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Tag: retirement

  • The sore side of retirement -Ex-Kogi Perm Sec Mubo Eniola

    The sore side of retirement -Ex-Kogi Perm Sec Mubo Eniola

    For someone like you that was used to usually travelling here and there, how is life after retirement from government service?

    It’s fun. I have prospects, so I am not edgy or worried. Though life is not rosy either but I have more time for my family now. I have time for my immediate environment. Though, the truth also is that sometimes, I have too much time on my hands.

    What are the things that you are looking at doing, especially having been in the tourism industry for long and having risen to the enviable position of a permanent secretary?

    Not everybody is made to provide service or supervise service like I have done all my life, especially in the last 30 years or so of my life. If you work diligently and you have not acquired illegal wealth in this country, you may not be able to do some gigantic things that your mates are doing. That is just the truth. So do not be surprised that you find me not having a chain of hotels and parks all over the place. I have not stolen money, so I do not have money. The little I have, I hope that I will be paid soon so that I can utilise it to do what I have in mind to do, and also to take care of myself.

    So what do you miss from active service?

    I miss the fun of tourism. You know, tourism is about work and play. That is what the job is about. So I miss that aspect. And you see, except you are determined and make yourself relevant one way or another, once you retire, they forget you. At that point, some people do not even want to hear your name again, regardless of your qualification and experience. It is a funny thing because it is as if the more you would have contributed, the more they do not want to see you. But for people like us who know of a struggling kind of life, we still make ourselves relevant somehow by still trying to do things that help to shape things in our environment.

    Tell us some of your fond memories in service.

    The first thing that I am happy about is that when Kogi State was created, I was the Pioneer General Manager of Kogi Hotels and Tourism Board in 1991 and I am happy that we were able to preserve and conserve all our colonial heritage.

    Can you tell us about some of these colonial heritage?

    They are mostly Lord Lugard resource, the Mount Party of 1500 meters above sea level or River Niger level. We have the first primary school in Northern Nigeria; we have the first prison in Northern Nigeria. There are many firsts in Lokoja as representing the whole of Northern Nigeria. We have the Confluence of the River Niger and River Benue, which is natural. We have Lord Lugard Senior Staff Quarters, all these were preserved and conserved. We have the amoral, cenotaph of the first and second world wars in Lokoja; we have the largest European cemetery here. It is located in Lokoja. We even have the graveyards of the deposed Northern Emirs who resisted colonialism. They include such emirs as the emirs of Kano, the emir of Zazzau, which is Zaria, the emir of Bida, the emir of Futah, about seven of them. They were all buried in Lokoja and perhaps that is why we have a large population of the Hausa in Lokoja. So those things are there, they are preserved.

    At that time, people didn’t know their importance but they have been preserved and we insisted that they must not be destroyed. It is still there today and that is one thing that I have fond memories about.

    You were talking about relevance just now, so in what ways are you looking at being relevant or contributing to tourism in Kogi State and Nigeria as a whole?

    I hope that in the next one year, I will have the opportunity to uncover what my brain is telling me to do at this point in time. But even then, I have to receive my money which I am still expecting. There are some people who know that I am bristling with ideas, but I am also careful in the sense that most rich Nigerians just want to steal your idea and use it for themselves. But what I want to do is innovative, it is original and will be operated at the private sector level for maximum benefit. But I need my entitlements for me to be able to do that.

    How soon do you think that your entitlements will be paid?

    Sincerely, I hope it will be soon. That is my gratuity. I pray it will be soon. I am also working hard at ensuring that it is soon. That is going to be my saving grace.

    Now let’s talk about tourism, do you think the industry is growing in Nigeria? That’s because there is a feeling that government is getting more interested and which therefore should mean that the industry must be growing. Do you agree?

    The way I have seen tourism in the country in the last 10 years is that, during the period of ex-President Obasanjo, he took interest in tourism. He made efforts to rekindle that industry in the country. But unfortunately, even the ex-president  didn’t establish the structure permanently to ensure that any incoming government after him must continue with his laid down structure.

