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Tag: right

  • The right to beg (2)

    The right to beg (2)

    In the past week, the right to alms received a shot in the arm. It was Senator Shehu Sani’s shot at Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai. Sani supported almsgiving and clobbered Rufai as an anti-revolutionary.

    I was already contemplating this second instalment of my last week’s comment when Sani’s broadsides hit the news waves. I expected something new, sudden and even rigorous from his cerebral mind. He has been a mainstay of the civic battles of the North and has managed to present himself as a fighter not only with dignity but also for the dignity of others.

    We recall with gratitude his interventions in the tempestuous days of Boko Haram when they hoisted flags and burned towns and slaughtered human flesh and skewered virgins. He earned the people’s right and other Nigerians’ nod in his election as senator.

    But his words on El-Rufai’s policy on beggars reflect what happens to men when they swivel from activists to partisans. They lose the virtue of evenhandedness and fall into temptation. He said El-Rufai’s policies were anti-people, and the governor had decided not to appoint his (Sani’s) loyalists in office. Cutting bureaucracy, bringing faith rather than fraud to hajj, pruning expenditure and other El-Rufai policies cannot amount to anti-people policies.

    I expected his take on the almajiri issue to come with the candour of detachment and reflect legitimate logic. But the partisan wars between him and El-Rufai will unveil in the coming years. But my concern here is the almajiri hobgoblin.

    The El-Rufai take brings to mind the crises of change, and the way we effect change determines whether it works or not. It invokes Wole Soyinka’s play, Death and The King’s Horseman, a play some critics regard as the best work of his career. I think differently though. But it is a matter for another day. In his introduction to the play, the Nobel laureate ribbed commentators who reduced the theme to a “clash of cultures” and he described them as lazy. He, however, saw his work as embodying various themes relating to the tension of transition, and that is how I have seen that great play of audacious experimenting, poetic flourish and luminous characters.

    In the play, the royal is on his way from the world of flesh to paradise. A seductive beauty entraps him. So paradise can wait.

    Whether it is decadent or draconian, societies are often unwilling to accommodate the demands of change. That is why sudden revolutions are bloody and often fail. The French, Chinese, the so-called revolutions of the Europe in the mid-19th century did not rise up to the idealisms of their foot soldiers and dreamers. The American Revolution was not a revolution in the sense of the others because they sought to own their country. The others wanted to overthrow even the magna carta. Garibaldi. Bismarck. Cavour. Metternich.

    So El-Rufai had his heart in the almajiri’s place when he wanted them off the streets. He had done something exemplary in Abuja as minister.

    But in Kaduna, his action was too sweeping. But everyone, including Shehu Sani, should cavil at today’s incarnation of the almajiri. Ironically, it was the clerics who started it that bastardised it. The almajiri were not supposed to beg when it started in the Borno area many decades ago. They were supposed to be scholars. Jesus sent his disciples out to preach. He asked them not to go from house to house for sustenance. But they should remain in the place where they had food and shelter.

    The universal beggary of today’s almajiri is an abuse of its original concept. I visited Kaduna a few years ago and studied the system and even spoke with then governor, Namadi Sambo. It was clear he was thinking a policy of gradually getting the boys of the street, and his predecessor also had begun a programme that his wife pursued as an NGO after they left office. I visited one of the schools in Kaduna devoted to some of the boys. It was a full boarding school with laboratories, libraries, etc. Some of the students told me they dreamed of the professions. Pilot, teacher, engineer, etc.

    The modest gains then had started attracting some almajiri from outside Kaduna.

    It is therefore fraudulent to say that the policy of al majiri does not need expunging. What El-Rufai needs is a strategy of containment and elimination. I also observed that a northern state alone cannot deal with the issue. It is not a Kaduna problem. It is a northern problem rooted in its feudal history. First politicians, then Boko Haram recruited them.

    As El-Rufai has noted, they are bomb couriers. Calling them suicide bombers is to incriminate them. They did not know the evil they committed.

