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Tag: revive

  • Adopting written word to revive Kirike language

    Adopting written word to revive Kirike language

    The book Kirikeni Aye Fie (Speak Kirike) is a practical guide to speaking Okrika language. The book begins with an Introduction – Berefinji Okwein, which gives us the geographical and cultural background of speakers of Kirike, the author’s background and a brief profile. It also makes reference to the audio book version of Kirikeni Aye Fie.There is also a section on The Kirike alphabet – Kirikeni Alifabetima which contains 37 letters, 9 vowels and 28 consonants, and the guide to pronouncing sounds in Kirikeni Okwein (Kirike language).

    The book is divided into 15 lessons. Each lesson contains: dialogues, which are practical teaching tools. They deal with everyday subjects like greetings, house work, school and occupations, preparation to travel, tours, business, weddings, making of friends and health care.

    Grammar Notes: The Grammar Notes focus on some similar words in the Kirike language, sentence structure, the present tense and past tense of some verbs and the rules for singular and plural words in Kirike.

    Exercises: There are exercises involving both speaking the language and writing it. The exercises contain role plays in which two or more people dramatise a particular dialogue.

    The book Kirikeni Aye Fie is a cultural Bank of Information. It highlights and teaches traditional foods in Okrika; traditional occupations; counting system; and aspects of traditional wedding.

    The audio book version is priceless as the dialogues come alive in it. The exercises make the message crystal clear. The role play brings out the theatrical dimensions of the book. The audio version can be used as you travel, in the kitchen and indeed, as lie on your bed.

    People often talk about problems without professing solutions on how these problems can be solved. Kirikeni Aye Fie is a definite and practical solution to the problem of the looming extinction of our indigenous languages.

    The book is well written, carefully edited, expertly translated and professionally formatted to achieve its intended purpose.

    It is an indispensable tool for rescuing the 25 per cent of children bellow 11 years, who are unable to speak the indigenous language of their parents, at least amongst the Wakirike people.

    Revival can be started by passionate desire and the spoken word, but it takes the written word to sustain the revival. Kirikeni Aye Fie will not only enflame the passionate desire for the restoration of our cultural Heritage, it will inspire us to speak the language and above all sustain the revival of the language of the Warike people. Iyaminiapu, O ye wa Kirike niokweinmi fie.

  • NEXIM to revive Multi-Trex with N5b facility

    The Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) is  set to give a financial lifeline of between N4 billion and N5 billion to Multi-Trex Nigeria to restore and boost the cocoa firm’s operations, The Nation learnt.

    NEXIM Managing Director/CEO, Abba Bello, said the cash would come from the N500 billion Export Stimulation Facility (ESF) and N50 billion Export Development Fund (EDF) provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for exports.

    The NEXIM Bank boss spoke at the weekend during the oversight visit to Multi-Trex Nigeria’s factory at Warapa, Ogun State by the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency, led by the House Chairman, Hon. Jones Onyereri.

    He said the lender is committed to promoting export investments in the non-oil sectors.

    Bello assured of his readiness to effect the processing of loan application by Multi-Trex, but alluded to the fact that the terms of settlement between Multi-Trex and the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) had to be reached.

    “It is our determination to bring back Multi-Trex to life. This will create jobs and encourage export,”  challenging the managing director of the company to show more commitment towards revival of the cocoa giant.

    Bello said looking at the huge investment and factory’s equipment, NEXIM Bank considered it very important to support the project which could create thousands of direct and indirect jobs.

    He stressed that what the company needs is only the working capital, saying that as an export credit institution charged with the mandate to promote export diversification of the non-oil sector, it has in the past supported the cocoa value chain by funding major cocoa processing plants.

    Bello said the value addition of the company to the growth of forex earnings for the country and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is driving NEXIM’s intervention in the company’s operations. He said  when operations, it could employ 1,500 workers with the huge number of  indirect employments for the immediate community.

    The Multi-Trex has, in the last two years, been under AMCON’s receivership over its indebtedness to financial institutions which AMCON bought over from the deposit money banks. Last September, the corporation and Multi-Trex  agreed to settle the matter.

    Bello said Multi-Trex Integrated,  the largest cocoa processor company in the country, was encouraged to begin production as cocoa remains the largest non-oil export for the country, and will enable it earn more forex.