    That has been a problem. I am referring to the introduction of the Presidential Council on Tourism. He didn’t lay it down to ensure that nobody can change it. I guess he should have put it into the constitution or entrenched in the ministry’s code. He should have gone further to institutionalise it in such a way that the next president will maintain it and encourage its existence in every new government in the country.

    During Obasanjo’s government, tourism was making progress, and one felt that at last tourism has survived and arrived to stay in the country.

    But not so, we later realised as it is today that tourism has taken two steps forward, three steps backward. Sometimes even, tourism takes two steps forward, and then five steps backward. During Jonathan’s government, there was a lot of propaganda done in the area of tourism. There were things on paper, but there were no actions done regarding them.

    It is sad because such things truly happened and it happens when you do not put professionals in their place. It happens when you do not put the right people in the right place. The government should put professionals in the right places because they know what to do. As it is now, you hear someone say he wants to promote domestic tourism. But how do you go about that when you do not even know what domestic tourism is? You cannot implement what you do not even know.

    It is not by just saying it, then it will come to be, and the worse aspect of it is that, they do not know how, and they do not consult those who know how to promote domestic tourism. And when the professionals who know what to do get close to the person in charge in government, they rebuff them. It is sad because at that point, the professionals just leave them to their own folly. That is why you see them continue to do silly things in the name of promoting tourism and using that opportunity

    to amass ill-gotten wealth. They are busy looting allocations to tourism.

    Hospitality is an aspect of tourism, in recent years, some of our major cities have sprung up with hotels.

    Of course, the trend is everywhere. That is also taking place in Kogi State right now. Once people have money, they go and build hotels. But that is just a part of tourism. The government, like I said earlier, must promote our tourism assets. We must develop them, conserve them which is equally important. When you develop your tourism assets, maintain and conserve them, naturally, domestic tourism will happen. You will not have to force it at all. And once domestic tourism grows, international tourism will equally naturally follow.

    So what do you have to say about the increase in hotels all over?

    The building of hotels has to go with the development of sites, else, what are hotels there for? That is why most of the hotels are under-utilised except on weekends. Some function mostly on weekends except of course, in certain cities where conferences are usually held. But mostly in state capitals or most towns, then the hotels come alive at weekends when there are ceremonies like marriage, burial or installation of a traditional ruler and so on. Monday to Fridays, the hotels are mostly empty or their occupancy rate is very low.

    There is need for the development of resources where we have advantage. I am a supporter of the notion that any state that is interested in tourism should step aside and go ahead leaving the un-interested federal government behind. You do not have to wait for a Federal Government that is not interested in tourism. You don’t wait. You go ahead. Any state that knows the value of tourism should have a tourism programme and execute it just like they are trying to do in Cross River State.

    Unfortunately, the tourism tempo in Cross River State tourism has slowed down because of the change in government. Lagos is making effort but not doing enough for tourism. They should do more than lip service. So after locating a tourism site, you conserve, you rehabilitate, do restoration work on the facility and then you build a fantasy land there. Let’s take disney world, for instance, somebody just decided to fantasise and then build, that is what tourism is about. It is about thinking the un- imaginable, get a back up and then implement. Tourism is also about providing access, land, sea, air, and road, make it cheap not limited to a particular group. Tourism in England started through the railway system. It was the cheapest means of transportation that the common man could reach and from there, the birth of domestic tourism came to be. You have to have a deliberate policy for tourism. Not

    just a word of mouth to promote tourism, and then wear the Nigerian flag. That does not translate into domestic tourism. So for someone who knows about tourism, when you see such, you cannot but laugh.

    Let’s talk about festivals, Nigeria is blessed with many festivals but only a few are popular and celebrated. What do you have to say about this?

    Every festival has its dos and don’ts, some are annual, while some are bi-annual. I believe that festivals that have cultural significance should be promoted. To promote festivals means provision of money. Most state governments do not put down funds for the promotion of festivals. The success that Calabar Carnival records is because of the commitment to it. There was seed money that has now been added to by the private sector. You will know that they mean business; that is why they must gain from it. Festivals must be well funded, they must be identified and they must have attraction value. Not every festival must be promoted, but once it has attraction value, meaning most people will want to go and watch, then the state government can promote it. Once they promote it, the money will come back.

