In the half of first term of the season and by the grace of God we have accomplished our set goals so far. But I must say that the challenge is enormous. In particular, what is obvious to all of us is the issue of overstretched facilities in every component of the system
The above quotation is by a principal in a newsletter of a top federal government secondary school most parents dream their children attend.
Being a civil servant who cannot afford to be seen to indict the government, the principal in the few words above tried her best to draw attention to challenge she is having to cope with given the limited resources at her disposal.
If she could admit that the challenge she is facing is enormous, despite the very top position her school occupies among other federal colleges, the challenges her colleagues have are better imagined.
I am not sure what the set goals she claimed to have accomplished are, but they definitely cannot include providing the students a conducive learning environment. It cannot include having all the necessary learning instructions they need.
With overstretched facilities and personnel, the college like many others cannot definitely claim to be living up to the expectation of providing the students the kind of education they really need and what their parents are paying for under various guises.
If I had my way, I would not have sent my child to this school despite the high reputation it still has, but I had to yield to pressure from my wife who believed the lie that the school is better than the ones in our neigbourhood in the ‘outland’ of Lagos.
It didn’t take up to a term in the school for my wife to see through the deceit of its living on past glory, no thanks to the government that has failed woefully to meet its obligations of providing necessary facilities and personnel.
Most of the facilities in the school are run down and insufficient for the large number of students admitted. Many of the beds in the hostels and desks in the classrooms are broken and the students just have to manage with what they can get.
As if that is not enough, there are not enough teachers to teach some classes and in some instances, the Parent Teachers Associations (PTA) have to assist the school in paying part-time teachers to take some key subjects.
How can students do well in the West African School Certificate Examination when they don’t have teachers to teach them some subjects? Or the some of the teachers are not putting in their best to impact necessary knowledge?
In some states where the governments claim to be providing free education, only few books and facilities are provided. So bad is the situation that students in some senior classes can barely write some simple English words.
It is high time that the government at all levels gave education the priority it deserves. We cannot continue to pay lip service to educating our youths who are supposed to be leaders of tomorrow by underfunding the sector that is crucial to our development.
Sir: This year, the National Theatre celebrates its 41st anniversary as the apex and iconic conference and arts exhibition centre in Nigeria and Africa. For the theatre, it’s a period to review the past and appraise its present status with a view to projecting into a new future especially as the national monument has just worn a new garment of visionary and responsible leadership; a leadership that is focused on fighting the tripod of poor leadership, mismanagement of resources and poorly motivated staff and artistes. These three cankerworms, no doubt, have adversely affected this glorious edifice for some years now.
Since the new Artistic Director/CEO, Comrade Tar Ukoh, inherited the two cultural institutions in Nigeria – the National Theatre and National Troupe which have for a long period remained comatose and directionless, it is apparent that only a vigorous, dogged and relentless cultural re-awakening could rescue these institutions from the doldrums and self-inflicted inertia into which they have been plunged. It is therefore with a big sigh of relief that Nigerians welcomed the appointment by President Buhari of a seasoned and committed cultural scholar and renowned artist, in person of Comrade Tar Ukoh as its new Artistic Director/CEO. Cultural watchers have in the last few months seen a rejuvenated spirit of cultural re-birth to new opportunities in developing the potentialities of both human and material resources of these two institutions.
Happily, this revival of using our diverse cultural endowments and potentials has started yielding slow but steady positive results. The new look National Theatre parades a safe and clean environment devoid of rubbish dumps, untrimmed grass lawns, marauding squatters, itinerant beggars and hoodlums who intimidated visitors and customers wishing to patronise the public, social and entertainment facilities at the theatre.
A new internal, vigorous and uncompromising crusade against corruption, diversion of much needed revenue and crass management ineptitude, is currently going on at the theatre. A mass anti-corruption rally in support of PMB’s crusade against looting of public funds by officials in government institutions which took place on Wednesday October 11, at the National Theatre complex, Iganmu, Lagos, tagged; ‘Corruption Must Fall’ witnessed a mammoth assembly of theatre workers pledging that “Culture Must Kill Corruption, Before Corruption Kills Culture”.
This new spirit of responsible and transparent leadership must be encouraged and embraced by all patriotic Nigerians, especially the youths, if we are to achieve our much desired progress and development for our country. Officials found wanting and suspected of pilfering or stealing public funds must be investigated and if found guilty, be made to refund such loot – as a deterrent, and at the same time, face the full wrath of the law.
Meanwhile, the institutions must as a matter of urgency, begin to showcase our cultural performances in music, songs, drama and arts. This writer holds a strong belief in the ability of the new leadership of the theatre to return the two institutions of the National Theatre and the National Troupe to their past glory.
Finally, a synergy with creative cultural institutions and artistes nationwide will enhance and ensure a bountiful harvest of cultural excellence; thus promoting our cultural diplomacy exports to the world. While wishing the dynamic Comrade a safe flight and happy cultural landing, this writer cannot but recommend the new direction at the theatre as model to all other government institutions in the country, in order to move forward as quickly as possible.
