The Nation Newspaper

Tag: road

  • Respite as communities get road, borehole

    Residents of Kekereowo, Shobowale and Mopelola in Ilasamaja, Mushin will ever remain obliged to their representative at the House of Representatives, Hon. Bolaji Yusuf Ayinla for bringing relief and succour to the community.

    Ayinla, who represents Mushin Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, inaugurated a borehole for residents of Mopelola Street and a standard culvert for residents of Kekereowo and Shobowale streets as well as clearing the blocked drainage system on the one kilometer-long Kekereowo Street.

    This brings to an end the perennial lack of potable water in Mopelola and years of flooding on Kekereowo/Shobowale streets and inability of residents of Shobowale Street to access Kekereowo Street due to bad condition of the road.

    With the provision of the culvert, residents of Shobowale Street can now drive in and out of the street through Kekereowo Street, a major road that links Ilasa, Mushin and Idi-Araba in Surulere.

    According to some residents, any time it rains, the Shobowale/Kekereowo axis of the road is always flooded and impassable. This, they said, is caused by blocked drainage system resulting from improper drainage to channel the coming from Shobowale Street into the water channel on Kekereowo Street. They regretted that the Chinese firm that constructed the one-kilometre long road did a shabby job. The flooding therefore destroyed the road and cut it off from Kekereowo Street. But this has been rectified by the intervention of the lawmaker.

    Answering reporters’ questions on the inauguration of the two projects, the lawmaker said there were many issues in the various communities that needed urgent attention but I will attend to these issues bit by bit. It is also a challenge to everyone who has the capability to improve on his environment to do so. It doesn’t have to be the government alone; this is part of my contributions to make my communities and my constituents better. I have been doing things such as empowerment and I will continue to do so. By next month, I will distribute N20, 000 to 600 people in my constituency to assist them in their various trades or to kick-start a trade.

    “We should always look out for what the communities lack in order to assist them. For me I would not allow the communities to suffer if I have the wherewithal to assist them. I will do everything within my power and capability to give them relief and that is exactly what I am doing with these two projects I just inaugurated. I am inspired to correct the ills in the society,” he said.

    While giving God all the glory, Ayinla said he feels good being able to help his constituents, adding that he is able to do what he is doing by the grace of God.

    He advised the residents to put to proper use the projects and endeavour to maintain them. If there is any problem with the borehole or the culvert, they should report to his constituency office.

    He advised wealthy individuals to contribute to the well-being of members of the society. This is because, whatever you do for others, you will gain the reward on the Day of Judgment. Commending the lawmaker, who he described as a pragmatic leader, for what he has been doing for the constituency, the Sole Administrator of Mushin Local Government Area, Hon. Yinka Kazeem said he was happy with the job the lawmaker did on the road.

    He advised the residents to maintain the infrastructure “because it belongs to them. We must keep watch and maintain the infrastructure in the community, it is very important,” he said.

    A member of the community who was also the contractor that handled the project, Chief James Osemede described the lawmaker as a listening representative. He said he called the attention of Ayinla to the bad state of the road.

    “Shobowale Street had been cut off from Kekereowo Street by flood and he agreed to take up the project personally since the local government or state Ministry of Works was not forthcoming and that was how he took it up,” he said.

    Osemede said he felt elated about the job done and everybody feels satisfied that he is listening to the community. In fact, Ayinla listens, he attends to people, he empowers people and indeed he has reached out to a lot of people.

    Osemede advised the residents to stop dumping garbage in the drainage system so as not to block them again and cause flooding that will again submerge and destroy the road.

    Another resident, Adeleke Samuel, thanked the lawmaker for fixing the road, which he said was impassable before because when it rains the whole road is flooded. “But with the construction of the culvert, the water now flows through; making the road passable.” He described the lawmaker’s gesture as worthy as it has brought succour to the people.

    Thanking the lawmaker for providing residents of Mopelola Street with borehole, a community member,  Gbolahan Olusoji said the community has been longing for a borehole for a couple of years and the lawmaker promised during his electioneering campaigns that he would give us one if voted into power. He has actually done it, he has fulfilled his promise.

    He said the community is very delighted with the provision of the borehole, even as he pleaded that their representative should continue to provide them with dividends of democracy.

