The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerians

  • Nigerians urged to fight graft

    THE Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Public Petitions, Sanai Agunbiade, has urged Nigerians to rise against corruption.

    He said Nigerians should stop treating corruption and misappropriation of public funds with sentiments and ethnic prejudice.

    Hon. Agunbiade stated this when he was speaking with reporters  on the N255 million armoured cars scandal rocking the Ministry of Aviation.

    The lawmaker frowned at some groups defending the action of the embattled Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah.

    He said corruption only thrives where people are indifferent to the act or  declare support and show solidarity with those accused of corrupt practices.

    ”My position has always been that corruption in Nigeria is not sectoral, it is rather systemic. It has pervaded every sector of the society as it is not limited to any particular tribe or government sector.

    “As regards the car scandal, I want to say that we should look at issues and not sentiments”.

    “I have seen a lot of people trying to give support to the woman at the centre of this crisis and it is uncalled for. The issue of ethnicity should not come into issues like this.

    “The matter should be investigated and those found culpable should be brought to justice”, he said.

    The lawmaker said Oduah was not appointed based on tribal affiliations and that neither has she denied the allegations.

    “But one thing is clear, if anybody is in a mess, he or she will want to find a way out of that mess. And if corruption persists in a society, it is because the society itself is corrupt.

    “ If the society scorns and punishes corrupt persons, there will be reduction in corrupt practices”, he said.

    Hon. Agunbiade appealed to religious organisations, traditional rulers and the society at large to assist in the fight against corruption by rewarding only hardworking and honest individuals in the society and desist from praising and acknowledging corrupt individuals.

    This, according to him, is the only way we can achieve a greater degree of measure of success in the war being waged against the hydra-headed monster.

    “When somebody is corrupt and it is that same person that is given chieftaincy titles in the mosques, churches and celebrated by the society while hardworking and honest ones are scorned, then that is an empowerment for people to be corrupt,” he said.

  • Nigerians face Indian boycott after protests

    Nigerians face Indian boycott after protests

    A COLLECTIVE of rent-a-bike operators in Goa, India, has resolved to boycott Nigerians and not accept their business, two days after a mob of Nigerians blocked a national highway and attacked locals and policemen.

    Spokesperson for the rent-a-bike operators in north Goa, Jalesh Raut, said that they had also put up signs all over Mapusa, a town 12 kms from Panaji, which says “No to drugs and No to Nigerians”.

    “We have decided not to rent out two wheelers to Nigerians after their attack on locals and police Thursday. They give us good business, but they cannot be beating our own people and policemen,” Raut said.

    Rent-a-bike is a unique scheme started by the Goa government a few years ago where tourists can rent a two wheeler. The bikes cost about Rs.250 per day and there are around 14,000 such vehicles.

    It was these bikes which the protesting Nigerians used to first overtake a police hearse van, smash the vehicle and forcibly extract the body of their murdered compatriot, Obina Obiwesi, before blockading National Highway 17.

    They were demanding the presence of their ambassador, claiming that Nigerians were being targeted by a local narcotics gang operating in Goa. They also claimed that the police were specifically targeting them on the instructions of the local drug gang.

    Raut also led a rally of rent-a-bike owners from Mapusa to Porvorim on the national highway urging residents not to lease houses or vehicles to Nigerians.

    “The Nigerians pose an open challenge to Goa. If 50 Nigerians can block a road for hours and even intimidate the police, something has to change in Goa,” he said.

    Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar ,speaking on the protest said the police could not rein in the protesters because of their huge sizes.

    “They are huge and aggressive. Some of them are seven feet tall. It would take at least 100 of our policemen to handle a crowd of 50 Nigerians,” Parrikar told reporters, when he was asked why the police force did not make any effort for nearly an hour to clear National Highway-17 that was blocked by heavily built Nigerians armed with hockey sticks, bamboos and knives.

    The Nigerians were demanding that the autopsy on Obina Obiwesi be conducted in the presence of the Nigerian ambassador in India.

    The murder, the Nigerian protestors claimed, had been committed by a gang called Chapora boys, a notorious underground drug mafia operating in north Goa, and the police had been unwilling to act against the alleged murderers, who were locals. They blocked the highway by dumping the corpse bang in the middle of the road after smashing open the police hearse and extracting the body from it.

