including three Emmys; the Edward R. Murrow Award; the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism; and the Women Who Light The Way Award. She topped it with the Living Legends Award by the Library of Congress. She was also inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and named one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting.

    She left many enduring legacies. First, she was recognised across the United States for her trailblazing role as a Congressional Correspondent and as one of the Founding Mothers of public radio journalism in the country. She played this role for over forty years, sharing the honour with three compatriots on NPR, namely, Nina Totenberg, Linda Wertheimer, and Susan Stamberg. The four women changed the texture of news on public radio and shared space with men in interviewing powerful people and reporting on politics and public policy.

    In the course of her career, Cokie covered at least eight American Presidents and 22 Congresses. The distinction with which she served was echoed by Presidents and Congressional leaders. Former President Bill Clinton said it all: “I liked and respect Cokie Roberts very much. She understood people and politics. For nearly half a century, she was an institution in American journalism—tough but fair, insightful, and with a voice all her own”.

    In her eulogy at the memorial service, a long-time friend and current Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, described Cokie as “an American icon, who will forever be in the pantheon of the greatest professionals of her field”.

    Second, Cokie was unique in traversing radio, television, and print. While remaining with NPR in one role or the other throughout her career, Cokie shared her role on radio as Congressional Corespondent and political analyst with “Newshour”, a PBS TV programme. She later joined ABC, where she also took on additional roles. Among others, she served as a political correspondent for “World News Tonight”, filled in for Ted Koppel on “Nightline”, and co-anchored, with Sam Donaldson, “This Week”, a Sunday morning political affairs programme.

    Third, although Cokie never wore feminism on her sleeves, she nevertheless mentored young women and highlighted the role of women in American history and politics in three bestselling books, namely, Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation (2004); Ladies of Liberty (2009); and Capital Dames: The Civil War and Women of Washington, 1848-1868).

    Her quest for gender balance was evident in the three companion books in which she explored the public and private role of the women who shaped the United States during the early stages. Pelosi foregrounded the significance of this contribution in her eulogy: “Because of Cokie, the women who helped build and strengthen our nation are now taking their rightful place in our history books”.

    Cokie’s interest in political journalism was rooted in her upbringing and supplemented with her degree in Political Science. Both of her parents were politicians, each of whom served for decades as a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from the state of Louisiana. She walked the halls of Congress as a young girl and the experience never left her. Nevertheless, unlike other members of her immediate family, who ran for Congress, she decided early on journalism and political analysis as her way of giving back to society.

    She acknowledged the impact of her childhood experiences on her views about America: “Because I spent time in the Capitol and particularly in the House of Representatives, I became deeply committed to the American system. And as close up and as personally as I saw it and saw all of the flaws, I understood all of the glories of it.”

    It was her deep understanding of the American political system that gave her an early insight into the danger of electing Trump. In an article co-authored with her husband, she called on “the rational wing” of the Republican party to stop his nomination. Their warning now appears prophetic: “If he is nominated by a major party—let alone elected—the reputation of the United States would suffer a devastating blow around the world”.

    A consummate professional journalist, she recognised the proclivity of journalists to blame politicians, while hardly acknowledging their achievements: “We are quick to criticize and slow to praise”, she said of journalists at a commencement address 25 years ago. She then invited the audience to join in holding their political representatives accountable.

    Finally, Cokie left a legacy of consistency. As Obama observed, she was “a constant over 40 years of a shifting media landscape and changing world”. She was also consistent at home as a wife and mother of two. Although she married early (at 20), she remained married for 53 years to Steven Roberts, also an American journalist, writer, and political commentator. The cream of the Washington establishment, including President Lyndon B Johnson and his wife, attended their wedding in 1966.

    True, Cokie was a child of privilege but she used her position to acquire as much knowledge as possible about the American political system and to share her opinion, views, and stories with the public across major media platforms. Her burial at Congressional Cemetery was a befitting reward for over four decades of diligent reporting on Congress and American politics.

  • 2023 can wait!

    I was at a forum during the week where 20 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria was reviewed. Most people came expecting it to be all gloom and doom: they were not disappointed.

    Not even the deliberate efforts of some speakers to shine light on positives from the last two decades, lightened the mood significantly.

    One speaker said he had given up on discussing Nigeria because public discourse had degenerated to the extent where what you had to say is irrelevant, because you are automatically profiled on the basis of ethnicity and faith.

