The Nation Newspaper

Tag: progress

  • ‘How Africa can make progress’

    …Ondo governor urges leaders to secure future of youths

    Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko yesterday said that Africa would face a perilous future, unless efforts are made by its leaders to integrate its youths into the new world’s technological culture.

    He urged the continent to invest in education, especially girl-child education, healthcare, agriculture, technological development, infrastructure development, creative industry and tourism and industrialisation.

    The governor also enjoined African countries to sustain its democratisation process and reduce political conflicts induced by British clolonialism, adding that the continent must also drive an inclusive African economy for sustainable growth and development.

    Mimiko reflected on the challenges of youth development and empowerment at the African Business Conference (ABC) of the Lagos Business School (Pan-Atlantic University, Lekki. The theme of the conference was: Africa Rising: Leveraging the power of a younger generation.

    Urging African leaders to gird their loins, he said: “Africans should not allow the rhetoric of Africa Rising to give us a false sense of comfort, thereby distracting us from the real work that we need to do to make it happen.”

    The governor observed that the great potentials, dynamism, resourcefulness, resilience and aspirations of the youths are invaluable capitals that can be harnessed and channeled towards a more sustainable future for Africa by refocusing efforts on education, cultural renaissance, agro-business, ICT, healthcare and the provision of capital for young entrepreneurs.

    However, he lamented that Africa’s transformative agenda was being threatened by a high level of youth unemployment, stressing that the situation has been compounded by an increasing mismatch between the skills offered by workers and those demanded by the labour market.

    Mimiko added: “Having a lot of young adults is good for any country or continent, if its economy is thriving. But, if jobs are in short supply, it can lead to frustration and violence.”

    Noting that Africa is trailing behind other continents in ICT usage, which stands at nine percent, the governor said stakeholders must resist the temptation to gag the social media, which has become a veritable source of youth employment and empowerment.

    The governor also said that Africa needed more industrialisation than financialisation, adding that, although the service sector is doing well, the continent must stir growth in other sub-sectors.

  • Ambode urges Muslims to pray for peace of Nigeria

    Ambode urges Muslims to pray for peace of Nigeria

    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Wednesday called on Muslims in the nation to offer special prayers for greater peace, unity and continuous progress of Nigeria, as they join their counterparts across the world to celebrate Eid El Maulud, which is the birth of Prophet Muhammad.

    The Governor in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Habib Aruna, enjoined Muslims to follow the exemplary leadership of the Holy Prophet by promoting peaceful co-existence among the various segments of the society.

    While imploring Nigerians to shun ethnic, political and religious differences and work towards building a safer and better Nigeria, Governor Ambode said the celebration of the birth of the Prophet should renew the faith and bond of unity among Nigerians as one people and one nation irrespective of diversity.

    “On the occasion of the commemoration of the birth of the holy Prophet, it is imperative to reflect on his teachings and uphold his legacies of unity, integrity, peaceful coexistence and love for one’s neighbour, which are indispensable in our quest for meaningful development and the profitable management of our diversity,” he said.

    Ambode also urged Muslim to internalize the virtues of honesty, selflessness, charity, tolerance, good neighbourliness, justice, equity and fairness which the Mohammad preached, saying such will go a long way to engender national development.

    “I want to seize this occasion to urge all Nigerians to commit and rededicate themselves to making greater effort to imbibe these qualities and values as they celebrate the Prophet’s birth.

    “I therefore wish all our Muslim brothers and sisters in Nigeria and Lagos in particular a happy Eid-el-Maulud,” he said.

  • ‘Manufacturing is catalyst for progress’

    ‘Manufacturing is catalyst for progress’

    How manufacturing can be harnessed for the nation’s socio-economic progress was the focus of discussion at the 89th National Executive Council meeting of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) alumni association  in Nnewi, Anambra State, last week.

    Presenting a paper titled: Manufacturing industries key to socio-economic revival and restoration of the dignity of man, Dr Udunna Nwafor-Orizu, an alumni, said a nation would witness genuine development if it harnessed its manufacturing industries to provide jobs for the citizens.

    She listed Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, China and United States, among others, as nations where manufacturing turned around people’s fortunes and engender rapid growth. She added that the role of manufacturing in national development could not be effectively told without highlighting the actions of the late former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew.