    He advised the community to be security-conscious and to protect every project located in the community because it will benefit everybody.

    “The project is for us all and we should protect it consciously,” he said.

     

     

  • Otuoke residents urge Bayelsa govt to repair road

    Residents of Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have appealed to the state government to repair the Otuoke-Onuebum road, which has been in a deplorable condition.

    The residents spoke yesterday in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Otuoke.

    Mr Ologi Damiete told NAN that the road had worsened since the last rainy season started as vehicles found it difficult to pass through.

    Damiete, a worker at the Federal University at Otuoke (FUO), urged the state government to fix the road.

    He added: “The condition of this road has worsened since the flood submerged the community. There has not been any preventive measure to forestall a future occurrence.

    “We expect the government to put necessary measures in place to guard against future occurrence.

    “Students of FUO have resumed for a new semester and they have been finding it difficult to move in and out of the community.

    “I am calling on all the relevant authorities to look into the matter because we have become unbearable. Our vehicles have been damaged because of the road.”

    Another resident, Mr Oweifa Debekeme, urged the state government to accelerate the efforts to check flooding in the state.

    He said floods had destroyed many roads in the state.

    Debekeme said the people were suffering, adding that government had the responsibility to provide roads and other infrastructure.

    A taxi driver plying the road, Mr Babatunde Adeola, said the road was in a bad shape before the flood destroyed it.

    Adeola urged the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to repair the road to reduce the suffering of the people.

    He implored the Bayelsa State Government to come to the aid of the people of Otuoke and Onuebum communities as well as students and workers of the university.

    He said the youths sand-filled the bad portions, adding: “Commercial drivers now pay them for that.”

  • College urges repair of bad road

    Members of staff and students of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze, Anambra State, are waiting for Governor Willie Obiano to fulfil his promise to rehabilitate the dilapidated Nsogwu road leading to the institution.

    Obiano had promised to repair the road when he visited the institution recently.

    Public Relations Officer of the college, Sam Otti, said the busy road serves not only the college community, but residents of Nsogwu and other neighbouring settlements.

    He explained that the road, in its bad state, had become a death trap for users, following its neglect by past administrations.

    He noted that the management of the college renamed the link road as Chief Willie Obiano Boulevard during his visit to the college, where he donated a 32-seater bus.

    According to him, the college management renamed the road after the governor in recognition of his laudable infrastructural development and improvement in the education sector of the state.

    To alleviate the suffering of the people, Otti said the Prof Josephat Ogbuagu-led management of the college, took up the task of regular rehabilitation of a new road that leads to the college, but the road could not be tarred due to paucity of funds.

     

  • Ayade inaugurates 134km dual carriage Cross River road

    Ayade inaugurates 134km dual carriage Cross River road

    Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade at the weekend inaugurated the construction work on a 134 kilometers Mfom-Okpoma-Imaje-Bekwarra-Obudu-Obanliku dual carriage road in the northern part of the state.

    The road will re-energise and increase footfalls into the famous Obudu ranch resort and provide access to produce markets, according to government officials.

    It is a federal road which traverses the five local government areas that constitute the Northern Senatorial District. The value of the project is N31 billion. The completion period is 30 months.

    Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony attended by indigenes of Bekwarra, Yala, Ogoja, Obudu and Obanliku local government councils, Ayade described the event as “the beginning of a new journey in the history of the Northern Senatorial District which for 45 years has been denied the luxury of driving on good roads caused by the challenges of the times and circumstances not caused by our people.”

  • PDP: Road to next convention

    PDP: Road to next convention

    Alot has been said about the botched national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Port Harcourt, which was caused by the power struggle between the sacked  National Working Committee headed by Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and the National Caretaker Committee, led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, which replaced it.

    It is quite obvious that the party cannot really move forward until the crisis is resolved either decisively by law or amicably through a political settlement. However, the judicial option may not offer much hope of quick resolution if the current experience of seemingly interminable litigations involving the party is anything to go by.

    This means that the National Caretaker Committee must work very hard to unite the party before the 12 months set for the resolution of all issues of discord and the convening of another convention runs out. However, it is important to note that apart from the issue of reconciliation amongst leaders and members, there are other issues that must be resolved ahead of the convention.

