The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian news

  • Xenophobia and Onyema’s patriotism

    Sir: Long before the news of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians living in South Africa became public knowledge, the much people knew about Allen Onyema is the fact that he is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of one of Nigeria’s leading private airline companies, Air Peace.

    Typical of most private business operators, we thought all that mattered to people him was simply how to maximise profit, expand his business frontiers and put in place necessary measures that would keep his business safe and healthy in a peculiarly challenging business environment like ours. But we were wrong.

    But by choosing to be exemplary even without being prompted or coerced, Onyeama has indeed altered the erroneous perception that business people suddenly become contemplative when discussing philanthropy, and that they only put their money into ventures that would advance their business interests. Onyema’s action has to a large extent put a lie to that assertion.

    Same way most Nigerians were outrightly enraged and distraught by what many have described as premeditated, sustained, unprovoked and malicious attacks on innocent Nigerians living in South Africa by some local criminals who serially launched attacks on black foreigners for some senseless reasons, so was Onyema.

    But unlike others, he didn’t just lament, wail and condemn the inhuman and degrading treatment that his fellow countrymen were being subjected to. He thought of how to possibly assist in providing succour to these Nigerians who have suffered both human and material losses in the madness that occurred in the rainbow nation. Truly, it takes a man who has abundant love in his bosom to express real love to others.

    Instead of turning a blind eye or feel unperturbed by the unfortunate experiences of our brothers and sisters in South Africa, and possibly become critical of government and accuse it of being insensitive to the plight of its citizens in foreign lands, he volunteered to deploy a B777 air craft belonging to his company, Air Peace, to air lift all stranded Nigerians in South Africa who are willing to return home free of charge!

    This is indeed a rare act of patriotism and humanity that should be acknowledged and celebrated by all. He knew it wasn’t his responsibility as a citizen to coordinate efforts to evacuate stranded Nigerians in South Africa, but the humanity in him took a better part of his mind the moment he ruminated over the issue. He didn’t put the tribe, religion, political or ideological leanings of these stranded Nigerians into consideration before he offered to help them out of the precarious situation they were in. He chose to look beyond those divisive and narrow considerations that often guide our conducts in this part of the world.

    Onyema’s patriotic gesture quite resonates with Nigerians who are genuinely committed to building a country where love, unity, peace and social justice will reign supreme. We must be deliberate in our resolve to strengthen the bond of unity that holds us together. For us to realize our national aspirations and other strategic goals, it is important that we dwell more on those things than join us and focus less on those that divide us. This is simply the clear message in Allen Onyema’s rare act of human kindness.

    Ultimately, like Onyema has demonstrated, we need not find ourselves in public offices or be extremely wealthy before we can contribute our quota towards national development. The little acts of patriotism and kindness we do unnoticed are the bricks we need to build a rock-solid, united, indivisible and great nation that we always talk about.

    • Abdullahi Yunusa, Lugbe, Abuja.

  • Three years after, CAMPUSLIFE reporter collects witheld certificate

    Abdulsalam Mahmud, a CAMPUSLIFE reporter, graduated in 2016 with a distinction from Fati Lami Abubakar Institute of Legal and Administrative Studies (FLAILAS), Niger State. However, it was only last month, August 28, that he collected his Diploma certificate. The institute held on to his certificate for three years, following a story he published in CAMPUSLIFE section of The Nation n1ewspapers. OLUWAFEMI MUBARAK, MASS COMMUNICATION graduate of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State, reports

    On October 6, 2016, Mr Abdulsalam Mahmud, then a CAMPUSLIFE reporter and Mass Communication undergraduate of Fati Lami Abubakar Institute of Legal and Administrative Studies (FLAILAS), Minna, Niger State, wrote a story on the CAMPUSLIFE cover of The Nation with the title: ‘Varsity applicants battle institute for results’.

    Pronto!

    Mahmud’s report jolted the management to do the needful immediately. However, FLAILAS  management debunked Mahmud’s claims, and considered the story ‘offensive’, ‘false’ and ‘injurious’ to the image of the school. And before anybody could say ‘Jack’, Mahmud was slammed hard with a punishment: his certificate was witheld for more than three years.

    It was, therefore, a victory for Mahmud, when the management  issued him his certificate on the school premises.

    Mahmud, CAMPUSLIFE gathered, dwarfed others, bagging a Distinction with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (cgpa) of 4.57. Interestingly, Mahmud was the only Mass Communication student who got Distinction among his classmates, an accomplishment which earned him the department’s best of his set.

    Mahmud, who started writing for CAMPUSLIFE in July 2015, has published over 93 reports and articles in the weekly pull-out of The Nation. In 2015, he received the ‘Most talented intern’ award from Newsline Newspaper after completing his media internship at the organisation’s office in Minna.

    A source, who was abreast of the incident, recalled the victim’s journey to his predicament.

    “The reason why Mahmud’s result was not issued to him immediately after he graduated was crystal clear,” began the source who pleaded not to be mentioned.

    He continued: “It was about the article he wrote on the plight of his classmates, especially the final year students. Mahmud published a story which the school management considered to be malicious, baseless and defamatory. But, actually, the report was not a falsehood, neither was it aimed at defaming the reputation of the institute.

    “The reporter (Mahmud) indeed carried out a thorough investigation and interviewed parties involved in the matter. He thereafter published a factual story on the plights of some students who missed their Direct Entry screening tests as a result of the delay by the institute to release their final results. That ugly development resulted in some of the 2016 graduating students missing their DE screenings, with some being denied admission that year.