SIR: Kogi State is in a state of coma and economic doldrums that require an urgent attention. On all fronts, Kogi State spells failure. The indices for any vestige of development remain abysmal. Poverty rages, unemployment increases in astronomical dimension, infrastructural facilities are in decay, education sector is struggling to survive, salaries are unpaid, hunger, despair and destruction now haunt the state.
The people are indeed living in very trying times: dissatisfied with the present and face the future with much trepidation. If Kogi State today were a living entity, it would be perceived as a blind entity groping aimlessly without direction while pretending to be on a purposeful mission of institutionalizing the change agenda.
It is obvious that there is a vacuum of leadership in the state. What the Kogites bargained for is not exactly what they got. In the place of giant of yester years, Kogites tolerated and accepted poor substitute foisted on them either by the power that be: courtesy of some agents in APC or by providence to pontificate in crude manner over the affairs of the state.
The domain of governance is suffused by those who engage in vulgar despoliation of social political and economic heritage of the people in the confluence state. Governor Yaya Bello has betrayed the confidence reposed in him particularly by the Nigerian youths and Kogites at large through his crude bastardization of commonwealth of the people, debasement of principal elements of public trust and good governance.
Governance is not an abstract concept. Governance all over the world is about people therefore it must be germane to people’s lives by promoting their standards of living. If governance is not capable of improving people’s well -being and quality of life, it is at best an empty concept at worst a hoax.
According to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the principal elements of good governance include accountability, transparency, inclusiveness, responsiveness, efficiency, effectiveness, participatory and leadership rooted in integrity. And public trust would be gauged and evaluated on the basis of these elements because they constitute veritable means through which better policies and programmes that will enhance better life can be actualized, maintained and sustained.
The style of governance adopted by Yaya Bello negates all of these principal elements. Why on earth would a governor remain insensitive and unresponsive to the plight of workers of the state who are being owed several months of salaries and arrears?
In Kogi State today, budgeting processing is now carried out in opaque and corruptive manner. Contracts are awarded to political cronies without tender and publication for public bidding. These have bred despondency, cynicism and loss of hope among the citizens.
The education sector that supposed to be the bedrock of development is in disarray. Incessant strike actions and closure of tertiary institutions because of non- payment of subvention by the government have all combined to make nonsense of education in the state. Most of the tertiary institutions in Kogi State today cannot boost of potable water; even some areas in Lokoja the capital city are facing the same problem despite the waters surrounding the state. Roads are abandoned, health care services remain the shadow of its former self, the state’s chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress is demobilized and demotivated from pursuing the yearnings and aspirations of workers and endless screening of civil servants now characterize the civil service. What a government!
The people of Kogi have come to critical point in their political lives where decisions they make will either make or mar their political destinies. In doing this, they should use their voice as an instrument to suppress the high-handedness of the mighty, activate their socio- political conscience, come out of docility and utter passiveness and demand accountability from the government. They should ask what the government does with the resources they have been empowered with, how well these resources have been utilized, through what process and more importantly, whether there was sufficient value-for resources obtained. Kogi State government should explain how it expended first tranche of N20bn and second tranche of N11.5bn bailout funds, the internally generated revenue and several months of federal allocations to the state’s treasury and other account of activities through relevant and constitutionally approved channels.
Bello and his political acolytes should stop engaging in brickbats, mudslinging and creating an enemy where there is none. He should call expanded stakeholders’ meeting of Kogites both at home and in the diaspora to re- draw the map through which the government can travel on its journey of putting Kogi State on pedestal of excellence.
The clock is ticking and posterity will soon judge and put Yaya Bello on either right or wrong side of history.
The Chairman, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon Abdullahi Adamu Candido has bemoaned the deplorable state of Utako ultra-modern Market.
He said the market is generally in a poor state, and “this is not the intention of the initiator of this concept, so we must come back to the real intention of the market.”
To this end, the AMAC chairman urged the management of the market, the unified managers in the market and associations of the traders to do all it could to fix the market within the next three months.
Speaking while leading top AMAC officials on an unscheduled inspection of the market, Candido lamented that the market had become very dirty and unorganised, which the council can’t tolerate any longer.
He said, “From the findings by the management committee we set up for the market, our assessment has not changed, as the market is still in its deplorable state.
“Therefore, we have decided that we cannot continue to allow this market initiated with good intention to go the other way round, so we have to ensure that there is proper measures will be put in place, in order to bring back the lost glory of the market.
“Also, you are hereby urged to ensure that all the identified makeshift shops put in place in the market through fraudulent acts, should be done away with. Get us the payment tellers, and let’s see whose account got money from the concerned traders; and their money must be refunded back to them.
“Because it was a fraud, and whoever was behind the erection of makeshift shops will be prosecuted, irrespective of status or position, in as much as we have discovered that it was fraud, as it was never designed and approved by the council. We will never allow our traders to be shortchanged.”
