The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Proposed

  • How my husband proposed to me —Wife

    How my husband proposed to me —Wife

    MAMA, how was your wedding last month?

    It was fine.

    Are you happy that you have done your marriage according to the Bible?

    Of course yes, it is compulsory that one must do it, and I am happy that I have done my own.

    How many children have you?

    I know I have five that are alive today.

    How did you meet your husband?

    I can’t remember the year. It is a long time now. What I can remember is (she stretched out her arm to show a bangle on her left wrist) that this bangle (made of brass) was given to me by my husband. In our tradition, if a man loves you and wants to ask for your hand in marriage, the man will not express his love for you by words of mouth. He will do that by following a laid down traditional process, which requires him to get a bangle and present it to the woman. If the woman accepts the bangles from the man and goes ahead to wear them, it shows the lady has accepted his request for marriage. That would be the beginning of a relationship. It is after that, that other marriage rites would follow.

    So, my husband gave me this bangle back then and I have been wearing it since then. That is all I can remember.

    Are you his first wife?

    Yes, I was the first woman he proposed to before the other women came much later.

    Will you say you have enjoyed this marriage?

    Yes, I did; if not, I would have left him long ago.

    Do you still love him at this old age?

    Very well. I still love him.  You know we had a church wedding two weeks ago. That means I still love him.

    What were you doing to support your husband in caring for the family those days?

    I was making local pots. I always made big and small pots from clay. I made pots for cooking and for storage of water for domestic use, I also made some for storing grains and so on. So, I was the only pot maker in this area.

    People came to buy from me at home and I took some to the market. It was a good business that time because before the coming of the aluminum pot, everyone was using the local pot for cooking and several needs. I was the only one who was making it and couldn’t stop doing it when I got married in spite of the fact that my husband was rich. He made a lot of money from selling cows but that was not enough reason for me to be lazy.  I should be able to do things with my own hands, because in those days if you stayed in one place without doing anything, you would be sick.

    Are you still making pot till now?

    At all, I can’t, I don’t have the energy any longer, I am weak. I stop making pots long ago.  But I taught a lot of women how to make them. But so people are not making the local pot anymore because iron pot is everywhere now.

    You stayed with your husband for over 70 years, didn’t you had any reason to divorce your husband?

    There was no single reason, we had quarrel and disagreements, but those were not enough to call for divorce. That is the remarkable difference between our time and now. In our time, we gave value to marriage and we endured all the way. But couples of nowadays lack endurance and if they have any small disagreement, the next thing will be divorce. There is no more respect or value in modern day’s marriage. To have a successful marriage in life, you have to endure one another as couples. Without endurance, no marriage can stand.

    So, what will be your advice to young girls of nowadays?

    There is no point advising them because if you do, you are only wasting your time. They don’t listen to our advice. They will tell you things have changed and that our own kind of life experience is of the old and past. So they don’t listen to our advice. But I think our life was better than what they are seeing today. Life used to be so good in the past.

  • Community denies report against proposed Gurara State

    Contrary to a report by a group of individuals called the representatives of the people of Lere Local Government, Kauru Chiefdom and others under the name Kaduna Development Elders Initiative, on the need for a peaceful split of  Kaduna State, the Federated Kurama Association (FKA), Kurama Chiefdom and its people have dissociated themselves from such stand.

    A statement made available to reporters by Peter Sallau Ndochi and John Boyi Ladan, president and general-secretary OF FKA on behalf of the Kurama community said the writers of the report spoke for themselves, adding that it was done without their knowledge and consent.

    “FKA, Kurama Chiefdom and members take exception to the wild, ignorant and misleading publication and it should be rejected.

    “They do not have the mandate of Kurama community or are they representatives of any legitimate existing community of Kurama people.

    “FKA, Kurama Chiefdom and the people have accepted to belong to the proposed Gurara State if the Federal Government creates it.”

  • Rumpus in Ogun East over proposed Ijebu State

    Rumpus in Ogun East over proposed Ijebu State

    Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports that the two major clans in the proposed Ijebu state are already exchanging words over choice of the capital city and other issues

    A new wave of political disagreement is blowing across the eastern senatorial district in Ogun State over the proposed creation of Ijebu state. The state, according to the recommendation of the ongoing national conference, would comprise of the two old divisions in the district, namely the defunct Ijebu and Remo divisions.