    Onyereri said he was delighted to visit the company and would ensure that the CBN took urgent actions to expedite the recovery. He said the private sector should be encouraged to make huge contributions to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    He said: “I wished l had been made aware of the situation earlier than now though it’s not too late as the company ought to be encouraged by the government and not what it experienced. NEXIM should do well enough to put a project manager that will monitor the fund disbursement adding that the country’s forex earnings will rise once the company begins production.

    Multi-Trex Limited Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dimeji Owofemi, said it was their expansion initiative, which led them to seeking more funds to finance it in 2008 that led to their predicament as the private placement experienced a technical failure, hence the beginning of problems with their banker.

    He said a tripartite agreement among NEXIM, Bank of Agriculture (BoA) and the Bank of Industry (BoI), with NEXIM leading would quicken the recovery for full production.

    “I have been in the cocoa business since July 1,1987,which makes it 31 years, and people are saying that I should move on. But I tell them that I am too old to start something new as dreams are better continued by those that started them. Hence, the resilience to see the company back to production. I have learnt my lessons from the situation and it won’t happen again,” he added.

  • Battle to revive the economy

    We are winning the battle to revive the economy. We are fighting corruption like never before. We are tackling insecurity with renewed vigour. The bottom line is that as things continue to improve, Nigerians will begin to feel the impact in their daily lives.” – Lai Mohammed.

    It is just as well Lai Mohammed admitted that the battle to revive the economy is an ongoing enterprise. It is far from being won. He was honourable enough to also admit Nigerians are yet to feel the impact of government activities on their daily lives. But since ‘hope rises eternal in the human breast’, one can safely conclude that his, is a message of hope to his fellow compatriots, 70% of whom live below $1.3 a day as a result of betrayal by our successive leaders.

    This however is not to say that Buhari administration has not made some giant strides. We have seen evidence of this in the reduced threat to the territorial integrity of our nation and in the drive towards food sufficiency for our people. There is therefore no doubt as the minister rightly observed that “discerning and well-meaning Nigerians cannot but appreciate and encourage some of the good works of Buhari’s administration” against the backdrop of obstacles mounted on his path by his APC-dominated self-serving National Assembly, his warring kitchen cabinet members and his PDP detractors who see nepotism, selective anti-corruption crusade and drive to Islamise Nigeria in every policy thrust of his government.

    But I think the minister must not be allowed to get away with the wrong impression that it is only “the naysayers who engaged in past- time of acting as distraction” that are dissatisfied with Buhari and his APC government of change. Nigerians that invested so much in Buhari’s government of change want him not only to fulfil his promises on such issues as restructuring not only as an answer to our crisis of nationhood, but also as a response to periodic invasion of our villages by Fulani herdsmen and our urban centres by kidnappers and lawless street traders and restive groups canvassing for fiscal federalism.

    It is understandable if the minister is unrestrained in his celebration of what he perceived as the success of the Buhari administration’s anti-corruption crusade. The irony however is that what the government has been doing in the last two years is to attack the symptoms rather than the real cause of corruption which is the dysfunctional federal government that controls virtually everything including ‘residual powers’, the defining feature of a federal arrangement. What the Buhari administration has done in the name of fighting corruption therefore is running after common thieves who stole government funds. Paradoxically, ex-President Jonathan has said “stealing government funds is not corruption”. We may not agree with Goodluck Jonathan, but the truth of the matter is that common thieves, the targets of Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade, are not the source of our nightmare but the all-powerful dysfunctional federal centre.

    It was the might of a dysfunctional centre that General Babangida who called himself the evil genius exploited to set up the Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC) with a decree in 1988.  Babangida thereafter went on to dispose off the following national assets: Assurance Bank, African Petroleum, Unipetrol, National Oil and Chemical Co. Plc, West African Portland Cement, Ashaka Cement, Northern Nigeria Cement, Nigeria Cement company,    Festac 1977 Hotel,   Nigerdock, Niger Insurance, Nigeria Re-insurance, Savannah Sugar, National Trucks Manufacturing, Electricity  Meter Company, Zaria, Hamdala Hotel and Federal Palace hotel  among many others.

