The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Open letter

  • Open letter to new DG-NIMR

    SIR: Congratulations on your appointment as the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR). I wish to bring to your attention some things I observed about medical research in Nigeria.

    As a recent graduate of Cell Biology and Genetics (CBG) from the University of Lagos, I look around and see that most of my colleagues in the Medical research and Biological science-related discipline like Cell biology and genetics, Microbiology, Zoology, Botany, Biochemistry to mention a few ply their trade in unrelated sectors of the economy or travel outside to countries with resources to practice and develop what they have learnt. I also seek to speak the mind of those still in school wondering what to do with their envisaged degree in the biological science and medical research department.

    It is an open secret that medical research is zero to poorly funded in Nigeria and this was made glaring during the last break out of Ebola virus in Nigeria where we had to rely mainly on the assistance from foreign countries that have developed and are still developing in medical research to combat the deadly virus. Whereas, if things had being put in proper perspectives, we are blessed with intellectuals and hardworking professors, lecturers, researchers, technologists and even students in medical research field that with the limited resources available to them have been able to carry out worthwhile researches in their fields of specialization and would have been able to put efforts together to make ground-breaking discoveries in medical research to face most of the health challenges that are peculiar to us as a nation.

    I believe that I speak the minds of other medical researchers when I say we hope that in this tenure, appropriate priorities will be given to boost the diverse aspects of this crucial sector of the economy hereby encouraging coming generations of medical researchers and also assure Nigerians and the global community that this administration recognizes the importance of good health and well-being of the citizens of this great nation.

    Once again, I say congratulations and I wish you ground breaking achievements as you steer the rudder of medical research in Nigeria to an enviable state in the continent and world at large. I know this might take a while but with positive and giant strides in the right direction Nigeria will be a force to be reckoned with in the world of medical research.

     

    • OJO, Tolulope

    Victoria Island, Lagos.

  • Open letter to Acting IG

    Permit me to start this short piece by felicitating with you on your choice as Acting Inspector-General of Police. Drawing fillip from your maiden media interview on the day of your announcement, I have a huge measure of confidence that your appointment into the highly exalted office that you currently occupy, albeit in acting capacity, is not misplaced.

    I am impelled to do this open letter by your, what I respectfully consider to be, hastily announced verdict in Osun State recently at the Police Mobile Force Training School that mobile policemen attached to VIPs had been recalled with immediacy.  According to you, the mobile policemen are not trained to be bodyguards and as such could not be allowed to be guarding some high profile individuals and even companies.  Let me mention post-haste that it is fit and proper that our policemen, and anyone for that matter, should not be exposed to any measure of indignity in the discharge of national service to our dear nation. However, I sincerely have my reservations as to whether indignity is at the centrepiece of the services rendered by the mobile policemen in guarding high profile individuals and companies in the society.  Speaking candidly, there is nothing wrong in allowing the mobile policemen to continue on their beats with individuals and companies concerned subject to condition(s) that would be beneficial to the generality of the people in the final analysis.

    A constant phenomenon in the appointment of a new Inspector-General of Police has, for some while now, been the threat of and or actual recall of policemen from “VIPs”.  Predictably enough, this has turned out to be your departure point and welcoming salvo as the newest entrant into that office.

    However, it is almost plain as a pikestaff and certain as night follows day that we are not set to witness the end of the spectacle of policemen guarding unofficial personalities. If your directive gets to be implemented at all, the most potent it can get to be is to stimulate, in the fold of the beneficiaries, another round of rat race for restoration of the personnel. In no distant time, we would be back to the same order.

    Against the backdrop of this startling reality, I dare say, with profound respect, that what you have indulged in by recalling policemen on attachment to VIPs and companies is tantamount to reinventing the wheel. Beyond rhetoric, and I say this with no attempt at denigration, there is nothing more to this development. The fact that such verdict of recall is nothing novel should, at any rate, have presaged to you that it would not make any impressionable effect on discerning minds on the standpoint that it has become a matter of sheer rite of passage.

    Now it is worthy of emphasis that by the provision of Section 14 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. Taking a cue from this constitutional provision, the question must be asked, how does the directive for recall of police aides to individuals and companies enhance the security and welfare of the people over and above what the situation would have been if the status quo had been sustained? Of course, it is easily arguable that the idea is to allow the police personnel involved to be deployed to the protection of the general populace. Fair enough, that could be discerned from your speech as what motivated your decision.