    “The interesting thing was that barely 24 hours after Mahmud’s report was published, management quickly released the results of the graduating students, which enabled some of them to participate in DE screenings and post-UTME tests of their preferred tertiary institutions. There were a couple of the graduating students I know, who eventually got admission into universities that same year.”

    However, a day after Mahmud’s story was published, his name, matriculation number and details of his results ‘miraculously disappeared’  from the result sheets pasted on the notice board of the Department of Mass Communication.

    Shocked by the development, Mahmud had promptly drawn the attention of his Head of Department (HoD), Mallam Musa Gbage, who told him the error might have occurred during computation of the final results. Gbage assured Mahmud that the issue would be resolved

    “However, both the HoD and the school management didn’t actually address Mahmud’s complaint for weeks, until management sent a rejoinder that was also published in the same medium on 16 of November, 2016,” added one of Mahmud’s bosom friends, Umar Abdulkadir.

    Further, Abdulkadir explained that Mahmud was pressed into seeking justice in the court following several interventions by some eminent personalities with the Provost and other top principal officers of the institution, to no avail.

    A lecturer, who does not want his name mentioned, dismissed the assumption that Mahmud was victimised over the publication, saying some students and workers did not seem to understand Mahmud’s  true character and ‘uncultured attitude’.

    The source stated that on several occasions, Mahmud was warned by management against publishing stories that were not only injurious to the image of the school, but could also instigate riot on campus.

    The lecturer stated that the victim was in the habit of writing negative reports about the school, without cross-checking his facts.

    “As a young reporter learning the ropes through the window of campus journalism, it is expected that he adheres strictly to the ethics and tenets of news reportage. He should not be passionate about reporting issues without first gathering facts and doing thorough investigation. That was not the case with Mahmud. He authored several stories that dented the image of the institute even when he was yet to graduate from the school. A good student should also be a good ambassador of his or her alma mater. It should not be that you are destroying the image of your school,” the lecturer said.

    The lecturer, who attested to the fact that Mahmud has a very bright future in journalism, advised him to draw lessons from the ordeal by henceforth reporting issues objectively, and in such a manner that would not incite violence.

    Another source told CAMPUSLIFE authoritatively that the issue was eventually resolved in June this year when the victim’s lawyer and counsel to the institute both resolved that the matter be settled out of court.

    “Two lawyers made a gentleman agreement. Mahmud was prevailed upon to tender an unreserved apology in writing to the school over the said story, while the school management should also accept his apology and issue him his certificate.

    Miss Amina Ibrahim, a former classmate of Mahmud, described her friend’s victory as ‘a long walk to freedom’.

    Going down memory lane,  Miss Ibrahim recalled how the 2016 graduating students of FLAILAS, especially the DE applicants who knew Mahmud published a report about their plights, were deeply saddened on hearing about Mahmud’s dilemma.

    “I know Mahmud to be a very brilliant student. He was the best student in our department. Mahmud is a creative writer and a fearless campus journalist. While in school, Mahmud regularly filed in stories and other interesting events by students on campus for publication,” noted Miss Ibrahim.

    “He was the first Mass Communication student in the history of the institute that wrote stories and got them published on national dailies. He regularly contributed reports for The Nation, and some other national dailies. His numerous stories, especially inside CAMPUSLIFE pull-out projected the image of the school positively,” she added.

    Ibrahim admitted that even though there were some of Mahmud’s reports which did not sit well with the management; yet there were many which similarly projected the institution in good light.

    Garba Ismail, a 2016 law graduate of the institute, debunked claims by management that the victim was acting someone’s script by publishing some ‘harsh’ stories which sought to smear the reputation of FLAILAS.

    Ismail, stated that Mahmud, who was then the president of the school’s Creative Writers’ Club (CWC) of their set, should be proud that his writings motivated and spurred key authorities into action in addressing major problems facing the institution.

    He said: “Mahmud was the one that pioneered campus journalism at FLAILAS. He wrote stories of great impact. In the wake of the of the looting of the equipment of  Mass Communication radio studio of FLAILAS in November 2015, Mahmud wrote a report in The Nation which prompted  the Niger State government and Ministry of Education  to re-equip the facility.”

    Also in his reaction, the victim’s lawyer, Mohammed El-Surur, expressed delight that their legal intervention finally yielded fruit with the successful release of Mahmud’s credential.

    El-Surur, advised his ‘client’ to be wary of writing stories that may appear offensive to ‘powerful’ authorities, and which can truncate his academic pursuits or even terminate his life. The lawyer urged him to remain focused and continue to pursue his passion of becoming a seasoned journalist in the nearest future.

    In a chat with CAMPUSLIFE, Mahmud expressed gratitude to Almighty Allah for giving him the emotional strength to continue writing stories for CAMPUSLIFE and also practise journalism, even when his school certificate was withheld.

    The CAMPUSLIFE reporter, who said his travail was just like a flash in the pan when compared with what many famous journalists had experienced, described the entire experience as a ‘baptism of fire’ on his path to becoming a celebrated reporter.

    “Let me register my profound appreciation to my lawyer, my parents, lecturers at FLAILAS, my friends and several others well-wishers who stood by me and still believe in me, when I was denied my certificate.,” Mahmud began while thanking everyone.

    He added: “I also wish to thank the management of FLAILAS for pardoning, and issuing my result. I will forever remain indebted to them. Many thanks also to my lecturers who groomed me. The ordeal I passed through has only strengthened my courage as a pen pusher,” Mahmud added.