    Similarly, Obasanjo who always like to play god hid under the might of the same dysfunctional centre to foist his 1999 Public Enterprises Privatisation and Commercialisation Act on the country in spite of opposition by many well informed Nigerians. Waving  aside opposition, his administration went on to sell off the following national assets: Delta Steel Company valued at $1.5 billion for $30m; NICON Insurance worth N6b but allegedly bought with fake MoU and fake cheques, Ajaokuta Steel Company valued at $1.5 billion but sold for $30 million, ALSCON valued at $3.2b but sold for $130m, Nigeria Re-Insurance Corp. worth N50b but sold for N1.5b (see Adamu Adamu: “BPE: Behind Closed doors”(Daily Trust,  August 12, 2011).

    The Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that probed the sales of federal government houses was also told of how a German firm, Hans Grenmly bought the Abuja Sheraton Hotel and Towers built at a whopping $300m in 1986 for a paltry $34m” and how “Sofitel Hotel (NICON Luxury Hotels) built with a German loan Of $139m in 1990 was bought by the federal government which it later sold off for $50m. (This Day, April 23 2008).

    Obasanjo’s monetisation policy finally paved the way for converting all GRAs in the country to private use by members of the ruling elite and the confiscation of Abuja houses including lawmakers’ residential quarters, Senate President’s mansion and other principal officers’ residential buildings, built with taxpayers’ money by bureaucrats, lawmakers and their fronts.

    As against manufacturing, most of those who confiscated our national assets embarked on asset stripping. They found it more profitable to import the labour of other societies while our own qualified children roam the streets. The PDP crooks who hijacked the dysfunctional centre introduced self- serving policies such as reduction of tariffs on imported finished products while increasing tariffs on raw materials to frustrate companies like Michelin and Dunlop out of the country. They gave themselves import tax waivers on luxury items such as state-of-the-art SUVs and bullet proof cars. Fake and substandard products continued to flood our markets in spite of billions of naira budgeted annually by our dysfunctional centre to protect our monitor our borders and protect our markets.

    The above acts of banditry by those who did not understand the policy thrust of our founding fathers that set up the industries and established the GRAs  rather than mere stealing of government funds by common thieves under Goodluck Jonathan, is responsible for massive unemployment, grinding poverty and  deaths from fake drugs and substandard vehicle parts at home and in the desert and on the Atlantic Ocean of thousands of Nigerian youths seeking greener pastures in Europe to escape grinding poverty at home.

    Nigerians believe President Buhari, like Vladimir Putin of Russia is uniquely favoured by history to address the source of our nightmare. Like Putin, Buhari enjoys the goodwill of many Nigerians. And like Putin, he has the strength of character to take on those who have continued to impoverish Nigerians after paying a paltry $1.6 to confiscate assets acquired according to El Rufai, the former BPE helmsman, between 1970 and 2008 at a cost of over $100b.

    If President Buhari in his current battle of reviving the economy, lacks the political will to adopt the Putin paradigm which forced those who, like our ruling class, confiscated Russian assets to cede the same back to the state, he can try the Obama option of spending state funds to keep sick companies afloat in order to create employment and encourage consumption. What we lose, we gain not only through employment of our youths, safety  of our motorists but also savings from billions our dysfunctional centre and the activities of federal institutions that have proved ineffective in protecting our country from influx of substandard goods.

  • We must revive live theatre – Osofisan

    We must revive live theatre – Osofisan

    As theatre critics gathered in Lagos last week to discuss the fortunes of theatre in Nigeria and across the globe, theatre teacher and playwright of international repute, Professor Femi Osofisan, said it is now time to bring back stage plays and live theatre. Edozie Udeze reports

    Part of what defined the just-concluded Lagos Theatre Festival which held at different venues, was the inclusion of the International Association of Theatre Critics conference.  Held at the National Theatre, Lagos, it was an opportunity for Theatre Artistes both from the academia and from the streets to hobnob on the critical issues that define art criticisms and what needs to be done to keep the theatre industry on the front burner forever.

    In his keynote address, Professor Femi Osofisan, one of Africa’s most prolific playwrights and academic of international repute, described the conference as a worthy exercise, “since it is the first time Africa, and more so, Nigeria is hosting any conference by IATC.  It is a big honour.  It brings Nigeria to the world map of IATC and for us it is an opportunity to make the best out of it.  From what we see and observe by the involvement of the British Council, it shows that theatre criticism faces enormous troubles.  It is struggling to survive.  This is so because most of the travelling theatre troupes we had before have all died.  Why?”  He asked with deep concern written on his face.