    Be that as it may, there is an inevitable seamy side to that argument. The people and companies you are withdrawing the security personnel from are instantly exposed to untold insecurity. Except we want to engage in some illusion, the security situation in the country is too precarious to make anyone forbear from coming to that conclusion. By Jove, that is shudder-inducing. What with the fact that no specific remedial measure is indicated to have been put in place to otherwise give them succour? Rather, with the fact of your public announcement of that decision, the evil people that the security personnel are meant to keep at bay may likely get a nudge to go after the now hapless people and companies. This, doubtless, does not augur well for the polity.

    The query may be raised as to why some individuals and corporate concerns should be given priority over others in the provision of security. As disturbing and somewhat revolting as it may sound, the reality is that every life in this country, nay in any country, does not command the same value and premium. That must explain why variegated considerations are given on the welfare and security of the citizens in all facets. For instance, the President of the nation, even though just one person, is accorded the welfare and security attention that is not given probably to hundreds of thousands of other persons in the aggregate. The same scenario percolates down the ladder as far as government functionaries and officials are concerned.

    Interestingly enough, you are not likely to remain on the same pedestal, with respect to the number of security aides at your beck and call, as you had as Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) now that you have risen to the position of Acting Inspector-General. Understandably so and no one would rightly begrudge you on that score. The situation here is reminiscent of the saying in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, expressed as far back as 1945 or thereabout, that all animals are equal but some are more equal than the other. C’est la vie!

    With the present spate of insecurity all around the nation, the need for increased measures of security across board cannot be overstressed. That notwithstanding, it is expedient to recognize the need to give adequate premium to some by reason of their higher risk value to the society. It is simply indubitable that the high profile persons in the society are more prone to kidnapping, robbery and kindred crimes than the lesser endowed in the society, for instance.  I am of the supreme conviction that a good number, if not all, of those who enjoy the privilege of security aides covet that privilege not as a status symbol but as a means of securing themselves from the vagaries of the society.  It is indisputably within the province of the purpose and responsibility of government, as signposted by the constitution, for the police to enhance rather than erode this legitimate desire of the people concerned.

    The heart-warming thing is that, given the right appraisal, the practice of providing security aides to deserving private persons and companies is not devoid of advantages to the society at large. For instance, I see in it a potential for reduction of unemployment in the society and promoting the security and welfare of the generality of the people if those who can afford it are given the opportunity to be paying the salaries and other emoluments of the personnel attached to them that would invariably give room for the employment of more people into the police by the government. With increased number of police personnel, the latitude otherwise available for felons to ply their evil and ungodly trade should be constricted and the society better for it. In compendium, the clarion dictate of reason is for the Acting IG to deeply introspect and come up with ways of leveraging on what has come to be part of our policing index to precipitate a better vista of security and welfare to the people of this nation. The time to think out of the box is here in my humble estimation.

     

    • Akinlaja, SAN, FCIArb is a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Ekiti State.

  • Open letter to IGP Arase

    SIR: I deem it necessary, as a Nigerian, to write this open letter to the Inspector-General of Police Solomon Arase, over his recent order for arrest and prosecution of  ’persons selling fuel in containers’, as reported by several newspapers.

    I join millions of other Nigerians who are adversely affected by this order, to beseech the IGP to rescind this very unpopular order, in the interest of the generality of Nigerians, to whom he owes it a duty to, not only protect their lives and property, but also to be concerned about their welfare.

    Firstly, the order is very ill-timed, coming at a time when Nigerians have to contend with untold and excruciating hardship imposed by the lingering fuel scarcity, the longest of its kind, in the recent times, and one, in respect of which the Federal Government is apparently confused about the solution.  It is common knowledge that the activities of the ‘black-marketers’ of petroleum products is fuelled by the woeful failure on the part of government, to ensure adequate supply of the products.

    Secondly, and as if the foregoing was not enough, the situation has been aggravated by the epileptic power supply, or better put, the seizure thereof, which ravages the length and breadth of the nation. The power situation which poses as about the worst of its kind in recent times, sunk to a historic zero-MW throughout the nation, for more than three hours, a couple of weeks ago. This is further exacerbated by the scorching weather condition imposed by the prolongation of the dry season and seizure of rainfall. These, put together, have dealt heavy blows on Nigerians who now have to scramble for the very little supply of fuel in circulation, to transport and generate power for personal consumption. Will it not be very untoward as well as be an insult upon injury, if we further place this arbitrary restriction on access to fuel?