    A middle-aged lady spoke about an all-night conversation she had with her brother 20 years ago. The question they wrestled with was whether this nation could be salvaged. Her brother decided it was impossible and emigrated to the United States.

    Ever the sunny optimist, she stayed back believing she and like-minds could join hands to turn things around. The woman who spoke that morning had become disillusioned with what the country had become.

    Unfortunately, the people and politicians appear to live in a parallel universe. Those in government are quick to dredge up stats that suggest a massive improvement in our collective lot. For the average man, they might as well be speaking Greek.

    Barely four months after governments at federal and state levels were inaugurated for fresh terms, and a clear three years plus to the next polls, trending discussion isn’t about decaying infrastructure or the economy, but about scheming for the 2023 presidential contest.

    This is a country where politicking never stops and governing hardly ever gets done. Perhaps, I exaggerate, but not much.

    The convention in most places is that once an election is done, the new administration settles down to govern. In countries with fixed four or five year election cycles, serious politicking doesn’t get going until 18 months or two years to the next round of voting.

    That is not to suggest that ambitious politicians would not be quietly working to actualise their dreams.

    But they recognise that an election gives a political party the mandate to deliver on its promises. At least 75% of the tenure of the administration would be dedicated to making the slate they sold to the people reality.

    The current feverish discussion of the 2023 prospects of certain individuals and regions, simply confirm what a growing number of our people are have come to believe; that their voices don’t matter in a supposedly democratic setting.

    Politicians and the shadowy figures that hover around the powerful, are only focused on who next gets to sit on the driving seat. The question, however, is to what end, because once the 2023 election is done, the buzz immediately shifts to who wants to be what in 2027.

    In the last couple of weeks this pattern of discussion became accentuated after Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, suggested that at some point in our political journey we might need to discard zoning as our preferred method for power sharing.

    Although he didn’t say this should begin with the next polls, the comments played into the narrative that a powerful tendency in the North was bent on retaining power in the region after President Muhammadu Buhari’s full two-term run.

    Last week, the debate became even more animated against the backdrop of two government actions that appeared to significantly whittle down Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s clout within the administration.

    No matter how it is dressed, a publicised presidential memo asking the VP to always seek Buhari’s approval for contracts and other matters concerning agencies under his office, amounted to some sort of rebuke – no matter how gentle. It suggested that, in the past, he may not always have done so.

    Osinbajo’s comeback that he had always followed the law in running the agencies, showed that he recognised the subtle censure.

    Coming almost in the same 24-hour cycle when the Economic Management Team he used to head was suddenly dissolved and a new advisory council that reports to the president empanelled, it was grist to the mill of conspiracy theorists.

    Many commentators have since concluded that the one-two punch handed the VP, was a brutal tackle to take him down a peg in the 2023 stakes.

    I am not saying it is, neither am I saying it isn’t. But this relentless intriguing and speculation is a distraction from the compelling governance issues that confront this country.

    The level of misery and poverty is mindboggling. In many cities, the major sources of employment today aren’t manufacturing or some IT start-up, but motorcycle and tricycle taxis that are multiplying like germ culture.

    While they provide short term transportation relief, they are no substitute for proper mass transit. They contribute to the general air of chaos because many governments are overwhelmed by their rapid growth rate and lack the capacity to regulate them. Rather than being a sign of empowerment, they have become emblems of decline and poverty.

    Nigeria’s problems are urgent and can’t wait till tomorrow. They can’t wait for our ‘distinguished’ National Assembly members to return from their leisurely holidays. Neither can they abide much longer the president’s famed deliberate style.

    That’s why it is obscene at this point in our history, to be inflaming discussions about 2023 when the promises of 2015 and 2019 haven’t been made good.

    Nigerians truly need for their leaders to, for a change, deliver some genuine ‘dividends of democracy’. In recent times we have been sold the lie that bridges and roads built represent some kind of return for voters.

    But as some have pointed out, we don’t need elected officials to build roads. Some of Nigeria’s most enduring public infrastructure were built by military dictators like Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Muhammadu Buhari, Sani Abacha and others.

    We need to demand much more from those we invested our time to vote for. In addition to building roads, we should see improved healthcare, greater freedom of expression and association, more participation in the process, respect for the rule of law and better security across the land.