    The children would rather be an El-Rufai or Shehu Sani than a Jugunu who leads the colony of beggars. That was the shortcoming of Aminata Sow Fall’s novel, The Beggars Strike. It does not interrogate the morality of the priests and almsgivers. If we want to give alms today, we don’t need the almajiri on the street to sate our spiritual cravings. What are the babies’ homes for, the house of the blind, deaf, disabled? What of the scholarships that we need to give to many indigent ones in our midst, and the hospital patients, etc. Such giving ennobles. To give to the al majiri is to stunt their dignity. Soyinka’s Opera Wonyosi shows no sympathy for the head of the colony, and his play looks at both the street and executive beggary. Also, John Jay’s Beggar’s Opera and Brecht’s Three Penny Opera excoriate a capitalism that enriches a few and exploits the poor.

    It is the hypocrisy of the wallet against the bowl. The rich and mighty endorse begging out of naivety. The western society found a solution by creating the welfare state, especially in the aftermath of the Second World War when more than half of Europe was flirting with communism. The Marshall Plan created a first crutch, and a well-organised system to cushion the weak followed.

    In 16th century, Holland broke out of the hold of Spain when the leaders, including William of Orange, gave their party the symbol of the wallet and the bowl. They had written a petition and a senior Spanish officer said to the woman representing Phillip 11: “Fear not madam, they are nothing but beggars.” The so-called beggars overthrew Spain and reclaimed their country. In the novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo writes an evocative chapter of the revolt of the vagabonds, including beggars and the lame to mock an insensitive society. We have to save and integrate them before they rise. That is when revolutions are sudden. Even if they fail, they carry cargoes of blood and death and years of pain.

    So to effect change, it has to be gradual, not the sort of wholesale style of El-Rufai. Yet he needs our sympathy for confronting a great wrong to a generation and a scar on our conscience. The whole North should approach it in concert and as a conscience.

  • ‘Enforcing right to accountable government’

    ‘Enforcing right to accountable government’

    The Nigerian Economy and Nigerians

     

    The right to development is a fundamental right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples
    are entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social and cultural development. It is a right which includes the exercise of full sovereignty over national resources, self determination, popular participation in development and equality of opportunity.1(Footnotes) UN General Assembly Declaration on the Right to Development 1977.

    Accordingly, the Nigerian State shall direct its policy towards ensuring the promotion of a planned and balanced economic development and ensure that the economic system is not operated in such a manner as to permit the concentration of wealth or the mean of production and exchange in the hands of a few individuals or of a group.2

    Having ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Nigeria  is under a duty to ensure the exercise of the right to development  and respect the economic, social and cultural rights of the people with due regard to their freedom and identity and in the equal enjoyment of the common heritage of mankind.3 Apart from ensuring that the nation’s material resources are harnessed and distributed to serve the common good the State shall ensure that  suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, old age care and pension, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for all citizens.4

    A key component of the economic objectives of the State is the “control of the national economy in such manner as to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status.”5 Therefore, the State shall prevent the “exploitation of human and natural resources in any form whatsoever for reasons, other than the good of the community”.6 Hence, the entire property in and control of all natural resources vested in the Government of the Federation shall be managed in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.7

    In order to establish a welfare system in the country the Constitution has imposed a duty on the State to direct its policy towards ensuring that “the material resources of the nation are harnessed and distributed as best as possible to serve the common good and that the economic system is not operated in such a manner as to permit the concentration of wealth or the means of production and exchange in the hands of few individuals or of a group. But with the hijack and control of the economy by imperialism and its local lackeys the commonwealth has been completely concentrated in the hands of a few people.

    The demand for the control of the country’s natural resources was a component element in the struggle for independence from the British colonial regime. But upon the attainment of self rule the status quo was allowed to remain in the economic front. Realising that the socio-economic rights of the people could not be meaningfully guaranteed without the control of the natural resources a duty has been imposed on the member states of the African Union to freely dispose of the commonwealth in the exclusive interest of the people.