    How about domestic tourism, are Nigerians travelling within Nigeria?

    Yes, we have public holidays but most Nigerians do not know where the tourism attractions are. Without knowing, how will they visit? So tourism sites must be promoted. Let Nigerians know where the tourism attractions are through promotions. Nigerians like enjoyment. An average Nigerian wants to enjoy his life; most families like recreation and fun. But they must know where to find such fun facilities and they must be empowered so they can go there to enjoy themselves.

    The truth is that we are not serious about tourism because if truly we are, there are ways that the population could be enticed to embark on domestic tourism. When you provide cheap transportation to a tourism attraction, people are motivated. There are specific packages that can be done, it is not limited to special packages to the UK or to Jerusalem and so on. Special packages can be done for local tourism. Then put a little money in their pocket and Nigerians will go there. But in a

    situation where the average Nigerian does not even have money to live by the day, how can he have money for tourism? So we have to do a re-think on tourism.

    If you have to advise the government of the day about domestic tourism, what will you say?

    Domestic tourism does not fall from heaven, there has to be a deliberate government policy to that effect. Ambassador Frank Ogbuewu, a former Minister of Culture and Tourism called the period of harmattan season an opportunity to promote tourism. But nobody paid attention to him. I was part of that project as a consultant, but nobody pursued it.The countries that enjoy domestic tourism today are those that have institutionalised those little social items that matter to tourism.

    In England when they were promoting their tourism, going on holiday was made compulsory. Eventually they knew where to go, knew how to reach there and they had money in their pocket because they had been made to save during the year for that purpose. Here, you do not have money to save. As a retiree in Nigeria, if you had not amassed wealth, it is difficult to survive.

    But you are still looking healthy, youthful and fit, so how do you do it?

    I do lots of exercises, I watch what I eat as I go older. I make myself to laugh a lot. That is the easiest way of avoiding uninvited diseases.

    So what do you think of outbound tourism in Nigeria?

    That is where you find the Nigerian they are everywhere, Dubai, UK, USA and so on. Within two months of Emirate Airlines introducing flights to Abuja, they had to change the capacity of their aircraft. That tells you the high volume of movement of people on the international route.

    How about inbound?

    There are no records. Any record you have now is a guess work. The so-called satellite tourism account is not heard of again. They have been talking about it at the NTDC for about 15 years now. But nothing to show for it. So we do not have proper records. All you have for Nigeria at World Tourism Organisation are estimates. No proper statistics. Information is distorted. But in other countries, these are basic pieces of information that can be accessed by anybody. So these are the deliberate policies that we are talking about that government must follow up and put in place. If you look at the Master plan for Nigerian tourism, you will see all this there. But right now, we do not know if or where that master plan is.

    The new government has a lot to do; they must appoint professionals into tourism positions. The government must also spring into action to ensure that all the relics from Kirnin Borno Empire are kept intact. They should not be destroyed by the insurgency going on in the northern part of the country. And of course we must have good security even for domestic tourism to thrive. Once you cannot move from one point to another, then domestic tourism cannot thrive.

    Do we have committed stockholders to drive tourism if the government were to have the will to take on the development of tourism in the country?

    There are committed Nigerians, some have passed on, but others are there. Then also, younger people have to be trained on tourism as a subject.

  • Retirement from Eagles:I quit to avoid insults – Emenike

    Retirement from Eagles:I quit to avoid insults – Emenike

    Super Eagles striker Emmanuel Emenike has revealed that he called off his Super Eagles career after five years to avoid insults.

    Emenike, who played under Samson Siasia, Stephen Keshi and now Sunday Oliseh with 36 caps and 10 goals said it was time for him to quit the team and concentrate on his club career.

    The former Fernebache striker said much of his decision to quit international football was centered on the news emanating from the internet that he could face sack from the national team coach after failing to deliver in four matches under Oliseh.

    However, Emenike had wanted to quit the team before the appointment of Oliseh and he confided in the coach about his intention to quit the team, but Oliseh was able to convince him to stay.