    Nwafor-Orizu said: “Yew’s solution for the challenges Singapore faced years back was a policy of transforming the country from a trading hub into a production center through the development of industrial cities. He promised tax relief to industries and he introduced measures to protect manufacturing tariffs.”

    By copying the model, Nwafor-Orizu was optimistic that Nigeria could become an economic giant. She described Nnewi as the largest spare parts market in West Africa and a potential manufacturing city, given the rate of industrialisation in the commercial city.

    She said: “In the last decade, Nnewi has experienced relatively rapid industrialisation. Since 1970, Nnewi residents have controlled approximately 80 to 90 per cent trade of motor parts in Nigeria. Policymakers can take Nnewi as a good example to what a nation can achieve if the manufacturing of the motor part are done locally. When raw materials are not imported, the country grows stronger.”

    On the benefits that could be derived from manufacturing, Dr Nwafor-Orizu said employment opportunities would be created for the youths, while reduce crime rate would drop and standard of living improve.

    She identified poor penetration of the local markets as one of the challenges facing manufacturing industries in the country, noting that many industries were dying because of unhealthy rivalry in importation, epileptic power supply, low patronage from government and poor funding.

    She advised government to initiate policies that would protect and encourage the local industries, and provide enabling environment for production by improving power supply and loans to support their businesses.

    The National President of the association, Chief Andrew Oru, said the choice of the city of Nnewi for the event was in line with the theme of the meeting. He described the Nwafor-Orizu’s lecture as incisive, urging the policymakers to implement the lecturer’s recommendations.

    Highpoint of the event was presentation of awards to distinguished alumnus and award of prizes to the best students in the quiz competition organised by the association for pupils.

     

  • Reconstructing Nigeria for progress

    SIR: The foundation of our problems as a nation is our distorted political architecture; it sustains vested interests, rewards laziness and places premium on ethnicity over merit. This naturally breeds corruption!

    However the direct and indirect beneficiaries of this flawed political-economic structure, choose to turn a blind eye to the futility and stupidity of trying to maintain such a system, choosing at it were to postpone the evil day. But sooner or later, the chickens will come home to roost, and it is already beginning to happen as illustrated by the current economic misfortunes that have bedevilled our largely mono-product economy, amongst other more tragic nay violent examples of the unsuitability of this failed political and economic theory imposed on us by our erstwhile military “overlords”.

    President Muhammadu Buhari cannot succeed in his noble and desirous ambitions of changing Nigeria, under the current political architecture. We need to amend our constitution and give Nigerians a federal constitution, and discard our current Unitary 1999 Constitution (as amended), which we inherited from the military if we are to succeed.

    President Muhammadu Buhari is a good man, but his best efforts to eradicate corruption and place Nigeria on the path of greatness, no matter how concerted, will not succeed if he does not apply himself to the reconstruction of our national political-economic architecture. He must see to the amendment of our constitution, taking due cognizance of the feelings, and thinking of the over 250 distinct ethnic groups in Nigeria who sent in memoranda and representatives to the 2014 National Conference.

    President Buhari’s seeming indifference to the Report and Recommendations of that conference, is to put it mildly, ill-advised and a great disservice to Nigeria and particularly to Nigeria’s ethnic minorities whose interests and welfare have been done the most disservice by our current convoluted and corruption-facilitating unitary system of governance.

    The President should as a matter of urgent nation-building set up a committee of trusted and patriotic Nigerians to review the Report and Recommendations of the  2014 National Conference and subject it to a referendum which will form the basis of a true and federal constitution for our beloved country.

    The 1999 Constitution, being the product of an illegal and unconstitutional military government is to my mind an illegal document and a relic of military dictatorship, even in its amended form. More importantly it’s provisions, especially Section 162 of the same 1999 Constitution (as amended), which provides for  the maintenance of a “Federation Account” for monies collected by the “Federation”, which is to be “shared” nay distributed to the states and local governments is one of the corner stones for our unitary and dysfunctional centralised system of governance. It is and has always been a major clog in the wheels of the development of Nigeria, by encouraging laziness on the part of state governments, falsification of census population figures (which forms the basis of the sharing) and the encouragement of an undiversified mono-product economy that continuously leaves us exposed to the epileptic vagaries of the international energy market.