    With artistes from different parts of the world in attendance, Osofisan was deeply worried that the advent of oil played its poignant role in this quagmire.  He said further, “All these have died due to oil boom and people left what they should be doing to concentrate on the business of oil.  Now it is no more oil boom; it is oil doom.  When we had oil boom, people spent money on irrelevant things; it was money stolen from national coffers”.  According to Osofisan whose theme drew so much acclaim from the audience, with a situation like this, insecurity set in.  The revenue from oil dropped and many people became poor.  “Criminality took over the face of the society that people were afraid to stage or go out to the theatre to watch plays.  Even travelling theatre could not survive due to lack of funds and patronages and sponsorships.  It was at this point that video producers came in, doing films at very reduced and cheap rates.  This then took care of live theatre.  Theatre began to suffer, even when the films were poorly produced, people made do with whatever that was available to them,” he said.

    A renowned theatre artiste reputed for his works on burning social issues, Osofisan equally noted that globalization contributed to the misfortunes of live theatre in Nigeria.  His words, “when people sat at home to watch video, live theatre disappeared from the scene.  Then globalization helped to kill theatre.  On your phone, you can download whatever you like and watch it.  You do not need to go to the cinema or theatre to do that.  Then the issue of many deadwoods that came up – Yoruba woods, Naija woods, all kinds of woods and so on.  All these competed with the theatre that today we find it difficult to resuscitate live theatre.  Now we need sponsorships, we need corporate bodies to come to the rescue.  But where are they?  Have the prosperity churches not taken over the fellowship of the theatre?  He asked reflectively.

    But theatre must not be allowed to disappear.  In an interview with The Nation, Osofisan proffered ways this can be achieved.  He said, “I don’t even know what practical steps we can take now to bring theatre back.  May be if we collaborate with filmmakers we can make it work better.  We cannot draw back the hand of the clock now.  We cannot stop digital technology.  It is a challenge before all of us.  But again how do we mobilise the money to pay the artistes, actors and so on to keep the sector on its feet?  This brings us to the issue of funding.  But again we need to bring the government back to the issue of the National Endowment for the Arts.  It is the kind of fund that the artiste can go through and get money for his works.  It has to be in place and also be made to work so that artistes can draw from it.  In most developed nations of the world that’s how artistes work and survive,” he said.

    In a place like Hong Kong where such an arrangement works, artistes do not find it difficult to work or access funds to move on.  He said, “The promise to have the endowment fund has been there but it is time to have it totally in place.  Even though the current playwrights deal with social and women issues, the interest to watch live theatre is not yet back.  Most of the stories tackle myriad of issues in the society.  But if you do it in an empty hall what does that show?  Does it encourage the producer or the artiste or the sponsor?”

    So basically, Osofisan is worried about the issues writers deal with these days.  “The other thing is that theatre is becoming more of a classroom issue where people study more of it.  It has to be practical too.  Theatre is life more or less.  Also we need to develop more theatre institutions to be able to cater for the needs of tomorrow.  It is also good to note that cinema houses are growing now.  But we have to produce more serious works to keep the audience on the issues that trouble them”.

    He also drew attention to the menace posed by piracy.  “Oh, yes, piracy is ruining most of the works in circulation.  And there is no stiffer penalty for them.  I don’t know, we’ve been on this for over twenty years.  The laws are too weak.  I mean the laws on piracy.  If you have stiffer penalties against pirates, I think they’ll relent.  The penalties are too cheap and government needs to sit up to save the industry from total collapse.  Now you have an industry that provides employment for millions of people, yet government is not safeguarding it from pirates.  It is crazy.  If we do not do the right things now, the industry may die.  The laws have to be strengthened; there have to be more measures against piracies so that we can reap from our labour.”

    In her own contribution, Margareta Sorenson, the president of IATC who came all the way from Sweden, commended the level of artistic output in Nigeria.  “I am happy we are able to do this now in Nigeria for the first time.  Nigeria is our first port of call in Africa after over fifty years of existence.  This is so because Nigeria is one of the showcases of theatres, writers, artistes and more in Africa.  This is why you are very important to us,” she said.

    With the conference theme as Theatre Criticism and Politics, Professor Olu Obafemi, president of Nigerian Academy of Letters, opined that, “it is good to bring theatre critics together for theatre and theatre criticism in Nigeria to thrive the more.  It is now time for us to think deeply about criticisms and then look at the performances we have made so far.  We have trained young critics to join us today.  Over 400 of such people showed interest to be trained, but only 20 scaled through.  For us therefore, a theatre critic can be a journalist or an artiste or both.  However, this is the time for us to move on fast and achieve more,” he said.