    Emenike feels that he does not want to be insulted the way his team mates are being insulted to quit the national team and his decision is perfect at the moment.

    “For everybody that thinks I am the problem of Super Eagles, I am using this opportunity to give you a breaking and interesting news that I am no longer a Super Eagles player. It has always being my pleasure to play and win for the team. I am always proud of my successful years in the team and I am pleased to call it off at this point in order to avoid insults,” said Emenike.

    “I have always made it clear that the Super Eagles is not anybody’s family house, its a service camp and nobody is above the team as along as the national anthem is concerned but I am always get pissed off when some decisions are being hypocrised. Today, I am bold enough to say it that I am not interested again. I think the coach should have been bold enough to handle the situation in this way. I won’t wait to be insulted.

    “I am grateful to God for giving me the chance to be part of Nigeria’s history when football is concerned. I am very humbled for the glorious days,” Emenike said

  • Experts hail Chile’s retirement system

    Since its launch 35 years ago, Chile’s retirement system has been hailed as “best in class” by pension experts near and far.

    The country’s fabled individual and privately-managed accounts include around 10 million affiliates, hold $160 billion in investments, and pay retirement benefits to over a million retirees. So why did President Michelle Bachelet establish a Pension Reform Commission that just delivered to her 58 specific reforms and three comprehensive proposals to overhaul and remodel Chile’s retirement system?

    One motivation for all such commissions, and this one was no exception, is to offer a sounding board for popular opinion. During the year I served with the group, much grumbling was heard about low benefits and the system’s so-called “social illegitimacy.”

    I attribute some of the complaints to widespread ignorance of how the system actually works, since only a handful (19 percent of men, 11 per cent of women) know how much they contribute to the accounts: 10 per cent of pay. This underscores my own research showing that most Chileans had no idea how much they paid in commissions, how their money was invested, or how their benefits would be determined at retirement. Only one-fifth of the participants had the faintest idea about how much money they held in their accounts.

    So financial illiteracy is a big problem, and not one confined to Chile. Yet the nation’s failure to educate its citizenry about how their pensions work and their role in retirement security is central to why three-quarters of the population now feels that a major overhaul is required.

    In the course of our work, we learned that Chile’s retirement system actually does a rather remarkable job of protecting against old age financial destitution. This is because means-tested government benefits were implemented in 2008 to support those who contribute little to their private accounts. After this, extreme elderly poverty dropped to 1.6 per cent. Adding the means-tested to the self-financed pension generates replacement rates of about 64 per cent, levels even above what retirees in the US get from social security.

    Yet important holes in Chile’s retirement system fabric remain. Women who don’t work for pay have no pensions, nor do the self-employed (the latter were actually not required to contribute to their retirement, a problem the government now seeks to rectify). Even more concerning is the fact that Chilean women may retire at age 60, five years younger than men. As a result, they end up with extremely low benefits due to their longer life expectancy and lower life-time wages. Our Commission therefore recommended raising women’s (and men’s) retirement ages and adopting a unisex life table, to help boost older women’s living standards.

    • Culled from Forbes

  • How financial ignorance can ruin retirement

    There are compelling reasons to be worried about retirement preparedness. Only a minority of individuals give any thought to retirement, even when people are only 10 to 15 years away from it. Planning can make the difference between security versus fragility in retirement. Research shows that those who plan end up with double or triple the wealth of those who do not.

    Other factors complicate retirement preparedness. The responsibility for accumulating retirement wealth increasingly falls on employees’ shoulders. And since people are living longer, their retirement accumulations must now stretch over lengthier retirements.

    Financial literacy is the critical tool. Indeed, financial literacy is strongly linked to both effective retirement planning and also to the amount of wealth accumulated for retirement. Among the ways in which financial illiteracy undermines retirement security, research has identified three critical areas: saving, investing, and drawing down wealth in retirement.