He continued, saying, “I will hand over the market to the standing committee on market of the Legislative arm, because they make the laws, which we abide by. The elected councilors will be working in synergy with the Council Market Management Committee, to tidy up and standardise the market.”
A sensitisation tour of a grazing reserve in Gombe State exposes decay in a rural community, VINCENT OHONBAMU reports
It was an accidental discovery. The team was in Wawazange community in Gombe State to appeal to the residents to forge peaceful cohabitation with cattle breeders as the federal government kicked off the nationwide rehabilitation of the 414 grazing reserves in the country. But it turned out that the dilapidation of the community was too glaring to be overlooked.
•Some Fulani girls during a mobilisation tour of Wawazange grazing reserve in Gombe State
Members of the Advocacy, Sensitisation and Mobilisation Team on Rehabilitation and Development of Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes had a few shock finds in Wawazange Grazing Reserve in Dukku Local Government Area of the state. On a tour of the community, they found a primary school of about six classrooms, complete with a headmaster’s office. But the school had just one teacher who turned out to be the headmaster, who taught from primary one to six, a population of 63 pupils, mainly boys.
Dr. Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Assistant National Secretary General of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria who visited the reserve, as part of the team, also found out that the school’s staff quarters was dilapidated and uninhabitable. This means that even if teachers were available, they would have no place to lay their heads.
The third observation uncovered by the visit was that there was no single public health facility in the area for humans and none for animals.
“And looking at the trend today where the whole world is looking at Nigeria in its campaign against polio; looking at the population of this grazing reserve and also considering the fact that Gombe State and all other states of the northeast region are very high risk states in terms of polio campaign, I think that is not ideal,” said Dr. Abdullahi.
He added, saying, “We have just clocked about two years without having one single wild polio virus (WPV) case. But unfortunately for us, WPV [has just been] isolated in Borno State and you cannot rule out the possibility of people from that area coming to this area and then getting our children here infected. So I think this is a matter of urgent importance that the government has to look at.”
As a way out of the quagmire, the Assistant Secretary General of Miyyetti Allah Cattle Breeders suggests thus: “We need to educate them. We have to provide teachers. And then we have to mobilise these people to enrol their children in schools, especially the girl-child.
“Also, we have no alternative today than to imbibe all government policies and programmes, especially as they relate to health. Therefore, I want to strongly appeal to them, not only to accept polio, but also to accept weekly routine immunization (RI).”
The United Nations Fund, UNICEF has at different advocacy meetings and sensitisation workshops in Gombe made case for routine immunization and that of polio with the aim of sustaining awareness on RI and consolidating on the polio- free status of Gombe state where the last case was about five years ago.
Notable of such meetings was the Gombe State Mid-Year Review meeting where it was revealed that UNICEF among other things campaigned vigorously and strengthened the immunization against polio at Funakaye and Nafada local government areas.
UNICEF has also been very loud on the need for the education of the children, especially the girl-child. It was further revealed at the mid-year review that 2,935 school aged internally displaced persons (IDP) learners were enrolled in different schools in Akko, Gombe, Funakaye and Yamaltu-Deba local government areas under the Safe School Initiative (SSI) Emergency Programme, using the UNICEF structure.
Experts say the Northeast is the most educationally backward in the country; it also has the highest number of out of schoolchildren and it is equally the most poverty ravaged. This is a keg of gunpowder waiting to explode.
The Northeast has been ravaged by insurgent Boko Haram fighters over the last five years. They sustained their fighting even to this day by taking advantage of the large pool of poor and uneducated youths.
The state Commissioner for Animal Husbandry and Nomadic Affairs Sammy Barka, a pharmacist, was present at the occasion and he said based on the observation about the education of the teeming Fulani populace who are settlers in this grazing reserve, the Ministry would liaise with the appropriate authorities, particularly the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) with a view to establish a school in the Reserve or repair the already established one and send more teachers to take of the pupils in the school.
Like Ibrahim Abdullahi said: “the world is looking” to see how realistic and how soon this promise would materialise.
SIR: Since the inauguration of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, 2015, attention of Nigerians and the international community have been focused on among other issues; how to tame the hydra-headed monster called corruption. The war commenced with focus on public institutions and immediate past government officials alleged to have plundered the treasury under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party. There are high expectations that the stolen funds would be returned to Nigeria to facilitate development.
Corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of the Nigerian society. We conduct ourselves as if Nigeria is a country without national ethics. Section 23 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999 as amended) prescribes the national ethics as:Discipline, Integrity, and Dignity of Labour, Social Justice, Religious Tolerance, Self-reliance and Patriotism.
Unfortunately, the family – the institution which is expected to inculcate these values in its members has abrogated its responsibility in pursuit of mundane issues. The family it can be asserted without fear of contradiction has failed the nation. This position is informed by the gamut of societal ills bedevilling our country which are manifestations of moral decadence. Otherwise, what else could propel some parents who reportedly hire members of the public to write examinations on behalf of their children or purchase examination question papers thereby sending wrong message to the children that it pays to cheat? There are reports of children at such tender age in nursery schools who steal snacks from lunch boxes of other children, of university students who cheat during examinations or pay lecturers to obtain in advance examination question papers before examination day so to pass the exams. Children who hitherto were community assets and protected by members of society are presently subjected to all manner of abuses and targeted as objects of trade. Those who establish baby factories to manufacture babies for sale, the armed robbers, the kidnappers, the suicide bombers, and Boko Haram sponsors are all manifestations of collapsed family system. Indeed, the rot is very deep.