    No doubt, the domination of the Nigerian economy by market forces has stultified the development and growth of an efficient, dynamic and self-reliant economy in Nigeria. The adoption of neo-liberal economic policies by the Federal Government has continued to promote poverty among the generality of Nigerians. Despite the abundant resources of the nation, the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed that “over 100 million Nigerians live below the poverty line.” I am not unmindful of the commitment of the Buhari Administration to fight corruption. It ought to be pointed out that corruption is not the root cause of our poverty but one of the manifestations of the peripheral capitalist economy which is anchored on ruthless exploitation.

    Instead of striving by means of appropriate regulations “for the minimisation of exploitation and the concentration of wealth in a few hands, the securing of adequate means of livelihood and employment opportunities, suitable and adequate shelter, reasonable minimum living wage, old age care and pensions, unemployment and sick benefits etc”8 the State begun the systematic promotion of poverty through the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme imposed on the country under the Ibrahim Babangida junta.

    Contrary to the economic objectives of the nation, the State has stopped the planning of the economy, refused to harness the resources of the country and failed to address grand corruption and abuse of office.  But in view of the debilitating effects of corruption on the society the State has adopted some measures to promote transparency and accountability in governance. In addition to the penal and criminal codes which have provided for stringent penalties for fraud, embezzlement, stealing, conversion etc other laws which are designed to promote good governance are the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission Act, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act, Code of Conduct Act, Public Procurement Act, and Fiscal Responsibility Act. In demonstration of its resolve to combat corruption the Government has ratified the United Nations Convention on Corruption and the African Union Convention on Corruption.

    Aside the collaboration with some countries to tackle corruption through Mutual Legal Assistance the Federal Government has enacted a number of laws for encouraging ethical standards and promoting good governance. Notwithstanding the corpus of anti-graft laws and the establishment of anti corruption agencies, official corruption has stultified growth and development and exposed the country to ridicule before the comity of nations. This is not unexpected given the nature of the country’s neo-colonial capitalist economy compounded by impunity on the part of the ruling class.

     

    Constitutionality of anti-graft agencies

     

    Upon the promulgation of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission Act by the National Assembly, its constitutional validity was taken up in the case of Attorney-General of Ondo State v. Attorney-General of the Federation.9 In rejecting the request of the Plaintiff to declare the Independent Corrupt Practice and Other Related Offences Commission Act, 2000 illegal and unconstitutional, the Supreme Court said that “The Act is meant to make justiciable by legislation a declared state policy to abolish corrupt practices and abuse of power; it is to hearken to national and international concerns over corruption it is to give a national leadership and impetus to the crusade while not standing in the way of the states; it seeks, among other things, to deal with and punish specific offences on corrupt practices even including those committed outside Nigeria by citizens and persons granted permanent residence in Nigeria; see section 66. It is not in any way an attempt to embark on a general criminal law legislative jurisdiction. The eradication of corrupt practices and abuse of power will enure to the good government of Nigeria.”            The constitutional validity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act, 2004 was equally questioned in Hassan v. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission 1010  (2014) 1 NWLR (PT 1389) 607.

    Where the Court of Appeal held that the commission had been duly established by an Act of the National Assembly with the responsibility of investigating and prosecuting economic and financial crimes.  In refusing the relief for perpetual injunction to restrain the Commission from further arresting or disturbing the Appellant in any manner whatsoever the Court held that “no court has the power to stop the investigative powers of the Police or EFCC or any agency reasonable suspicion of commission of a crime or ample evidence of commission of an offence by a suspect.”

    Furthermore, the locus standi of the EFCC to charge the appellants was challenged

    In Kalu v. Federal Republic of Nigeria11 by the Appellants challenged the locus standi of the EFCC to prefer against them on the ground that the funds allegedly stolen belonged to the Abia State Government and not the Federal Government. In dismissing the objection the Court of Appeal (per  Eko JCA) held that the argument of the Appellants was rooted in the fallacious ground that “the funds allegedly stolen and paid into the account of Slok Nigeria Limited was from the Security Votes of Abia State that were managed by the 2nd Respondent, as the Governor of Abia State, and that the said Security Votes are ‘unaccountable and unretireable’. The argument does not say, and it cannot be further stretched to mean, that because the funds from Security Votes are ‘unaccountable and unretireable’ they are ‘stealable’ or and can be pilfered with impunity.”