    Fortunately, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party has started to do something in this regard. Its meeting on August 29 yielded some commendable resolutions. Among others, the board resolved that the next convention be held in Abuja, that a new National Convention Planning Committee be constituted and that the Reconciliation Committee should continue all efforts for reconciliation amongst members. It is hoped that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party will meet soon to ratify these resolutions.

    The BoT and the Caretaker Committee should have been aware by now that there are many issues arising from the Port Harcourt convention to be addressed and the earlier they were addressed, the better for all party stakeholders. First is the allegation that the process of that convention, particularly the preparation for the election of national officers, was not transparent. This observation raised fears that the election would not have been free, fair and credible if it was held.

    It is no longer news that majority of the contestants for the post of national chairman raised alarm over the alleged manipulation that attended the preparations for that election in an alleged bid by some people to impose a candidate favoured by them. In fact, three, out of the five contenders for the post, namely, Chief Olabode George, Dr Raymond Dokpesi and Professor Tunde Adeniran, had resolved to boycott the election in reaction to the imminent imposition, before the election was stepped down. These Nigerians are leaders whose views and feelings cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand.

    Therefore, the issue of imposition must be revisited and there must be assurance that internal democracy and rule of law as enshrined in the constitution of the party will henceforth be upheld in all its activities, including the next convention. The party must always guarantee a level playing field. It must ensure that both players and officials abide by the established rules of the game. It must read the riot act to all members, leaders and officials seen to be inclined to disrespecting established order. Let it be known that their undue interventions will no longer be accepted nor tolerated, no matter who they are or the power and influence they wield,

    This is the only way to restore sanity and discipline in the party and discourage lawlessness and impunity. The warlord syndrome that characterized the party, particularly during the immediate past administration whereby anybody that could lay hold on power and money wanted to create a fiefdom for himself to control the party structure and dictate to others should be oming near power. discouraged. They should be reminded that if the leaders before them had behaved in same manner, they would never have had the opportunity of coming near power.

    As for the planning of next convention, the National Caretaker Committee and the BoT, as the conscience of the party, must look closely this time around. Whether it was by a coincidence or design, the organisation of the botched Port Harcourt convention, particularly the distribution of responsibilities for the election of national officers, was questionable. Everything appeared to be in the hands of Governor Nyesom Wike and his kinsmen from Rivers State.

    For instance, apart from Rivers State hosting the convention, Governor Wike was the Chairman of the Convention Planning Committee. Rt. Hon Austin Opara, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from Rivers State was the chairman of the Electoral Subcommittee for the election of  subcommittee that screened the candidates for the election. And Governor Wike’s Chief of Staff was the Chairman of the Accreditation Subcommittee. national officers. The current Attorney-General of Rivers State was the secretary of the subcommittee that screened the candidates for the election. And Governor Wike’s Chief of Staff was the Chairman of the Accreditation Subcommittee.

    While the personal integrity of these men is not in doubt, the party would do well, in its preparations for the next convention, to avoid over-concentration of power in the hands of a particular set of people. This will elicit more confidence in the convention process.

    It is also important for the party to conclude all inconclusive congresses in the states and zones before the next convention. This will ensure that the authentic list of the respective categories of delegates are known and cannot be manipulated or discarded during the election.

    The next national convention of the PDP can only be deemed successful if the election of national officers billed into it is successful. From experience, such an election is usually a very sensitive issue as things played out in Port Harcourt. The Nigerian factor is that every interest group in the party thinks its interest would only be protected if its own people are at the helm. That is a selfish motive based on a wrong assumption. It was this perception that goaded the people who allegedly attempted to manipulate the convention in Port Harcourt.

    The PDP would truly be reborn if it could break this barrier of selfishness and personal aggrandizement by electing its national officers from the very best of the best candidates with the requisite knowledge, understanding, experience and wisdom to uphold, protect, defend, enforce and promote the values of the party. These values are inclusive and have already provided for the interests of all members and the electorate.

    • Johnson, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Lagos.
  • FCT woos investors with road rehab

    FCT woos investors with road rehab

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is seeking to attract investors through a good road network, reports GRACE OBIKE

    THERE is a reason the nation’s capital city centre is looking good these days, its roads fixed: to entice investors.