    If we as a nation are serious about making meaningful progress, we must revert to full fiscal federalism that served us well in the 60’s and 70’s, even if implemented in phases; this is the only just and sensible way Nigeria can move forward in peace, unity and prosperity. We need to ensure that the template and framework for a truly federal republic is created and thus ensure the maximisation of all our competitive edge as an economic entity, by giving the states or zones the power to grow their local economies and add value to the national economy.

    We can not continue to run this unjust and unsustainable political system that oppresses minorities, serves corrupt vested interests; rewards incompetence and laziness.

     

    • Ugochukwu Joseph Amasike

    Lagos.

  • Ex VC lauds progress

    Ex VC lauds progress

    Plus size pupils can do very well in sports if challenged.

    Goodness (Red) House of Wellspring College, Omole Phase 2, Ikeja, Lagos, knows how to make use of its very big members.  They serve the house well during the Tug of War event of the school’s inter-house sports competition.  Last year, the house easily overpowered others in the event.

    The plus-size boys and girls repeated the feat at the ninth edition of the school’s inter-house competition held at the Agege Stadium recently.

    They showed the others were no match for them, pulling the teams from Grace (Blue) House and Favour (Green) House over the line in no time and demonstrating that they were heavy for a good purpose.

    However, it was not only in the Tug of War that Goodness showed class.  Its athletes dominated most of the track events decided that including the sprint races (100m, 200m), the relays, sack race, and lime and spoon races such that a parent, Mrs Ifeoluwapo Akintola, joked that they used performance enhancing drugs.

    At the end of the day, the House won 15 gold, eight silver, nine bronze medals to lift the overall winners’ trophy.

    Praise (Yellow) House came second with nine gold, 12 silver, 12 bronze; while Grace House came third with eight gold, 10 silver, and six bronze.

    Favour House had the least number of medals – six gold, eight silver, and 11 bronze.  However, this did not detract from the feeling of accomplishment of its members as they won the gold in the march past event with 50 points.  Given the level of preparation they put into dressing their king, queen, princess and royal family, as well as the display they put up, the gold meant a lot to them.

    Mrs Akintola, whose daughter, Faith, acted as the princess of the entourage, was particularly happy as she also sewed the beautifully-designed Indian Attire worn by the entire group, which added colour to their performance.

    On the stands, she made parents around her laugh when she exclaimed: “Up Green! Yes O! They can’t beat us.  I fasted o!”

    Praise came second with 47 points in the March Past, while Goodness was third with 46 points.  Favour came fourth with 42 points.

    Speaking seriously, Mrs Akintola told The Nation that schools should encourage pupils to do more of sports, physical activities and healthy eating.

    “Schools should do more sporting activities; they should let children exercise more.  Also, when they eat a lot of fruits rather than junk food, they tend to have more energy,” she said.

    In her speech, the principal, Mrs Oluwayemisi Oloriade, said sport does a lot of physical and social good.

    “In addition to promoting good health among the competitors, an occasion such as this also forges good relations and goodwill among competitors in the spirit of sportsmanship. It a universal truth that sports has gone a long way in reducing ill will among nations today and new bonds of cooperation and loyalty are formed every day in world politics. Hence, the world has stayed for over seventy years without a third world war. If only sports should be enthroned without any form of selfishness, pride and self-aggrandizement, rancor, ill feeling and war among nations and groups would be a thing of the past,” she said.

  • Strategic Plan: VC lauds progress

    The EKSU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oladipo Aina, has praised members of staff and students of the institution for their commitment to the university’s goal of becoming a world-class institution.

    He said this at a workshop on the implementation of EKSU Strategic Plan (2014-2018) held last Thursday at the 3,000-Seater Lecture Theatre of the university.

    The Vice-Chancellor explained that the main goal of the Strategic Plan is to reposition EKSU in academic, administration and provision of services to its communities on its way to becoming a 21st century world class university.

    He lauded the methodologies and logic of the plan, which he said has been embraced by the university community.

    Aina said that the plan was developed by consultants and stakeholders with baseline data collected from workers, students, university managers and various interest groups at the grassroots. The workshop aimed at interpreting the plan to the officials who are expected to take ownership and teach their subordinates to do same.

