The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerians

  • ‘PPA’s agenda for Nigerians’

    The National Publicity Secretary of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Dr Orikeze Ajumbe, has attributed the lack of good governance in the countryto insincerity and selfishness on the part of the leaders. He said the 14-years old Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has ruined the country.

    Ajumbe said that Nigeria’s socio-economic and political woes have reflected the lack of vision and purposeful leadership the PDP.

    He told reporters in Owerri, Imo State capital, that the PPA is being repositioned to provide quality leadership that would Nigeria one of the 20 leading economies of the world by 2020.

    On the chances of PPA, which he said, is undergoing some rebranding, Ajumbe said: “We are determined to revive the party and make it have more national outlook. By 2015, the PPA will win many states in the federation, especially, in the Southeast. That is why we are undergoing rebranding. This means changing the party’s logo, changing the name to All Progressives Peoples Alliance (APPA), which was adopted during the party’s national convention on July 10, 2013.

    “We are also injecting resources in the states and local government areas to make the party spread to the grassroots and make it have more national outlook.”

    He added: “We have four structures of PPA one of which is Njiko Igbo which is the political arm of the party. It is meant to waken the political consciousness of the people.”

    On how the Igbo could win the Presidency, Ajumbe advised that “Ndigbo should come together and work under one umbrella. Our campaign therefore is aimed at sensitising the Igbo towards recognising the platform on which they could realise the dream of occupying the presidency.”

    The Publicity Secretary also said that the party would work hard to develop other sectors of the economy and make the country less dependent on oil.

    He stressed: “An APPA government would pay less attention to revenue from oil and make other sectors of the economy more viable. The APPA will significantly develop the agricultural sector to be seen as an economic activity which will engage millions of jobless Nigerians. The party will also develop the small and medium enterprises which are core means of creating employment.

    “Through this, the country would witness tremendous economic growth and development as was the case during the First Republic when agriculture was the main revenue earner for the country”.

    Ajumbe emphasised that PPA party would consciously develop the power sector to give Nigerians 24-hour electricity supply. This, he said, would be a catalyst to the country’s economy, noting that most businesses are not thriving because there is no steady power supply.

    He lamented that kidnapping, armed robbery and youths’ restiveness became the orders of the day because of unemployment.

    On security, Ajumbe said PPA government will ensure that numbers of unemployed Nigerians are usefully engaged, stressing that, when people have genuine means of livelihood, their tendency to take to crime would reduce.

    On education, Ajumbe lambasted the Federal Government for paying lip-service to its development, maintaining that education is pivotal to any country’s advancement.

    He said: “It is worrisome that the Federal Government would enter into agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) towards improving infrastructural facilities in public universities and renege on it. The billions and trillions of Naira spent on matters that are not in the public interest should have been channelled towards developing the sector.

    “It is this lack of commitment to the development of the education sector that has resulted in the lack of quality in the sector. Most universities in Nigeria are nothing but glorified secondary schools. These grim situations the APPA government would address when the opportunity comes”.

    Ajumbe chided the PDP for creating tension in the country. He said that it was unfortunate and unbecoming of a ruling party to be acutely rocked by crises, noting that “the party’s inability to manage its internal problems rubs off on the entire country”

     

  • We’ve kept our promises to Nigerians, says Jonathan

    We’ve kept our promises to Nigerians, says Jonathan

    •PDP critics are pretenders – President 

    President Goodluck Jonathan declared yesterday that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has kept the promises it made to Nigerians since 1999.

    He dismissed PDP critics as pretenders who keep refusing to acknowledge the achievements of the party over the years.

    He spoke at the PDP special convention in Abuja.

    He said the party is the only one out of the three registered in 1998 that has retained its identity, while the others have imploded or subsumed their identity in search of political direction and relevance.

    PDP, he said, would continue to grow bigger and stronger.

    He listed achievements of the PDP, led government to include improvement in telecoms, agriculture, aviation, transportation, roads, water resources, and education.

    The President reiterated the party’s commitment to internal democracy and belief in the rule of law.

    He said: “Ours is not only the party of the present, but it is the party of the future. It is very clear that we are the party destined to take Nigeria to greatness. We are the party that holds the interest of Nigerians dearly at heart. We do not pursue divisible policies, we do not preach hate, we reject violence, we reject killings, we recognise Nigeria as one indivisible entity, we deplore ethnic distrust among our great people.

