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Tag: Nigerian Newspaper

  • Buhari appoints Ladan as NIALS D-G

    President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Prof Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan as the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS).

    He succeeds Prof Deji Adekunle.

    Read Also: Buhari mourns Amb. Chiedu Osakwe

    A letter from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha reads: “I am pleased to inform you that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved your appointment as Director-General Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies for an initial term of four years.

    “This appointment is with effect from 9th September 2019…Please accept my congratulations and best wishes on your appointment.”

  • 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.

  • Man electrocuted in Delta

    An unidentified middle-aged man has been electrocuted following a failed attempt to vandalise a transformer belonging the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) in Asaba, Delta State capital.

    The deceased, a father of three, was found dead by residents after his failed attempt to steal some of the facilities over the weekend.

    The Nation learnt the incident occurred along the High Court Road area of Asaba.

    His remains were discovered on Monday morning by residents.

    Read Also: Phone thief burnt to death in Delta

    It was learnt the deceased broke into the facility on Sunday night.

    The middle-aged man was alleged to have been retrenched recently.

    The Nation gathered that the deceased was discovered lying inside the building housing the transformer.

    A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “The deceased vandal was until his death a husband and father of three children, who engaged in unskilled labour to cater for his family. His corpse was discovered on Monday morning by some residents”.

    Delta State Police Commissioner, Mr Adeyinka Adeleke confirmed the incident.

  • 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.

  • Discordant tunes in RTEAN leadership status

    The crisis rocking the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) took a turn for the worse as one of the factions has headed for the Industrial Court. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes that the move was to prevent any person or persons from parading themselves as new leaders of the association.

    In order from the National Industrial Court on Friday may have put spanners in the works of Alhaji Musa who might have been preparing to assume office as the new Acting National President.

    Musa was, until last Tuesday, the Lagos State Chairman of the association. He and his entire executive had sought to secure a second term in office, following the unanimous adoption by members of the state council.

    Everything was going well, until September 12 when the National President Comrade Osakpamwan Eriyo ought to have presented him the certificate of return having allegedly paid the N60 million requested to facilitate that.

    Rather, Musa had been stunned when a faction from the council had protested against his candidacy at the Lagos State Governor’s office.

    Eriyo had been mandated by the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation Dr. Frederic Oladeinde to mediate and ensure a truce. But the matter became messy as Musa’s team that was expecting a fair arbitration got the boot as Eriyo announced his sack on Sunday.

    The National President, in a widely publicised statement insisted he acted within the ambit of his powers to sack Musa and members of his executive whose tenure had elapsed. He said the five-year tenure of Musa’s executive expired in September.

    He also said that, aside the issue of tenure, the protesters had accused the Musa leadership of corruption, a matter requiring some investigation.

    By Monday, Eriyo came up with a caretaker committee which was to take over from Musa’s executive in order to coordinate the affairs of the council pending the time another election would be held.

    The action drew the flak of the Lagos council, which took Eriyo to task about the proprietary of the action. They argued that allegations of corruption against it were figments of imagination of the National President.

    They also argued that going by the certificate of return presented to the state council, the mandate expires on October 31. Musa out rightly ruled Eriyo out of order, and wondered why Eriyo could rule on a matter as sensitive as sacking a state executive without confiding in the RTEAN National Executive Council (NEC).

    Musa said Eriyo had intended to plant a pliant surrogate in Lagos in order to ensure that Lagos, the association’s biggest honey pot, remains his exclusive preserve. His antics, they said,  had boomeranged.

    Musa said Eriyo had always been afraid of his continuous stay in office.

    “Being the most senior legally elected officer of the association, Eriyo who had imposed himself on the association has always been threatened by my presence and might have waited till the expiration of my tenure to strike.”

    Addressing reporters on Monday, Musa had pointedly accused Eriyo of corruption. He alleged that his executive paid into Eriyo’s private account N60 million to secure the certificate of continuity (second term).

    He added that the decision of his executive to continue in office was unanimous, and wondered how the man who supervised the meeting where the decision was unanimously taken was used by Eriyo to destabilise RTEAN Lagos.

    Aside the N60 million which allegedly was lodged into Eriyo and Adebiyi’s accounts, the state council bought Eriyo a N45 million SUV and paid directly to him another US$3,000 for logistics, while another sum of money was allegedly made available for accommodation for the NEC members who were to accompany him.

    Rejecting the dissolution of his executive, Musa queried how the President can unilaterally take a decision to dissolve an executive whose tenure has not elapsed without the consent of the National Executive Council (NEC) even after collecting its money and assuring the same executive of continuity.

    He said in line with Article 7, section 2 (iii) (a) of the Association’s Constitution, the action of the President and the National Secretary to sack the executive led by Musa and appoint caretaker committee is ultra vires, null and void.

