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Tag: Sam Amuka

  • Sam Amuka: Very unNigerian

    Sam Amuka: Very unNigerian

    By Ray Apkn

    A few days ago, on June 13, Samson Oruru Amuka-Pemu, better known as Uncle Sam, and also widely known as Sad Sam joined the nonagenarian club and was fittingly celebrated by the media and political elite in Lagos. A day earlier, President Bola Tinubu had honoured him with the national honour of Commander of the Office of the Niger (CON), an improvement of his OON which he received many years ago.

    In a country where buildings collapse and kill people frequently, where fuel vans fall and spread fire that kills many people regularly, where people over-speed on good roads and kill themselves, their passengers and bystanders, where doctors kill people easily with wrong prescriptions and go scot-free, it is certainly a big deal to live up to 90 years. Besides, 13 is said to be an unlucky number but it has turned out to be a lucky number, a very lucky number, for Sam Amuka.

    Amuka is a very different Nigerian. He is, in fact, a very unNigerian human being, very pleasantly unNigerian. This is a country of titlemania, a country where both achievers and nonentities are crazy about titles, they crave exhibitionism, they write three or four titles before their names and then write their qualifications after their names. Some of them who are chiefs do not derive contentment from just being called chiefs. They now prefer to be called High Chief. Before long some of them will ask to be called Highest Chief. That is the kind of stupidity that we live with here.

    I don’t know if Amuka is a chief or prince because he has never indicated that he is any of those. He is a very self-effacing man, he is simplicity personified, the epitome of humility. A few years ago I had a problem that I wanted to discuss with him. So I called him on the phone and asked for an appointment. He said that he would rather come to see me. I was shocked by his response for three reasons (a) He is 14 years older than me (b) He is many years older than me in journalism (c) I was the one who needed his advice on a problem that was bothering me. I, of course, refused to give him my address. I thought he might get my address from any of my colleagues. So I got dressed quickly and drove to his house before he would think of coming to see me.

     Some years ago during one of Uncle Sam’s birthdays I decided to write a tribute on him even though I knew that he doesn’t like such things. I thought I could ask him to allow me to write something on him to give inspiration to younger journalists but I changed my mind and decided to write it without getting permission from him. However in the article, I asked for forgiveness if he thought I had done something wrong. I went scot-free, there was no punishment to me from this publicity-shy man. This time, I need no permission at all because he has accepted that he cannot dodge forever the attempt by Nigerians to appreciate and celebrate him for his exertions to Nigeria.

    In 2005 the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) was about to conduct an election to fill its offices. I was doing my second term as the General Secretary of the association. Uncle Sam asked me whether I wanted to run for the presidency of the association. I said “No” to him. Then some members of the association put pressure on me to run for the office because they thought that I had enough experience that might be beneficial to the association. So I changed my mind by deciding to run. I told Uncle Sam of my latest decision. He told me that he was supporting the chairman of Punch, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola. I respected his decision but requested that he should allow me to come and campaign within his company, Vanguard. A large-hearted man, he allowed me.

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    This story and his stand are important because since he and Olu Aboderin, the founding chairman of Punch parted ways there was still that lingering hostility between Punch and Amuka who had now founded Vanguard after the split. Some other person, not as open-minded as Amuka, would not have supported Ogunshola at the election. I won the election and when I finished my term I spoke to Uncle Sam about giving Ogunshola a chance to run the affairs of the association as its president. He was a bit surprised that I was the one making the proposal because of the hostility that Ogunshola’s supporters unleashed on me during my presidency. I told him that I would like to move a motion for the association to elect Ogunshola by acclamation and that I would urge my supporters to back the plan. Again Amuka supported Ogunshola. I moved the motion and he became president by acclamation. Another evidence of Amuka’s broad-mindedness.