    “We must insist on defending Nigeria from those who threaten her in words and deeds. We are a nation in God’s hands and we must keep it so. Before I leave, let me ask our party men and women one fundamental question and I need the answer yes or no. As a party, have we changed our name? No. As a party, have we changed our logo? No. As a party, have we changed our slogan? No. As a party, have we changed our motto? No. As a party, have we changed our vision? No. No shaking.

    “We are here today to reaffirm our faith in Nigeria, our commitment to internal democracy and our belief in the rule of law.”

    He called on party members to work relentlessly to bring about cohesion, discipline, and supremacy of the party to enable it face without distraction, pressing national challenges and task ahead.”

    “To remain strong and successful, we must not only continue to be a party of internal democracy but also of internal discipline. Our party structures and rules are clearly defined there provide a clear guide for action and programmes. To undermine them is to compromise our strength and goals. I will like to remind all here how far we have come.”

    “The visible vibrancy that our party has encouraged from 1998 helped to strengthen our party and support the goals of internal democracy of this country. It will foster greater democracy in our party. We believe in freedom of speech, we believe in the freedom of association, we believe in the freedom of participation.”

     

     

     

     

     

  • Why Nigerians should not trust Jonathan, by Ango Abdullahi

    Why Nigerians should not trust Jonathan, by Ango Abdullahi

    Former Presidential Adviser on Food Security, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, says there are abundant reasons why Nigerians should not entrust President Goodluck Jonathan with the leadership of the country beyond May, 2015.

    The reasons, according to the Secretary of the Northern Elders Forum, revolve around what he called the president’s betrayal of the process that brought him into office.

    Speaking on Liberty Radio, Kaduna, yesterday, Prof Abdullahi said President Jonathan got the support of the north to contest for one term in 2011 but is now bent on usurping the lot of the north again in 2015.

    He said, though he would want power to return to the north in 2015, he would not mind supporting a South South candidate like Prof. Tam David-West.

    Prof. Abdullahi blamed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for upsetting the PDP zonal arrangement and said President Jonathan’s position on zoning is a fallout of the Obasanjo legacy.

    He said “when Obasanjo wanted an extension of tenure for a second term under the zoning arrangement, he had to come to an extended caucus of the PDP. I remember how people opposed the idea. The late Abubakar Rimi was one of them and he was supported by about three others that Obasanjo should not be given an extension and that the Presidency should come to the north for four years before going back to the South.

    “Eventually, about 37 people out of the about 41 present voted for the extension for Obasanjo to have a second term. Now coming to why we should not trust people who renege on promises. Obasanjo was the first to deny that there was a zoning that brought him to power. He did that and kept doing it and it is most likely it was from him that they learnt what they are doing because he was instrumental to Jonathan becoming Vice President.

    “So, Jonathan must be Obasanjo’s student on matters of zoning because he himself kept saying, when we were arguing that Jonathan rightly became the President of the country when Yar’Adua died, ‘This is what the constitution allows’ and in fact insisted on it and nobody begrudged that.”

    According to Abdullahi, “The President’s foot soldiers have approached me. I met one of the foot soldiers and I told him that for me, there wouldn’t have been any reason to support any candidate from outside the north. The north is not selfish and has never exhibited any selfishness.” He faulted the president’s transformation agenda saying, “I don’t know what indices they are using and can’t see what direction this transformation is going. The indicators are very clear that virtually everything is collapsing.”

     

  • Nigerians not made for the law

    SIR: The Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) is not shocked that Senate President, David Mark, was quoted to have said Sovereign National Conference is not workable under the 1999 Constitution. He went as far as saying that Nigerians “have ratified the [1999] Constitution by our conduct.” In other words, Mark is telling us that referendum is not needed to ratify constitutional amendments; our silence and judicial actions is enough sign of acceptance.

    We found this statement as an assault to peace-loving Nigerians, which have always bent over backwards to accommodate deepening levels of bad leadership in the country. We equally found Mark’s statement as an indirect confrontation on Nigerians to show their denunciation of 1999 Constitution through their conduct.

    In a nation that is still grappling with the scourge of extremists and insurgents, this statement is no less a malfeasance. That Nigerians have been peacefully advocating SNC should not be misinterpreted as a ratification of the 1999 Constitution and Mark should not deem this as an acceptance of the institution he heads.