    If the media and politicians persist in enabling this cynical system where politicking never takes a break, the result would be the sort of disillusionment that has seen voter turnout drop by a consistent 10% in the succeeding elections of 2011, 2015 and 2019.

  • Nigerian Navy gives conditions for promotions

    The Central Naval Command (CNC) of the Nigerian Navy on Tuesday said physical and mental health status of its officers and ratings were conditions for their promotions.  Attendance of courses and operations, according to the command, are also key.

    Speaking at the maiden edition of a wellness lecture entitled: harnessing good health through prescribed medical lifestyle, which held at the naval headquarters, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), CNC, Rear Admiral Saidu Suleiman Garba, said health was important to the navy.

    Reae Admiral Garba insisted that the Nigerian Navy placed a lot of emphasis on the physical and mental health of its personnel, a development he said, led to the lecture series.

    He said the programme was a welfare package to enable personnel understand the need to be medically and mentally fit to undertake every operation expected of them.

    Read Also: Navy nabs 12 rice ‘smugglers’

    He also said that the Navy introduced the Body Mass Index scale as a measure of fitness to be sure that everyone was fit to undertake normal routine operations and activities.

    He said: “This will serve as a criteria for promotion, availability for courses and operations. In order for personnel to know their status we introduced this lecture. It will be quarterly so that we can reach other who are on the field so that we can also enhance their health.

    “Our annual programmes shows we have to undertake series of event like swimming, football championship, the thug of war games and so many others we concluded few days ago”.

    The health expert, Dr. Susan Adam, said the programme was designed to encourage all participants to be more conscious of their health status and appealed to them to embrace nature.

    He said: “We recognise that a lot has been done and already put in place for them to be proactive but we think something could be done extra to enhance their health. They have to deliberately prevent some things, watch their BMI and what to eat, and how to wake.

    “The vegetable drinks is all about going to nature, because it has so much to offer and heal us, by running away from nature is running from natural medicines. First they should be awareness that there’s something called healthy living, it will be a learned habit and it doesn’t happen overnight”.

  • Navy nabs 12 rice ‘smugglers’

    The Nigerian Navy, Forward Operating Base, Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, has nabbed 12 suspected rice smugglers.

    According to the Commanding Officer (FOB), Captain Peter Yiime, 1,072 bags of 50kg smuggled rice, and two wooden boats were seized from the suspects.

    Yilme said the arrests were made in two operations, and that the Navy is determined to end smuggling on the waterways.

    Speaking on Tuesday in Ibaka during the handover of the items to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Yilme said the Navy will sustain  the anti-smuggling fight.

    He urged the communities in the state to liaise with the Navy to fish out the perpetrators before they venture into the sea for the illegal trade.

    Read Also: One killed in Customs-smugglers clash in Katsina

    Yilme who was represented at the handover by Lieutenant Commander Kabiru Yusuf, Base Operations Officer, FOB, said the two arrests involved eight suspects with 536 bags of rice, and four suspects with another 536 bags of rice.

    “I hereby hand over two medium-sized wooden boats laden with 536 bags of rice each arrested around Effiat waterways and Mbo river to the Nigera Customs Service.

    “The wooden boats along with its 12 crew were arrested at about 0345 and 2230 hours on Saturday, 21 September 2019 during a routine patrol by the Navy gunboats,” he said.

    Receiving the 12 suspects and 1,072 bags of rice from the Nigerian Navy, Deputy Superintendent of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Alabi, Adedokun commended the Navy for the cooperation existing between them.

    “On behalf of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), I Alabi, Adedokun take over the 12 defendants and 1,072 bags of foreign parboiled rice. On behalf of the Nigeria Customs Service, we thank you very much.”

    Two of the suspects, a Cameroonian pastor, Samuel Gregory with Hope of Assurance in Christ Ministry International, and a Malian, Amadu Bello Jalo said they were innocent of the crime as they were only passengers on the boats.

    Samuel Gregory said, “I came from Cameroon to attend a programme in Nigeria organised by Prophet Omotola Jeremiah in Owerri. I never knew the boat I was entering carried some illegal goods. I only found out when we landed off shore that the boat was carrying some illegal goods. This is my first time of coming to Nigeria,” he said.

  • Illegal gas plants shut in A’Ibom

    The Eket Field Office of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has shut down three illegal gas plants in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

    Operations Controller of the Department, Mr Tamunoiminabo Kingskey-Sundaye, who disclosed this to journalists yesterday, said the three facilities shutdown exercise took place last week.