    The consultants on the strategic plan, Prof Olabisi Aina and Prof. Yinka Adesina from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife explained that the workshop covered objectives such as Gender Mainstreaming, Roles and Responsibilities of different sections of the university and individuals in the implementation of the plan, managing results and reporting frameworks at various levels as well as Data Management, Coordination and sustained partnership for effective performance of the strategic plan.

  • Garba assesses Flying Eagles progress

    Garba assesses Flying Eagles progress

    The Flying Eagles of Nigeria concluded the first phase of their camping ahead of next year’s African Youth Championship on Friday 19 December 2014.

    After the exercise which lasted for one month, head coach of the team Manu Garba spoke with SL10.ng and gave his view on the progress made so far.

    On New Players Performance In Camp…

    Yes we have quite a few of them as usual who have impressed, but we need to see them compete with some of our regulars who are in Europe, some of them will be in the 30 man list we will continue with when we resume.

    On Foreign Based Players…

    For now we called up eight, but that is not all we intend to call and see more of them in camp. The truth is nobody is guaranteed a spot in this team, not even my captain. We looking to strengthen all positions in the team.

    On The Chances Of Gate Crashers…

    In the Camp we can only take 30, at most 35, so they cater for their accommodation and feeding, but we let them train with the team when we see they are better than what we have. We decamp and accommodate them in camp.

    On Doubts Over Isacc Success Availability…

    We are always ready to make up for any player absence, no doubt he is a fine player and key to our plans, but if he doesn’t make it we won’t miss him.

    Remember he got injured at the Under-17 World Cup and Taiwo Awoniyi stood up and more than made up for Success’ absence with vital goals and good play.

    Success wasn’t part of our qualifiers, but we were able to make it to the tournament proper.

    On Results Of Friendly Games…

    We have conceded just once and scored over 30 goals from four games. To people watching it’s good enough, but to me and my crew we still have work to do.

    Our strength at the Under-17 level was making few mistakes collectively as a team and I think bar our first game when we drew 3-3 we had a tournament with our players making less mistakes.

    I strive to create that same spirit and mentality in this team, and for now until I have the full complement of my team it is hard to do that.

    On Setting Targets…

    I always believe that second position means you weren’t good enough, so my eye is on the first prize.

    I try to make my players share in my belief, confidence and optimism of wanting to be champion at the Africa Youth Championship and World Youth Championship with style.

    When I say style I mean with goals and eye catching displays, the type that will be talked about years after the tournament and be used as a reference for future teams.

     

  • Joel Obi delighted with progress at Inter

    Joel Obi delighted with progress at Inter

    Speaking at a gathering, Nigeria international Joel Obi has been encouraging the players representing the youth team of Inter Milan, pointing out that he was promoted to the main squad after distinguishing himself.

    The ex NEPA Lagos youth – teamer spent five years playing for Inter Milan’s academy teams before he broke into the first team at the age of 19.

    “The boys I can say never give up and are always hungry. I thank all those who have made me grow in this great youth,”says Joel Obi to fcinternews.it.

    Joel Obi has recorded 8 appearances in the Serie A this season, and an additional five in the Europa League.

    The 23 – year – old has started 21 matches in the the top division since his debut.

  • The progress of former progressives

    The progress of former progressives

    It is one of the great paradoxes of Nigerian history that the most vicious and venal reactionaries are often former progressives. Given the enormous damage they subsequently cause to the progressive cause, the question must now be asked as to whether they were ever progressive at all in the first instance or mere ideological choir boys chanting what they hardly understood or barely believed in.

    Some of them may even be innocent victims of political disorientation or mere wannabes looking for a political platform to actualise their legitimate ambition. Or in some extreme cases, this crisis of ideological orientation can be traced to the political equivalent of gender confusion or some more profound case of genital conflation which produces political hermaphrodites.

    As it is now being revealed in the twilight of their political career, it is even possible that a few of our progressive avatars were nominal conservatives who cheated demystification by sheer good luck. Rather than hurling insults and invectives at each other, it may be better to understudy the very notion of progressive politics in order to lay bare the structure of contradictions that power politics at any given time and place and the radical restructuring of the status quo which happens to be the hallmark of progressive politics.