    Mark has condemned 170 million Nigerians, even the generations yet unborn, to the provisions of 1999 Constitution, thereby concluding that Nigerians are made for the law. This is an indication of Mark’s degrading opinion of Nigerians who deserve better from him as the custodian of the nation’s democratic institution. Whereas the law is made for man in countries that Nigerian leaders like Mark aspire to overtake in their touted pursuit of Vision 20:2020.

    Mark asked “where will the Sovereign National Conference be deriving its sovereignty from, and under what framework? How will the conference be convoked and by whom and under what terms?”

    He should not forget that colonialists took away the sovereignty of ethnic nations, an illegality that was doused at Independence, repeated in 1966, and has been perpetrated ever since, culminating in the 1999 Constitution.

    Sovereignty belongs to the ethnic nations that constitute Nigeria and it is in politicians’ interest that a Sovereign National Conference be convoked to chart a new constitution that will properly transfer this sovereignty to democratic structures. Only then can there be lasting peace, progress, development, and freedom for all in Nigeria.

    Why is the National Assembly afraid of referendum if not because it is afraid that many of its activities are perceived as illegal in the minds of Nigerians? Referendums have been held even in countries like Norway where it is not constitutionally recognised. Therefore, NASS has no excuse for not subjecting its constitution amendment process to referendum.

    A Nigerian, Obiageli Ezekwesili, had at a time challenged the federal government to a public debate on its reckless spending. Lately, she had challenged National Assembly also to a public debate. While we salute Ezekwesili’s patriotism, we are saying the country needs more than a public debate; we need a national dialogue.

    To continue to put it off is to reinforce the growing perception that there is a ruling elite controlling Nigerian economy to the deprivation of the masses. Such perception never ends in comics and it pays to do things right when we are all still smiling. Nigeria is negotiable.

    • Kunle Famoriyo

    ARG, Lagos

  • Nigerians should be patient with NRC, says Baraje

    Nigerians should be patient with NRC, says Baraje

    Nigeria Railway Corporation’s Board Chairman Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje spoke with YINKA ADERIBIGBE on the corporation’s challenges.

     

    How would you assess the railways corporation’s recovery journey so far?

    I will say it has been very encouraging for so many reasons; first, when this Lagos-Kano-Lagos train service started last year, it was Nigerians first experience after the railways had run down for over 30 years. So, when we started on December 21, 2012, we were received with skepticism, but early this year, the service was increased to two, and now we are taking off with the third. Let me say this, all these transformations are being carried out with engines and wagons that were refurbished by our local engineers and men. We are yet to deploy any new engines and wagons because those ones are still being manufactured. When those we have placed order for arrive, we will be able to enhance our services. Maybe then, we will be able to increase the Lagos-Kano-Lagos service to a daily shuttle. By that time too, the commuting public will be better aware of the resurgence of the Nigerian railways, and we would then be able to meet demand.

    How do you intend to finance the various NRC projects going on simultaneously?

    In order to meet such targets, we realise we cannot do it alone, we have decided to invite experts to assist us drive the process. We want to shorten to 20 years the journey that took some developed countries 200 years. That is why we are revamping the single rail system and taking on the standard gauge and the fast track gauge at the same time.

     

    How does the government intend to modernise the rail infrastructure, as most of what are on ground today are relics of the colonial masters?

    I can assure you that we are taking the rehabilitation very seriously and this is being addressed in phases. The first phase is to rehabilitate the narrow gauge and get the trains back on track. Soon we shall commence on the second phase, which would address the NRC structures scattered all over the country. Already the Federal Executive Council has given us approval to repossess all our properties, but it is not possible for us to do all of these things at the same time.

    We have revamped the trains and the structures that would make it work, we are moving to constructing the standard gauge and we will put in place all that would make it work before addressing the issue of the facelift of all our properties. That is why I am pleading for patience by Nigerians. It is not possible for all of these to come on board overnight, we are not magicians and government does not have such huge resources.

    By 2014, we hope our invitations to the Nigerian public particularly the private high net worth individuals and private sector will crystalise and sometime by mid next year, we hope to begin implementation. All the infrastructure needed to modernise the railways would be put in place by the federal government.

  • Nigerians as praying mantis

    Nigerians as praying mantis

    Gen Gowon wants us to pray over our leadership deficit.
    But can prayer alone do the magic?