    For Professor Sonnie Ododo, the president of Society for Nigerian Theatre Artistes, (SONTA), “it is good that SONTA is fully involved in this.  We are happy also that IATC keeps theatre criticisms aglow all over the world.  It was SONTA that gave birth to IATC in Nigeria and this is why we have productions year in year out in Nigeria.  This has helped to keep theatre alive.  It has helped the practice to stay on course.  This is why we need to do more henceforth to help the industry stay afloat.”

    The two-day conference saw the president of IATC, Nigerian section, Professor Emmanuel Dandaura doing his best to ensure a successful outing.  He said, “It took the quick understanding of Sorenson to give the approval on a short notice for Nigeria to host this.  The efforts that would have taken me months to accomplish in order to host this conference were made possible by Sorenson.  For this, we are grateful.  The young critics have learnt a lot through hours of rigorous training and they will now be a part of this group”, he said.

    The event was spiced with the wonderful dances displayed by the National Troupe of Nigeria led by Akin Adejuwon.  The dances titled Iba, hovered on the many ethnic groups in Nigeria.  The dances were also meant for cohesion, love and unity.  They indeed opened people’s eyes to the need to use culture to infuse love into the minds of people not only in Nigeria but across the globe.

    The opening ceremony was attended by Ben Tomoloju, Arnold Udoka, Makinde Adeniran, Ahmed Yerma, and his wife Bridget, Jahman Anikulapo, many local and foreign artistes who equally savoured the aura and beauty of Nigeria’s rich cultural ensemble.

     

  • How to revive textile industry, by Aremu

    Unless the Federal Government translates its executive orders into action by directing all agencies and parastatals to continue to patronise Nigerian made fabrics, the textiles industry will remain comatose, the Secretary-General, National Union of Textiles and Garment Workers of Nigeria (NUTGWN), Issa Aremu, has said.

    Speaking with The Nation, Aremu said there was the urgent need for government to revive the textile industry because of its potential to generate massive employment opportunities for Nigerians.

    Aremu said the executive order mandating government agencies to spend more of their budgets on locally produced goods was capable of driving the recovery of the nation’s textile and garment industry.

    He, however, said the challenge is to ensure that the agencies implement the executive order by patronising locally produced textiles.

    “The Police and Customs should stop buying officers’ uniforms from Bangladesh and China, when the surviving textile factories can produce at home. This point cannot be overstated,” Aremu said.

    According to the labour leader, Nigeria spends over $4 billion yearly in importing textiles and ready-made clothing when it has the potential to produce for the local market and even export.

    He said with the right policies, the textile industry can meet local demand and also export to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) market of over 175 million people, as well as to the developed world.

    Aremu, therefore, urged the Federal Government to hasten the implementation of increased workers’ wages in the country.

    He also advised President Muhammadu Buhari to expand the composition of the newly established National Industrial Council to include state governments and labour union representatives to obtain more input.

  • How to revive economy, by union leader

    The General Secretary, Nigeria Textile Union and Vice President (Africa) of the IndustriALL Global Union, Comrade Issa Aremu, has urged the Federal Government to revive key industries for rapid industrialisation, job creation and poverty reduction.

    He made the call at a press briefing in Abuja to mark the 2016 Africa Industrialisation Day with the theme: Back to Basics: Revival of Basic Industries and Creation of Sustainable Employment.

    Aremu urged the government to make electricity supply steady to drive the industries.

    He said it was imperative for the government to diversify the economy and chart a road map to encourage industrialisation so as to exit recession.

    “The sectors include textile, garment, oil and gas, power, steel, engineering, solid minerals among others,” he said.

    Aremu implored  the  government to implement the 2014 National Industrial Revolution Plan for the country’s  growth.

    He noted that major stakeholders  agreed on the plan, pointing out that Nigeria is not short of development policies, but rather lacked the will to properly implement its many development policies.

    Aremu said it was unfortunate that many  years after their independence, African nations were still exporting their raw materials instead of adding value to them.

    According to him,  it is time for African countries to start processing their raw materials locally in order to generate employment and create wealth.