    At his inauguration, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Mallam Muhammed Bello promised that one of the steps he will be taking will be the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the FCT road network, especially those located in the city centre.

    Since then most road networks that needed repairs or construction have been fixed or are being fixed within and outside the city centre.

    Some have sniffed at the effort, saying the repairs should instead be in areas outside the city centre which, to them, is already fine.

    Cab driver Emeka David complained that the rehabilitation work is being limited to the city centre, which to him already has a good road network will not make much impact.

    He said, “The road in town to me is already good, he should be taking this work to satellite towns and area councils to make better impacts.”

    Others have countered that  fixing the city centre roads will get investors rushing into town, a development that will generate jobs and help in reflating the economy.

    The Public Relations Officer NASCO group and Royal Pacific group of companies, Haroun Audu explained that the group had met with the Minister earlier in the year and he informed them that part of the mandate of the President in light of the security challenges that has affected Nigeria’s economic performance is to create conducive environment for more private businesses in the FCT so that our economy can grow especially from the point of view of earning foreign exchange.

    Muhammed, according to Audu, passed on the information that there are certain critical arteries of roads, within the Federal Capital that he wants to open up to ease traffic to make it easier for the private sector, government and international people to enjoy navigating around Abuja, we are very excited, that shortly after meeting with him, the road is under construction.

    He said, “He informed them that the President has the intention of creating an enabling business environment for the private sector in Abuja, we brought to his attention the problem we were experiencing with the lack of road network and drainage in the part of the Central Business district where our structure is situated, now he has fulfilled his promise and Julius Berger Plc has been sent to work on the road, they have begun construction of this road that has been bad for so many years in the city centre, which is truly a welcome development.

    ”In the face of global and local challenges that have impacted the nation’s business landscape, the soon-to-open Fraser Suites Abuja (2017) is heralded as a major boost to the local economy, and a bright-spark catalyst for international travel and tourism. But by far, the obvious advantage of this project to the Nigerian economy connects to the clarion call for economic diversification, seeing that it will boost the nation’s foreign exchange earnings in exponential terms.

    ”The facility features 126 Gold-Standard residences that combine comfort, style & technology with outstanding facilities and exclusive in-house services. The location, size and scale of Fraser Suites Abuja will necessarily and automatically avail multiple job and employment openings, to be drawn from the local Nigerian hospitality industry value chain.

  • Students, transporters to Obiano: fix road or forget second term

    Students, transporters to Obiano: fix road or forget second term

    The second busiest road in Anambra State is in such disrepair that students of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), commercial bus drivers and motorcyclists who ply it have told Governor Willie Obiano to repair it or risk losing their vote in the forthcoming governorship election.

    The Ifite-Awka-Amansea Road, which had a facelift under the Peter Obi administration, has apparently been abandoned by Obiano’s government. The road links the NAU.

    As a result of its disrepair, many students haved been involved in road crashes on the road. Drivers lament the toll on their buses.

    The motorcycle operators otherwise known as okada, told The Nation that they no longer operate the route as it has become impassable, thereby denying them the opportunity of making money.

    The Ifite-Awka-Amansea Road appears to have been abandoned by the state government of Obiano, though it had a facelift during the regime of former governor Peter Obi.

    The 5km road has continued to give residents of the two communities of Ifite and Amansea sleepless nights, while businesses had equally collapsed in those areas because of the bad road.

    The worst affected portions include such areas as Miracle, Chioma, God is Able, Saint John Lodge that link hotels housing thousands of students of UNIZIK.

    Ifite-Awka Road is the second busiest road apart from the popular Zik Avenue in the capital city and a few poles to the state Government House.

    It links the Amansea community and is the shortest route for the students, which has a population of over 40,000.

    However, the dilapidated condition of the road has reduced traffic as well as increased transport fair from N50 to N150.

    The deep pot holes have made it impossible for vehicles to take the route, while the drainages have equally collapsed, leading to flooding in the areas.

    When The Nation visited the area, it was a pitiable site to behold, as one of the commercial bus drivers, Mr. J. C Okonkwo was seen carrying stones to fill some portions with his conductor.

    One of the Unizik shuttle drivers, Okechukwu Chukwudi pleaded with the state government to come to the aid of the students and commercial bus drivers as they have no other means to survive the economic recession in the land.