Examples of pervasive rot in our society are numerous. In our markets, traders cheat unsuspecting members of the public by for example, hiding rotten tomatoes at the base of baskets while scattering large and healthy looking tomatoes on top to give a false impression of the entire content of the basket in order to extract maximum amount of money. The practice is same for food items such as yams, potatoes and so on. What about those engaged in the production and sale of fake drugs, counterfeit currency or collude to convert our beautiful country into a dumping ground for substandard goods, hazardous electronic waste or import sand as fertilizer and water as petroleum products and are paid subsidy.
The traditional institutions that harbour our rich cultural values have not been spared the rot. In times past, traditional rulers were seen custodians of our rich cultural values, an embodiment of truth and justice. They shielded their communities from imminent danger. Regrettably, in present day Nigeria, some traditional rulers are known to harbour armed robbers and participate in the sharing of loot snatched at gun point and through the spilling of the innocent blood of citizens. Similarly, faith, community based and civil society organisations, labour unions, students and professional bodies house elements that engage in corrupt practices. The rot is very deep indeed.
As Nigerians, therefore, it is our collective responsibility to join hands with President Buhari’s administration to bring about positive CHANGE in our fatherland. We cannot stand aloof and criticise the government of inaction or inability to deploy the “magic wand” to effect positive CHANGE in Nigeria. All Nigerians need to stand up to be counted as CHANGE agents by doing the RIGHT THING. So that TOGETHER we shall bring positive CHANGE in our country.
Hundreds of Itsekiri communities from Koko, Obaghoro, Ijaghalla, Ogidigben, Ajudaibo, Usele, Deghele and others were at the mercy of coastal erosion and vanishing shoreline. The acquisition of a dredger by DESOPADEC was expected to resettle thousands of members of the ethnic groups who fled their homes in the aftermath of the Ijaw/Itsekiri crisis. SHOLA O’NEIL writes that nearly two years after the multi-million dollar equipment was acquired, the beauty of Eregwa is fast fading without the communities feeling its impact.
There were huge expectations among the people of Itsekiri in 2013 when their representatives on the board of the Delta State Oil-Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) announced a plan to acquire a gigantic dredger. The equipment, they were told, was to be used to dredge creeks, waterways and to sand-fill their riverside communities that are fast being eroded by erosion.
The joy that trailed the announcement stemmed from the deplorable state of towns in Warri South, South-west and North local government areas.
Hundreds of Itsekiri communities from Koko, Obaghoro, Ijaghalla, Ogidigben, Ajudaibo, Usele, Deghele and others were at the mercy of coastal erosion and vanishing shoreline.
The acquisition of the dredger was also expected to resettle thousands of members of the ethnic groups who fled their homes in the aftermath of the Ijaw/Itsekiri crisis between the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The hope brightened on a lively day in April last year when the then Chairman of the Commission, Mr Oritsuwa Kpogho, an Itsekiri man, inaugurated the dredger with fanfare and back-parting in Koko, headquarters of Warri North Local Government Area.
Aptly named ‘EREGWA’ (Itsekiri word for a beautiful woman or object), the glimmering monster of an equipment was a beauty to behold.
Kpogho stated that DESOPADEC went for the best dredger in the world, adding that the equipment would last beyond three decades.
Commenting on the issue, the commission’s secretary, Sir Augustine Oghoro promised that the dredger would be deployed to save and restore communities that are being washed away by erosion.
•Diden
A news report on DESOPADEC website entitled “Jubilation as DESOPADEC Acquires Dredger”, quoted Hon. Michale Diden (aka Ejele) as saying, “the waterlogged communities can be reclaimed”.
However, nearly two years after the multi-million dollar equipment was acquired, the beauty of Eregwa is fast fading without the communities feeling its impact.
Creeks and rivers are still blocked by silts; communities are endangered more than ever before while the Ellicott 1270 Dragon dredger is rotting away at a private dockyard in Koko.
Niger Delta Report learnt that, apart from the initial test-run of the equipment to fill the private jetty where it is kept, the N1 billion worth of equipment is yet to leave the scene where its components were unwrapped and assembled over a year ago.
Our investigations revealed that the contract for the dredger was awarded to a company known as Mawona Atlantic Limited for N985, 000,000 for “purchase of dredger/accessories”.
Attempts by our reporter to get further details from Ellicott Dredgers LLC Maryland, USA were not fruitful, as the company was unwilling to make any comment.
alter Mather, who responded to our e-mail enquiry, neither denied nor confirmed that the equipment was bought from them. He also would not go into details of the price.