    “Last week in the course of our surveillance activities, we noticed three illegal gas plants within Ikot Ekpene axis.

    “These are gas plants…they just brought gas vessels and  planted them just to do business in spite of the dangers posed to people’s property, environment and  to life,” he said.

    Read Also: Gold Rush: Illegal miners invade lands and farms in Minna

    He said that those illegal gas plants lack and does not have standard facilities like engineering, safety, earth and environment.

    “Before the DPR will give you an approval or licence, there are certain engineering and standards you must achieve. You just don’t come and run a facility, you must have an international standard and they are businesses that are governed with same code and same standard,” he said.

    Kingsley-Sundaye said the department had written to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to enforce law and order to the illegal gas plants if operational.

    He explained that any illegal gas plants owners that do not comply with international standard would be arrested and possibly prosecuted in the state.

    He advised gas plants owners to ensure that their plants meet up the minimum standard and guidelines of doing business in the state.

  • One killed in Customs-smugglers clash in Katsina

    One person was killed while four others were wounded on Tuesday as smugglers clashed with operatives of the National Border Drill Operations at the Jibia border, Katsina State.

    The border drill operations operatives are drawn from the Customs, Air Force, Army, Police and paramilitary agencies.

    The Jibia border is closed, as are several others across the country to, among other reasons, keep out smugglers.

    The Assistant Controller General of Customs and Sector 4 Coordinator of the operations, Bashir Abubakar told newsmen that the sector had recently experienced series of interruptions from the members of the public which resulted in loss of life and injuries.

    Read Also: Siege on smugglers’ paradise

    He said, “Government viewed the loss of lives seriously, hence we have been mandated by the office of the National Security Adviser to offer explanations on our activities to the public and lead condolence visits to the victims.

    “The public needed to understand that our operations are nationwide and not domiciled in a particular state or region. It is not a total border closure. It is rather an exercise designed to checkmate the proliferation of arms by exacting full control of our borders, to contain smuggling of fuel, insecurity and banditry.”

    He further maintained that closing the nation’s borders was also part of economic security measures and to complement the activities of conventional security agencies through joint operational network

    On the Jibia border clash with smugglers, he said following intelligent and covert operations report they were led at about 1am in the morning, to a warehouse that contained over 300 bales of smuggled clothing materials; they were only able to remove 235 bales from the warehouse when the smugglers mobilized the villagers and attacked them

    He said ‘’by the time our troops were leaving the Jibia warehouse, there was a shootout followed by attendant loss of lives caused by stray bullets.”

    While appealing for cooperation from members of the community and traditional rulers, he urged them to report the movements and activities of the smugglers, warning on the dangers of supporting smuggling, human trafficking and cross border crimes.

  • A push for Nigerian flag carriers

    Since the liquidation of Nigeria Airways in 2004, attempts by the government to set up another national carrier, Nigeria Air, have been largely unsuccessful. Experts say aviation business, including airline ownership and management, is better left to the private sector, KELVIN OSA-OKUNBOR writes

    The Minister of Aviation’s pronouncement that Nigeria Air remains a priority has triggered a huge debate in the sector on the necessity, or otherwise, of a national carrier.

    There is an agreement; however, by experts that Nigeria needs a functional carrier. The argument is whether it should be government- driven, or left in private hands.

    Nigeria Airways Limited, which operated for many years as a national carrier failed, and was shut down by the government.

    Its experience in the 56 years of its existence showed that public ownership of airlines was no more fashionable. Nigeria Airways Limited was established in 1958 as a national carrier but liquidated  in 2004.

    In the last few decades, efforts by the government to achieve a national carrier after the collapse of Nigeria Airways Limited have not gathered any steam.

    Rather than dissipate energy on a national carrier, experts say the government should flow with the global trend of empowering private sector operators as flag carriers.

    The Federal Government approved N47.43 billion for the Nigeria Air project in the 2019 budget.

    Efforts by the government to partner with many organisations to deliver a national carrier since the dying days of the Nigeria Airways Limited have not yielded any positive result.

    From the failed Air Nigeria, which was to come out of Nigeria Airways to Nigerian Global Airlines promoted during the Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration to Nigerian Eagle Airlines and the latest Nigeria Air promoted by Minister of Aviation, Captain Hadi Sirika, none have been delivered.