    Early this year, Mahmud won the ‘Upcoming writer of the year’ award at the annual Campus Journalism Award (CJA), hosted by Youths Digest at the Sheraton Luxury Hotel in Abuja.

    Prior to his ordeal, Mahmud had repeatedly told his friends and course mates how, upon graduation from FLIALAS, he had hoped to use that certificate for DE to a university of his choice. With his credential now ‘discharged’ Mahmud can now further his academic dream.

  • Xenophobia: The ultimate culprits

    Just as you reserve the right to walk a stranger out of your house, you reserve the right to demand the exit of foreigners from your country. It is the prerogative of the South Africans to dictate who can or cannot be allowed residence in their country. That the Nigerian government helped them in their struggle against Apartheid does not, in any way, invalidate that right. So, in demanding that Nigerians leave their country, the South Africans have done nothing wrong.

    The inundation of different countries of the world by Nigerians, as economic refugees, is a direct consequence of the irresponsible and anti-human policies of a series of kleptomanias, masquerading as leaders that ruled Nigeria over the years. Their total destruction of the Nigerian economy triggered the mass-exodus of Nigerians to different countries of the world, where they are resented, and sometimes, hated, and periodically attacked, like in South Africa.  So, as we fret about the attacks on our compatriots and the looting and torching of their businesses in South Africa, we have to realize that, by extension, the real culprits for these are the irresponsible, grasping and corrupt rulers that ran aground the Nigerian economy.

    Usually, the resentment, anger and disgruntlement of the general public are readily directed at the immigrant community. The immigrants are easy targets for scape-goat; they are blamed for the host country’s woes: unemployment, economic downturn, crime, etc. Not surprisingly, the South Africans are blaming Nigerians for taking their jobs, and being drug dealers, thieves, fraudsters, etc., – although many South Africans are involved in the same illicit businesses. The killing of Nigerians and the looting and burning down of their businesses and properties by South African mobs have reached horrifying extremes. It is estimated that about 150 Nigerians have been killed and Nigerian businesses and property worth millions of dollars destroyed in these periodic xenophobic attacks on Nigerians. Over all, the South African government has not demonstrated any commitment to the protection of Nigerian lives and property, or to bring the attackers to book.

    South Africa has a history that gloried in violence. Consequently, it is a very violent country. The taking over of the breathtakingly beautiful country and the subjugation of the Black owners of the land by Dutch settlers demanded justification and glorification of gratuitous murderousness and unspeakable brutality. Later, as Blacks South Africans rose in revolt against White supremacist tyranny, they also celebrated bloodcurdling violence, including “neck lacing” – the hanging of a petrol-socked tire over the neck and shoulder of alleged Black agent, spy or informant of the White Apartheid government and setting him ablaze. As a testament to the country’s culture of violence, some notable Black South African leaders openly endorsed “neck lacing” as legitimate punishment for suspected Black spies of the Apartheid regime. With no institutional racism to fight and no quisling to neck lace, they turned their violence and brutality on Nigerians, and other African immigrants.

    They have reasons to resent and hate Nigerians in their country. For centuries, they became accustomed to Whites being successful and in control. It is new-fangled, and thus, unacceptable to them to see successful and wealthy Nigerians in their midst. It is a sentiment summed up in the notice issued by the South African owners/taxi association against African immigrants, “These people drive expensive cars, and they have churches, businesses in every street of South Africa. They have everything that we as citizens don’t have.” In addition, they are irked by the boastfulness, general lawlessness and conspicuous consumption of Nigerians. Nigerians are also big spenders, and, understandably, women snatchers. One of their stated gripes against Nigerians is that they (Nigerians) “take our women”.

    As expected, most of the 800, 000 Nigerians resident in South Africa are unwilling to return to Nigeria, at least, in the short-run. Even, with the call on them to return home by the Nigerian government and the provision of free air fare by Air Peace, only a little more than 600 of them have, thus far, indicated interest to return. With the prevailing anti-Nigerian sentiment not abating in that very violent country, it is very likely that periodic attacks on Nigerians will continue. The blaming of national problems that are glaring indicators of failure of governance on the immigrants must be salutary to the government of Cyril Ramaphosa. Not surprisingly, the government of Ramaphosa has not only failed to protect Nigerians, but has, on some occasions, stoked the anti-Nigerian sentiment.

    The Nigerian government has very limited options in dealing with this international dilemma.  Reprisal actions on South Africans and their business interests in Nigeria are not viable options. Very few South Africans live in Nigeria. Secondly, attacks on South African businesses in Nigeria will be most disadvantageous for Nigerians. They are major employers of labour; attacks on them will worsen our already terrifying unemployment problems. It will also undermine Nigeria’s credibility as a secure foreign investment destination; it will dissuade prospective foreign investors from investing in Nigeria.

    It is bad leadership that destroyed the economy of our country, and sent Nigerians swarming into different countries of the world as economic refugees. In these countries they sojourn to escape the economic miseries in their home country, they are resented, and, as in South Africa, sometimes, hated and murdered. So, by extension, the blame for the attacks on Nigerians in South Africa rests squarely on the series of amoral and rapacious rulers that reduced Nigeria to economic boondocks.

    • Ezukanma writes from Lagos.

  • Dealing with the world bully

    Precisely because we are governed by law of nature – survival of the fittest, whether at the domestic or at the international level, the laws of the rich and the powerful including their whims and caprices are the laws for the rest of us. Those who control the resources of the world first told us slavery was best for the growth of the world economy; then capitalism and currently globalization, the world’s reigning god. Although the difference between the three is only in paradigm, we have been forced to swallow the fraud. The scam has been sustained though intellectual subterfuge and religion, the opium of the poor and paradoxically the foundation of western civilisation.