    The National Conference last week took a bold and unprecedented step under a democratic dispensation when it approved 18 requests, in principle, for state creation across the country as a way of meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the people- a recommendation many will largely put to rest decades of agitations by promoters of new states.

    The resolution was, among many others, adopted by delegates at plenary while considering the report of the Standing Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government, which was subjected to robust debates.

    The approved requests, subject to the amendment of the constitution, were proposed by the committee and they include Apa State from the present Benue, Kainji from Niger State, Katagum from Bauchi State, Savannah State from Borno, Amana from Adamawa, Ghari from Kano and Gurara from Kaduna.

    Others are Etiti State from the South-East zone, Aba from Abia, Adada from Enugu, Njaba/Anim from both Anambra and Imo States, Ogoja from Cross River, Anioma from Delta, Ijebu from Ogun, New Oyo from the present Oyo State and unnamed others.

    Like in most places where states have been proposed, there is a frenzy of meetings and discussions in the district over the modalities and steps to be taken to ensure the actualisation of the age-long dream of having a state of their own.

    However, there are sharp disagreements between stakeholders from the two geo-political units over certain aspects of the proposed state. For one, the issue of where the capital of the new state should be cited is once again generating serious heat.

    Another bone of contention is the proposed name of the state. While stakeholders from Ijebuland are comfortable with the name proposed by the Confab, their Remo counterparts would rather see the named amended to be more reflective of the identities of the two geo-political units that will become the new state.

    Also there are talks about how the proposed 20 local government areas in the state should be shared between the two. Uncomfirmed reports say the current proposal allocated 14 LGAs to Ijebu, leaving Remo with six. This, to political elites from the latter, is unacceptable.

    Speaking at a press conference called to address the issues in Sagamu, leaders of The Remo Group (TRG33), a pan Remo socio-political organisation, said they see many signs pointing to continued marginalisation in the modalities already outlined for the new state by the national conference.

    The group, which claimed to be committed to the protection and promotion of the interest of Remo Kingdom, said its decision to speak out quickly is informed by the need for the two units to meet and iron out grey areas so as to be able to pursue the actualisation of the new state collectively.

    Speaking at the conference, Ommoba Adepeju Abraham, Chairman of the Socio-political Committee of the group said; “though the group is non-partisan, it is not oblivious of the need for our people to be actively involved in the politics of the land in order to be able to ensure Remoland gets its rights and priviledges in the scheme of things both locally and nationally.

    Consequently, TRG finds it instructive and urgent to state our position on the proposed creation of Ijebu State as announced by the ongoing National Conference in Abuja.

    While we, like most people of Remoland, are very pleased with the decision to create a state for us out of the present Ogun State, we take serious exemptions to certain modalities in the proposed Ijebu State.

    Hence, we make bold to say Remo people will vigourously oppose the plan to make us “second class citizens” in an entity where historically, traditionally and economically, we’ve been equal partners with our Ijebu brothers and sisters for decades.”

    According to him, the group is uncomfortable with alleged plans to name the new state Ijebu state and put the capital at Ijebu-Ode.

    “Our take is that the new entity should reflect the joint ownership and equality of the co-operating partners, i.e the Ijebu and Remo geo-political units of present Ogun East Senatorial District.

    We recall that Remo has been an independent entity existing alongside Ijebu, Egba, Oyo, etc as a division as far back as April, 1932.

    Also, it is on record that when it was time to create local government areas, Remo and Ijebu got lumped together, the entity was named Ijebu/Remo Local Government and not just Ijebu LGA nor Remo LGA.

    Of course, the administrative headquarters was at Ijebu Ode and our people had no problem accepting that because the name of the council clearly reflect joint ownership by the two clans.

    It is in the light of this that we declare that any arrangement that will bury the identity and equality of the Remo clan in the new state is unacceptable to us,” he explained.

    Saying the people of Remoland are not out to forment unnecessary trouble, the TRG chief said any of the two options they are putting forward will satisfy their yearning as a people .

    “To resolve this impasse, we say it is either we have Ijebu-Remo state with Ijebu-Ode as capital or we have Ijebu state with Sagamu as capital. Anything short of recognising the equality of the two geo-political units in the proposed state will be unfair and unacceptable to us.

    Secondly, while we want to believe this did not emanate from any official quarter, we will nonetheless want to state clearly that an arrangement that will give Ijebu 14 local government areas and leave Remo with six out of the proposed 20 LGAs will not augur well and therefore should not be considered or attempted,” h said.