    Given the huge capital flight by foreign carriers, can setting up a national carrier block such gap? Should the government go ahead with the project? This debate has engaged the attention of industry experts and stakeholders.

    Clamour for a national carrier

    President Muhammadu Buhari, on assumption of office on May 29, 2015, expressed concern over Nigeria’s lack of a national carrier.

    He said the establishment of such a carrier was not only justifiable by economic considerations, but for strategic national interest, national pride and job creation potential.

    The presidential interest was fueled by the unending challenges faced by domestic carriers after the N300 billion intervention fund did not yield positive results.

    Buhari said his administration would act quickly to redress the situation. He directed that the committee saddled with the task of setting up the national carrier to look into the causes of the failure of the Nigeria Airways and other private airlines before arriving at the model that will meet the aspirations of Nigerians.

    Last week, Minister of Aviation Captain Sirika said there was no going back on the project. He stated this when Transaction Advisers submitted the outcome of their research to the government. He said the national carrier was in the pipeline as the Transaction Advisers had concluded their baseline studies and were moving to the next level.

    Sirika said: “Every Nigerian is asking for the national carrier. That is why the project is on course.”

    It is against this background that some experts have called on the government to jettison the idea of a national carrier and embrace the model of private sector-led flag carriers obtainable in some countries across the globe.

    Some of them argued that the government as a regulator in the aviation sector had no business in setting up an airline, but should encourage private sector investors by creating a conducive environment for them to thrive.

    In an interview, Chairman of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) Captain Nogie Meggison said the government should have no business in setting up a national carrier, but empower existing private sector airlines as flag carriers.

    According to the leader of the umbrella body of indigenous carriers, the government should empower domestic carriers by reducing multiple aeronautical and airport charges to actualise the bilateral air services agreement it signed with many countries.

    What really is the difference between a national carrier and a flag carrier?

    Difference between national and flag carriers

    According to the experts, a national carrier is floated by the government as sole shareholder, to operate in the name of the government and represent the government in all aviation-related bilateral services agreements.

    But, a flag carrier is a privately- owned airline that, by agreement, is designated to represent a government and fly on behalf of the government, representing it on all bilateral-designated routes.

    Flag carriers

    Since the demise of the Nigeria Airways, many carriers, including Arik Air, Aero Contractors, Medview Airlines, Air Peace, Overland Airways and Dana Air have been playing the role of flag carriers, flying the country’s flag in many countries, where they are designated.

    Experts’ views

    A former Director of Human Resources at the defunct Virgin Nigeria, Victor Banjo, recently spared a thought for the proposed national carrier. He said the project lacked the requisite structure for success.

    He said the proposed national carrier would lack accountability, fairness, transparency and independence.

    He said: “From the outset, Nigeria Air was doomed to fail because the four pillars of corporate governance were missing. In terms of transparency, too much was shrouded in secrecy for a project a huge chunk of taxpayers’ money was to be committed, and time will tell if it will move from being premature to a stillborn.”

    But, Sabre Travel Solutions President, Gbenga Olowo, said the government should empower existing flag carriers, rather than dissipating energy and resources in setting a national carrier.

    To him, existing flag carriers should be supported through policies that enable them forge alliances as global players.

    His words: “This is easily achievable through economic policy of cooperation, collaborations, mergers and acquisitions; review of all existing Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) through periodic schedules for equity and immediate reversal of all multiple entry points in Nigeria to single entry points.”

    On his part, African Aviation Services Limited Chief Executive Officer Nick Fadugba said though the idea of a national carrier was welcome, but for it to succeed, it would need a sound business plan, strategic industry partners, adequate funding, an experienced management team, well-trained staff, a fleet of modern aircraft, a comprehensive route network, on-time performance, good customer service and no government involvement.

    The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, has said Nigeria needs strong flag carriers to enable it play on the continental sphere.

    Nnaji said the country had remained passive in the continental aviation market in recent years, despite its huge daily passenger traffic. However, to him, floating a fully government-owned airline might not be an alternative.

    According to him, the committee will work closely with the Federal Government to ensure that competent local airlines are supported to assume the status of flag carriers and operate internationally.

    An aviation analyst and member, Aviation Round Table, Olumide Ohunayo, said setting up a national carrier was not the best option, but empowerment of existing flag carriers to enable Nigeria actualise its over 75 bilateral air services agreements.