    Kola Olaniyan has contended that “corruption cannot be effectively combated by reliance only on the criminal and law enforcement approach, and a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary approach which incorporates human rights law will be required to adequately and effectively deal with the problem and effects on human rights”.12 With respect, corruption cannot be effectively dealt with without challenging the political economy of the postcolonial capitalist states in Africa. In view of Article 21 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which has imposed a duty on all African countries to “undertake to eliminate all forms of foreign economic exploitation particularly that practiced by international monopolies so as to enable their people to fully benefit from the advantages derived from their national resources” the expropriation of the commonwealth by a few persons including foreigners is untenable.

     

    Duty of Nigerians to fight corruption

     

    The duty conferred on citizens “to render assistance to appropriate and lawful agencies in the maintenance of law and order” has been said to include the duty to expose corruption by reporting allegations of corrupt practices to the anti-graft agencies. In Fawehinmi v. Inspector-General of Police13 the Supreme Court held that notwithstanding the immunity conferred on heads of government by section 308 of the Constitution, criminal allegations against them may be investigated by the police during their term of office. The view of the apex court was captured by Justice Uwaifo when he said that “The evidence or some aspect of it may be the type which might be lost forever if not preserved while it is available, and in the particular instances given it can be seen that the offences are very serious ones which the society would be unlikely to overlook if it had its way… It may no doubt be used for prosecution of the said incumbent Governor after he has left office. But to do nothing under the pretext that a Governor cannot be investigated is a disservice to the society.”

    The Court however turned round to hold that the police could not be compelled to investigate or prosecute any criminal complaint on ground of public policy. With respect, the Supreme Court missed the point as it failed to take cognizance of the relevant provisions of the Constitution. In other words, the discretion of the anti graft agencies to decide whether or not to investigate or prosecute allegations of corruption cannot override the fundamental right of citizens to freedom of information coupled with the duty placed on them to render lawful assistance to law enforcement agencies in the discharge of their duties.

    Convinced that they have discretion to investigate or prosecute allegations of corruption the anti graft agencies have often pick and choose which cases to investigate or prosecute. The latitude given to the police and other agencies clothed with prosecutorial powers was taken up in Alhaji Sani Dododo v. Economic & Financial Crimes Commission and Ors. (supra). Having submitted petitions to the anti graft agencies alleging corruption against a former governor of Sokoto State, Senator Muhammed Adama Aliero which were not investigated by the respondents the Appellant approached the Federal High Court for judicial review by filing a writ of mandamus.

    In striking out the case for want of locus standi on the part of the Appellant the federal high court held that the Respondents could not be compelled to investigate or prosecute the suspect. The appeal against the verdict was also dismissed by the Court of Appeal. But the locus standi of the Appellant to institute the case was recognized when the Court (per Nwodo JCA) held that “the traditional and narrow view set out in Adesanya’s case will not attain justice in the realm of public right in the light of the Nigerian cases earlier set out on issue of locus… the African Charter provision encompassing public rights should be so construed broadly to vest locus on a tax payer who is interested in good governance and shows such interest by writing a statutory body to complain on misappropriation of public funds. Such act is disclosure of sufficient interest.”

    In recognising the constitutional duty imposed on citizens to report allegations of corrupt practices by public officers to the anti graft agencies the Court of appeal said that “the Appellant, has some duty under section 24 of the Constitution 1999 to abide by the Constitution and respect its deals. He also has duty, by dint of section 24(e) of the same Constitution ‘to render assistance to appropriate and lawful agencies in the maintenance of law and order’. It is in the spirit of section 24 of the Constitution, read together with section 15(5) of the same Constitution that enjoins the state agencies to ‘abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power’ that the appellant made his complaint of corrupt practices against the 4th respondent to the 1st and 2nd Respondents, who are no doubt lawful agencies of the Federal Government charged with police powers to investigate allegations of corrupt practices and financial crimes and prosecute the offenders.”

  • Soyinka was right on Jonathan

    SIR: It was certainly inevitable that President Goodluck Jonathan, who has, to all intents and purposes, abandoned restraint, would trudge on, like a pilgrim bound for doom. He had to keep chalking up more outlandish blunders until they were sufficient to transfix the Nobel Laureate. The law of inertia, valid in a physics lab as in the corridors of power, had Jonathan for a victim.