    But reacting to the position of the group in a press release, another group, Movement for the Creation of Ijebu State (MCOIS) said there is nothing wrong with the name and proposed capital of the new state.

    The release, signed by Otunba Sule Aranju and Reverend Moses Omobulejo, Chairman and Secretary respectively, condemned what it described as an attempt to drag the agitation for the new state back.

    “We are shocked that people could be talking about where the capital should be and what the name of a state that has been recommended by the national conference should be. These were decisions taken and agreed upon even before the proposal to demand for a new state was sent to the conference.

    There is no doubt that there can be no better name to call the new state than the one recommended by the Confab. And to say the capital should be anywhere else other than Ijebu Ode is to be unrealistic.  Ijebu-Ode is obviously the most suitable place for the capital in Ijebuland.

    We therefore appeal to our brothers and sisters in Remoland not to do anything that can truncate the actualisation of our proposed state. We urge that all hands should be on deck for the tasks ahead as we push forward on the road to getting Ijebu state in the shortest time possible,” MCOIS said.

    “Ijebu Ode is suitable among Ijebu cities. We are talking about Remo cities. We are clamouring for equity and fairness. The two geo-political units in the proposed Ijebu State. My own take is even that the name is either Ijebu-Remo State with capital in Ijebu Ode or Ijebu State with capital in Sagamu.

    Nobody can tell me that Sagamu cannot conveniently rival Ijebu-Ode in all ramification as a state capital. Good neigbourliness can only thrive where there’s equity and fairness,” Abraham said while debunking claims by ISM that Ijebu-Ode remains the most suitable place to serve as the capital of the new state.

    According to the TRG chieftain, all other sentiments and consideration must give way to justice and equity if the two geo-political units in the proposed state are to start their new socio-political alliance on a good note.

    “It will be a sad thing for us to go into the new state with the same old feeling of marginalisation we nurtured for years here in Ogun State. But for providence that threw up Otunba Gbenga Daniel as the candidate of the then less fancied Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2003, coupled with his own political sagacity, Remoland, in spite of our place of pride in the politics of not just Ogun State, but the whole of Yorubaland, would still be begging to be given a chance to govern the state.

    We cannot afford to be treated same way in a new state. This is why we are quickly drawing attention to the imbalances in the proposed arrangement. We either share the name with our Ijebu brethren or we take the capital. Where ever the capital is located in Remoland, be it Sagamu or Ikenne or even Ode Remo, is immaterial to us. All we seek is fairness and inclusiveness,” he added.

    Abraham added that to further discuss the raging issues, a Pan-Remo Assembly has been slated for Sunday 13th July at Irolu Remo Town hall.

  • Just before the proposed HND/B.SC parity

    THE news of the inauguration of a committee by theFederal Government (FG) to bridge the gap between Higher National Diploma (HND) and university degree is relatively a cheering one. At least, after ten months of academic shut down by polytechnic lecturers across the states of the federation, the FG is planning to put a ‘lasting ‘solution to one of the major demands (removal of HND/university degree dichotomy) of the aggrieved lecturers.

    As much as I wouldn’t want to pre-empt the report of the committee, I wish to state that removing the disparity or bridging the gap between graduates of the two programmes would be more akin to the wisdom of a man that ignored leprosy only to dissipate his energy to treating ringworm.

    First, all stakeholders will agree that the Walter Elliot Commission of 1943, Eric Ashby Commission of 1959, Dr A. Skapski‘s report of 1962 and other conferences sought to engender the development of technical manpower in Nigeria. Therefore, the polytechnic education was not illconceived, but misunderstood to date. The wrong perception of polytechnic education is evident from the way lecturers are recruited to the admission process of prospective applicants; from the curricula development to the relevance of the courses; from the government regulatory agencies to the ownership (state, federal & private); from the employers of labour to several policy somersaults. The list is endless. Hence, for the stakeholders, a rare cognitive restructuring or pragmatic approach towards tackling these problems is necessary before anything good can come out of the polytechnic education reforms.