    He said: “We are on the verge of starting a new national carrier after many false starts, from Air Nigeria in 1993 to Nigeria Air in 2018. Twenty-six years, and we are still going round in circles. During this period, the best we got for our efforts was Virgin Nigeria, which within six years had all certifications and numerous offers for partnership.

    “We are toeing that line with the new national carrier project of acquiring five aircraft and flying to international destinations almost immediately without any base or foundation, just the government’s support without requisite funding.

    “If having a national carrier is felt to be a must, then the cost, risk and lessons from other airlines should be seriously considered.”

    More reactions

    Flag carriers said they could do more if they get the necessary support from the government . The support, they said, could come in the form of reducing multiple charges, improved air navigation infrastructure, establishment of aircraft maintenance facility and more involvement in international aero politics.

    On his part, Chairman of Air Peace Allen Onyema said: “We need more support from the government. We need to be protected from multiple taxation and the debilitating effects of poor airport infrastructure. We need the government to review the multiple designations given to foreign airlines operating into the country.

    “We need the government to appreciate the contributions of indigenous airlines. We have been exposed to unrelenting hostility. We need the government to help us play the international aero politics that have been working against Nigerian airlines for a long time. Countries protect their airlines against marauding foreign airlines. The local airlines provide jobs for the citizens of their countries hence, the immense protection they get. Recently, Airlines in America complained against the several frequencies given to the heavily-subsidised Gulf states’ airlines. The US Government responded with measures that deterred those Gulf airlines. The US Government needed to protect US jobs by protecting their indigenous airlines.

    “You do not need a national carrier to do the needful. You do not need a national carrier to protect your indigenous businesses. Why did the government want to establish a national airline in the first place?”

    Onyema continued: “Government was rightly worried that no Nigerian indigenous airline was doing well on the international scene. The government noticed a very serious imbalance in our BASA protocols and wanted to bridge it. So government went into it for a reason. Though there were genuine reasons for that plan to set up an airline, it was the belief of not only indigenous airlines but also the discerning aviation world that Nigeria should rather find out why its indigenous airlines have not been able to plug the hole. All we need is total support of our government and we will all get there. National carrier is no longer an idea the world over

    “America with its economic might and aviation prowess (manufacturers of world’s most popular planes) does not have a national carrier. They have flag carriers in Delta Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines and a host of others flying the flag of America. Britain does not have a national carrier any longer. British Airways is no longer a national carrier since the 80s.

    “Nigeria Airways was a failed airline, it died just as other national carriers worldwide,” he said.

    How the government could assist flag carriers

    Legal luminary Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), a few years ago mooted the idea of a “Fly Nigeria Act” which prescribes that all government officials flying on its bill must patronise Nigerian flag carriers.

    He said that was one of the ways the government could retain huge funds taken out by foreign carriers in tickets sales.

    Agbakoba said other countries, including United States initiated the Fly America Act to support US carriers.

    Besides Agbakoba, other industry players, including former spokesman of  Nigeria Airways Limited, Mr Chris Aligbe, said such legislative instrument would empower indigenous flag carriers.

  • Cost of South Africa xenophobic attacks

    On September 11 when the body of Zimbabwe’s ex-president Robert Mugabe was flown back home from Singapore where he died aged 95, the first batch of 187 Nigerians fleeing xenophobic attacks in South Africa also returned home, with nothing but a smattering of South African accent, in some cases. Another set of 314 flew in the following week, looking just as glum and vacant as the batch before. Loved and hated in equal measure, in Zimbabwe and elsewhere, Mr Mugabe was a strong voice against South Africans’ growing appetite for hating foreigners, including, if not especially, African nationals.

    “It is only in South Africa,” Mr Mugabe once said, “that an illiterate villager thinks a qualified medical doctor from another African country is the reason for his unemployment.”

    South Africans did not listen. As Mr Mugabe drew his last breath, they were not only “thinking” that other Africans in their midst were taking away their jobs; they were driving the foreigners out of town with every tool they could lay their hands on: clubs to knock them down, and petrol and lighter to burn down their shops.

    South Africa’s xenophobia comes at a cost, some of it immediate and short-lived, some dire and enduring. Radio stations in Zambia, whose nationals were also targeted, stopped playing South African music as the wave of attacks started. A friendly football match scheduled for Saturday September 7 between Zambia and South Africa was summarily chalked off. Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda opted out of the World Economic Forum (WEF) hosted in Cape Town, South Africa. Cyril Ramaphosa, the country’s president, was jeered and booed in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, when he launched a half-hearted fence-mending stunt, saying South Africans were not xenophobes, and that the country was open to other nationals.