     When I was General Secretary of the NPAN, I benefitted from Amuka’s wide experience and wisdom in the management of public affairs. In 1997, General Sani Abacha had, as Head of State, published a draconoian document on what he called “The National Mass Media Commission and Press Court.” If implemented, these two institutions would have destroyed the Nigerian media almost irreparably. So the various arms of the media started meeting and looking for ways of combating the demons that Abacha wanted to inflict on the media. One day Amuka said to me: “Ray you are the engine room of this association. Don’t let us come and gather here debating what to do because Abacha can send his goons to come and pack all of us into prison.” So I asked him what he wanted me to do. He said I should always draft a communique at home and simply come and distribute at the meeting and we would look at it and take a decision within a few minutes and run away. In obedience to that advice, I drafted the NPO position on the National Mass Media Commission and Press Court which the NPO printed and distributed widely to counter Abacha’s incendiary document that would have killed the Nigerian media.

     Amuka is an eminent journalist who had been at various times a reporter, writer, columnist, editor and publisher. He edited Spear magazine which became a fierce competitor to Drum which was published in South Africa and was prominent in the Nigerian market. He also edited the iconic Sunday Times which had a roller coaster life in the Nigerian media scene before he went to establish the Punch newspaper along with his friend Chief Olu Aboderin. He was also a famous columnist writing under the pseudonym Sad Sam, a witty, sometimes satirical column that made some people actually sad and some people actually sanguine. In real life he is also very humorous and has the enormous capacity to turn every situation into a scene for roaring laughter. He is someone who lights up any and every room where he steps into because he always feels able to share his ready wit with all and sundry. He is also a dispenser of ready smile, the kind of smile that can disarm a lion. And because of his easy manners and unconditional accessibility many people wonder whether he ever gets angry either in his personal or professional life.

    He has been a strong pillar of the media, supporting all the media arms, Nigerian Union of Journalists, Nigerian Guild of Editors, the NPAN and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) where he has been a member of the Governing Council for many years now. Journalism is lucky to have a man like Amuka in its fold. There are not many professions where nonagenarians are still active. But wherever there is something affecting the media, Amuka is always there dispensing knowledge, experience and wisdom. That is why he earns the respect of all journalists, veterans and young ones alike.

     But Amuka is more than a journalist. He is a nationalist and patriot who along with General Abdulsalami Abubakar and Bishop Mathew Kukah have worked hard to bring sanity to Nigeria’s elections by their exertions in the Peace Committee. His dedication to the work of that committee makes him a quintessential patriot and statesman to whom Nigeria owes a huge debt of gratitude.

  • Mark celebrates journalism icon Amuka at 90

    Mark celebrates journalism icon Amuka at 90

    Former Senate President David Mark has congratulated publisher of Vanguard newspapers Sam Amuka on his 90th birthday.

    In a goodwill message, Senator Mark lauded Amuka’s monumental contributions to the journalism profession and to Nigeria’s socio-political development. He noted that both the media industry and the nation owe Amuka a debt of gratitude for his lifelong dedication and service.

    Reflecting on Amuka’s illustrious career, Mark highlighted his influential column in the defunct Daily Times of Nigeria, which he said played a significant role in shaping national discourse and guiding the country’s development, even before the founding of Vanguard newspapers.

    Read Also: Tunji Bello salutes Amuka-Pemu at 90

    Senator Mark urged Amuka to continue to share his vast experience and wisdom in leadership and journalism with the younger generation, noting that his legacy remains a valuable resource.

    He prayed for God’s continued grace upon Amuka’s life, wishing him good health, peace, and enduring wisdom in the years to come.

  • Tinubu wants more power devolve to states

    Tinubu wants more power devolve to states

    …Says FG taking much power

     

     

    National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that for the nation to develop as a federation, the federal government must devolve powers to the states and relieve itself of the numerous burden it has placed on itself, saying there was too much concentration of power at the Centre.

    Tinubu said Nigeria was currently practicing what he called unitary federalism in total violation of the principles of federalism as practiced by other countries.

    Delivering a lecture entitled “Daily Times at 91: Building the future by respecting the past”, the former Lagos state governor also took a swipe at the nation’s budgetary system which is said lay too much emphasis on the intake of dollars, a system which he said had long been abandoned by other nations.

    He said Nigeria need to break away from the self-imposed dollarization of our fiscal space. The intake of dollars determines our budgets. We operate under an implicit dollar standard. However, the global dollar standard was formally abandoned over 40 years ago.