He said: “Ellicott does build and offer an 18-inch dredger with model Dragon 1270. Several have been sold in Nigeria.
“With respect to your underlying questions, please understand that we do not discuss our private business with the media without prior approval of any related client,” Walter added.
Information sourced from the company’s websites indicated that the one sighted by our reporter in Koko is indeed an Ellicott Dragon 1270, an 18″, 460mm diameter portable cutter-head type dredger with a maximum digging depth of 15.24m.
The manufacturer boasts that the dredger is “tailored to suit the requirements of the purchaser”, adding, “It is made to give the greatest return on the investment dollar.”
Unfortunately for Itsekiri communities, rather than give value for the N1 billion paid to acquire it, the dredger has been rotting away in Koko and accruing more expenses, including a princely N1.6 million monthly warehouse cost.
Expectant community leaders who thought its deployment would ease their pains have since given up.
“The euphoria over the dredger is gone; like most projects by those claiming to represent us. It is only they and their cronies who supplied it that have seen its gain. Not one Itsekiri community, even here in Warri North Local Government Area or the oil communities, has used it. How can people be so wicked?” Mr Eyitemi Kingsway Eyoyibo, told our report.
Eyoyibo, who hails from erosion-prone Ajudaibo in Ugborodo, called for a full scale investigation into, not just the dredger, but also into several other projects awarded over the years by Itsekiri representatives in the board of DESOPADEC.
“All those found culpable of short-changing our people should refund all monies and be sent to jail. Itsekiri nation has suffered too much because of the greed and avarice of a few who find themselves in the corridors of power,” he stressed.
Reliable sources in DESOPADEC said the state and the Itsekiri have lost heavily due to the wasting equipment. It was learnt that benefits from training, operation and others that was built into the contract have been lost along with the guarantee against defects.
The recently inaugurated Commissioner Representing Itsekiri in the commission, Chief Thomas Ereyitomi, who was contacted by our reporter, said he was yet to get the full brief and details on the dredger.
Ereyitomi, in a telephone conversation with our reporter said: “As you are aware, we are just coming on board (DESOPADEC) and there are so many things that we need to look at. I am yet to get the full brief on the dredger so I might not be able to say much – at least for now.”
The DESOPADEC Executive Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr Victor Oritsetinmeyin Wood, could not be reached for comment. The director, who insisted on a face-to-face chat with our reporter, was said to be on project inspection when our reporter visited the commission.
Mr Tsewo Edema, the Head of Security at DESOPADEC at the time, confirmed that the commission pays N19.2 million (N1.6 million monthly) annually to a private firm, which owns the jetty where the equipment is kept since about 2012.
Edema, in a chat with Niger Delta Report, explained that the N1.6m monthly payment was not only for the use of the jetty, but also for safekeeping of the dredger.
But beyond the cost of ‘safekeeping’ the dredger, the loss of add-ons and warrantee could come to haunt the commission.
“If and when they decide to use it, if any challenge is discovered with the dredger, huge sums of money would again be needed to procure the parts and maybe bring in expert from the United States (US),” Kingsway-Eyoyibo lamented.
At the time of our reporter’s visit to Koko on Sunday, October 18, the huge pipes and suction hoses procured with the dredger were rotting away due to lack of use and maintenance. Huge containers and caravans which were used to freight the equipment to the Itsekiri riverside communities laid idle.
A prominent Itsekiri staff of the commission, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security reasons, said only Messrs. Oritsuwa Kpokgho and Michael Diden (now a member of the Delta State House of Assembly) respectively and Edema, could throw more light on the debacle surrounding the contract of the dredger.
“The purchase was between them; they were the all and all as far as the Itsekiri nation was concern in DESOPADEC at that time. So, any question about the dredger should be directed to them,” our source said.
Diden was yet to respond to our reporter’s text message inquiry at the time of filing this report. Attempts to get through to him through a third party were also not fruitful two weeks afterwards.
Edema, however, denied being involved in the procurement of the dredger. Although he conceded that he was aware that the contract involved training of Itsekiri engineers to man it, he said beyond securing the equipment, he knew nothing else.
A very angry community leader however said: “Even at the time the contract was awarded, there was fear apart from not being what the Itsekiri need to spend money on at the time, the issue of how it was going to operate needed to be fully addressed. But nobody gave heed to wise advice then because some persons were more interested in the contract than how it would benefit the Itsekiri nation.”
Further investigations revealed that the dredger is a victim of the clash of political interests among prominent Itsekiri politicians and various group leaders who wanted to convert it to their personal assets.
Confirming this, Edema described the dredger as a victim of a clash of “big interests. He revealed that various efforts to put the dredger to use was frustrated by unnamed key players and inability of private firms that indicated interest to lease it to provide firm guarantee of their commitment.
“For instance,” he said, “one private firm handling road construction work in Koko area offered to take it on lease; although their offer was way below the commission’s estimation, the deal fell through because they could not provide bank guarantee. Everybody wants to take and convert it to private use.”