    Thirdly, the order of the IGP is impracticable without having to compound the suffering of unsuspecting Nigerians.  This is because, the aforesaid fuel scarcity is characterised by long queues on which people spend the better part of their days, if not whole days. After having painfully scaled through such queues, one would, under the regime of the IGP’s order, only be opportune to fill a generator fuel tank, which commonly ranges between four litres and 20 litres in capacity, quantities only good enough to last for less than 24 hours. One therefore, would be condemned to return to the same queue the next day, at the detriment of his/her work, health, time and leisure.

    As for the submission of the IGP that many lives could be lost as a result of eventualities from storage of fuel in homes, I say, as much as this is true, more catastrophic casualties may result from the suffocating multitudes, accumulating in filling stations, as a result of radiation from mobile devices.

    Let me say, for the avoidance of doubt that I am not in any way supportive of the activities of black marketers. Rather, the gospel I preach is that ‘chopping off a head is never the solution to headache’.

    Rather than arrest and prosecute innocent Nigerians who struggle daily to put-up with the government-imposed hardship and suffering, let the government arrest corruption, activity of the oil cabal causing artificial fuel scarcity, epileptic power supply and economic recession. Let the IGP arrest the armed robbers, the kidnappers (both ritual and commercial), the rampaging Fulani herdsmen, insurgents (Boko Haram and Niger Delta militants), black marketers of petroleum products, to mention but a few.

    If you cannot help in bringing back our fuel and power supplies, #BRINGBACKOURKEGS!

     

    • Lawal (Abdul)Fatai Abiodun,

    Lagos.

  • Open Letter to the President

    SIR: As a common Nigerian, I decided to wait for a year before congratulating you on your electoral victory after three unsuccessful attempts.

    Explicitly, you ascendancy to the seat of power is the will of God coupled with the support of the majority of Nigerians, The nation wanted a change from men like you, with the support of honest citizens to fight that monster called corruption and unemployment which is the bane of the country’s development.

    Being eager for a change, I registered with the APC in August, 2013 when Chris Ngige wanted to contest the Anambra State governorship. At 70 years now with four unemployed graduates, (the first came out since 2003), I could no longer continue to feed or cater for them that’s why I used my vote and my little donation I can muster to effect a change.

    If employments were still done on merit, order of precedence or strictly competition as were done in the good old days when big companies and ministries rush to universities to pick young brilliant graduates for employment, people like me would still have hope. But my greatest fear today is that most appointments and promotions have become a reserve for a clique of privileged few, recycling their cronies. With all these excesses where then do we go from here?

    Agitations of the South-east should be given a holistic approach for no one is calling for secession but for a balanced relationship within the Nigerian state. The word Biafra has become a household name for all Igbo speaking people no matter their geographical divide for nobody can run away from his shadows. It is like calling Yoruba race Oduduwas or Arewas for the Hausa/Fulani North, still all of them are Nigerians.

    Give them additional one state to be on a par with other zones of the federation, for within this scenario they are loosing heavily both economically, financially and politically in the scheme of things.

    Second Niger Bridge work should be allowed to continue because of its vital economic importance not only to the former Eastern Region but the country as a whole.

    Rehabilitation of all federal roads and institutions in the zone especially that abandoned Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe Road. Create equal opportunities to our teeming unemployed youths.

    These to me are the core areas behind the cries of marginalization. My humble advice to this present government is to uphold the sanctities of our political parties. A country like ours needs two strong political parties for checks and balances in governance as were done in advanced countries. Even Ghana, our West African neighbour has strong political institutions. Let our National Assembly enact a law to ban carpet crossing of hungry politicians who jump from one party to another after elections. For one to do so, he or she must resign first from his former party and re-contest the seat or position which he or she wants to aspire. Most of them do so for their selfish interests, not the interest of the masses.

    Finally, I implore you to stick to your inaugural speech of May 29, 2015 where yiou told Nigerians that you belong to everybody and belong to nobody. Deeds are more recognized than words.