    The brazen manner in which Goa Police officers were cowered down in public by a group of 50 well-built Nigerians (the mob later swelled to nearly 200) and Parrikar’s continued dogged defence of the state police has evoked an extremely strong reaction in the social media as well as among people across sections.

    The mob not only threatened and warded off over 20 policemen, including Superintendent of Police (North) Priyanka Kashyap, but also told the latter off in a verbal duel.

    The intimidation was such that Parrikar, himself claimed that he saw one “herculesque Nigerian” who he believed would need 10 Goa policemen to control.

    “He was nearly seven feet. He would have needed at least 10 policemen to control,” said Parrikar, who is also the state’s home minister.

    The chief minister also said that he had inherited a corrupt and ineffective police force that had been reduced to shambles by the previous Congress-led regime, whose home minister Ravi Naik and kin now face charges of being involved in the drug trade.

    The incident has triggered an avalanche of reactions.

    “The police department is scared of Nigerians. I am ashamed to say this,” said Michael Lobo, a legislator of the ruling BJP.

    Independent legislator Rohan Khaunte, whose constituency of Porvorim was host to the high-voltage drama, said that the public came to the rescue of the police instead of it being the other way around.

    “The situation was mishandled. Action should be taken against the SP North. Locals in fact helped the police and not the other way around,” he said.

  • Nigerians too hungry to be civilized

    SIR: A critical observation of the situation in Nigeria will show that at the root of the nation’s problem is poverty.  The ill functioning of the government is basically as a result of people engaging in corrupt practices to survive.  The mushroom of religious groups in every street corner is mostly a consequence of economic hardship.  The perennial upsurge of regional crisis is traceable to insecurity of the natural resources.  These excesses of human behavior can be controlled by a country that can sufficiently provide for its citizens.  It is the principal function of an enlightened government to attain this objective.

    The anatomy of corruption in Nigeria can be dissected from a psychological impact of poverty.  The aggressiveness of most Nigerians in government to unduly grab the nation’s wealth as if it is vanishing could be attributed to the fear that they may not have the chance again.  This behavior stems from the reality that most families are generally one or two generations away from poverty.  The fresh memory of coming from a background where one has experienced an abject lack makes one desperate.  The scarcity of opportunity leads to a rush by any means to escape being a part of the downtrodden.

    People go through tremendous prayers and visits to powerful pastors including voodoo doctors, and by a supernatural endeavour, they are freed from the demonic bound of poverty.  Living in hopelessness in a country where there is no social safety net leaves the citizens in the phenomenal dispensation of a miracle.  A young woman graduates from the university and could not find a job.  Her parents are too poor to support her; probably it was a lover that assisted her through her education.  She feels the pressure to make money to bring her family out of suffering.  She turns to prostitution.  Before she could settle to the easy life, she contracts HIV.  A pastor comes and assures her that she could be delivered from the afflictions of the devil.  The pastor wins her soul and also her tithe.  She expects a miracle, other than that; she will whittle away and die in silence.

    Youths agitate about their plight. They live in communities with abundant natural resources and yet they are severely deprived.  The revenue generated from their region is grossly expended in places they have never been and by people they do not know.  The industrial consequences of producing this wealth dispose their community to all sorts of danger.  No one comes to their aid when they start suffering the harmful effects of these exposures.  The fatal instinct to survive sets in as they observe the exploitation of their livelihood. They go on a rampage burning down the effigies of their torment.

    It is unfortunate that the Nigerian government is paying lip service to solving the economic woes of the masses.  The foundation to elevating the country to a civilized society lies in poverty alleviation.  The elite are dismayed when the West looks down on them about the country.  A situation where the leaders of the nation are roguishly rich reduces everybody to the rule of the jungle.  If the government can put the abundant resources of the country to good use and seriously create a large middle class society, one will find out that majority of Nigerians will prefer the luxury of basking in the sun in a beach to the demeaning lifestyle of hustling for a living.

    Pius Okaneme

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

  • Eschew political extremism, Uduaghan urges Nigerians

    Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has urged Nigerians to eschew all forms of political and religious extremism.

    The governor advised them to lay the foundation for sustainable development and national integration.

    In a Sallah message in Asaba, the state capital, Uduaghan said: “Nigerians must imbibe the lessons of the Eid-el-Kabir festival, which are spirit of kindness, piety and commitment to duty, including the promotion of religious harmony and peaceful co-existence.”