    He enjoined security agencies to curb smuggling across borders, noting that smugglers are undermining the growth of local manufacturing.

    Highlight of the activities to mark the 2016 Africa Industrialisation Day observed on November 21 include march for industrialisation, job creation and revival of the textile industries.

    Members of the union marched from Eagle Square to Yar’adua Centre, Abuja, chanting labour slogans and displaying various placards bearing their demands from the government.

    Some of the placards read: “Industry key to mass decent jobs,” “Copy China,” “re-industrialise Nigeria,”“Nigerians stop smuggling fake and counterfeiting of textiles,” “Buy quality, save jobs, buy Made-in-Nigeria,” “Africa produce what you can consume,” “consume what you produce,” amongst others.

  • Onaiwu promises to revive Sports Council

    The All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) has said it will reduce youth restiveness in Edo State by reviving the Sports Council.

    It promised to engage jobless youths in meaningful and profitable ventures, especially in the area of sports.

    Governorship candidate of the party Osaro Onaiwu made the promise while addressing sports enthusiasts in Benin City, Edo State capital.

    Onaiwu said he will establish football league across the 18 local government being a sport man who won medals for the state as a youth.

    The former Director-General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, said his campaign slogan termed the ‘Solution’ covered how sports development will help the state earn foreign exchange.

    Onaiwu urged the youths to vote for the APGA, adding that it is the only political party that has a clear cut out ideology that is implementable.

  • Revive technical/vocational education

    SIR; So much has been said and written about the educational sector in the country especially the misfortune that has befallen the sector in recent years. While lack of fund, negligence, policy somersault, lack of political will and host of others reasons are said to be the bane of education in Nigeria, others laid the blame on the door steps of parents, teachers and even the children themselves. One thing that all Nigerians agree however is that the sector is in dire strait.

    Just as education is having turbulent times, the technical sub-sector is also comatose. For a very long time, technical and vocational education has been relegated to the background. This aspect of education is so neglected that it is almost becoming extinct. It would appear that all the levels of governments no longer see this subsector as important. The once vibrant trade centres or technical colleges have been left to rot. New ones have not been established nor the existing ones taken care of. A general survey of technical colleges in Nigeria paint a gloomy picture of how an important training centres should not be managed. With obsolete and broken down equipment, dilapidated classrooms, lack of workshops, dejected teaching and non-teaching staff and in many cases uninviting and unconducive school environment, technical colleges have become orphans of some sort.

    To add salt to injury, people do not give much regards to students who choose to attend these schools. They are seen as second or third rate students who could not get into the conventional secondary schools or cope with the rigour of academic activities.

    The fact that some children decide to attend technical college does not make them inferior to their counterparts in the secondary schools. There are people who are very good with their hands, they could build, fix or construct something out of nothing. In developed countries, these set of people are sought after.  They are trained in technical or technological institutions to tap their full potentials to develop their countries. There is no doubt that the  economic and technological feat of  the Asian Tigers (Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, etc.) and even China would not be possible without the desired attention given to technical education as well as youth entrepreneurship by the government of these countries.

    A critical look at the vibrant and ever expanding building and construction industry in Nigeria shows that it has been taken over by foreigners. Talk of competent bricklayers, carpenters, tilers, plumbers, welders, electricians even auto mechanics and panel beaters, they are either from Togo, Benin Republic, Ghana or Cameroun.

    In the much more lucrative oil industry, Nigerians are not doing any better as very few of them are involved in the drilling and exploration of oil.  In other technical areas like underwater welding, the numbers of Nigerians are far between. Those operating the sector are the so called ‘foreign expatriates’ from America, Europe and Asia. The annoying part of it is that most of the so-called foreign ‘engineers’ are not engineers in the real sense of the word, but people trained at institutions similar to our technical colleges.

    The resuscitation of technical colleges and training of our youth in all aspects needed in the industry will not only ensure that they are gainfully employed but also key players in the sector.

    No doubt, things have changed and situations have also changed. Gone are the days when jobs were available and waiting for potential graduates and school leavers. Gone are the days when the number of vacancies in government and private organizations were more than graduates turned out from our higher institutions.  Nowadays, the jobs are scarce while the numbers of graduates and school leavers keeps increasing yearly. It is high time governments at all levels woke up from their slumber and pay attention to technical education.  Concerted efforts should be made to resuscitate existing but moribund technical and vocational schools while new ones should also be established.