    He said most of the business centers and traders had packed up, as nobody was coming to patronize them as a result of the bad condition of the road.

    Another driver, Chinedu Onwudiwe expressed sadness that he visits his mechanic on daily basis because of the damage the road has caused on his bus.

    A student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Kingsely Tobias, lamented that drivers of the few buses that ply the route now had increased their fairs to about 100%, which according to him, had been difficult for students to cope with.

    For Miss Sandra Emenike, another student of Unizik, the deplorable road is posing a serious threat to human habitation in the areas.

    Mrs. Sandra Ulachi, a civil servant in the state, told The Nation that the condition of the road is hampering socio-economic activities.

    When contacted, the state commissioner for works, Lawrence Chinwuba, refused to comment on the road, after the state government had lied on a local radio station that the road had been given a face lift by pouring stones on it to make it passable.

    When The Nation asked him what actually was going on as it concerns the road from the state government, he told the reporter that he would call back which he never did.

    The commissioner is a kinsman of the state Governor and had been known in the state as more of a talker than a doer.

    He takes delight in the sufferings of the people, the reason most of the roads had been abandoned in the state and majority of the people including his party members believe he is incompetent to handle works ministry.

    Speaking with The Nation in anger, a 22 year old student, who did not want his name in print vowed that students, motorcycle operators and commercial bus drivers would make it impossible for the current administration to return to power.

    He said, “This present administration led by Governor Willie Obiano has failed to follow the footsteps of former governors Chris Ngige and Peter Obi.

    He asked, “Is that how they want to come for a second term?”

     

  • How about one for the road?

    How about one for the road?

    The drama in the senate this past week over a bill asking for special privileges for Lagos as a megacity must concentrate the mind of those interested in the health of party formations in the Fourth Republic as well as the evaporation of elite consensus in the nation.  Anybody watching the hostile and rather intemperate put-down of the Bill can be forgiven for thinking that it was a victim of a bitter inter-party collision.

    But it was not a case of the APC and the PDP duelling in the senate over Senator OluremiTinubu’s bill. It was the APC openly imploding with all the attendant fireworks and fiery crackers. Taken together with the savage intrigues and poker-faced power-play that have embroiled the ruling party, it is clear that a major ruling party rumpus has once again berthed on these shores.

    It all reminds one of a gaily dressed fuddy –duddy couple who had arrived for a party only to be met at the entrance by the host who promptly turned them away with the immortal send forth. “Welcome, you are welcome, how about one for the road?” For the couple, the party was over before it began. One is beginning to have the sinking feeling that the ruling party wilted before the commencement of full play.

    Like AyiKweiArmah’sAboliga the man-child who grew to manhood the very day it was born only to die the same day, APC appears to have packed so much into its short eventful life— including a case of regicide and multiple attempts on the political life of its crowning prince—that it can be forgiven for collapsing so dramatically in the sweltering heat of bitter and agonistic contention. Nothing lasts in the tropics. They grow so fast and die so fast, like Aboliga. In any case, the truly great tend to die young before sweet innocence is deflowered by bitter experience.

    So the possibility that the APC is headed for the morgue should not cause any consternation, or alarm for that matter.  Neither must it precipitate undesirable panic. One must learn to take these things with equanimity. In Nigeria, party goes and party comes but the polity remains. It is in the nature of post-colonial politics.

    If parties are built to last, if they have durability and staying power, how will the moveable feast go round, how will the feeding frenzy revolve? Pounded yam cannot be padded. The modern world is not constructed like the world of those ancient fellows in Things Fall Apart who began a mountainous meal of pounded yam and could not see who was on the other side until three days after.

    We have said it several times on this page that we do not have political parties in the truly organic sense of that word. What we have are special projects platforms.They are designed for specific power projects after which they tend to lose their raison d’etreuntil a more catastrophic occurrence put them out of their misery. As products of specific conjunctures many of them survive as long as the conjuncture that throws them up subsists. For example until last week, who would have thought that the A.D was still alive and in fine fettle?

    But the A.D is back and with a hint of subtle transformation, too. Originally conceived by its founders as the perfect opposition and counterfoil to the looming PDP juggernaut, it was cynically seen by the military power-masters as the perfect miniscule opposition to provide legitimacy for the PDP electoral heist. Mum and dumb is the word about mummies and dummies for now.