    It may well be that we have all along been confusing an abiding preference for modernity and modernisation which is the default temperament of the majority of the Yoruba people as well as the template for their pre-colonial and post-colonial politics with progressive ideology which is marked by a clear and intellectually sustained preference for the radical reorganisation of the existing order.

    To say that the Yoruba are naturally progressive because of their instinctive preference for modernity and the modernisation project may well be true. But it does not exhaust the possibilities of the term. In the same individual, the same people and the same society, the conservative may well coexist and cohere with the progressive until a defining crisis forces one tendency to supplant the other. .

    As we have seen in the case of Dubai, Singapore and the Asian Tigers, it is quite possible for great modernising drives to be sustained by or anchored on conservative politics which is suspicious of the radically disruptive. Yet by creating a potent and prosperous middle class, these conservative societies have already provided the future nursery beds of radical discontent with the existing status quo.

    With the resounding victory of Governor Rauf Aregbesola in the Osun gubernatorial election, a new vista has opened up in the perpetual struggle between progressives and former progressives in the old western region of Nigeria. It was a major political rout and electoral shellacking of the Yoruba conservatives and sundry mainstream apostles of federal power.

    Yet some rabid ideologues of the right and their ethnic carrion feeder collaborators are already insinuating that having captured forty two per cent of the total votes cast, the PDP is clearly ascendant in this heartland of Yoruba progressive politics. They have conveniently forgotten that this was the same state they claimed to have legitimately ruled between 2003 and 2010 when they were dislodged by judicial justice. What happened to that majority of their imaginary hallucinations?

    In the 2011 elections, Aregbesola completely cleaned out the entire state in a brilliant display of total politics. Was it possible to proceed from nothing to this electoral substantiality?  It is obvious that this is all part of the anticipatory approval of the looming electoral heist their principal is preparing to foist on the entire nation come 2015. The PDP has been hoisted by the petard of its own lies and electoral chicaneries.

    For Aregbesola, it has been a close shave indeed, but they have not managed to touch his shrubby beard. That magical goatee should be preserved for posterity and in the interest of electoral sanity in Nigeria. Having captured the old Ondo province, had the PDP succeeded in overrunning Osun State through its blatant intimidation and electoral cajolery, it would have been a straight dash to the sea through Oyo and Ogun..

    Like his illustrious warrior forebears did in 1840 at the Jalumi battle, Aregbesola has managed to turn the tide against federal invaders. Like all those who have tried to turn Yorubaland into a theatre of war using Yoruba renegades, Jonathan will learn his lesson the hard way. By trying once again to humiliate the Yoruba people and rob them of their electoral preference, the federal authorities have roused a slumbering bear. The magnitude of Aregbesola’s victory will appear in bold relief as we slouch towards 2015. We may yet have to thank the federal authorities.

    Before taking a look at the immediate future and its portents, we have chosen to take a retrospective glance at the immediate past by republishing an article which first appeared on this page about four years ago.

  • Mark: we’ve made appreciable progress

    Mark: we’ve made appreciable progress

    Despite the diverging views about the progress the nation has made since its independence in 1960, Senate President David Mark yesterday said Nigeria has recorded appreciable achievements.

    In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, the Senate President noted that although “we are yet to get to the level of our dreams, nobody can deny the fact that we have recorded some landmark achievements since the colonial masters left our shores”.

    He added: “Besides, the infrastructural development across the country, we now have skilled and qualified manpower in virtually all fields of human endeavour.”

    Mark urged Nigerians to renew their hopes and faith in the “capacity and capabilities of our people to rise to a level when citizens could enjoy an internationally acceptable standard of living”.

    The Senate President called for the support and cooperation of Nigerians in nation-building.

    He said: “All of us may not be good doctors, good lawyers, good writers or good engineers, but we can all contribute our quota where we have comparative advantages to make our country a better place.

    “We must, therefore, strive to harness our human and material resources in a way that would engender development in all ramifications.”

    Mark said though the nation was facing the challenge of insecurity, he called for a review of approaches to end the menace.

    He recalled the setback the nation passed through during the 30 months’ civil war “fought with blood, tears and sweat”.

    Mark said: “We are all stakeholders and we should see the nation and indeed Project Nigeria as our own because nobody destroys what he or she owns.”