    If truth as defined by the powerful is being questioned today, it is not that the subjective relationship between the poor and the powerful is about to change. It has more to do with the emergence of less intellectually endowed world leaders such as Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and other western leaders who are today increasingly finding it difficult to convince the rest of the world that their motives in the ongoing civil war on Yemen exacerbated by rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia is different from their ignoble role in Libya, Syria, Congo and currently in Venezuela.

    First, a civil war is going on in Yemen. It was partly the result of the ousting of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the first President of Yemen, (1990-2012) through Arab Spring masterminded and designed by self-serving western society to recolonize the Arab world or indirectly take over the control of their economy. A Saudi-led coalition in command of about 190 war planes, supported by America, American weapons and Britain took sides with Saudi Arabia to unseat the Houthis that got an upper hand in the civil war after taking control of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, in 2014

    Human Rights Watch has ‘documented about 90 apparently  unlawful  coalition airstrikes’ against  homes, markets, hospitals, schools, and mosques and a wedding ceremony where 22 people, including eight children died in 2018 and that of a bus filled with children resulting in the killing of at least 26 children. Human Rights Watch has identified remnants of US-origin munitions at the site of more than two dozen attacks on civilians in Yemen. As at November 2018, 6,872 civilians had been killed and 10,768 wounded; the majority by Saudi Arabia-led coalition airstrikes.

    Just about a week before the drone attack, over a hundred innocent people were killed through America-aided Saudi Arabia air strike. While many are being killed with American weapons openly shipped to Saudi Arabia, America and its allies are accusing Iran of smuggling weaponry including ballistic missiles fired at Saudi territory by the rebel Houthi movement. America that unilaterally pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal jointly negotiated by the UN and world powers, imposed sanctions on Iran, embargoed the sales of her fuel and threatened nations and companies that do business with her has also decreed Iran will be held liable for any attack on foreign vessels in the Persian Gulf.

    It must also be said that the Human Rights Watch also documented atrocities committed by the Houthi forces such as repeated indiscriminate “firing of artillery into Yemeni cities, populated neighbourhoods with devastating impact on Taizz, Yemen’s third largest city, use of banned weapons such as landmines, arbitrary detentions, torture, and enforced disappearances”.

    But as it was in Iraq and Libya where the preoccupation of America and her western allies after the fall of Saddam Hussain and Muammar Gaddafi was the protection of oil facilities as against artifacts dating back to 3,000 years, America seems to be saying crime against humanity can be committed by both sides as long as flow of oil is not interrupted or threatened.

    America’s reaction to last Saturday’s coordinated Houthi Drone strike which shut down about half of Saudi Arabia’s oil output seems to have confirmed that mind-set.  Celebrating the attack, a Houthi spokesman said “We promise the Saudi regime that our future operations will expand and be more painful as long as its aggression and siege continue”. But America despite that claim and despite Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif’s denial has continued to point accusing finger at Iran for the attack.  With a posture of ‘do as I say and not do as I do’, they are gathering evidence to inflict maximum punishment on Iran for daring to support the Houthis, her own ally.

    Nigeria and the United States have long been close allies. Besides being our biggest trading partner until recently, America supports our fight against corruption and efforts to build institutions of democracy such as political parties, the press and civil society organisations. Since President Trump who operates on impulse has to be managed by the American bureaucracy and tolerated by American traditional allies, we may not be in a position to influence his perception of the truth. But we can maintain our peace as most members of the non-aligned nations have so far done.

    This is why last Monday’s statement about “Nigeria standing in solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, following drone attacks on the country’s oil facilities at Khurais and Abqaiq” by Malam Garba Shehu, President Buhari’s  Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, was totally uncalled for. We suddenly remember “the attacks represent not only economic warfare aimed at damaging a government, but also innocent citizens’ livelihoods: those with no place, nor cause, to be harmed” after maintaining our silence since the outbreak of hostility in 2015 and with close to 13,600 people killed in Yemen, including more than 5,200 civilians, as well as estimates of more than 50,000 dead as a result of an ongoing famine due to the war.

    The problem with our foreign relations is that we invest heavily and take sides without tying such investments and interventions to what our nation stands to gain.  For instance, while we seem to give unconditional support to Saudi Arabia that  not too long ago disappointed President Buhari  during his desperate  search for funds while the IMF held the nation hostage over his refusal to devalue the naira, Russia,  an undisputed  power behind Iran in her battle against Saudi Arabia coalition and the western powers,  rather than taking a public position, tongue-in-cheek offered Saudi Arabia Russian S-400 ‘Triumph’ air defence systems  weapons to ward off possible future attacks on her oil facilities.

    We must not also allow ourselves to be caught between the struggle for regional hegemonic power by Iran and Saudi Arabia using schism of Shia and Sunni. In any case the age-long  Shia(Iran)  and Sunni (Saudi Arabia ) rivalry has little to do with faith but more with  war of succession following the death of Prophet Muhammed through meat poisoning without  an anointed successor. The Shia support for Muhammad’s son-in-law and Cousin Ali, who was later murdered by the Sunnis along with his sons as rightful successor was the source of age-long feud between Shia and the Sunnis.

  • Mugabe: What legacy?