    Read Also: Xenophobia: Six Nigerian students cancel trip for robotics competition in South Africa

    These consequences of the South Africa xenophobia are irritating but are unlikely to last. Soon the country’s music will return to Zambian airwaves, music, like water, having no enemy; Chipolopolo, the Zambia national team, will resume play with their South African counterparts, Bafana Bafana, and WEF boycotters will let bygones be bygones. Even Mr Ramaphosa will be forgiven by Zambians as soon as South Africans put down their sticks and their kegs of petrol.

    But there are xenophobia consequences that will take time to vanish, if they ever will. First, Mr Ramaphosa, who abruptly succeeded the deeply flawed Jacob Zuma, has unwittingly called his own leadership credentials into question. By hammering, once, on foreign nationals without papers in his country, Mr Ramaphosa prepared the ground for the attacks, while glossing over the fact that he has not quite managed to provide jobs for the people he leads.

    The attacks also expose the shallowness of the South African xenophobes’ memories. Nigeria led anti-apartheid battles, committing cash and other resources, including granting residency permits and visas to South Africans before the repressive and discriminatory policy was thrown out in the early 90s and Nelson Mandela took over as president.

    According to a survey by Statistics South Africa, just over 30,000 Nigerians were living in the country in 2016. That figure would have jumped significantly in subsequent years but it cannot be anywhere near the often quoted 800,000. Still, the figure is significant, just slightly less than the population of Monaco. Many Nigerians who opened car marts, clubs, auto-repair shops and sundry other businesses in South Africa were sending huge sums of money back home to sustain their relatives. Such remittances have stopped since the violence started.

    While the fate of Nigerians still holding out in South Africa hangs in the balance, not knowing when another wave of attacks might erupt, the returnees who came back empty-handed will need time, lots of cash and not a small amount of mental rejuvenation to start all over again. And that is hoping that some of them do not lose it entirely and go down some unsavoury path. Several of the returnees who have spoken on their ordeal have shown worrying signs of depression, neither sure of how to deal with their losses nor how to manage, in some cases, the crisis raging in the young minds of their South African-born children they returned with.

    Rwanda, one of the countries which shunned the economic summit in South Africa, has moved up on the growth index since its brutal civil war in 1994. Nigeria, the continent’s leader in GDP, at nearly $400 billion, must rejig its policies and programmes to keep its nationals happily on home soil, rather than leaving in droves for just about anywhere, and risking everything, to boot. Upon landing at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, the returnees filled some forms, got a phone SIM card and some cash to last them a few days. They need more.

    Nigeria and South Africa, the second largest economy on the continent with a GDP just over $370b, must show they are not pretenders to the throne, one with citizens ready to flee, the other with nationals unsure of themselves and envious and intolerant of other nationals seeking greener pastures on its fields.

  • Fire guts building in Mushin

    Fire razed the second floor of a two-storey building on 152 Agege Motor Road in Mushin Olosha, Lagos state on Tuesday.

    It destroyed household materials.

    The Nation learnt that the fire, which began around 3 pm, was put out around 5:30pm .

    It was gathered that there was an electric spark when power was restored in the area which led to the fire outbreak.

    The goods on the second floor were burnt.

    Occupants of the building were said to have fled immediately the fire began.

    Read Also: Unity Bank head office on fire

    An official of the Lagos State Fire Service at the scene, Mr. Usman Ibrahim said the cause of the fire was yet to be known.

    “We responded immediately we got the calls but the bad roads and reckless driving by some motorists caused the little delay,” he said.

    An official of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps, Mr. Adekunle Sunday, said a resident told him that a tenant put on gas and suddenly exploded.

    He added that the residents were also helpful in the process of vacating the leftover goods not engulfed in the fire.

    A trader on the ground floor of the building, who simply identified himself as Mr. Chukwudi, said he was the one who called the firefighters.

    He added that the fire outbreak was due to electric spark.

    “Thank God none of my goods caught fire,” he said.

    A resident, who pleaded not to be named, said some hoodlums seized the opportunity of the incident to steal valuables from the building. He said he was one of the rescuers before some other boys in the area joined.