     

    • Egwuonwu E.E.

    Onitsha, Anambra State.

  • Open letter to President Buhari

    A few days ago I came across an article in The Economist – The Secrets of Scandinavian Countries’ Success. The article focused on two main areas: Welfare and Pragmatism

    It was no surprise to me that a nation with a good welfare system as its foundation is more likely than not to be a prosperous and successful one.

    Why? Because a government governs best with its people in tow and in support; and a nation prospers most when its’ people and its’ government are in unison in ideology, desire, and implementation.

    If I were to score the performance of your government so far I would give it 25% – a score based entirely on your desire to build a new nation in which the less privileged are well catered for. I passionately agree with this desire, but unfortunately I’m not able to support your policies because as yet there don’t seem to be any.

    Has your government actually studied the principles of a welfare state? More importantly, are the members of your government fully in support of a welfare state? The unfortunate still-birth of your first budget suggests there are many within this government – both the executive and legislature – that couldn’t care less about the less privileged.

    Furthermore does the public you serve understand your vision? And the policies / strategies you intend to utilise in achieving it? Surely the support of your government and the people that voted you in is key to your success?!

    There’s something political leaders of developed nations have learned to do with such aplomb; and that is winning the support and backing of the public in order to enforce the support of your administration. Power is addictive. Once ministers and policy makers recognise that failing to toe the line can lead to an angry response from the electorate, and thereby a loss of their seat, they tend to behave themselves.

    But unfortunately we the public have absolutely no idea what your vision is and even less an idea of your policies. After nine months in office, not once have you addressed the nation -the very people that voted you in – to explain your socio-economic policies. A nation is built on the attitude of its people. The attitude of the people is often determined by the ideology, policies, and attitude of the government. The two are intertwined; hence the saying ‘you get the government you deserve’.

    We have no idea what you desire and how you want to achieve it. All we know is that you dislike corruption. We also dislike corruption; but surely there comes a time when anti-corruption news for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is no longer enough for our well-being!

    At some point we need to start believing in something else as well – such as a well structured economic policy. What really concerns me is that the statement many have been making for several months, but which I refused to accept is now starting to ring a little too true for comfort; and that is the grim possibility that your government doesn’t actually have an economic blueprint. Please tell me these statements are gravely misguided.

    The longer your administration remains silent on the direction we’re heading, the less we believe you know what you’re doing.

    Another prominent feature of successful nations is the ability of their governments to be practical.

    Surely it’s time to be practical regarding the exchange rate! I’m as passionate about self-sufficiency as anyone can be, but I also recognise that we cannot be an island. Allowing foreign investments to dry up completely (which is what leaving things as they are will inevitably lead to) is tantamount to economic suicide!

    Before going any further, I believe it is important for me to point out that I’m not speaking on behalf of the elite few. How could I be when my station in life is so very far from them? I’m speaking on behalf of millions and millions of ordinary, hard-working Nigerians.

    If you refuse to be practical then at least explain to us why you insist on not devaluing the exchange rate. Is there a cunning plan that will somehow make everything better? Or is this a case of sit tight and hope for the best?

    History tells us that no matter how long you sit tight for, you will eventually have to agree to officially devalue the naira. The parallel market has now become the official market as with all the restrictions and rationing, this is where most businesses buy their foreign exchange from. Goods with import content are now being priced against the parallel market rate, and the lucky few who are still getting N199:1$ are making wide profit margins. By the end of March the naira to dollar exchange rate will most likely have reached NGN500 to US1, if not more!

    Your Excellency, even your government, state governments, and their employees are presently reeling from the adverse effects of your refusal to devalue the naira. Their share of oil revenues is still being converted at 199:1; and as a result most of the states cannot afford to pay salaries. Furthermore the inevitable inability to balance your budget will naturally subject future generations to a debt burden once again. The words ‘a vicious cycle’ come to mind.

    I fully sympathise with your desire to cater for the masses, even if it means it is at the expense of the well to do. But the irony of your present stance is that the people who will be most severely affected are the masses. After-all, a large percentage of the masses are employed by the middle class. The middle class are the people that drive the small /medium sized business sector. Small /medium sized businesses drive the economy.