    After addictive medical trips to Singapore apparently in search of some immortality,   Robert Gabriel Mugabe (RGM) on September 6, heaved the last breath.  If he was mortal after all, what then remains of the legacy of the first sit-tight prime minister of liberated Zimbabwe, who in 1987 transformed into an executive president? This was also a frequently asked question while alive. He was born in 1924 in Kutama in the then British colonial possession: Southern Rhodesia, (now Zimbabwe). He was imprisoned together with some of his comrades in Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), later ZANU PF, between 1964 and 1974 for leading an armed resistance against British colonial rule.

    In prison, he lost the only son from his first Ghanaian wife, late Sally Hayfon (who died in 1992). He died at 95, some two years after he was pressured out of power in November 2017 replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man he had fired as his deputy. One clear legacy of RGM is longevity in life (by destiny) and power (almost by subterfuge and dictatorship). Robert Mugabe shared in common, long life with freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela who despite 27 years’ incarceration by accursed apartheid regime died in South Africa peacefully some few months after 95th birthday, precisely on December 5, 2013.  Kenneth David Kaunda, (Zambian President from 1964 to 1991) also known as KK, born same year with Mugabe on April 28, 1924, remains the only standing nationalist of his era! Liberation fighters like Samora Machel of Mozambique were not as lucky in longevity. He died in a plane crash, at the behest of South African racist regime on October 19, 1986, at 53 years.  Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana 1909-1972, was the first liberator to audaciously lower Union Jack in 1957. He died at 63 of what Amilcar Cabral at Nkrumah’s state burial called “cancer of betrayal” in an historic speech in Conakry on May 14, 1972. A year later, Cabral (precisely on January 20, 1973) was also brutally killed by agents of the Portuguese imperialism at the prime age of 48 years. The second legacy of Mugabe is leadership-by- controversy, disputation and notoriety (almost-in that-order). My reflections over the years on Zimbabwe under Mugabe (what I dubbed Mugabedom!) can make a chapter in the next revised edition of my Reflections  on Africa and Global Affairs  (2015) and  Friends, Comrades and Heroes (2015). They include Mugabe @ 80 (March 2004), Mugabe As History (APRIL, 2008), Zimbabwe For Beginners, (June 2008), Mugabedom, Not Yet Zimbabwe – (August, 2013), Robert Gabriel Mugabe (RGM) for Beginners– (August, 2013) and No Lessons from Zimbabwe (2017).

    While alive (just as it’s is now after his death), Mugabe once polarized the African continent and indeed the world. Either you’re   for him (in support of the so-called land reform through land grabbing from the historic white land robbers) or against Zimbabwe under him for denying free and fair elections. The combined imperial forces of UK’s Tony Blair/ America’s George Bush who concealed their racist uncritical support for few white land owners opposing land reform while remaining  hard on politics of free and fair elections gave Mugabe the ready excuses to repress his people and under-develop Zimbabwe. After death, there is a disputation as to whether Mugabe who died in faraway Singapore with better medical care was truly a liberator or another duplicitous African big man, with one set of rule for himself, family members, party members and miserable standard for his people. Following the crisis that trailed rigged elections in 2008 (Mugabe actually lost to opposition MDC), he declared that Zimbabwean crisis was “an African crisis” arguing that the success of Zimbabwe is the success of Africa. Yet he effortlessly dammed the same Africa Union (AU) following the latter’s suggestion for election postponement when opposition MDC alleged insecurity. Mugabe pointedly said the continental body has “no right to dictate to us what we should do with our constitution, and how we should govern the country”.  Former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, aptly described the ugly repressive events in Harare under Mugabe as manifestation of tragic leadership failure. The worst legacy of Mugabe is sit-tightism in office with drab speeches which often lacked substance like most boring speeches of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi.

    Mugabe came to power in 1980 in a popular election contested by notable nationalists like Joshua Nkomo. My findings show that in Nigeria, from President Shehu Shagari in 1980s to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, as many as 10 Heads of States had witnessed Mugabe’s serial self-inaugurations, sorry self-successions. If Mugabe were to be a British Prime Minister through sit-tight game, the British would not have known such prime ministers as Sir John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Prime Minister David Donald Cameron and Theresa May. Mugabe came to power almost same time Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher came to office. Of course if Mugabe were to be a Chinese, Li Xiannia,    Yang Shangkun, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin Hu Jintao and incumbent Xi Jinping could not have been presidents of the fastest growing economy in the world compared to impoverished Zimbabwe. Mugabe came to power when Ronald Reagan was in power.  The two “Bushes” namely George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton met and left him in office. Indeed President Barack Obama was in the college in the 80s when Mugabe was already a president. By Mugabe’s design, Obama completed two terms in office before he completed his 7th tenure! If Mugabe were to be a South African, there would not have been a Nelson Mandela to succeed him! We would have been crudely denied a global moral authority on freedom, democracy, reconciliation and peace that Mandela represented. Since Mugabe came to office, as many as seven presidents have emerged in South Africa. Certainly Mugabe was not Nelson Mandela. He was a man with selective sense of justice. He   once accepted to be happily knighted in the 90s by the Queen under Lancaster House constitution. Paradoxically after almost 40 years in power, Mugabe’s selling point until end was still colonialism, not open unemployment as high as 80 per cent, multiple digit inflation and imaginable currency devaluation, dollarization and unprecedented human drain/ human flight in modern Africa!

    Whatever his legacy is, blessed are the dead, because Robert Mugabe would no longer be suspected of some African failings. The burden is on the living who must deepen democracy, generate wealth, overcome inequality, create mass decent jobs and banish poverty.

    • Aremu, is member National Institute, Kuru Jos.