    We see all kinds of machetes when an elephant dies. In same vein, we hear all kinds of suggestions when a blessed nation is troubled the way ours is. Just last week on this page, I commented on former President Olusegun Obasanjo who mounted the pulpit in Ibadan, Oyo State, to sermonise on leadership. Expectedly, he did not do a good job of the sermon as many people could not connect the message with the messenger.

    About a week later, another former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, spoke on the same subject in the same city, Ibadan. It couldn’t have been fortuitous that Ibadan is the place where all these is happening because that was the city from where the Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo set a good leadership template, with his many firsts that remain reference points till today. Gowon spoke during an official visit to Gethsemane Prayer Ministries Cathedral, Eleyele, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, presided over by the National Coordinator, Nigeria Prays, Rev. Moses Aransiola. Nigeria Prays is a non-denominational religious group formed by Gowon in the 1990s.

    Of course other eminent Nigerians have spoken on the country’s leadership deficit and recommended prayer as panacea. Even President Jonathan did! But the fact that two of the country’s former heads of state found it topical to speak on, within a week interval, is enough evidence that things are not the way they should be. This may not be sweet music in the ears of many members of the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The way some of them talk, they give the impression that the Goodluck Jonathan presidency is about one of the best things ever in this country in recent times. That much could be seen also in the way they romanticise the administration. They are entitled to their opinion, just as the rest of us who still keep wondering whether this is the best we can get from our government are perfectly in order to so do.

    Although Chief Obasanjo and General Gowon are both former heads of state, it should be noted that they are not in the same category. The dirtiest leader in Gowon’s days was by far cleaner than the saints in the Obasanjo years. Perhaps we might have been able to put them in the same category if Chief Obasanjo had not returned as civilian president in 1999; that, return was perhaps his undoing as it gave us a better insight into who the man, Olusegun Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Obasanjo, is.

    But I am more concerned about what Gowon said in Ibadan. He recommended prayers as the way out of the country’s challenges. Hear him: “We had a series of crises in the past and if Nigerians can pray well, sooner or later this country will be free from its challenges. God has heard our cries and will surely answer…” As a Christian, I believe in the efficacy of prayers. I am also familiar with the song: ‘Jesus started with prayer and ended with prayer’ and what have you. But it is not in all circumstances that prayer alone is the answer. Sometimes, we need to take steps to support the prayer. The average Christian knows that faith without work is useless. By extension, prayer without action could sometimes amount to naught.

    An adage in Yoruba land says if only one knows his or her day of breakthrough, the person will simply go to bed and wake up on the appointed date. I beg to say, and with due respect to our elders, that the person would have passed out before that day if all he or she does is sleep, eat and wake in anticipation of the El Dorado. It is better for the person to be doing something to keep body and soul together, pending that appointed day. I know General Gowon loves prayers; his pet project reveals that much. I do too. As a matter of fact, the day a Christian relegates prayer to the background, that Christian should start a search for another god. If only for this reason, I will refuse to be tempted to say that Nigeria’s problems transcend prayer. Nothing does.

    But what I support is prayer with action. Hence my support for a colleague who suggested in one of his write-ups on Boko Haram that Christians should carry the Bible on one hand and the bazooka on the other. That wouldn’t be a bad idea to counterbalance the terror of the religious fundamentalists. If they know that they are likely to be repelled force for force by worshippers, they will think twice before going into worship houses to slaughter people who are there to offer supplications (prayers) to God.

    Gen. Gowon’s recommendation could work in places where the leaders are humane and considerate; where their Christian conscience will never fail them and where even if they must steal, they do so with human face. Not in a country like ours where leadership positions have become avenues to get rich quick and many leaders have simply lost their soul and would do anything to get their positions and retain them; anything, not giving any thought about the consequence of their actions to their fellow Nigerians. As a friend has always said, prayers will do, maybe in more civilised countries where they have only powers to contend with. But here, what we are contending with are not just powers but powers raised to power and principalities.

    Ours is a country where prayers have been prostituted and bastardised, hence you find people who rig elections in broad daylight go for thanksgiving in the church with supposed men of God extolling the ‘virtues’ of such bandits, and, to crown it all, praying for them. Our churches are filled with such pollutions that will make it easier for the camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for the prayer to climb beyond a few metres before returning to sender. Mind you, this is not the Prince of Persia at work; it is the handiwork of some of our pastors. In these circumstances, even if we all become praying mantis, we still have to help our prayer with some definitive actions.