    Second, if really the private sector is the major employers of labour in Nigeria, then the removal of the disparity would be a mere effort in futility. The government may decree that public and private sectors should give polytechnic graduates and their university counterparts equal opportunities to work with the same entry levels and promotional growths, however, can the government mandate private companies from which schools they should recruit from? Subsequently, the problems would be far from being solved and would greatly affect the private sector. Three, FG may need to tackle a bigger disparity that may endangered the socio-political and economic systems of the country in the nearest future if this committee does not extend its dragnet to tackling disparities amongst private , state, federal and foreign universities especially from the neighbouring countries.

    Government may not see the need for that now until another five years when the products of these neighbouring countries’ universities flood Nigeria. The attention would then shift from the army of unemployed graduates to unemployable certificated individuals.

    Unofficial visits to these universities in Republic of Benin, Ghana, etc could be of great assistance in this regard.

    In furtherance to my little modifications, I will toe the line of the Heads of Polytechnics and Colleges of Technology (COHEADS), in their memorandum submitted to a Presidential Technical Committee on the Consolidation of Tertiary Institutions in 2007. The recommendations include; consolidation of tertiary institutions by converting and upgrading polytechnics and colleges of education into campuses of proximate universities to address carrying capacities issues; with additional 1,000, 000 admission spaces estimated, HND should be scrapped. The National Diploma (ND) programmes should remain in all universities of technology (new & old). With the reform, middle level technical manpower will henceforth be clearly defined by ND qualification.

    The largest federal and state polytechnics in each of the six zones should be converted into full fledge universities. These institutions should remain technical institutions where 90% of all enrolment must be in core technical programmes. The ND should be the entry qualifications to the universities of technology and the new universities. The main focus of these institutions should remain inculcating technical skills and competences at very high level. The curricula in these institutions must be thoroughly reviewed to reflect need- oriented, contemporary and futuristic courses. The curricula development should involve 50% end users, 35% practical-oriented Lecturers, 10% education specialists and 5% genuine Nigerian educators in the Diaspora. This should not be made ‘food for the boys’.

    The other polytechnics should remain but affiliated to the newly established or existing universities. However, they should be allowed to produce technicians only at the ND level. Those wishing to further their technical training would then enroll into the universities of technology or the newly established universities. The entry qualifications for the ND programmes should be five credits in parity with conventional universities.

    The ND programmes should be a comprehensive three-year programme as proposed by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). The regulatory framework that already exists for polytechnics should be upgraded to take charge of the proposed universities of technology.

    The committee must ensure that modalities for improving capacity, both human and physical, at the new universities be put immediately into place. A fiveyear moratorium should be given to all the new universities to enable them improve capacity. There must be a strategic plan for aggressive staff development and upgrading of facilities while funding should be provided to implement these plans.

    With regards to the current holders of HND certificates, windows of opportunities should be opened to them to convert their certificates to university degree certificate .This would even serve as additional Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for the universities to develop at a fast pace. The committee must ensure that the introduction of the reforms will not lead to retrenchment of staff. These can be ensured by allowing the staff sufficient time to upgrade, reskill and upskill.

    • Adesemoye is a lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication of Lagos State Polytechnic.

  • Proposed amnesty for terrorists

    Proposed amnesty for terrorists

    SIR: I have monitored the declining government of Goodluck Jonathan with a sense of dread, horror and prayers for a change. I have also criticized the woeful economic and security measures by the government yet hoping for the best result at the end of the day. It is to my deepest chagrin and utter dismay that the government has shown its weakness/reluctance to adequately protect lives through the ultimate act of political abuse of the legal terms ‘amnesty”

    Do they (Nigerian government) even know the full legal ramification of amnesty? For the sake of clarity, “amnesty is a pardon extended by the government to a group or class of persons, usually for a political offence; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of persons who are subject to trial but have not yet been convicted. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the offence”. Countless lives have been lost, properties destroyed, economic development halted, children rendered orphans and the government has the effrontery to term it a political offence? This is a crime against humanity! Their actions go beyond greed and selfishness to pure wickedness. What amnesty can you possibly offer a man whose beliefs are rooted in matters of faith and he is ready to die alongside that belief?

    How can you reach a state of pardon with a faceless person? What of the ties to other terrorist organizations? How do you hope to handle and sever it? Has the government considered these questions?

    There is more to this amnesty bid than the government is letting on and if the rumours of political settlement for a second tenure is to be believed, then not only am I hugely disappointed, I call for our collective intervention to stop this travesty! I watched the video, saw the bodies and felt the heartfelt cries of the families, how can the government turn a blind eye to such heart breaking plight?