  • Ganduje: Saving the north from shame

    Sir: Why must the children of the Hausa-Fulani be left to become a burden and to some extent security threats to the society? While other Nigerian children are found in classrooms with better chances of a better future, northern children are only found roaming the streets begging in the name of being almajiris in their numbers. Such negligence was responsible for the snobbish and demeaning perception against the Hausa-Fulani’s by our southern brothers.

    Truth is, here in the north, we have the elite that have received the best of care and free qualitative education from the collective resources of the Talakawas, which propelled them to their present exalted positions. Unfortunately, they rendered such rights and privileges comatose to the detriment of the great majority.

    No state has any justification to allow children of school age to be roaming on the streets, not to talk of becoming almajiris. It is therefore a good omen that Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State has summoned the political will to enforce free and compulsory basic and secondary education in his state, which has a significant concentration of out of school children.

    Ganduje was conscious of the fact that public schools, especially at primary and secondary level has been neglected and rendered ineffective for too long which was the major factor that gave birth to the proliferation of all sorts of privately owned primary and secondary schools in the country.

    To defeat these challenges and ensure the smooth take-off of the free education scheme, the governor has constituted a committee to take inventory of all existing public primary and secondary schools in the state.

    So far, 1,180 public schools have been indentified and designated for the take off of the scheme, while N 200million is to be set aside for the monthly up-keep of these schools. Governor Ganduje had declared that the sum of N 2.4 billion is expected to be expended annually for the maintenance of these schools.

    Already, N 381 million has been paid for the sewing of 800,000 school uniforms and accordingly distributed to the 779,000 primary and secondary school new intakes. The state government has also, released the sum of N350 million to complement the federal government home grown school feeding policy in the state. To discourage the apathy towards the girl-child school enrollment, the state government has disbursed the sum of N 40,000 each to the indigent parents of 31,000 girl-children towards preparing them to commence school this season.

    With all these interventions, no parent has any reason not to send his child to school. To demonstrate the seriousness of the state towards implementing the free educational scheme, about 100 school age children that were found roaming around in the guise of almajiris were recently arrested. Surely, Governor Ganduje is determined to save the north from shame and perdition.

    • Mohammed Isa Bilal, Jos, Plateau State.

  • Why we prefer female, by ‘One chance suspects’

    Three suspects have been arrested for their alleged involvement in “one chance” criminal operations.

    The suspects, James Awaji, Abel Obinna and Sunday, were arrested in Abuja by operatives of the Special Tactical Squad and IGP Intelligence Response Team.

    The suspects revealed that they prefer female victims.

    Giving reason for the preference of female, the suspects explained that “men drag too much.”

    One of the suspects specialized in giving his car out on rental and gets return from those who go out for one chance operations.

    One of their victims who did not want to be named narrated her experience with the suspects.

    She said: “I just closed from work because I work around the NNPC towers. Usually, the drivers that ply that route carry mostly footballers who are just returning from training at that time of the day. So, when I flagged them off, I assumed the passengers were also footballers who had changed from their training kit.

    “They picked me at about 5:30pm around the NNPC towers area and drove round to different spots. While I was in the car, when I started suspecting and attempted to escape, I noticed that their car lock was disabled.

    “The one who sat in front with the driver reclined his seat to pin me down. With that, I found it difficult to move out of the vehicle. They dropped me off around 9pm at Maitama express after they had beaten me and dispossessed me of all my belongings.

    “They injured my eye but I managed to register the number plate of the vehicle in my head despite the pain. It was the number plate that I ended up using to commence my own investigation when I recovered.

    “I went to search for the number plate online and proceeded to the relevant authorities who ended up directing me to the Police. It was that number plate that was used to trace them.”

    The suspects also took turns to narrate the various roles they played in the alleged crime.

    James Awaji, 33 who uses his car for rental purposes to those who deal in one chance crime said he was an ex-convict.

    He said: “I was arrested in the past and charged to Gwagwalada court for similar offence but I got a good lawyer who freed me. I was arrested because I gave my friend my car. My friend used the car for one chance. I was not part of their last operation. When I used to go out for the operation, I make about N50,000 to N100,000 daily and my usual route is Berger to Wuse.

    Speaking on how they operate, he said: “We don’t like to carry passengers from motor parks. We look for isolated areas or places along the road where it looks like the passengers are desperate for vehicles.

    “We prefer to carry women because they are calm and always carry handbags. I don’t like male passengers because they drag too much. We don’t use guns or knives. We only use stapler. We open and close the stapler to make sound like gun just to scare our victims.

    “I rented out my car to my friend. The first operation, they came back with N50,000 as my returns. The second week, they gave me N20,000 and I got N15,000 in the third week.”

    Also speaking, Abel Obinna said: “I used to do one chance before but I retired and travelled home to Enugu where I went to acquire some properties but when I noticed that things were not moving well for me again, I relocated to Abuja again.

    “I rented the car from my friend and after each operation, we share the money amongst ourselves. We usually use the proceeds from the crime to sustain ourselves.”

    Sunday on his part said he was new in the business. “I am a newcomer. I asked James for money when I was broke but he told me he didn’t have. He, however, asked me to follow him out. It was while we were out that they picked a lady and robbed her.”

    Reacting to the rate of one chance operation, the Force Spokesman, DCP Frank Mba said efforts are being made to reduce the rate of crime in the country.

    He also stated that two of the suspects have history of being charged to court.