    Tyranny always had a humble beginning – like promiscuity. One instance of violation stealthily grows in fits and starts, to a consuming routine. And the virgin moves from a first timer to an addicted returner to the forbidden. You have it when the shy, demure mien gives way to a self-assured, dismissive I-Don’t-Give-A-Damn look. Professor Wole Soyinka just had to do it. The man would have died in him if he had chosen convenient dumbness in this dawning dictatorship. Soyinka was alive – alive to his duty as citizen and patriot. He had to rebuke this modern Nebuchadnezzar.

    Before, when Jonathan was starting off with seemingly little infractions, we largely excused them as evidences of his fallibility. Those acts of mischief counted, for sure, but were not considered symptomatic of dictatorial tendencies. But the Jonathan of this day has become a threat to the country, inspiring anarchy in the sensitive realms that cannot bear attack. So, Soyinka did the right thing, calling the tyrant, a tyrant. Without the correct christening, Jonathan would be no less ruthless and malevolent – after all, the WS of a bygone era had rhapsodized that a rose called by another name would smell as sweet. But it was very important to name Jonathan properly.

    In pronouncing him Nebuchad-nezzar, we do not hallow his name. Rather, we say, we will reference him only with the repulsion we feel for the oppressor. We still remember this President was so ashamed of one of his names, he buried it. It remained a classified secret until he recognised that the dormant name had potential electoral value. Then, he promptly resurrected it and instructed that it be appended to his other names, to convey the notion of consanguinity with the East. That was how an approaching election compelled an Azikiwe impostor to introduce himself.

    As in that election, this impending one is also introducing another Jonathan to us.

    And what you can see is the Nigerian politician at his debauched best. He was capable of dispensing smooth talk until he faced the dire prospect of a challenging election. When he perceived that there is a real possibility that a fair contest could throw him off the seat, he made a clever decision to cease relating to his faculty of sanity. That is why he has gone into overdrive, battling to avert this portent that is reasonably worse than biological death. Of course, any shortcut to that end is fair. This flagrant desperation to complete a total conquest of the political space, which is setting the nation on the edge, is rooted in his insecurity. Jonathan nurses a fervent conviction that his re-election rests squarely on his use of state sanctioned terror. So far, his biography is replete with interventions of good luck. He senses that he may have exhausted his credit of fortune and needs to create his luck. His discretion tells him that fate has already given him the power to secure his power.

    In his reading of the scriptures, Nebuchadnezzar’s command and terror over Babylon and beyond must have struck President Jonathan as power as it ought to be. But the strictures of a democratic context, he acknowledged, would not permit him to mimic that fairy bogeyman. So there came the thought that this country of Nollywood might feel indulged to see him acting Nebuchadnezzar, unscripted.

    We needed Soyinka to do it. It seemed that we were unwilling to admit that the tally of all we have seen sufficed to prove that a dictator now reigns. How many more feats of impudence would Jonathan need to enact to qualify? Soyinka, the accomplished man of letters, answered the question, ‘’ is Jonathan the dictator, or should we look for another?’’ He traced the pattern of Jonathan’s trajectory and removed all doubts.

    Soyinka’s rebuke could call forth an interlude of reflection. But trust the career sycophants of Aso Rock to dilute the censure’s effect and press Nebuchadnezzar to show his iron fist more often. In the bubble where Nebu lives, a word of caution is hard to come by. Not from a wife who is a terror in her own right.

     

    • Emmanuel Uchenna Ugwu

    @emmaugwutheman

  • Do the right thing, Lagosians told

    Spirit of Lagos, a non-political, non-religious organisation dedicated to behavioural transformation, has begun a state-wide road tour to sell its Do The Right Thing campaign to the people.

    Its ambassadors have been visiting parks, markets,major bus stops and terminals in all local government areas of the state, urging people to embrace democracy and orderliness.