    Saving for retirement is a notoriously complicated decision. A lot of information—and a great deal of calculation—goes into determining how much one should save. Complexities aside, the main principle at work is interest compounding. Indeed, a basic understanding of interest compounding points to the importance of saving early and often, to tap the advantage of time in building a retirement nest egg. And someone who understands this basic concept will recognise that current auto-enrollment rates for retirement accounts (for workers with pensions) are too low to provide a secure path for retirement.

    To save effectively for retirement, retirement saving must be set to grow. A good rate of return is essential to building a nest egg. A difference of 100 basis points (for example, a return of seven percent versus six percent) makes a huge difference over a long horizon. Again, there is a benefit from starting saving early. The sooner one starts to save, the more time the interest earned on that saving can feed retirement wealth.

    There are many ways to achieve strong rates of return. Investment in riskier assets, such as stocks and mutual funds, is one avenue. While risky assets are, of course, no guarantee of high return, financial markets usually provide a reward for risk, and many retirement accounts offer investment options with these assets.

    The academic literature also underscores the importance of index versus actively managed mutual funds, since high fees can quickly erode the returns on managed investments. Moreover, employer matches can greatly increase the return on retirement savings, often above those one could attain on one’s own in financial markets. This is why it is so important to take advantage of them.

    Earning high investment returns on assets is only part of the balance sheet, however. To grow wealth, one must also manage debt so that it does not jeopardise retirement wealth. We all need financial knowledge to invest and borrow wisely. Our recent study on a large employer’s pension plan participants showed that employees with higher financial literacy achieved higher investment returns on their portfolios. In another analysis, I found that people with higher financial knowledge were also least likely to borrow at high cost.

    • Culled from Forbes

  • Ambode to increase retirement benefit bond funding rate

    Lagos State Pension Commission has said Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode may soon increase Retirement Benefit Bond Redemption Fund Accounts (RBBRF) of retirees.

    Its Director-General, Mrs. Folashade Onanuga, made this known in Lagos while clarifying that the governor had not decided on the a new funding rate.

    She said the governor had only directed that the rate be increased following recommendations by actuarial consultants that the funding rate be increased to 12.41 per cent from five per cent.

    According to her, the state has consistently on a monthly basis, funded the RBBRF with an amount equal to five per cent of the total monthly personnel cost of the active workers.

    She said the actuarial consultants were appointed by the government to value pension liabilities owed retirees of the state.

    Mrs Onanuga explained the consultants had identified the problem of inadequate funding rate and that the governor wants to ensure that funds were available to pay the terminal entitlements of the retirees.

  • Premium chief urges retirees to plan for retirement

    Premium chief urges retirees to plan for retirement

    Employees in the country need to plan their retirement to avoid disaster for the retirees and the society, Managing Director, Premium Pension Limited, Wilson Ideva has said.

    Speaking with reporters in Lagos, he said there is need for in-depth planning, mental and psychological conditioning of the retiring worker to equip him to seamlessly adjust to a different kind of life after decades of service to society.

    He said: “The consequences of lack of understanding of the basic requirements for a happy life in retirement and associated ill-preparedness for disaster both for the retiree and the society and consequently give the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) a bad name and erode the initial gains.

    “The onus falls on the Bureaux of Pensions and the pension operators to run preparatory programmes for workers, especially those on the verge of retirement.”

    He said economically, socially and psychologically, stable retirees are the most effective advertisement for the CPS.

    He called for synergy of all stakeholders in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) to ensure that the gains of the industry in the past decade are sustained.

    “Partnership of relevant government institutions, especially the Bureaux of Pension and the pension operators in the country is the sine qua non for sustaining the current gains of the scheme and even expanding its scope and proliferating its inherent opportunities “There is also the need to prioritise awareness creation along with the importance and workings of the CPS,” he said.

    To ensure that many more workers are covered by the pension scheme, Ideva advised that government should to plan to expand and or redefine its programmes even as it relates to requirements of participants, beneficiaries and key actors as the case may be.

    He noted that expanding the CPS to the informal sector of the economy as permitted by the Pension Reform Act 2014 requires some measure of creativity and professionalism on the part of key actors to make it work.