    Giving security tips, Mba said: “If you are a commuter in FCT, Lagos, and other cities where one chance operate, please avoid using unpainted taxis as much as possible

    “When possible, avoid taking vehicles from unauthorised parks. Also, let your instinct rule you. If you are not comfortable, step back. If the car is unduly tinted and unpainted, it could be a red flag. If a vehicle does not care about your direction and the amount you are willing to pay, it is a red flag.

    “If one of the occupants of the vehicles step down for you to enter, it could be a red flag but also know that some of the syndicates have females.”

  • BREAKING: Governors meet over N614bn bailout deductions, others

    The over N614 billion bailout deduction is expected to dominate discussions at Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) Wednesday evening meeting.

    The meeting is slated to start any moment from now in Abuja.

    Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had hinted on the plan to deduct from source the bailout handed out to 35 states as budget support facility.

    Ahmed had said that deduction will commence in September 2019 during a Public Consultation Forum on the draft 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework in Abuja.

    The federal government gave the conditional budget support facility to the states through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2017.

    Read Also: Analysts discuss N614b bailout funds for states

    It was to enable the states to meet their financial obligations to civil servants and pensioners.

    The money was provided at a nine per cent interest rate, with a grace period of two years.

    Ahmed had said the repayment will be taken from the affected states’ allocations during the next Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting this month.

    She said the refund is not going to be treated as revenue to be used to fund the 2020 budget.

    According to her: “It was a loan that was advanced by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the states.”

    She added that because the payment was made by the CBN, the recovery process is for the loans to be deducted from the FAAC allocations of the states and remitted back to the CBN.

    Ahmed said the process will not require a consideration of the fiscal strategy paper (FSP) implementation but to ensure the states stayed on the path of fiscal sustainability.

    “This will not be a condition for the deduction. We will deduct direct at source and remit to the CBN,” she said.

    It was gathered this has not have gone down well with the governors who are determined take a common position on the issue at the meeting.

    Besides, the NGF meeting is coming ahead of the 97th National Economic Council meeting slated for Thursday 19th September 2019.

    Those in attendance are: Babatunde Sanwo-Olu (Lagos); Samuel Ortom (Benue), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi),  Sirake Dickson (Bayelsa), Abubakar Badaru, (Jigawa), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Emeka Ihedioha (Imo), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Aminu Masari (Katsina) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara).

    The Deputy Governors in attendance are Nasarawa and Kaduna.

    Details shortly…

  • Mixed reactions trail President’s Economic team

    Key players in the economy on Tuesday x-rayed Monday’s decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to replace the Economic Management Team (EMT) headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo with the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) that will report directly to him.

    The Manufacturer Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) praised the President for taking the decision on the economy.

    But a former Executive Director at Keystone Bank Limited, Richard Obire differed, saying it was strange not to have the Vice President on the economic management team.

    Former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili, said nothing has changed with the dissolution of the old team and the constitution of the Doyin Salami-led EAC.

    According to her, the President has always been in charge of the economy.

    The Director-General of the LCCI, Muda Yusuf, who hailed the setting up of the EAC, said it will help to give the desired direction to the nation’s economic management. The stature, pedigree and the independence of the members of the council are clearly not in doubt, adding that they are tested technocrats.

    He said: “At a time like this, the economy needs such a team to pull the economy back from the brink. The management of the Nigerian Economy needs to be anchored on tested economic principles that will propel sustainable growth and development. The economy craves a critical mass of private sector investment to stem the current slide and declines in the economy. We need to boost the confidence of investors for such private capital flows to happen. The economy desires policies that are coherent, consistent, coordinated, synchronised and transparent”.

    He advised that the economy should be managed in such a way to harness the bountiful entrepreneurial energies and resourcefulness of the Nigerian people.

    Read Also: Buhari dissolves panel for recovery of Public Property

    According to him, hard choices are inevitable to ensure that we build an economy that is sustainable, diversified and inclusive. He appealed to the President to give the Advisory Council ample scope, responsibility and authority to provide the much needed guidance and advice on policy choices.

    To the MAN, the formation of an EAC was both timely and commendable.

    The association said it was by far, a clear demonstration of the determination of Mr. President to re-energise the management of the economy in his second term.

    Its Director-General, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said Nigerians and indeed, the private sector, were highly desirous of an effective and knowledge-driven team that will lead on the economic front.

    He said the beauty of this team, apart from their pedigree, was its composition of private sector citizens who “We believe will operate independently and effectively.”

    “The team, we believe, will not be shackled with the bureaucracy of government and hopefully, the political interference and correctness of our clime. They are more likely to be receptive to a wide range of opinions and innovations, even if deferring from the norm.”

    MAN, therefore, proposed that the team in partnership with the private sector should carry out a critical and comprehensive review of the current policy initiatives that drive the actions of government and urgently harmonize the outcomes.

    According to the Association, this will help to craft an agenda that will guide the management of the economy going forward.

    “Already on ground are policy initiatives such as the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the 2020-2022 Medium Term Fiscal Framework and Fiscal Strategy,” MAN pointed out.

    It added that it behoves the Council to recommend pragmatic programmes that will improve upon the achievements already made in some areas such as Ease of Doing Business in the country.

    “The EAC is coming on the heels of the promised National Action Committee on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The AfCFTA is unarguably, the most pressing preoccupation of continental economic actors in Africa today.

    “The right composition of the Committee will augur well for the needed synergy with the Council to boost our chances of being net gainers in the continental free trade area. We eagerly look forward to this prospect,” MAN said.

    The Association also said the fact that the EAC will have monthly technical sessions as well as scheduled quarterly meetings with the President may guarantee the attention of government and implementation of their advice.