    For instance, could prayer alone have stopped the Jonathan government from removing the so-called fuel subsidy last year? This was despite the fact that those who wanted to force the ‘subsidy’ withdrawal down our throats knew too well that what they were about doing was ask Nigerians to subsidise some people’s pockets.

    Obviously, from Gowon’s statements, he too is aware that there are some of our so-called leaders who must give way for things to take shape. “God will uproot all the leaders who have evil intentions against this country”, he said. I join in saying ‘Amen’ to that. But we have to do more than pray. We have to fast, do vigil and all that. In addition, we have to protest where we must; sit in when we must. The only thing I won’t suggest is that we go on hunger strike because that would be prayer answered for those who in the first place see us as irritants and pollutants whose existence is disturbing their peace.

    Above all, I want to see General Gowon talk like a general. As an elder, he should eat kola nut ‘gbwa gbwa’. He should not shield bad leaders the way he did in Ibadan. If he is bold enough to admit that they exist, and if he is bold enough to ask God to “uproot” them, then, he should be bold enough to mention their names. What I wouldn’t want him do is do that frivolously. The intervention of people like him at critical junctures in our nation could make a whole world of difference. For sure, it was not prayer alone that built all the fantastic infrastructure that the Gowon regime bequeathed to us. Rather, prayer and hard work did.

  • Nigerians angry about unpaid pensions, says commission

    Nigerians angry about unpaid pensions, says commission

    Nigerians are unhappy with the country’s pension management system. Sixty per cent of complaints received last year are on pension-related issues, the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) has said.

    It received over 2,000 complaints from a northern state alone.

    The commission’s departments on public and private sectors, banking/finance and insurance also received several complaints.

    It said its ability to deal with the complaints was hampered by poor funding and lack of commissioners.

    It was not until May last year that President Goodluck Jonathan appointed new commissioners.

    PCC’s Publicity Committee, led by Prof. Razaq ‘Derem Abubakar, a commissioner, visited the head office of Vintage Press Ltd, publishers of The Nation, on Monday.

    Other commissioners in the team included Saba Jimoh (Kwara State), Chelly Okoko (Akwa Ibom), Information Officer, Mr Tunji Olaoye and Head of Public Relations Unit, Chukwumeka Nwosu.

    They were received by senior editors, led by Online Editor Lekan Otufodunrin.

    Abubakar said most complaints come from retirees.

    “It is unfortunate that there are those who have spent the useful part of their lives serving this country, but in the end, you deny them of what they are supposed to enjoy in their old age,” he said.

    According to him, funding remains a challenge, as salaries are owed.

    But this may soon be corrected. PCC’s statutory funding is to be placed on the first line charge.

    “That is the only way an Ombudsman like our organisation can truly be independent, restructured and informed.

    “We are not supposed to be under the MDAs because it affects our budget. But if you look at the constitution, we are supposed to be on first line charge,” he said.

    Okoko identified lack of capacity building, public poor awareness and lack of infrastructure as some of the challenges facing PCC.

    “The main responsibility of this commission is to carry out proactive investigations against systemic corruption in the system, and this is why the issue of capacity building and infrastructure comes in.

    “A few people come (to the commission) because most do not really have faith in the system.

    “If we are really positioned to carry out investigations, which a commissioner can initiate, you will discover that we will be tackling many problems in just one fell swoop. This is going to enthrone good governance ultimately,” he said.

    Abubakar praised The Nation for its uprightness, national spread and good editorial package.

    The PCC was first established by a military decree in in 1975.

     

  • Why Nigerians should embrace APC

    SIR: It is high time Nigerians decide what they want for themselves if they really want the country to change for good. We have been roaming about for over 14 years and yet we have not been able to ascertain the right route to take.

    Our failures have been a subject of contest since we transited to democracy after many years of military rule. We thought the emergence of democracy was the beginning of uplift for Nigeria and its populace until now that we have realised that people begin to contemplate if really democracy is good for Nigeria.

    We struggle everyday before we could settle for at least a meal in spite of the numerous resources that the country is endowed with. Over the years, the country has witnessed serious mismanagement and expropriation of public funds by the ruling PDP and yet have refused to accept its failure.

    For how long are we going to continue wandering in the hands of the PDP? We are denied of everything, there is incessant power outage, lack of free and fair election, lack of good drinking water and most importantly qualitative education.

    For more than five weeks now, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on industrial action over the insincerity of the government and unwillingness to fulfil the agreement it entered into with ASUU in 2009. They keep telling us that what they are demanding for can not be met by any government in the world but somebody can steal billions of naira from the country’s treasury at the expense of millions of people.