    I do wonder whether we the electorate are presently behaving like the Israelites did in the wilderness after God delivered them from captivity in Egypt. They grumbled on a daily basis; wondering whether it would have been better to remain in Egypt where they at least had a routine and knew when they would eat. However their situation was fairly different. They knew they were being taken to the promised land.

    Does the average Nigerian know where you’re taking him/her?

    Mr. President, the nation’s economy is in a critical state. Corporations are laying people off by the second, small businesses are barely existing, most people are struggling to make ends meet, government is not paying employees or contractors, and to make matters worse nobody has any idea where we’re going.

    I recall getting up at 6.00am on Saturday, March 28, 2015   to vote for you. Despite the knowledge of an impending 6km walk to my polling booth, the fervent hope of the better future your government of change would bring made it seem more like a 100 metre dash. A government focused on the welfare of the people; a government for the people, and by the people!

    I put my trust in you.

    We all put our trust in you by voting for you.

    It’s time for you to return that trust by telling us where we’re going, and how you intend to get us there. Kindly reciprocate the trust we put in you by respectfully explaining your plan for the next three years to us – in person, and not through your media spokesman.

    We deserve that much.

     

    • Akande is Managing Director, SBA Interactive and Founder of Arise Africa Foundation

  • Open letter to Education Minister

    Let me quickly congratulate you on your appointment as helmsman of arguably the most important sector of a nation’s social fabric. Your successful screening and subsequent appointment form the crux of your first victory. But there is an overwhelming deluge of battles ahead. As a topflight scholar, I am convinced that you understand the prodigious weight of your portfolio and that Nigerians would empty their acerbic venom on you should you fail to reposition the sector for good. This is no threat or an attempt to inspire fear.

    For many of us, we have waited for this day to come. We have waited for a time when we will have the attention of a listening Minister of Education; one who is ready to bend backwards to restore glory of a tainted narrative. For now, we can’t confidently say you are the messiah until you prove the very letters of your portfolio. Time definitely remains the best arbiter of all human fate. In the meantime, I am sure we won’t be disappointed just the same way a slew of your predecessors blew our hopes into smithereens.

    I am sure you know that our education system has been a huge joke; a costly joke that mocks our common sense more than it afflicts our understanding of the drivers of a free and prosperous nation.  Trust me, I won’t lump this letter with those boring, predictable statistics. But I am sure you understand the blatancy of the stench more than the back of your hand. So I am briefly going to lay emphasis on a few things you need to fix with the best of swiftness you can possibly muster.

    One, curriculum. Let’s consider secondary education, for instance. How come our secondary schools’ curriculum has remained the same for over 30 years? Is that to say that education is static like a shore of still water? Or are we saying there had been no significant breakthrough in secondary education all these years to have warranted an overhaul in the curriculum? We all are testament to the fact that the world has changed considerably. So why would education sleep while the world purrs with the contest for pace and inventions?

    Again, curriculum. This time, the lens zooms on tertiary education.  It hit all of us like a bolt from the blue few years ago when former CBN governor, Prof Charles Soludo said that over 70 per cent of Nigerian graduates were unemployable. It came across like an exaggerated claim tempered with political undertone. But while the world growls at the sorry fate of a Nigerian graduate, the emphasis shifts rather too quickly to the effect rather than the cause. That the curriculum is faulty and archaic is a cause. That lecturers dish out half-baked knowledge is a cause. That there is decrepit infrastructure on our campuses is a cause. That cheap handout has replaced the measured excitement of research and quality service delivery is a cause. That lecturers deliberately desecrate the sacred tang of knowledge by way of sex-for-grades and all what not is a cause. But we have decided to mourn our collective misfortune without commensurate probe into why the tragedy befell us in the first place.

    To solve these riddles, we do not need the luxury of committees. We all know how committees have turned out to be merely talk shops whose reports seamlessly find solace in the dustbin of history. Posterity will be harsh on you if you fail to maximise the revolutionary aura of the Buhari government to rewrite the story of the Nigerian education system. It is only then that the swarm of Nigerians and the world will brand you a deserving champion.

    Three, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) unrest. One issue that remains baffling over the years is the trajectory of strikes by the ASUU. While you may be unable to fully satisfy their cravings in the short term, you must be quick to evolve a working model that answers the very questions of distrust and neglect that characterised the style of previous administrations. Previous administrations won accolades for mongering hyperbolic talk with no clear plan for execution. So, ASUU turned out as a lady jilted and bruised by the fawning tongue of her lover.