    The group’s Project Director, Olaniyi Omotoso, said: “We are out in the streets to urge Lagosians to change those attitudes that negate the spirit of Lagos. We are letting them know that it is wrong for people to dispose their waste arbitrarily; it is wrong for people to dash across the roads where there are pedestrian bridges; it is wrong for people to evade taxes and so on and so forth.

    “As the elections are around the corner, the people need to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and vote according to their conscience, and not along their primordial or parochial sentiments. The people of Lagos must be actively involved in the process of electing those who will be in positions of authority. It is part of their civic responsibility.

    “The Spirit of Lagos, since its inception, has championed attitudinal change campaigns as a way of restoring sanity to Lagos State.

    “Before this current campaign of ‘Do The Right Thing’, we had ‘CHANGE YOUR THINKING’ campaign which has the primary objective of restoring those unique values that made Lagos a safe, just, prosperous and neighbourly place to live in and visit in the past”.

    The team has visited Mushin market, Ojodu Berger, Ijesha Bus Stop, Pako-Aguda, Festac, Ajegunle, Oke Ira in Ogba, Anthony and Okokomaiko among many other places.

  • Start right in 2015

    Happy New Year to you and your wonderful family. I believe last year was a fulfilling year for you. May you change level positively and progress speedily this year. Year 2014 was a delightful year for us on this column. We examined several topics on the need to communicate effectively. We focused on types of speeches, making the audience our priority and making ourselves acceptable to our listeners.

    This New Year, I believe it is very important for us to have a solid start with specific objectives in mind. Communication is very important; you communicate whether you want to or not. Just as you make major plans at the beginning of the year, which some refer to as New Year resolution, you should also have major plans for your communication and interaction with other people. By now, I’m sure you will agree with me that there is nothing casual about communication. We cannot continue to do the same thing and expect a different result. If indeed we want this year to be far better than last year, we have to deliberately aim at effective and contribution-oriented communication.  Today, therefore, I want to suggest a few areas in your life in which you should try to start right in 2015.

    •Personal Life: I dare to say that this is one of the most important areas in which you need to deliberately manage your communication. This area represents your comfort zone. It represents your life when you think no one is watching. It is your life when you let down your guard. It is your life when you think you are not being scrutinized or judged. The strange thing is that, it is also your life, which you don’t want the public to know about.

    There are several people who become something else when they are with “outsiders!” They change so drastically that their families don’t recognize them anymore. Some people are nicer to none family members because they want to put their best foot forward. Usually, loved ones are the victims of this kind of communication or failed communication. This kind of communication is selfish, however. Yes, it is selfish because they believe there is nothing their families can give them that they don’t have already, so, they focus on outsiders who can be of “benefit” to them. Whereas, a lot of times, they have their families and loved ones to thank for whatever they become in life.

    On the other extreme, we have people who entirely focus on their families. Any benefit that should go to other people is diverted “home.” Well, there are more people outside their families than inside, so, sooner or later, they will need help from others. So, what do I advocate? Be good to everybody. Be yourself inside and outside. Know that whatever you do or say communicates something to everyone around you. They either believe that you are a responsible and reliable person to deal with, or they feel that you are better avoided. Remember, if you don’t have people’s respect and trust, they will never listen to you as a public speaker. As a speaker, your first agenda must be to develop your character, and then you can focus on contributing to other people.

    •Business:  ok, I agree that I am not your regular business consultant. I may not even have the slightest idea of how to do your kind of business. But I know that they say “customer is king!” Yes, you may tell me how annoying your clients or customers tend to be. In fact, I agree that sometimes, it seems like they actually set out from home to upset you. Nevertheless, that is all part of the ‘fun’ of having a business. Work will be so boring if you meet the same type of people every day.

    What if you decide to make difficult customers or clients a major target in your business? You can determine that you will make every customer smile about one thing or the other while being attended to. This, of course, does not make you a clown; it just means that you are going the extra mile to make your customers like you and what you have to offer.