    On Tuesday, RTEAN’s NEC, at an emergency meeting in Lagos State, dismissed Eriyo whom they accused of having taken over office by a coup d’etat. They said Eriyo, who was dismissed by the NEC in 2017, remained dismissed as no other authority in the association had vacated the order.

    They, therefore, decided to revisit Eriyo’s sack and summary dismissal, even as they resolved to press legal charges if Eriyo continues to parade himself as an officer of the association.

    Twenty-Eight  members of the NEC led by the Assistant National Secretary-General Alhaji Adamu Jalaludeen from Kaduna State, accused Eriyo of six offenses, among which are expansionist agenda, which has seen Eriyo disrupting the validly elected executives of Kaduna, Ogun, Niger and most recently Lagos states, with the hope of replacing them with surrogates, massive fraud as exemplified by Lagos where he collected, among others, N60 million in lieu of an election, ticket racketeering where the President personally supervises the distribution of park tickets, a tool which, according to him, has been used to “intimidate, blackmail, harass and suspend state chairmen, large scale fraud and diversion of funds into personal account and the sidetracking of the NEC in critical decisions as exemplified by the Lagos case where the President acted at variance with the association’s constitution.”

    Also sacked alongside Eriyo was the National Secretary of the association Comrade Yusuf Adeniyi Ibrahim, who they accused of colluding with Eriyo to defraud the association and bring it to ignominy.

    Two schools of thought have emerged as to why Eriyo fell out of favour. While the first opined that he was an impostor whose cup was full, the other school of thought said he got his hands burnt having fell out of favour with the power base in the association.

    Though the latest antics to approach the Industrial Court was seen as one of the ways open to the Eriyo leadership to buy more time, sources with deep knowledge of the power play in the union opined that “the owners of the union have spoken and Eriyo had to go.”

    The source, a TREAN NEC member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, accused Eriyo of “insensitivity and high handedness.”

    He said: “If Eriyo had been sensitive, he would have avoided the ruinous outcome that claimed his office last Tuesday.”

    The source said Eriyo’s decision to fight the Lagos executive led by a die-in-the-wool unionist Comrade Mohammed Musa was his undoing.

    The National Industrial Court, on Friday, restrained Alhaji Musa Mohammed and six others from parading themselves as members of the National Executive Council of the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN).

    Justice Sanusi Kado gave the order following an application filed by Mr. Osakpanmwan Eriyo, National President who was represented by counsel, Olayiwole Afolabi and Simon Ezenwa.

    Kado, in his ruling, ordered the defendants to desist from further harassing, intimidating and subjecting members of the claimant to inhuman treatment pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice already before the court.

    The judge further restrained them from holding offices in any capacity as servants, agents, assigns, appointees, privies or whatsoever connected to RTEAN.

    “This includes operations and businesses pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice already filed along with the originating process,’’ Kado held.

    The National President insisted that the dissolution of the Lagos State Executive Council on September 13 remained legal and binding.

    He reiterated that the expiration of the branch’s tenure as provided in Article 9 (I) of the association’s constitution as the reason for the dissolution.

    Members of the Lagos State Executive Council, on Monday, disagreed with the action of the national body, describing the dissolution as illegal, null and void, saying that their tenure would lapse on October 31.

    They said the resolution for the continuity of their executive committee had been passed at the chapel, zonal and state executive levels, adding that it had since been forwarded to the national body.

  • 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.

  • Commissioner plans 21st century civil service

    The Lagos State Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Mrs. Ajibola Ponnle, has urged the ministry workers to be determined to change the negative attitude associated with civil servants.

    She spoke on Tuesday at the opening session of a strategic retreat organised for heads of units and departments in the departments and agencies under the supervision of the Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions, in Alausa, Ikeja.

    Ponnle, who recalled the dignifying nature of public service in the past, said all hands must be on deck to revert to the good old days when people were willing and anxious to be identified with government institutions.

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    She said the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration has a laudable plan to make Lagos a 21st century economy in consonance with T.H.E.M.E.S. (Traffic Management and Transportation, Health and Environment, Education and Technology, Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy, Entertainment and Tourism, and Security and Governance), adding that “the governor has enjoined the ministry to support this mandate, develop plans and policies to ensure this is driven by a 21st century-enabled workforce.”

    The commissioner said the coming together of the ministry’s officials comprising those from the Office of Establishments and Training, Lagos State Pensions Commission (LASPEC), Public Service Staff Development Centre (PSSDC) and Civil Service Pensions Office (CSPO) was aimed at sharing a combined vision and pursuing their mandates with uniformity and in consonance with the project T.H.E.M.E.S.

    ”Our aim as a ministry, working in partnership with other relevant MDAs, is to ensure the engine of governance, which is driven by its people, working efficiently and effectively to ensure the plans become our collective reality,” Ponnle said.