    Since 1999, we have been promised so many things by the PDP-led administration and none of it has been fulfilled yet. When Jonathan came into power, despite his campaign promises and the struggles that trailed his emergence, everybody tended to believe and trust him until he ruined our New Year celebration with fuel price hike!

    Nigerians are dying everyday as a result of insecurity, we have military men who can secure our pipelines but now we have a group of erstwhile bandits given contracts to secure the pipelines. This is a job military men could do have done without our having to pay them huge amount of money aside their salaries and allowances.

    It is against this backdrop that All Progressives Alliance emerged (APC). I am not saying that APC is 100 percent perfect but if something does not favour someone, you try an alternative. Consequently, Nigerians should join the fight to wrestle power away from a party that cannot settle the crises within it let alone solve the problems of millions of people.

    • Waziri Mohammed

    Mokola, Ibadan

     

  • How flammable is Nigeria?

    How flammable is Nigeria?

    Nobody wants to leave Nigeria for as long as the oil continues to flow, regardless of predictions from prophets inside and scientists outside the country.

    In the last two days, leading politicians in our country have been reacting to predictions that Nigeria stands the chance of internal combustion. In 2013 (a few weeks ago), the United States’ Army College suggested that nothing in recent times has changed the prediction in 2003 by the US Intelligence community that Nigeria might break by 2015. Local geopolitical forecasters have also been worrying that Boko Haram also has the capacity to accelerate Nigeria’s disintegration. But in response to the end of Ramadan celebration (Eid-el Fitr), President Jonathan and one of the founding leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC), have taken their time to reassure Nigerians that there is no cause for alarm, despite the country’s appearance of flammability.

    In his own message to the country’s Muslims, President Jonathan reassures citizens of the country’s stability and ‘unbreakability’: “We are not even exploiting our diversity because of the myopic views about situations. Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters and we must live together. Those who are predicting that this country will separate based on our fault-lines as at the time of amalgamation by 2015, they will know that these predictions will not be true.” Correspondingly, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu called for prayers to ensure that “the predictions of doom, hardship, political instability and religious intolerance will not come to fruition,” adding: “Nigeria is not a broken case. It is redeemable and only the people can make this change happen by voting right and wisely.” Nigerians must feel encouraged that two of the country’s leading politicians are not cowed by predictions about the country’s break-up.

    A recent book by John-Andrew McNeish and Owen Logan, titled Flammable Societies: Studies on the socio-economics of Oil and Gas includes an essay by Femi Folorunso: “A country without a State?: Governmentality, Knowledge and Labour in Nigeria.” Flammable is used in the book to refer to the socio-economics of oil and gas. But Folorunso in his own essay uses flammable in two senses: metonymic and metaphoric. He addresses the metonymic dimension by underscoring the impact of exploitation of oil and gas on the life of the average Nigerian. He also uses ‘flammable’ connotatively when he addresses the theme of a country without a state, a political space that appears bound to failure because of bad governance.

    Predictions cannot break a country. It is the action or inaction of those charged to govern a country that can cause its disintegration. Nigerians have no reason to be afraid of predictions coming from home or abroad about the future of the country. Several soothsayers and prophets in Nigeria have predicted doom for too long, without any of their predictions coming to pass, particularly predictions by religious prophets who are wont to laying claims to prescience and clairvoyance. Nigerians have gotten used to local Cassandras whose forecasts of doom for politicians and the polity have generally come to naught.

    What Nigerians have not gotten used to are predictions from outside the country by professional analysts who attempt to bring the predictive power of science on their forecasts. The prediction in 2003 from the U.S. Intelligence community and the latest one from the U.S. Army College must have gotten the attention of Nigeria’s leaders. When the 2003 prediction first came out, General Olusegun Obasanjo dismissed it as nothing for anyone to worry about. Again, the recent one from the U.S. Army College seems to have gotten to our leaders. This explains why two of the country’s most important politicians, Jonathan and Tinubu, have chosen to use this year’s end of Ramadan festivities to reassure citizens not to panic and to remain as optimistic about the territorial integrity of their country as they have always been since 1960.