    He urged Nigerians to embrace peace and religious harmony in their daily activities and show genuine love and respect for one another to enhance peace, unity and stability.

    The governor enjoined privileged Nigerians to be generous and considerate to the less privileged to attract Allah’s kindness and compassion.

    He hailed Delta residents for their support, understanding and abiding faith in his administration’s determination to transform the state.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Akume felicitates with Nigerians

    Senate Minority Leader George Akume yesterday felicitated with Nigerians on the nation’s 53rd Independence anniversary.

    In a statement, the former Benue State governor noted that Nigerians ought to reflect on the nation’s journey in the last 53 years of self-determination.

    The statement reads: “I wish to, on behalf of my family and the good people of Benue Northwest Senatorial District, congratulate all Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora on this year’s commemoration of our independence and statehood.

    “It is indeed a thing of immense joy to me, as I believe it is to every other Nigerian, that God, in His wisdom, has kept us together through the years to witness yet another milestone. We should all reverence Him because He alone has been the source of our strength and the binding force of our unity.

    “This year’s anniversary should be regarded by everyone as very significant because it comes at a time when we should all reflect deeply on our history, corporate existence as well as evaluate how well we have come along since the beginning in 1960. “To this extent, I believe that we have over the years deviated from the lofty visions and ideals our founding heroes had for this nation at inception in 1960. We are now more often preoccupied with parochial, partisan and religious sentiments rather than pursuing a collective dream that will take us to national greatness…”

     

  • Nigerians, guilty as charged

    SIR: Ordinary Nigerians cannot be blamed for how some universities have become encaged by a power-mongering and egocentric cabal. Ordinary Nigerians are not culpable in the murder of General Murtala Muhammed and the overthrow of the Buhari/Idiagbon regime. Civilians are not to blame for the Civil War of 1967-1970, or for the annulment of the freest and fairest presidential election of June 12, 1993. But civilians, including many lawyers and university professors, are to blame for accepting the nomination of Professor Attahiru Jega as make-up for an equitable electoral reform proposed by the Electoral Reform Committee of Justice Muhammed Uwais.

    Ordinary Nigerians must take full responsibility for the truncation of rotational presidency, by allowing themselves to be deceived by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, General Olusegun Obasanjo, Edwin Clark, Anthony Anenih, et al. I personally monitored the 2011 elections, and I saw that Nigerians voted for Jonathan, undoubtedly because they wanted good luck for themselves and their children. But, for how long shall a people allow themselves to be deceived? Don’t they know that a snake cannot give birth to a young without the venom? Jonathan was fielded by the same cabal that has been exploiting Nigeria and impoverishing the masses since independence, and so, how can you expect to harvest sweet orange from the seed of sour orange?

    In order to confuse the people, President Jonathan displayed a train running from Lagos through Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ilorin, etc. Now, let hungry Nigerians go inside the train. Alongside fixing of the train, he spent extravagantly on his election campaign and Nigerians were not sensitised, rather they derided General Muhammadu Buhari for having no stolen money to prosecute his presidential campaign. Poverty has done too much damage to the reasoning faculty of too many Nigerians; it has created immorality and inhumanities.

    Leadership problem couples follower-ship problem to make Nigeria a miserable whole. The late Hubert Ogunde once told Yoruba people to ronu (think); to reflect on their political place within Nigeria. Radical positive political change is imperative, and it is beyond the Peoples Democratic Party (old or new)!

    • Pius Oyeniran Abioje, Ph. D,

    University of Ilorin.

  • Stop celebrating ill-gotten wealth, Jonathan urges Nigerians

    Stop celebrating ill-gotten wealth, Jonathan urges Nigerians

    President Goodluck Jonathan has urged Nigerians to stop celebrating ill-gotten wealth to discourage corrupt practices.

    The President spoke yesterday at the 54th annual conference of the Nigeria Economic Society in Abuja.

    He said: “For us as a nation to bring corruption down in Nigeria, it’s not just blaming the government or blaming the police. But all individuals must frown at people who have what they are not supposed to have; those who live in houses they are not supposed to live in; those who drive cars they are not supposed to drive and wear suits more expensive than they can afford.”

    Until Nigerians are able to do this, Jonathan said, the nation’s journey to greatness would be hampered.

    He said: “Invariably, we are all rewarding corruption. And until we stop that, I don’t think we will get to where we want to go.