Edema said but for his vigilance, the multi-million dollar equipment would have ended up as a private asset.
“By now, there would be no longer dredger to talk about; it might have been taken as far as to Cotonou (Benin Republic),” he added.
When it was built in 1976, the Federal Secretariat, Lagos, was not only a signature of architectural masterpiece, its sheer opulence also stamped on global consciousness the country’s arrival into the oil boom era. But its glory was consigned to the trash can of history in 1991 when it was abandoned following the relocation of the country’s capital to Abuja. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes that 24 years on, it has become a long tale of neglect.
Trees of all shapes and sizes seem to be competing for height with the abandoned 15-storey tower buildings which was once the heartbeat of the nation and the structure that gave Ikoyi its elitist tag. The Federal Secretariat, Ikoyi, Lagos home of Nigeria’s federal civil service when Lagos was a federal capital territory, majestically stands as a monument of waste.
The two buildings painted in brown texcote, consisting of twin towers each, lay in ruin, buried by an emerging jungle, amid surrounding opulence.
Opposite this “princely jungle” was Dodan Barracks that used to be the seat of power and home to most of the country’s military Heads of State, until the self-styled evil genius, Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) shifted the country’s capital to the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.
Ironically, while the hub of the country’s bureaucracy lay in ruins and fast becoming a jungle, the impregnable Dodan Barracks seems to have lost nothing, preserved to attend to the needs of guests who frequently visited its banquet halls and warmed its beds.
Apart from the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), which temporarily occupied one of its wings, no firm had used it since 1991. NAFDAC left soon afterwards, when its office was gutted by fire.
One of the federal projects started by Gen. Yakubu Gowon in 1975, the controversy that led to the nation’s pricey property’s sad end started in 2006, when Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, the then Minister of Works and Housing under President Olusegun Obasanjo, concessioned it to Resort International Limited (RIL); a private firm owned by Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN) for N7.2 billion.
Babalakin’s idea was to convert the entire complex into a high rise housing complex and hope was on the rise that about 480 housing units might soon be added to resolve the shortfall in the nation’s housing stock.
Going by Obasanjo’s government’s calculation, RIL was expected to convert the complex to four, three and two bedroom flats, among others.
But the plan did not materialise with the Lagos State Government, led by a cream of its prominent sons vehemently opposed the idea of converting the complex from its original function to a residential area. Led by Lagos monarch Oba Rilwan Akiolu and former Governor Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State Government argued that the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) ought to have reverted to it once the reason for its take-over ceased to exist.
They obtained a court injunction barring anyone from carrying out any further activity within the complex, a situation responsible for its present state.
One of the tricycle operators Wahidi Ismail who plies the Ikoyi-Obalende route said the mechanics have turned the Federal Secretariat first gate area into a mini-mechanic workshop. According to him, the mechanic yard had been in operation for about five years, without any molestation from any one since then.
Though its investment as a concessionaire still subsists, RIL is being frustrated to embark on the project because of the court injunction and the state government’s non-disposition to approve the complex to be developed as residential area.
The state faulted the sale on the premise that the complex was too large to be used for residential purposes, especially because that was not the original plan when it was built in 1975.
Babalakin was once quoted as describing the situation as a major threat to the public private partnership (PPP) initiative and the concession option as an alternative to economic growth. He said all stakeholders, the concessionaire and banks, which have all invested a great deal in the project have lost hope. He explained that the project was conceived to convert idle Federal Government’s assets to viable structures.
A source at the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development said the structure must be reverted to its original use as encapsulated in the law.
But health and safety experts maintained that leaving such a facility abandoned for years is a threat to the environment. Thomas Adedeji said were it not for the police who have mounted surveillance at the facility, it would have been overtaken by miscreants and criminals.
“When a building has been abandoned for long, it starts to collapse gradually because human beings give strength to the building. The moment people stop using the building, structural defects begin to take place and the building may collapse.
“If you take it from an insurance point of view, if there are offices around the building, the insurance firm can increase their premium because part of the risk of their business is the building, which is prone to collapse. People are also prone to defecating around the structure, which can cause environmental hazards; people
around will inhale malodorous air that could make them fall sick.
“In my view, instead of leaving it to rot away, it should have been turned into flats for residents and offices which will generate a lot of money for the Federal Government. That building is in a beautiful location and it shouldn’t be wasted. The problem with us as Nigerians is that we always mismanage government’s property,” Adedeji said.
Adedeji’s fear resonated recently when news made the rounds that the complex had been overtaken by miscreants and criminals. But facts soon emerged that this was a false alarm, as those regarded as miscreants were, indeed, family members of the 24-member Mobile Policemen posted to guard the premises since the complex was locked up by the courts.
Taking the Executive Secretary of Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Hon. Ms Toyin Caxton-Martins, round the premises recently, a Police Inspector, who heads the 24-member team at the premises, said the policemen who were posted from Maiduguri, Yobe and Adamawa states had to bring members of their families as a result of the fear of Boko Haram insurgents.