    Citizens ought to know by now that Nigeria cannot disintegrate, despite the recurrence of political, social, and economic storms the country experiences intermittently. The reasons are not far to fathom. oil and gas, natural causes of combustion, serve as lubricants to oil and grease the creaky joints of the Nigerian State-nation. There are two sides to the coin of greasing of the engine of the Nigerian State. On the one hand, members of the ruling class derive too much benefit from oil and proceeds of oil for them to want to push the country into the sea. Those from various parts of the country who own oil blocks and have acquired property in prime lands in different parts of the country from oil and gas know better than they show when they threaten fire and brimstone. The saying that Nigeria knows how to avoid disaster and disintegration is not an exaggeration. Most of the country’s political and cultural leaders know where their bread is buttered. Many of them will even be afraid to want to rule a Nigeria without petroleum.

    On the other hand, the average Nigerian is able to live on just one dollar per day, not because of efforts by the government, but as a result of the existence of oil and gas in the country! Without oil and with the kind of government the country has been saddled with since the 1970s, it would not have been possible for any Nigerian to eat on a daily basis a loaf of bread or a plate of rice without any form of protein. The little that trickles down from the class that perceives itself as the owner of Nigeria is another thing that has prevented disintegration. It is not surprising when scholars raise the issue of Resource Curse in relation to Nigeria’s petroleum and mismanagement of the country that both leaders and followers retort with: “Thank God there is oil.” Nobody wants to leave Nigeria for as long as the oil continues to flow, regardless of predictions from prophets inside and scientists outside the country. And no matter how hard the polity is heated or security is challenged by Boko Haram, Niger Delta militants, and even the country’s Kidnappers Incorporated, nothing untoward is likely to happen to our republic of petroleum. Nigerians have reasons to believe their president when he says there is no cause for alarm. They should know that it is a waste of intellectual and emotional energy to think or write that Nigeria is on the brink, on account of its many crises of bad governance and under-development.

    The country’s political rulers and their cultural counterparts know that it does not matter what they do or not do, the country has come to stay, for as long as oil flows from the wombs of the land and its adjoining sea. Our leaders know that they do not need to respond to what Femi Folorunso characterises as the impact of governance on sovereignty, citizenship, and development in a country troubled by resource curse. Even citizens themselves have been numbed or dumbed down by the manna from petroleum and gas. It appears that nobody needs to worry about anything, for as long as Nigeria is able to sell enough oil to lubricate the engine of its continuity as a state-nation. The country’s (taken for granted) territorial integrity will be further guaranteed by free and fair election in 2015, if only to give citizens unfettered choice to choose those to govern them.

  • Nigerians lack fear of God, says Oritsejafor

    President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Orisejafor, has said Nigerians’ major problem is that they do not have the fear of God.

    To the CAN president, this manifests daily in the leadership as well as in the followership.

    Pastor Oritsejafor spoke during an inter-denominational prayer meeting for the North Central Zone of the association at the Assemblies of God District headquarters in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

    He said: “I have taken a critical look at the entire problems facing Nigeria as a nation in this 21st century and I have discovered that the major problem of the country is that we don’t fear God.

    “We do all sorts of things deliberately and carelessly because we don’t fear God. We say one thing and do the opposite. We tell lies; we deceive people and do all kinds of things because we don’t fear God.

    “Those in positions of authority steal public funds and we try to justify stealing because there is no fear of God in our hearts. We kill at the slightest provocation and we try to justify the killing of human beings, because we fear not Almighty God.

    “How can a man who fears God sit down comfortably to watch pensioners slump and die of hunger when you are sitting on billions of the funds meant for the upkeep of these pensioners? Yet, we try to justify our actions.

    “People in positions of authority go abroad to treat common headache with public funds while citizens of the same country have no access to primary health facilities. Meanwhile, you are supposed to be holding these funds in trust for the citizens.

    “It is this lack of fear of God that makes a man of 50 years and above to marry a girl of 13 years. Yet, we bring all sorts of reasons to justify our actions. All these are signs that we lack fear of God in our hearts.”

    Pastor Orisejafor delivered his sermon on the theme: Oh God, Remember me, I Pray Thee.

    He said: “The problem facing the country is not beyond God to solve but the citizens should learn to fear God.

    “God is capable of changing our individual lives, just as He can change the life of a nation. We should not judge God’s ability to perform based on our present circumstances. Don’t mind the bombings and the killings here and there; God can change the course of things for this country and its citizens.

    “Nigeria may be going through her moment of wilderness, but that is temporal. God will end the current situations, if leaders and followers will have the fear of God.”