    “If a young man, who just started a job and within six months or a year comes up with a car of N7 million to N15 million and you clap for him, then you are rewarding corruption.”

    The President stressed that if Nigerians collectively refuse to reward corruption and frown at it, “people would not be attracted to corrupt practices; but when we all reward corruption, then of course we will be tempted to go in that direction”.

    Jonathan said he desired a Nigerian society “where all of us will frown against people who come up with what they are not supposed to have”.

    According to him, his administration’s approach to fighting corruption includes building institutions with the capacity to overcome corrupt influences. “This approach uses the rule of law as a framework to fight corruption,” he said.

    His administration, Jonathan said, has repositioned the leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) to ensure more effective, efficient and transparent ways of managing corruption and corrupt practices.

    The government’s effort at strengthening the capacity of state institutions at fighting corruption, the President said, “is not limited to granting independence to EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies”.

    He added: “It extends to developing affordable finance for housing, car ownership, among others, as we believe that taking measures to help realise aspirations to own their homes and fund those things that make life easier can also aid the fight against corruption.”

  • ‘Senators, Reps must respect contract with Nigerians’

    The Presidency yesterday urged members of the National Assembly to honour their social contract with Nigerians to enable the nation enjoy good governance.

    It said President Goodluck Jonathan was committed to his promise to ensure that budget estimates are submitted and passed early to make implementation begin at the beginning of the New Year.

    The Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Affairs, Senator Joy Emodi, said the National Assembly members should be focused on their duties to the nation.

    She spoke yesterday in Abuja when she welcomed senators and House of Representatives’ members back to the National Assembly after about eight weeks’ recess.

    Mrs Emodi said: “Importantly, distinguished senators and honourable members should hold fast to their mindset that they have a social contract with Nigerians to deliver on good governance and partner Mr President to transform Nigeria…

    “This social contract transcends partisanship. Therefore, party politics and intrigues should not be allowed to creep in to blemish the great work they have done so far.

    “Party platforms and intra-party interests may differ, but their social contract with the Nigerian people remains the same.

    “It is a contract that overrides party politics. The total loyalty and commitment of members of the National Assembly should as always, reside with the Constitution and the Nigerian people who elected them in the first place.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Italy rescues 700 Nigerians, other migrants off Sicilian coast

    The Italian coast guard said yesterday it had rescued more than 700 migrants and refugees, including some Nigerians, Syrians and Egyptians, from four struggling boats, the latest in a surge of refugee arrivals.

    One broken-down boat carried 207 migrants from Nigeria, Ghana and Eritrea, including six children and two women in the late stages of pregnancy.

    Coast guard and navy vessels rescued the migrants from troubled boats off the coast of Sicily on Friday and Saturday, rushing four of them — a mother, father and their two young children — to hospital for emergency care, the coast guard said.

    Another boat was carrying 212 migrants including eight children and was being towed toward the tiny island of Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost point. The coast guard did not say where the passengers were from.

    Two other boats carrying a total of 293 Syrians and Egyptians were brought Friday to Augusta, on the eastern coast of Sicily.

    The number of refugees trying to reach Italy in dinghies and other boats has increased in recent months because of surging violence in Syria and Egypt and calm summer weather that has tempted many to try their luck on the seas.

    The Italian interior ministry says 3,000 Syrians arrived in Italy from the beginning of the year to the end of August, mostly arriving by boat in eastern Sicily.

     

  • Fed Govt orders evacuation of Nigerians in Syria

    Fed Govt orders evacuation of Nigerians in Syria

    The Federal Government has directed its embassy in Syria to start evacuating Nigerians in the country.

    The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Martin Uhoimoibhi, broke the news yesterday to reporters in Abuja after a training for mid-level Swiss diplomats.

    He said the embassy had been directed to ensure a safe passage for Nigerians in case of any military action by the United States (US) and its allies.

    Uhoimoibhi said: “We have asked our embassy to arrange for Nigerians to have a safe passage. In fact, this has been on for years. We do not have many Nigerians there any more. The embassy had since relocated a large chunk of its staff and only a very small number is left. This has been on for, at least, two years. So everyone is ready for the situation as it evolves.”

    On whether Nigeria will support military action by the US, he said: “Why ask me the position of the Nigerian military? That is not mine to determine. We are very proud members of the United Nations (UN) and I am sure Nigeria’s action will be determined by the UN.”