    For the sake of families that have been emotionally paralyzed, innocent lives, dreams that have been cut short and economic retardation, I ask the government to abandon this weak attempt and concentrate on protecting lives while bringing the culprits to face the full brunt of the law because that is what justice is all about. Amnesty programs are expensive, the money can be channelled to victims, their families, and development

    In the alternative, I call on the intervention of the legislative arm to put up laws for conditions to the grant of amnesty and the judiciary to sanction the application of the privilege. If this prerogative is left in the hands of the executive alone, the abuse can lead to more anarchy, chaos and distraction from economic progress.

    David Smock rightly noted, “The downside of it is the impunity that it implies; that people can commit atrocities and say that they will only stop if they are given amnesty…”

     

    • Jennifer Heaven Mogekwu Mike

    University of Exeter UK.

  • ‘Stop politicising proposed amnesty for Boko Haram sect’

    A professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Lanre Badmus, has accused the Federal Government of politicising its planned amnesty for members of the Boko Haram sect.

    The don noted that the sincerity of the Federal Government in the matter was suspicious.

    Badmus spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, after launching The Learned, a journal of the Law Students’ Association (LASA) of the state’s College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies.

    He said: “I’m not sure the Federal Government is sincere in the promise to give amnesty to Boko Haram members. All that the Federal Government is doing is politics and to play on the people’s intelligence.

    “When you want to set up a committee to take care of the interest of a certain disadvantaged section of the community and you are setting up people that have had their hands soiled with the blood of most of the members of such organisations as members in the amnesty committee programme, it is like you are putting the dog in charge and you are inviting people to come in and the dog would not allow them to come in.

    “Majority of the members in the government committee are people that may not be acceptable to Boko Haram members because they will be thinking that they are being set up. They will be looking at them as a way the government is setting a trap for them.

    “So, when the Sultan of Sokoto made an appeal to the Federal Government to grant the amnesty, the first fundamental mistake the President made was to reply the Sultan in public. The President forgot that the Sultan is a father figure of this country. He’s the spiritual head of the entire Muslims of this country, who are in the majority.

    “In my own opinion, Mr. President should have been wise enough to consult with the Sultan, saying: ‘Please, enlighten me on what you said earlier.’ Then, when he went to announce the committee, I don’t think the Muslim Ummah leadership was contacted. So, it might be that the wrong people have been put in place to do the work.”

  • Proposed N13.6b secretariat: Opposition flays Chime

    Proposed N13.6b secretariat: Opposition flays Chime

     •I’m unperturbed, says governor 

     

    Opposition parties have condemned the plan by the Enugu State Government to build a new secretariat for N13.6 billion.

    Nine opposition parties, under the aegis of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), in a statement, frowned at the proposal.

    They said it was not necessary now.

    The parties have formed a coalition to present a common candidate to run against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 governorship election.

    The Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) is heading to court to stop the rebuilding of the secretariat.

    The party said: “We will not fold our arms and allow this government destroy the existing secretariat and bequeath a legacy of huge debt to the people of Enugu State.”

    Governor Sullivan Chime said he is unperturbed by the opposition’s attacks.

    In a statement, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Inter-Party Affairs, Mr. Chris Asadu, said those attacking the government have not given any substantial reason for their criticisms.

    Asadu, who is a CNPP chieftain, said only nine of the over 37 opposition parties were behind the attacks.

    He said those criticising the government were “merely exercising their right to freedom of expression to seek relevance, rather than pursuing any discernible cause”.

    Asadu said the governor should not be worried by the opposition’s “tantrums”.

    The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Chukwudi Achife, said: “The credibility of the opposition’s criticism has been undermined by their claim in the media that they decided to attack Chime because he had become inaccessible after they supposedly helped him to win the 2011 election.”

    He said the governor is running an all-inclusive government, with some opposition figures occupying public positions in his administration.

    Achife said Chime has maintained a “broad-minded and non-partisan policy” in the implementation of his transformation agenda.

    He said: “We understand these attacks as a mere exercise of the freedom of expression, not that there is any real substance to them. These things happen now and then. Democracy permits it and, as such, the governor is not perturbed.

    “He will remain focused on the job he has been elected to do, which objective minds have acknowledged he has been doing excellently well”.

    Achife said the governor is willing to listen to constructive criticisms and suggestions that would improve the state.