  • Seven retirement Myths debunked

    MYTH 1- I am too old to save for retirement

     

    Too old? Many workers, especially in the private sector, may one day wake up to realize that they are ÀÛ+Üfty or more without a retirement savings plan. Fear would envelope them and they would conclude it is already too late to start. They were stuck; they had missed their opportunity. Not true. While it’s true that you’re better off starting at age 25 than 50, it is also true you’ll be better off starting at age 50 than, say, 70. Then again, 70 is a better start than 90, isn’t it? The past is the past. We must stop peering at the rearview and instead look ahead toward the horizon. As long as you’re still breathing, it’s never too late to start. It’s never too early, either.

    MYTH 2-I am too young to save

    for retirement

     

    Too young? If you’re younger than 30, you have it made! Young people, no matter your tax bracket, have a significant opportunity to become truly wealthy thanks to the power of compound interest. Someone who invests $25,000 by age 25, with a 12 per cent rate of return, will have more than $2 million by age 65 even if he or she doesn’t add another dollar after age 25. Conversely, if that same person waits until age 30, he or she will have to contribute more than three times as much to achieve the same outcome. The lesson? Compound interest is the best ways to grow your money over the long haul so start while you’re young.

    To visually illustrate the difference between starting at age 25/35.

     

    MYTH 3-I don’t make enough

    money to save for retirement

     

    Actually, there is no reason y o u s h o u l d n ‘ t r e t i r e a millionaire. That’s right. Virtually everyone, even minimum-wage earners, has the opportunity to be a millionaire when they retire. It sounds too good to be true, but the math proves otherwise: a 25-year-old who sets aside only $23 per week will retire with more than a million dollars if the money is invested properly (12 per cent rate of return). Okay, so maybe you’re not 25 anymore me, either! That’s all right. Older folks simply need to a d j u s t a c c o r d i n g l y. B e t t e r m e n t h a s a wo n d e r f u l l y i n t u i t i ve i nve s t m e n t – a n d – retirement calculator to help you understand exactly how much money you need to save based on your age and financial objectives.

     

    MYTH 4- Inflation will hurt

    my retirement nest egg

     

    This is the only myth that is partially true; however, its truth is irrelevant. While it is true $100 dollars ten years from now will probably possess less buying power than $100 today, the flip side of that coin is also true, and considerably more important: your $100 ten years from now will be worth infinitely more than your friend’s $0 invested. In fact, solid investments are the only way to outpace inflation. It is better to invest your $100 than keep it in a bank or under your mattress.

    MYTH 5- I’d rather spend my money on something else

     

    When intentions are good, this excuse occasionally sounds like the most compelling reason to avoid saving for the future. True, we sometimes cling selfishly to money, using our income to purchase superfluous trinkets of ostensible success, but frequently we want to use our money to contribute beyond ourselves like charities, nonprofits, and loved-ones in need. Contributing to others is certainly admirable, and I believe giving is living, so I want you contribute generously, but I’ve found the best way to help others is to help yourself first the best way to give generously is to have more to give. Investing in yourself ÀÛ+Ürst helps you ÀÛOÜex your giving muscle. There’s a reason airlines tell you to “secure your own oxygen mask before helping others”.  If it’s easier to breath, it’s easier to help people in need.

     

    MYTH 6- The Stock Market isn’t safe

     

    Translation: You don’t understand the stock market. That’s okay. I don’t completely understand the stock market, either not intimately anyway (I am not a financial advisor, nor do I play one on the Internet). The only people who must have an advanced understanding of the stock market’s intricacies are stock brokers, day traders, and fund managers. Rather than allocating several hours a day to learn the nuances of mutual funds, index funds, and individual stocks, I choose to use an investing service that takes the guess work out of investing. It is true any investment introduces risk into the equation, but long-term investing in the stock market has proven to be the best way to grow your retirement savings: over the last 25 years, including 2008’s steep decline and subsequent Great Recession, the market has averaged a rate of return of nearly 11%. Even when you account for 1929’s Great Depression, the market has averaged greater than nine per cent growth over the past 100 years (source: Morningstar). Investing in the market is the most stable good-growth investment one can make in the long-term, especially when using online tools that help you outperform the market, many of which are discussed in this essay.