    Yet it should be obvious to political augury that as it was in the beginning so it is proving to be at the end of the beginning.  The NPN was conceived as a broad national platform to ease the military back to the barracks. When Augustus Meredith AdisaAkinloye, with the next bottle of his personally branded champagne in sight, joyously proclaimed that there were only two parties in Nigeria, many thought he was hallucinating. But the NPN turned out to be a mere holding device for the military.

    Like its old forebear, the PDP was also conceived as a broad national platform for demilitarization with ease and without questions asked. Having completely exhausted their national goodwill, having reached the limits of theirhistoric and political possibilities, the military power brokers were frantically looking for a way to return to the barracks without giving the impression of a precipitate retreat and without paying substantial indemnity to Nigerians for the trauma they have inflicted on them.

    How the immutable logic of history andimplacable social forces often mock puny human calculations forcing them to derail or to be outwitted in the heat of exertions. It is not as if these choices are crassly naïve or lacking in strategic mettle. But going forward, they often turn out to be the very opposite of what is needed for the precise conjuncture.

    What makes the tame and sober AlhajiShehuShagari a great choice for holding the political class together also made him a very poor choice when it comes to the political discipline and fiscal restraint needed to protect democratic rule. What makes the wily, calculating and implacably combative General Obasanjo a brilliant choice for the project of demilitarization also made him a very poor choice for deepening and nourishing the democratic project. What makes one thing possible makes the other impossible. Even a foreman is not four men.

    In the case of General MohammaduBuhari and the APC, history is still unfolding before our very eyes. But the omens are very dire. Suffice it to say that while his charismatic populism and messianic one-upmanship make him a perfect choice for regime change in a bitterly divided and polarized multi-ethnic nation, they also come with a severe baggage. When General Yakubu Gowon hinted last Monday at the launch of John Paden’s biography of President Buhari that Buhari took over Aso Rock like a combatant, he was providing evidence that in the game of elaborate bluff and counter bluff which saw Goodluck Jonathan ousted from the presidency, some military muscling came to play.

    But going forward, it should be obvious thatBuhari needs more than messianic populism and an authoritarian cast of mind to move Nigeria away from the precipice. If what happened in the senate to Senator OluremiTinubu’s Bill about a special status for Lagos is anything to go by, it means that those who claim not to understand what restructuring is all about could smell its deadly embrace from a mile despite its feminized charms and seductive prowess. But if this is the mind-set of the dominant legislative segment of the APC, then God help the party in the old West from now on.

    It may well be that what we are witnessing once again is a looming collision of cultural altars.Progressive forces that are itching for the radical and accelerated development of the country must learn of the dangers of crashing the gears of history or short-circuiting its dialectics. In a bitterly polarized nation, a lot depends on the aggregated consciousness of the entire people, the balance of forces actually on ground and the disposition of political and social troops. You may have to get to a particular point before you can reach other points. Radical futilities only lead to radical political suicide.Let no one claim they were pushed to jump when they are already tottering.

    In a bizarre twist to the restructuring rumpus which speaks volumes for the disaggregation of national consciousness, AlhajiTankoYakasai has dismissed the whole debate as a Yoruba red herring which dates back to 1959and the inevitable Chief ObafemiAwolowo and his Action Group fellow travellers.

    Obviously enjoying a respite from the EFCC which has asked him to explain how money meant for arms procurement found its way into his commodious pockets, the old bruiser from Kano and veteran of retrogressive causes, noted that restructuring was the Yoruba way of expressing hatred and envy for the superior political advantage that the north enjoys from its humongous land mass and population.

    According to Yakasai, Awolowo, having gifted his people with superior knowledge production which resulted in quality professionals in virtually all the fields of human endeavour, suddenly began to covet the hegemonic virility and superior power production of the north in a futile and frantic bid for power at the centre which he felt he could not realize without the strange bird of restructuring.

    The unintended irony of Yakasai’s outburst is that it has brought to the front burner the fact that we are confronting a crisis of knowledge production as an integral part of the much vexed National Question. It is better for a society to be founded on the power of knowledge than the knowledge of power.  In America, the federalist papers with their unremitting intellectual rigour and illuminating insights set the tone and template for how the new nation should be governed.