    The army of unemployed youth will keep on increasing if we keep on producing graduates and school leavers without requisite technical and vocational skills. It is not too late to save our youth and our country from the current economic difficulties and the best way to go is to bring back our technical colleges.

     

    • Elijah Udofia,

    Abeokuta, Ogun State.

  • ‘Explore natural endowment to revive economy’

    The President/ Chairman Governing Council, Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria, Mr Yemi Akeju has urged state governments to tap into the natural endowment in their domain to develop their economy.

    Speaking yesterday during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Institute, Akeju said the opportunities in each state would enable the state government to engage its people to drive the economy forward.

    According to him, there are  wealthy Nigerians that should be encouraged to bring their indigenes back home to look and do something in their environment. “We need to bring the rich people in each state to come home and make investments in their state so that we will be able to engage more of our people; this will lead to the development of the states and the country at large,” he said.

  • How to revive the Police CCTV project

    No much has been said and written lately about the National Public Security Communication System (NPSCS) which most Nigerians erroneously referred to as the “Lagos, Abuja CCTV Project”.  Initiated in 2008 by the Late President Umar Yar’Adua, the $400 million (not $470 million) project was designed to upgrade the Nigerian police and other security agencies to the digital age, equipping them with modern surveillance systems, secured mobile communication architecture and other integrated technologies necessary for modern policing.

    On January 29, the House of Representatives began a probe of the project with an elaborate opening session that had in attendance past and present ministers, senior officials of government agencies among others. The current probe, it should be noted makes the third time the project is being subjected to some level of scrutiny by parliamentarians only that earlier probes have ended up with no known indictments.

    But, the current probe has unearthed diverse perspectives in what looks like a carefully engineered web of actions by agents of the immediate past administration with the ultimate aim of jeopardizing the project so that it could be easily transferred to private hands. For them, this would justify the award of another contract while unsuspecting Nigerians cheer on like drunk cheerleaders.

    “It is erroneous for anyone to call the project a CCTV project because the Video Surveillance System (VSS) is even less than eight percent of the project. There were five components and they were all completed”; former Managing Director of the Nigerian Satellite Communications Limited (NigComsat), Tiamiyu Ahmed-Rufai told the probe committee.

    Apart from the sophisticated VSS, Ahmed-Rufai went further to elaborate that the remaining four aspects of the project  include the deployment of GOTA subsystem which operates two main switch centers, 12  Base Station Controllers and 675 base stations spread across the 36 states and Abuja. The GOTA  we are now told supports 1, 500,000 subscriber lines which the former DG said is even bigger than the entire Visafone network. The base stations are also capable of providing Internet Protocol (IP) cloud for the various applications to which the project can be deployed.

    There is also the E-policing subsystem which is to facilitate the deployment of E-policing databases; the Video Conferencing subsystem to provide for video conferencing by all Commands of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) with the Force Headquarters (FHQ) and the Coalition Emergency Response subsystem, to empower emergency response and provide a national platform for emergency calls by citizens to the Nigeria Police nationwide.

    The Chinese firm that handled the project; ZTE has consistently maintained that it fully completed the project and that Acceptance Certificates were issued.  Ahmed further corroborated what the contractors said by saying that “The project is like someone who bought a brand new car but refused to fuel it.”

    Hopefully, the House of Representatives will provide more answers as to why the project was deliberately left wasted while the security situation of the country nose-dived. That a project of that magnitude was condemned to rot merely because nobody provided diesel to power the base stations can only happen in a country like Nigeria.

    The real question remains what next for the NPSCS? And to me, this is where President Buhari comes in. It was clear that some top officials of the Jonathan administration had self-seeking plan for the NPSCS asset now valued to be over $500million.

    It is heartwarming to see contractors handling federal roads back on site at the Abuja airport roads and on other roads initiated by past governments. Government is a continuum. President Buhari needs to set up a technical committee including the contractor that handled the NPSCS to quickly come up with a plan for its resuscitation. The cameras in Lagos and Abuja should be immediately restored to functionality while efforts should be made to increase the number of cities under VSS coverage since the backbone to support that is already in place.

    For a start, there is the need for the Buhari government to reactivate the VSS in Abuja and Lagos immediately extend its coverage to Kano and Port Harcourt while other cities can follow later.

     

    Musa Aliyu,

    Zaria.