    No serious nation will allow students to remain idle at home for six months or more all because of a government that cannot keep its own portion of a bargain. And here is the caveat: the enormity of the problems with ASUU is far more menacing today than it were during the past administrations. To avoid a repeat of our sorry past, the situation deserves no less than sweeping measures or the vicious circle continues.

    Sir, we do not need grand plans and elaborate reform conventions, closed-door meetings and briefings. We do not need promises and all the faint optimism they can stir. We have seen spells of that in the past, plunging us further into ruins. What we need is a tempered grace and willpower to roll up the sleeves and work. What we need is a speedy, comprehensive overhaul of the content and context of our education curriculum.

    We understand that thriving economies are powered not by moving speeches, grand intentions, skin colour, gender or geographical location. They are powered squarely by the miracle of knowledge speckled with the discipline of execution. Education remains the only leveller of the social stratum, creating a perfect template for everyone to compete. And if we get it right, our redemption story finds a fertile ground to fruition. We must not fail.

     

    • Gilbert is a content writer and digital story-teller.

  • Open letter to new minister of health

    SIR: I congratulate the new Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Folorunso Adewole,  immediate past and 11th Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan on his appointment. I see his emergence as a round peck in a round hole, having served as Provost, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, the largest and oldest medical school in Nigeria.

    I am writing this piece for three major reasons: First is Nigeria’s Health care system in World Health Organisation ranking; second is the issue of incessant doctors’ strike and third, the need to sustain Nigeria’s Polio free status.

    Recall that the World Health Organization ranks Nigerian healthcare system amongst the worst in the world. Specifically, its most recent report places Nigeria at the 187th position of 190 countries. This is only ahead of the DRC, Central Africa Republic and Myanmar. Even Zimbabwe and Burundi, which are amongst the poorest countries of the world, rank at least 30 places ahead of Nigeria, yet Nigeria has the largest Gross Domestic Product on the continent and significant mineral resources.

    Constitutionally, every Nigerian has a right to live healthy and the government, at all levels, is obligated to provide good quality healthcare amongst other social amenities to its citizenry at affordable costs and in a convenient manner. The healthcare system is expected to focus on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and ailments for all the people; and the responsibility of the government to achieve these objectives cuts across its various tiers.

    Honourable Minister, you must do your best to resolve some abnormalities in the health sector which include, the lack of funding, undersupply, inefficiency, decrepit equipment, poor quality, needless deaths and unhappy workforce. The country does not boast of a plausible healthcare agenda and often leaves development agencies to define programs for focus. Doctors exploit the weak system, inviting patients to private practices so that they can earn additional income and consulting at multiple government hospitals so they appear on various payrolls.

    Nurses yell at patients and refuse to respond to their basic enquiries. Pharmacists dispense drugs in envelopes and do not bother to write the name of the medication or educate patients on side-effects. Accounts clerks often have ‘no change’ and will therefore tell patients to go find the correct denomination before payments are accepted and emergency cases are overlooked because

    payments are incomplete. Many general hospitals stink (literally and figuratively) and are breeding grounds for infectious diseases – many also do not have sufficient beds so corridors become sleep pads.

    The second issue is the incessant strike of the doctors and other health workers. Recall that you have once served in 1984 as President of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria and you led a nationwide strike that resulted in your dismissal by the then military head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari which made you to go on exile because you were declared wanted by the head of state

    who is incidentally is the current President. I will urge you  to use your experience in medical politics to eradicate the doctors’ strike by seeing to it that the medical practitioner are well

    remunerated and catered for to put an end to strikes and to stem the brain drain in the sector.

    Last but not the least,  Nigeria’s Polio-free status must be sustained; recall that Nigeria has reached a major polio “milestone” and has been removed from the list of polio-endemic countries after a

    year of not reporting a single case of wild polio. Community involvement in the immunization of children under five years, and surveillance activities to rapidly detect any potential re-emergence of the virus ,the

    establishment of emergency operations centres at the national and state levels, which had contributed to Nigeria’s success coupled with continuous domestic funding from Nigeria is essential to keep Nigeria

    and the entire region polio-free.