     

    MYTH 7- I don’t have enough time or knowledge to manage my retirement savings

     

    It’s true you and I will likely never have as much financial wisdom as the experts, but that’s precisely why we must seek out tools developed by trusted, reputable experts. Although I’m usually a do-it-yourself kind of guy, I don’t DIY my investment strategy; rather, I did my research and found online investment tools that allow me to control my money without being overly controlling. I don’t want to constantly scrutinize my investments tweaking and reacting out of fear every time the market goes up or down but I don’t want to ÀÛOÜy blind, either. Rather than flying the plane myself, I put the best possible pilot in the cockpit.

    • Culled from Premium Pension

     

  • Try corrupt judges before retirement, NJC advised

    Try corrupt judges before retirement, NJC advised

    A justice of the Court of Appeal, Olubunmi Oyewole, has advised the National Judicial Council (NJC), to henceforth prosecute  judges found to be corrupt before their retirement to serve as deterent to others.

    Justice Oyewole made the suggestion last week in a  lecture tittled: “The role of the bar in exterminating the termite of impunity from Nigeria”, delivered at the Alao Aka-Bashorun annual memorial lecture, as part of activities marking the 2015  law week of the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

    He insisted that lawyers, who encourage impunity in the administration of justice through filing of frivolous applications, should also be discouraged from such acts through appropriate rules.

    ”We must not venture the thought that it is only through corruption that lawyers encourage impunity in the administration of justice.

    “When frivolous applications are filed to frustrate trials, when unceasing interlocutory appeals are filed, when we totally turn professional ethics upside down all to satisfy clients, we as practitioners are engendering impunity.

    “When we look the other way while our clients jump bail, interfere with witnesses and in the conduct of our cases do everything to impede the flow of justice under an unbridled commitment to our clients, we encourage impunity.

    “And when we, as Judges, grant unnecessary adjournments, delay rulings and judgments, fail to take control of our proceedings and apply extant case management strategies, we unwittingly encourage impunity.

    “Impunity is a pattern of behavior that challenges the very fabric of any organised society, done out of a consciousness that the particular society lacks the institutions or is too weak to prevent or punish deviance. It is a conduct without (fear of) consequence or repercussion; crime without (fear of) punishment,” he emphasised.

    Justice Oyewole, who is of  the Benue State division of the Court of Appeal, lamented a situation whereby electoral offenders goes freely without being punished.

    He said: ”We have just gone through a nerve wrecking electoral process which questioned the very essence of our being as a nation. Today, many of our courts are engaged in the unending rituals of election petition adjudication, leading to a development of needless and unhelpful jurisprudence, all because our electoral process is far from being transparent.

    “A little scratch will reveal the presence of impunity. Year in year out, perpetrators of electoral offences go unpunished. In many instances, they are never apprehended and where apprehended, they are processed through the justice system and freed once the tendency they worked for, gains political power.”

    He berated the bar for being part of this abberation. “The  Bar appears disengaged while the criminal justice system is routinely abused in this manner. Leading members of the Bar even join the clamour for there to be put in place an Electoral Offences Tribunal so that electoral offenders could be brought to justice.

    “This is a mantra regularly chanted after every election as if the criminal codes do not capture these offences or that offences involved are not triable by the regular courts.

    “Murder is murder whether committed during electioneering campaigns or at any other time. Ditto for possession of dangerous weapons, and other violent conducts characterising our electoral process.

    “Our criminal codes are sufficiently capable of capturing the essence of these unacceptable conducts unless we want to be hypocritical,”he stated.

    Justice Oyewole decried  human rights abuses in the country in spite of constitutional provisions on the need to respect other person’s right to dignity.

    Said he: “When Courts impose penalties for human rights abuses by law enforcement agencies and tax payers are made to compensate the victims via damages paid by the agencies and not the offenders who in most cases even continue their careers as if nothing went wrong, impunity is enthroned.

    “It will be interesting to compute how much actually goes into settling damages imposed by courts against the Federal Government for human rights abuses annually. I have an inkling that the result would be very very interesting.”