    •Academics: For students, it is extremely important to develop an effective communication system this year. If you have worked really hard in the past and your results did not justify your efforts, then you need to change your strategy. I believe it is not enough to study a subject, it is perhaps more important to study the teacher. Some teachers don’t like lengthy explanations in exams while some others would not be satisfied until you have used several pages. This crystallizes the fact that no two people are the same. You must learn to communicate with each teacher on his/her own terms. Again, some students are very intelligent in oral discussions but they are just not good enough in written work. If you fall in this category, task yourself to write five times more than you are required to in class and have people read it for you. As they correct you, learn what it takes to communicate your ideas to other people effectively.

    •Career:  the workplace is a very dynamic place. It is very important that you learn to communicate with three valuable categories of people; your superiors, your colleagues and your subordinates. Mutual respect is one of the best ways to communicate friendship. When it comes to your superiors, they read both your verbal and nonverbal cues. They can tell when you don’t like the job, when you don’t like them, when you are being lazy, etc. The best way to impress your superiors this year is to change your attitude to your work; love what you do (even if you have plans to move on soon). Your colleagues are also very important because you work with them on the same team a lot. As for your subordinates, if you underestimate them, it is at your own expense. If you care for and respect them, they will go out of their way to help you if ever you need their help.

  • Why we must get it right, this time

    SIR: The entire world would focus on Nigeria in February when the country would go to polls to elect another set of leaders that would pilot the affairs of the country for another term of four years.

    What is paramount in the minds of Nigerians is that the votes are made to count. The enthusiasms shown during the voter registration exercise have shown clearly the urge by Nigerian to use their votes to choose those who will govern them.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has the onerous duty to live up to the expectation of Nigerians in being seen to be credible, transparent while ensuring that votes of Nigeria do count.

    Many Nigerian are still in skeptical about the INEC’s preparedness to conduct credible election come next month going by the shabby way the issue of permanent voters cards (PVCs) was handle in most states across the country.

    The myriad of problems facing the country make this election uniquely different from any election ever conducted since the country embraced the presidential system of government.

    Nigerian politicians should do the country a patriotic duty by ensuring the credibility of this election by going against any form of electoral malpractice. We need to show the world that we can get it right without rancor and other undemocratic norms. Relevant stakeholders should partner with one another to ensure the best election to be conducted in the history of this country.

    This country must tell the world by this election that we can enthrone best practices in the management of our electoral process.

     

    • Bala Nayashi,

    Lokoja, Kogi State

  • We must get it right – Baribote insists

    We must get it right – Baribote insists

    • Says cabal should stay away from Nigeria football
    • No condition attached to court withdrawal

    Former chairman of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), Victor Baribote, has urged all genuine stakeholders to use the recent impasse to do the right thing in the Nigeria football.

    President Goodluck Jonathan saved Nigeria from FIFA ban after calling a truce meeting between the leading football stakeholders in the country, which led to the resolution of the recent NFF elective process.

    Baribote in a telephone chat with SportingLife said the transformation of the Nigeria football should be all encompassing and not to be left in the hands of some individuals.

    “For the fact that the case has been withdrawn from court does not mean everything has been settled. The president who is number one citizen in the country pleaded with all parties concerned to withdraw the case from court and there is nothing anybody can do but to abide with the president directive,” Baribote told SportingLife.

    “For you to build you have to destroy first. You need to destroy before building a good structure.

    “We have to take Nigeria football to a level that will make us be in the same level with international world. Again, we have to liberate Nigeria football from the cabal who believe it is their personal estate.

    “For you to make the necessary change you have to first of all sanitise the system. That is exactly what happened. It is not a day job to just make those changes. We are in the process to change it.

    “For example, in the past all twenty Nigeria Premier League clubs used to be part of the congress and they have voting right. But it is now in the hands of the state FAs which is not supposed to be so.

    “At the end of every season, there should be a congress to make amendment where necessary in our rules. It is very wrong to allow some set of people to decide the fate of our football. It has to be all-embracing things. All genuine stakeholders have to be involved not just stakeholders that are benefiting from the system but those that are contributing or people giving back to the system should be part of those that will decide the fate of football.”

    The chairman of Nembe City Football Club also disclosed to SportingLife that no condition was attached to withdraw of court case by Ambassador Chris Giwa.