The Inspector, who implored the council chief to assist in weeding the bushes and cutting down the trees that had sprouted in the last 24 years of the premises’ abandonment, said his men had been cutting the bushes themselves to ensure their safety.
Caxton-Martins
Ms Caxton-Martins, who promised to make the environment more livable for the policemen said she is satisfied about the security situation of the abandoned complex, adding that the only time civilians are allowed into the premises was only on Fridays when the Moslems living around the secretariat were allowed to come to the mosque within the premises to pray. She said she will deliberate with officials of the council on how to assist in reducing the pains of the officers posted to guard the complex.
Olusola George Olumoroti, a mechanical engineer, is a governorship aspirant in Kogi State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). A foundation member of APC in the state, he is reputed as a principled politician who has consistently remained in opposition in the state for many years. He speaks about his ambition to transform Kogi in this interview with HANNAH OJO.
Which aspect of engineering did you study?
I trained as a mechanical engineer. I obtained an HND from Yaba College of Technology, coupled with a master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University Of Calabar. I am also an Alumnus of the Lagos Business School.
How about your work experience?
I did my NYSC (National Youth Service) at Savannah Flour Mills, Yola, Adamawa State in 1990. I also worked in many companies, including Miccom Engineering Works Limited, a leading cable manufacturing company in Lagos, before joining the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), where I worked up till 1993. In 1993, I joined Mobil Producing Nigeria (a subsidiary of ExxonMobil) and has served in various capacities and rose, by the grace of God and a dint of hard work, to become a senior executive of the company. I am currently the president of ExxonMobil Staff Multipurpose Cooperative Society.
My watchword has always been justice, integrity and accountability. And by the grace of God, I have served in many leadership positions. I was the President of the Yoruba Community in Eket, Akwa Ibom State between 2001 and 2003. I piloted the affairs of the association by improving communal relationship between the Yoruba people in Akwa Ibom State and the indigenes through an innovative idea.
I pioneered the Annual Educational Grant and Scholarship Award to 50 Akwa Ibom students. As one who believes in social justice and defender of the rights of the masses, I was elected as the Chairman of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) Mobil Producing Nigeria Branch where I also initiated the annual ‘Giving back to the poor’ programme. By the grace of God, my exceptional leadership qualities led to my election as the Joint National Chairman of the Upstream Oil & Gas Producing Sector (Producers’ Forum) of PENGASSAN with responsibility for coordinating PENGASSAN activities in Companies like Shell, Chevron, Total, Agip, ExxonMobil, Addax, ConocoPhillips, and so on. And alongside my colleagues in the Producers’ Forum, we articulated and created the prospect for the eventual launching of the Niger Delta master plan by the Federal Government in 2007.
One would expect you to have served your immediate community before clamouring to become the governor of the state…
By the grace of God, I have for the past 15 years rendered selfless service to many communities and have touched many lives in Kogi State. I established OGO Community Development Initiative; a non-profit and non-governmental organisation which amongst others has to its record the drilling of water borehole in various communities in Kogi State. I also organised youth and
women empowerment programmes in the 21 local government areas of the state. It is tagged “Waste to Wealth Training,” where we train the youth on how to create wealth, and I give them a take-off grant to start their own business after the trainings.
I also organise annual scholarship grants to students/orphans, including indigent but brilliant students. I organised free medical treatment for people in rural areas and sponsored free coaching classes for JAMB/GCE candidates, among many other things.
Why do you want to be the governor of Kogi State?
I am always at pain and sometimes I weep inside of me when I see the level of poverty the people of the state have been subjected to due to maladministration, corruption and misplaced priorities by past administrations in the state. Sometimes I feel ashamed that our state with such a huge natural and human resources could still be wobbling at age 24. Almost everything in the state is at zero level.
The roads are the worst in the country. There is huge infrastructural decay. Our schools have collapsed and teachers are treated as second class citizens. There is high unemployment rate and our moral value system has been greatly eroded. All these issues have to be addressed fast before the state collapses. That is why I volunteer myself to rescue the state from this rot.
What specific things will you do, if elected as governor?
Past leaders have tried their best to develop the state, but since 2003, successive administrations have put the state in reverse gear. Kogi State is now where infrastructure across the state has collapsed. Our school children and teachers spend more time at home due to unending strikes. Youth employment and empowerment have become a mirage and there has been a total collapse of governance structure. The goal of my administration is to reverse this ugly trend by making Kogi State a place of choice for new and expanding businesses, creating opportunities for the young and old and attracting tourists by the cultural heritage of our people and the enviable historical background of our towns and villages.
We will build cities with a lively urban life and enormous economic opportunities complete with modern infrastructures across the State. The administration’s economic development blueprint will be targeted at reversing the declining livelihood and poverty level of the rural populace, which will stem the tide of migration. In addition, we will diversify our strength towards achieving high productivity, self-reliance and prosperity for all.
The coming of democratic system of government in 1999 elicited high hopes and expectations, but this has now been characterised by squandering of goodwill, mismanagement of our resources, arrogance and repression of the fundamental human rights of our people. Our hopes have given way to diverse violent assault on the citizenry mentally and psychologically.