    The most sober and sane solution to this impasse is for power to collaborate with knowledge for the betterment of the entire society. In a multi-ethnic nation with clashing systems of knowledge production when those who have found their way to power and hegemonic domination acknowledge that those they are bent on permanently excluding from power are far more knowledgeable, the stage is set for a violent collision of altars and a duel unto death. Despite the naivete and strategic carelessness, this is a negation of the driving spirit behind APC.

    Whether the current party formation can contain the turbulence and the tumult arising from this is a question that will be answered in the coming months. But all is not lost. In the meantime, let those who suddenly find the entrance door of the party firmly shut against them not wait for the proverbial “one for the road” should the door remain firmly shut. As General Alexander Madiebo famously observed with tragic insight, it may turn out to be one for the grave.

  • Scholars advise govt, citizens on road to peace

    HOW to achieve national and global peace was the issue when scholars gathered in Lagos.

    While speaking during a symposium tagged “National Integration for Global Peace” they agreed that  achieving global and national peace begins with the individual.

    While identifying essentials of bringing about global peace through a given national system, Dr. Douglas Anele, Associate Prof., Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos argued that national integration for global peace would remain elusive as long as the average man on the street could not agree with himself in bringing about a peaceful state.

    He stressed that disgruntled and hungry individual would find it difficult to identify with any cause that borders on integration of a nation for global peace. He, therefore, called on all tiers of government to put in place measures that will develop patriotic spirit in individuals.

    H also urged government functionaries to live and feel the pain experienced by the average citizen by denying themselves of free gifts. He said: “Government officials don’t feel the impact of power outage and fuel scarcity; they lack virtually nothing.”

    He concluded at the symposium organised by the Rosicrucian Order, Lagos Zone, that it would take such measures to develop patriotism in an individual, thereby encouraging him or her to eschew violence.

    Also speaking, the Provost Michael Otedola College of Primary Education Noforija-Epe, Lagos, Prof. Olu Akeusola, underscored the importance of education in bringing about an egalitarian society.

    He said: “Education has been regarded as a medium through which enlightenment is achieved. Therefore, the curriculum of our schools should emphasise moral education in different subjects taught in schools. These should include Religious Studies, Civic Education, Social Studies and Moral Instruction. Extra-curricular activities should promote moral discipline through songs, drama, poetry and arts. Leaders in different spheres of the society should lead by example and display high level of moral integrity.”

    In his paper entitled “Good Character: Panacea for Peace and Progress in Nigeria”, Akeusola identified stealing, greed, dishonesty, unhealthy rivalry and competition and covetousness as character traits hindering peace and progress in Nigeria.

    He identified trustworthiness, respect for others, sense of responsibility, fairness, care, performing civic duties as some of the traits needed to foster peace and progress in Nigeria.

    In his speech, Alagba Oladipo Yemitan said loss of Omoluwabi (good character) for “bereft of dignity and pride in ourselves and our country.”

    “The concept, virtues and values of an Omoluwabi need to be revived and embraced by Nigerians so as to be peaceful, lawful and progressive the way we should. We certainly need to revisit and re-invent it,” he said.

    Others at the event included Prof. Femi Otubanjo, consultant and politician and Prof. Friday Ndubuisi, Head, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos, Prof. Isaac Alaba, an Independent Consultant on Culture and Languages.

  • ‘Airport road project costs N4.916b’

    Edo State Government yesterday debunked allegations by the Peoples Democratic Party that its airport road cost N17billion.

    It said the road project cost N4.916billion including compensation for buildings demolished, two kilometers underground drainage, sidewalks and streetlights.

    State Commissioner for Environment and Public Utilities, Mr. Clem Agba, who disclosed this yesterday said the initial cost of the project was N5.2billion.

    Agba said he increased the ministry’s revenue from N45million to N430million yearly.

    He spoke at an award ceremony for some tax payers in the state.

    Agba explained that the state government spent no kobo on the open portal website which the PDP claimed cost N14billion.

    The commissioner confirmed that the state government wrote to then PDP Federal Government to stop work on the Ibore erosion site because it does not want the project abandoned like was done at the Auchi and Queen Ede erosion.