    “The Organised Private Sector (OPS), particularly MAN, is adequately prepared and eager to engage the Advisory Council in a bid to achieve the desired growth and development of the nation’s economy,” the statement concluded.

    Obire said he had never seen a thing like that “in my knowledge about politics where the number two man seems not to count”.

    He said: “There is need to treat the number two person with dignity and support. The number two person is the next after the President. If the president is not available, the Vice President takes charge. In this case, the number two person has been cooperative.”

    The former bank chief cited a case where a sitting minister was reassigned while she was away meeting with foreign investors, and she immediately resigned her appointment. The former bank director said such practices are not proper and do not promote trust in government.

    He said what is happening now, could be a way to clip the wings of political gladiators ahead of the 2023 elections.

    On the EAC, he said some members of the team are well known and have deep knowledge of the economy.

    “Doyin Salami, Chukwuma Soludo, Bismark Rewane are personally known to me. They have the experience and I am confident that they will do the job well. But remember that their role is advisory and when they advise the President, he may or may not take their advice,” Obire said.

    Continuing, he said even where the President takes the EAC advice, the next phase which is implementation goes to the bureaucrats who may not give it the best shot.

    Obire said the EAC should focus on subsidy removal, reform of the civil service, decongestion of the ports and unifying the exchange rates.

    He said that removal of petrol subsidy and reform of the civil service will save huge funds needed to provide key infrastructure and support the economy.

    “We need to make investments in the ports, railways. We need to decongest Lagos ports to reduce cost of operation for companies. All these are areas the team should focus on. Also, exchange rate should be transparent. We do not need exchange rate that gives room for round-tripping.”

    Mrs. Ezekwesili said the setting up of council of economic advisors is in itself one of the features of the American Presidential system which we copied.

    “Strong membership and that’s really great. I hope the first thing they do is tell the President how he mismanaged the economy in the last four years. For those who will jump on this timeline to say, ‘it was not the President that was in charge of the Economy. It was the VP chairing the Economic Team” please don’t bother. The President was managing the Economy. All those bad Monetary Policy decisions were made by him,” she twitted.

    According to her, the President was managing the economy, adding that all those strange Fiscal Policy decisions were made by him.

    ”Both the CBN Governor and the Minister of Finance were not acting based on any Economic Management Team decisions.

    Now at least the pretense is over about Economy,”she twitted.

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sofunix Investment and  Communications, Sola Oni, described  every member of the team as a game changer, saying that the  team’s pre-occupation would be to offer the Federal Government realistic measures to revive an ailing economy.

    He said: “The team should come up with appropriate policy framework to align fiscal and monetary policies, especially, where there are disconnects. The members should address the issue of domestic fund mobilisation through measures such as realistic interest rates on domestic savings, wholistic integration of informal activities into formal sector and more efficient banking and insurance sectors.

    ”The team should also propose strategy for easy access to domestic credits by investors while provision of relevant incentives for domestic and foreign investors should be addressed. The members should conduct impact analysis on Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) for enhanced implementation. They need to engage with the capital regulators and operators to identify measures to leverage the capital market to boost economic growth and development,”

    The team should reverse the recent increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) without further delay as it will do more harm than good in the present circumstance. In advanced economies, people pay tax with ease because infrastructures are provided to aid economic and entrepreneurial activities. But it is a reverse logic in Nigeria where majority of private sector operators are struggling to survive and purchasing power of consumers is shrinking by the day. The whole situation makes tax issues appear punitive.

  • Task force nabs 71 miscreants in early morning raid at Oshodi

    Operatives of the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Unit (Taskforce) on Wednesday morning arrested 71 miscreants around railway-line in Oshodi as part of efforts to rid the State of criminal elements, especially those operating at notorious blackspots across the metropolis.

    In a statement, Chairman of the Agency, Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Chief Superintendent of Police, who led the enforcement team in the early morning raid, stated that the crackdown is in line with the determination of the Task Force to curtail the activities of hoodlums who rob unsuspecting members of the public.

    He disclosed that some of the culprits were in possession of illegal substances suspected to be Indian hemp and other dangerous drugs such as Codeine, Skunk and Tramadol.

    The Chairman reiterated that all identified blackspots across the State would be continuously raided and arrested suspects would be fully prosecuted if found guilty, stressing that the present administration has zero-tolerance for all forms of crimes and criminality.

    According to Egbeyemi, “Lagos State is the most populous in Nigeria as well as its economic heartbeat as such, the State government is committed to providing a conducive environment for both local and foreign investors”.

    Read Also: EFCC arrests Prison’s staff, five others for ATM fraud

    He, however, revealed that while 13 the 71 suspects were released after a thorough screening by the Chairman,  the only underage male among them was transferred to the Lagos State Correctional Centre for proper rehabilitation.

    Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu has directed that the raid must be a continuous exercise in line with the State’s policy aimed at eradicating activities of miscreants and cultists disturbing innocent residents.

    An underage boy, Hamed Gilani, who was referred to Lagos State Correctional Centre disclosed that he ran to Lagos from one of the neighbouring States after his parents separated.

    According to Gilani who is 11years old, “I ran errand for those bigger miscreants and I was lured to be smoking Indian hemp when I started sleeping among them under the bridge at Oshodi”

    Another miscreant, Suraju Ademola, confessed to have been sleeping along railway line under the Oshodi bridge for over 7 months.

    He confessed further to be part of those criminals who attack and rob innocent members of the public of their valuables on Oshodi bridge both early morning and night.