     

    • John Tosin Ajiboye,

    Lagos

  • Open letter to GMD-NNPC

    Congratulations – accept my belated congratulations, Doctor. That’s what we used to call you back in my Hints magazine days.

    First, let me seize this moment to thank you for the opportunity given to me to serve as a writer and editor of Hints magazine under your watchful eyes (1990 – 1997). Being a writer yourself you easily recognized my talent and allowed me to flourish and express myself.

    Anyone who has had anything to do with you can attest to it that your charm and charisma loom large like the tropical sun; you carry yourself so well that you exude a princely aura. Some could mistake that for arrogance. But I know it is simply a measure of the self-assuredness that comes with success.

    Some keen observers of your odyssey will say you have had a chequered rise from glory to glory, riding on the wings of mother-luck. But I will like to say that the ‘Kachikwu phenomenon’ goes beyond ‘good luck’. It is one firmly rooted in hard work and unwavering pursuit of excellence.

    You always had clear goals and you worked hard to achieve them. Yes, without a doubt, you have also been lucky. But to depend and ride only on ‘good luck’ is a recipe for disaster; if you get my drift.

    The truth be told: it has not always been a smooth sail, Doctor. You have had your own spell of turbulence in life. I guess the period in question resulted from your ability to attempt the ‘impossible’ sometimes. You know what I am talking about. I mean your failed bid to acquire Texaco (having pulled together a consortium of friends.) Your sudden move from being an employee to an employer was a well-orchestrated masterstroke albeit temporarily. Your former colleagues (in Texaco), of course, would have nothing of your emergence as their employer and they never rested until they shot down the deal.

    Those really were trying times, Doctor. That was the only time I saw you really flustered. But you survived it. The big break eventually came and you grabbed it with both hands – the rest, they say, is history. You’ve been unstoppable ever since. In fact, you have now surpassed your dreams and expectations. Well done.

    The point must be made that you are no one to suffer fools lightly. In those days you had no patience for indolence and mediocrity. You pushed us hard. Although we worked under pressure, we enjoyed what we were doing week after week. Do you still have that fire? I suppose you still do, having begun the streamlining of NNPC. I am certain you will take your assignment very seriously if you are still the Ibe Kachikwu that I know.

    Doctor, no doubt, you are already a blessed man – successful in every material particular (permit my use of a cliché.) Therefore I expect you to look away from the benefits of the office for now and dutifully clean up the mess that NNPC has been for decades.

    I pray you do not yield to the temptation of glossing over the opaqueness of NNPC as those without noble intentions would readily do. History beckons you. This is a golden opportunity for you to step out and make the difference in a society where it is so easy for many to mortgage their conscience for the lure of lucre. Are you ready to make history as the man who turned around NNPC? I hope you are.

     

    I remember you, sir, as a stickler for excellence. (Permit my use of another cliché.) Oh yes, you were. You never believed in the limiting power of the word ‘CAN’T’ – to you it can always be done; and more often than not, your resilience paid off. I hope you still have the magic wand – the touchstone for success.

    Now, Doctor, you do have power in your hands – use it wisely with unwavering determination, not minding whose horse is gored. Be fair, firm and focused. They say wine gets better with age. I hope that’s the case with you. Indeed a lot of water has passed under the bridge.

    Parents United Network, an organization I co-founded have been in the vanguard of igniting a national moral rebirth. We believe that unless and until we create a new moral order and leverage on it for the change that we desire, greatness will continue to elude Nigeria.

    We rolled out a 14-part agenda for President Buhari three months ago. In that write up, we made some suggestions on NNPC. I will like to volunteer a few of them to you:

    First, you need to shut out all patronage seekers and praise singers and get down to brass tacks.

    Whatever it takes, dismantle the huge wall of secrecy and lack of transparency in NNPC. It has been the veil behind the perpetuation of pernicious corruption over the years.

    Carry out a comprehensive staff audit with a view to pruning down the workforce to a reasonable size. It is bloated and not sustainable for a viable NNPC. All those retrenched should be promptly paid their entitlements. This will enable them to set up small businesses and possibly become employers of labour themselves.

    Be determined to turn NNPC into a viable enterprise in the class of Petrobras. You can honestly endear yourself to Nigerians by making NNPC a veritable money spinner for the country.