    “We did it for Nigerians. We will still come to the round table to talk and see how to correct some anomalies in the system.”

    The former Bayelsa United chairman has also urged Nigeria journalists to report fact and not to whip up sentiments against individuals.

    “In as much as we give thanks to the press for what they are doing but they should still try and report back to the public exactly what happened and not to present some people in a negative way to public or whip up sentiments against some people,” he added.

  • Vote for right leaders, youths advised

    A non-governmental Organisation (NGO), Green White Green Ambassadors, has urged the youth to vote for the right candidates  in spite of their political parties

    It  also advised them to stay away from crises in the general elections which hold next year.

    At a briefing in Agege, Lagos, President of the NGO, Saheed Olanrewaju Alani, said: What we want is unity in our country, we want the youth to vote for the right candidates, right leaders so that the nation will be a better place to live and remain the giant of Africa.

    “The youth should stay away from crises in the election. Many of the leaders’ children are abroad; so when they come to you, tell them to use their own children and not you,” he said

    “Admitting to transformation, the possibility of catapulting our great nation to the next level is a collective responsibility of all, especially the youth who are usually the bedrock for transforming any society to the next level; and that is why we operate through the following watchword: identify, connect and achieve,” he said.

    The group’s Secretary-General, Tunde Ogidan, also stressed that the youth have a role to play in nation building.

    “We have identified our problems; yet all we keep doing is war.We don’t want war of break up but sustain our integration with the help of the youth. We don’t want our coming generations to say we caused their problem the same way we have always said.

    “If I have the opportunity of meeting President Jonathan today, I will charge him to re-orientate the people’s mindset on Nigeria with creative ideas and our institutions must work. It is about perfecting the areas that is faulty, we want our country shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the world,” he added.

  • Get your brows right

    A TRENDY lady does not joke with her appearance. Part of what constitutes a stunning look of a fashionable lady is an excellent make-up. However, there is a saying in the world of make-up that “get the brows wrong, get the entire make-up wrong”. Beautiful Brows, a UK specialist cosmetic company brings to the door step of Nigerians a powder eyebrow definition that is sweat proof, water proof and can last for days when worn called.

    The product comes in a black and white-coloured kit. It comes in five different colours, two of which are peculiar to the African soil due to our colour: chocolate and dark brown. The kit contains a highlighter, brush, three stencils marked bold, sleek and natural, a double brush, magnifying mirror, tickle and a brow powder labelled Beautiful Brows.

    To make an excellent brow, you have to choose one of these stencils as the occasion demands. Place it on your eyebrow, matching the highest point of the stencil with the highest point of your eyebrow. Pick up the brush with a double edge and dab the powder onto the brush. Work with the brush back and forth, meaning in both directions to achieve an even result. Focus on the skin rather that the hair of the eyebrow because the powder stays more on the skin than the hair. Dust the stencils well, place them on the other eyebrow and repeat the same process. The use of highlighter is optional.  With this, you have given your eyebrow a perfect definition. Effects, the product is known to produce no side effects. It is said to have undergone sixteen different tests, even on patients with cancer in the UK.

  • Shehu: I made the right choice

    Shehu: I made the right choice

    Former Kano Pillars midfielder, Abdullahi Shehu, has claimed that Primeira Liga club Sporting Lisbon did not back up their interest for him with an official approach.

    The Portuguese setup alongside Al Orubah, Saudi Arabia and Qadsia were in a three – horse race for the 21 – year – old before he decided to pitch tent at the Mohammed Al-Hamad Stadium by signing a one – year deal with the Kuwaiti club.

    In an interview with SL10.ng, Abdullahi Shehu showed that he is a man of a few words, but hit the nail on the head nonetheless.

    ”Sporting Lisbon were not serious and that’s why I did not sign for them. The club did not come to Nigeria for my transfer; they only said they wanted me. Yes, I made the right choice joining Qadsia,” Abdullahi Shehu said to SL10.ng.

    Abdullahi Shehu was part and parcel of the Super Eagles squad which won bronze at January’s African Nations Championship. He was invited for the pre -World Cup friendly against Mexico, but was one of the five players in the squad that did not get match time.