Our political leaders, past and present, have tragically used politics as a source of empowerment to few individuals at the detriment of the larger populace and state development. Politics has been deployed as a weapon for oppressing the poor and downtrodden and, above all, created depression, poverty, hopelessness and deprivation in the society. This deliberate scheming induced by political leaders that cuts across all the ethnic divide in Kogi State is designed to create fear, trepidation and anxiety in the minds of the people so that they can continue to perpetrate injustice and hold the people hostage. The result is increasing mistrust and ethnic tension amongst the people.
Let me assure you that this situation is not a true reflection of what is on the ground, as all the ethnic divides love themselves and remain one indivisible entity. I therefore urge all Kogites to join hands with me to confront and fight our common enemy. Let us liberate ourselves from the shackles of oppression.
Let us take our destiny in our hands so that there can be a future for our children and those yet unborn. I offer myself as that bastion of hope.
Recent UN report confirms that we are one of the three poorest states in Nigeria while the 2014 WAEC result shows that Kogi occupies the 34th position in ranking with only 13 per cent of students who sat for the examination having five credits and above. This is unacceptable! Despite the huge monthly federal allocations, abundant human and natural resources there is little to show after 24 years of existence and 16 years of democratic rule.
The prospects that the good people of Kogi State will enjoy the real dividends of democracy any time soon is no less grim than they were in pre-May 1999, hence the need for a change towards genuine and sustainable development, enduring legacy, prosperity, peace and unity. Our focus will be putting “PEOPLE FIRST”.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday urged Nigerians to be patient with the in-coming Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Obasanjo said the expectations are enormous, but advised Nigerians to accept the fact that what was destroyed in the last eight years cannot be fixed overnight by Buhari.
He expressed the confidence that the Buhari administration would “perform,” adding that Nigerians now have a “ new opportunity” to make the country work.
Obasanjo, who quit party politics to assume the position of a statesman, spoke yesterday in his Abeokuta residence at the Presidential Hilltop Estate, where he hosted Southwest women leaders.
The women leaders, including the Iyaloja – General of Nigeria, Chief Folashade Tinubu – Ojo, were led by the Iyalode of Yorubaland, Chief (Mrs) Alaba Lawson.
The former President noted that the new opportunity is God – given, adding that the “good things” about the next administration is that the man that would head it, Buhari, is neither “a greenhorn nor a novice” in governance.
According to him, Buhari was once in the saddle, even if it was under a “different circumstance” and would use his experience to navigate the country to the right direction.
Obasanjo alluded that Nigerians are quite clever and good followers when one is honest but difficult to manage or lead as soon as a leader begins to practise “cover up” or try to play “ostrich” on them.
He said that there was a very high expectation about the in-coming government to sort things out quickly for Nigerians, but also added that there is equally a high level of goodwill locally and internationally in its favour.
The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman urged Buhari “not to be frightened” by the enormous expectations and the daunting challenges of the country.
According to him, Buhari should take the right steps within the next three months of being sworn in when Nigerians are watching and counting to see what would be done to better their lot.
He advised Buhari to be open to Nigerians, and not take them for granted, praying that Nigeria and Nigerians would not miss this opportunity God has provided to get the country out of trouble.
Obasanjo said: “When you met me before the elections, there was a very important issue you discussed with me. I raised the issue with the concerned authority and I got a reply that it would be addressed, and I am sure the issue has been addressed.
“All you have mentioned again here today, we must all look at it together. The situation was like this when I took over in 1999; no light, no fuel, but it didn’t take us so long before the issues of light and fuel were resolved.
“There’s something very important that I observed – the incoming President has a lot of experience; he’s not a greenhorn. It is not as if he hasn’t been into power before, he is experienced.
“He knew what we did to turn things around, even when we were there together during the military regime; we did it together, and it was as a result of our performance that we were invited to do it again.
“What I would say is that we should all put our minds at rest. He’s someone that would perform but we must exercise patience, ýbecause what has been destroyed for eight years can not be undone overnight.
“Like the Chinese proverb, ‘the journey of a thousand miles starts with a step’, it is not only first step but first step in the right direction because if you took a wrong step, you’re not likely to get to the destination.
“Let’s give Buhari some time; let’s support him with prayers and relate with him with support. Like you’ve said, it’s everybody’s duty, not only those who have governed before; all of us are keen about Nigeria.”
Earlier, Mrs Lawson, who lauded Obasanjo for his fatherly role in Nigeria, urged him not to stop advising the incoming administration.
She said Nigerians are in agony – over fuel crisis, unemployment and insecurity, among others – and urged the former President not to abandon Buhari in the onerous task to make Nigerians proud again as two good heads are better than one.
“So, Your Excellency, we believe that you still have a lot to offer from your wealth of experience and we know that you will honour us.”
“We pray that you will finish what you have started, now that you have ensured that a government, which you know will take care of the masses, has been elected,” Mrs Lawson said.