    The Justice of the Appeal Court expressed regret at the level of drug abuse in the country, noting, “it is routine these days for flights in and out of Nigeria to be disrupted on account of the presence of suspected drug traffickers.

    “Many Nigerians have met their untimely deaths in some less tolerant jurisdictions on account of drug trafficking. A review of our investigative, prosecutorial and adjudicatory approach to the drug problem will reveal a systematic perpetuation of impunity over the years.

    “A few years ago a Nollywood star was caught attempting to ferry hard drugs across our borders. She got off with a slap on the wrist; a light penal sentence with an option to pay a ridiculous fine, amounting to a seeming judicial endorsement of her illicit activity.

    “Apparently encouraged, a couple of months after the sentencing, another Nollywood star, this time of the male specie, was arrested for a similar offence and he similarly got off,” he said.

    Justice Oyewole viewed piracy as an area where impunity has equally done grave damage to the rule of law in the country. “This time with our Nollywood stars, musicians and other creative talents as victims is in the battle against piracy,” he said.

  • Don to workers: plan for retirement

    Don to workers: plan for retirement

    The 155th inaugural lecture of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) was held last Thursday at the institution’s Akin Deko Auditorium. A professor of Accounting, Famous Izedonmi delivered the lecture titled: If you want to be poor, be an employee only: An accountant’s perspective on wealth creation.

    Izedonmi argued that being employed does not lead to wealth, asking how many civil servants make it beyond their income. He decried what he called “overspending” by civil servants, urging them to invest part of their income on shares, fixed deposits and entrepreneurship.

    Izedonmi said lack of information on how to create wealth has made many civil servants to live from hand to mouth. According to the don, the present economic reality can make people living on their salaries only to regret.

    Stressing the need to divest their income to other productive venture, he said: “If you are in a paid employment, I want you to realise that you will retire one day. Learn from retirees around you. Plan for retirement and build your retirement home peacefully to avoid dying in penury. Keep debt profile low and never abandon the responsibility of wealth creation to your employer only.”

    He condemned what he called the government’s anti-worker policies, which he said had resulted in the suffering of workers and retirees. The don noted that tertiary institutions were breeding armies of job-seeking graduates, majority of whom, are unemployable.

    He called for the promotion of skills acquisition programmes for graduates, advising schools to ensure attitudinal re-orientation of students to avoid overdependence on government for job. He also advocated for mass education for workers on the dangers of a single source of income.

    The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Faraday Orumwense, who chaired the event, hailed the lecturer for his “cerebral expedition”. He said the theme of the lecture was timely and called on members of the audience to spread the message.

     

  • Don to workers: plan for retirement

    The 155th inaugural lecture of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) was held last Thursday at the institution’s Akin Deko Auditorium. A professor of Accounting, Famous Izedonmi delivered the lecture titled: If you want to be poor, be an employee only: An accountant’s perspective on wealth creation.

    Izedonmi argued that being employed does not lead to wealth, asking how many civil servants make it beyond their income. He decried what he called “overspending” by civil servants, urging them to invest part of their income on shares, fixed deposits and entrepreneurship.

    Izedonmi said lack of information on how to create wealth has made many civil servants to live from hand to mouth. According to the don, the present economic reality can make people living on their salaries only to regret.

    Stressing the need to divest their income to other productive venture, he said: “If you are in a paid employment, I want you to realise that you will retire one day. Learn from retirees around you. Plan for retirement and build your retirement home peacefully to avoid dying in penury. Keep debt profile low and never abandon the responsibility of wealth creation to your employer only.”

    He condemned what he called the government’s anti-worker policies, which he said had resulted in the suffering of workers and retirees. The don noted that tertiary institutions were breeding armies of job-seeking graduates, majority of whom, are unemployable.

    He called for the promotion of skills acquisition programmes for graduates, advising schools to ensure attitudinal re-orientation of students to avoid overdependence on government for job. He also advocated for mass education for workers on the dangers of a single source of income.

    The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Faraday Orumwense, who chaired the event, hailed the lecturer for his “cerebral expedition”. He said the theme of the lecture was timely and called on members of the audience to spread the message.