    It is a big shame that NNPC still presides over the importation of fuel. You should work toward putting a stop to this evil which has become a cesspit for corruption. Apart from getting the existing refineries to work optimally, you should encourage massive modular refining. We suggest you enter into partnership with all the 36 states with a view to establishing one modular refinery in each state, to begin with.

    Many before you were just content with maintaining the status quo and feathering their nests. They would rather pander to the secret demands of the powers that be. So they failed before they even started. They had no will to tackle corruption. In time soon they got swept away.

    But things are different now. You are lucky to serve under a no-nonsense, highly principled President who will not bother you with extraneous demands. Besides, you are taking over on the strength of not being a product of the corrupted NNPC system. You cannot afford to fail, Doctor. I want you to know that your success at NNPC will be a thing of joy to us who worked closely with you in the beginning.

    I wish you the very best of times in NNPC.

     

    • Newton, former editor of Hints magazine is a writer and morality advocate based in Lagos

  • Open letter to GMD-NNPC

    |SIR: Your appointment as the new Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is a good thing to have happened in recent times. In fact, we give kudos to President Muhammadu Buhari to have fixed a square peg in a square hole at the right time. Accept our felicitations sir.

    We have been patiently waiting for this moment as we are hopeful that we are going to, in the long run, find light at the end of our tunnel.

    At this point, we crave your indulgence on a matter that mostly concerns us; this is the recruitment that had started since 2012 and which is presently on hook for a reason we cannot simply fathom.

    It all started in the last quarter of 2012 when an advertisement was placed in the national dailies for entry level and experienced vacancies in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    In December 2014, an aptitude test for the recruitment exercise was contracted to Phillips Consulting Limited, an organization reputed for unbiased processes and the aptitude test was conducted successfully on December 6, 2014 in some selected states across the federation.

    In February, congratulatory text messages were sent out by Phillips Consulting Limited (PCL) to successful applicants who should await the details of the interview to be sent the following week.

    While waiting and preparing for the interview, subsequent text messages were received by us that due to logistic reasons, the interview is on hold and that mails will be forwarded to us earnestly.

    We have been waiting patiently hoping to receive the invitation mail for the interview which has since not been forthcoming hence this letter.

    We had endured the process for almost three years now and we believe you will use the power of your office to help us to bring the recruitment process to a reasonable conclusion.

    Every positive development in the NNPC creates fresh hope in us; but then there is also the fear that the recruitment might be cancelled. We wish to be part of the changes that have come to the corporation; we wish to contribute our young, vibrant and experienced minds to turn things around in the petroleum power house.

    We will be much appreciative if this long standing issue can be treated as a matter of urgency before our case get swept under the carpet and we become the forgotten ones.

     

    • Agbongbon O.A,

    For NNPC OT/GT/EH Recruitment Hopefuls

  • Open letter to Governor Ambode

    SIR: As you settle down to commence your consolidation mission in Lagos State, I want to draw your attention to some issues relating to the blocked Alimosho junction of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway (between Dopemu and Iyana-Ipaja bridges).

    It is pertinent to tell you that the interjection on the side road was created about three years ago by former Governor Babatunde Fashola in response to my suggestion through private and open letters. It worked like magic, creating free flow of traffic at the Dopemu, Iyana-Ipaja, Abule-Egba, Agege, Egbeda axis.

    The road was blocked by the Federal Road Management Authority (FERMA) last year, thus complicating the traffic situation in the area with motorists spending up to two hours in the gridlock. We shall appreciate your quick revisit and restoration of the situation for a better Lagos.

    On the last note sir, I personally constructed a kilometre L-shade road leading to my hotel at the Mosan end of the Federal low cost Housing Estate (Shagari Estate) in Mosan-Okunola Local Council Development Area about 18 years ago with street lights and which I also maintained without government assistance.

    The road has over the years turned an alternative route to the Abesan gate-Baruwa-Ipaja-Ayobo routes and this has led to its serious dilapidation which is now beyond my comprehension. At this point, I will appreciate your intervention to help us repair the road which now serves as the gateway to Mosan town, Abesan Estate and Ipaja town.

    While thanking you in advance with the strong belief that you will rapidly respond to this letter, I want to commend you on the recommencement of  construction works on the Ipaja-Ayobo Expressway, particularly at the Abesan gate.

     

    • Otunba Tony Adenubi,

    Mosan, Ipaja, Lagos.