    Represented by the governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the APC national leader said: “the Constitution declares Nigeria a federation of 36 states. However, we still grapple with the vestiges of our past under military rule. In many ways, we still function like a unitary state despite the constitution.

    “More powers and resources need to devolve to the states. The Federal Government is taking on too much. We cannot flourish with over concentration of powers at the centre. Some of the 68 items on the Exclusive Federal List should be transferred to the Residual List, as it was in most federal constitutions.

    “A notable feature of even our own 1963 Constitution was the extensive powers granted to the regions which enabled them to carry out their immense responsibilities as they best saw fit. This was because the regions inherently had a better sense and feel for the needs of their populations simply by virtue of the fact that they were closer to the people than was the centre.

    “Some items which ordinarily should be state matters like police, prisons, stamp duties, taxation of incomes, profits and capital gains, regulation of tourist traffic, registration of business names, incorporation of companies, traffic on federal truck roads passing through states, trade, commerce and census among others were transferred from the Concurrent to the Exclusive List.

    “I’m opposed to federalism operated as a unitary monster. As Lagos State governor, I challenged several Federal Government decisions for overreach and for violating the principles of federalism.

    We created additional local governments because the constitution empowers states to regulate local council affairs. Today, those 37 additional councils have helped Lagos significantly as development centres. We took the Federal Government to court on issues like the regulation of the hospitality industry, fiscal planning, and on who had the authority to issue Certificates of Occupancy.

    “Regarding electrical power, we must move beyond limiting states to generate, transmit and distribute electricity to areas not covered by the national grid. Our problem is a lack of power yet, we preclude states from helping to resolve this chronic problem that stabs at the very heart of economic development.

    “It is not right to say states can generate power but cannot sell it where they want. Without yielding any countervailing benefit, this policy suppresses the generation of needed power instead of enhancing.”

    The former Lagos state governor endorses the analysis of Lagos state Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode and others that current interest rate levels in the country bridle growth by making borrowing for long-term investment too costly.

    While saying that Government correctly seeks fiscal stimulus to energize the limping economy, he argued that efforts in this direction are perhaps too modest given the situation that confronts us.

    He said “Our monetary authorities have done better recently but they need to take additional steps to increase the fiscal space available to government and the private sector. I endorse analysis of Governor Ambode and others that current interest rate levels bridle growth by making borrowing for long-term investment too costly.

    “Monetary authorities appear to be more concerned with battling inflation than in sparking growth. However, the nature of our inflation – mainly cost driven – is beyond the purview of interest rate policy to contain. Instead of surrendering growth to curb inflation, current policy sacrifices both.

    “Also, the varying exchange rates distort economic and monetary signals. The vast rate differentials is fertile ground for currency arbitrage and speculation. This means that too much money will chase rentier opportunities in the financial sector instead being plowed into vital investment in the jobs and equipment needed for the production of actual goods.

    “More fundamentally, we need to break from the self-imposed dollarization of our fiscal space. The intake of dollars determines our budgets. We operate under an implicit dollar standard. However, the global dollar standard was formally abandoned over 40 years ago.

    “Instead of this outdated mechanism, we should base our budgetary calculations on the quantity of naira needed to foster the highest growth possible without pushing inflation too high. Such a change in perspective will remove the ideological blinders that thus far have impeded our ability to define our political economy and its path to growth.

    “It also will open the fiscal space so that government can undertake even greater steps to stimulate the real economy in ways that provides jobs and builds the infrastructure needed for sustained economic development.”

    Tinubu argued that no modern nation with a significant urban population has attained prosperity without an industrial base capable of employing larger numbers of people and of manufacturing goods for domestic consumption and export.

    According to him, “to one degree or another, English, American and Chinese governments employed industrial planning to lift their economies during their earlier stages of development. These nations represent the past, present and immediate future of economic achievement. Their success justifies their policies.

    “Yet we depart from what has proven the most effective avenue to prosperity for a large developing nation”, adding that as a nation, “We must press forward with a national industrial policy fostering strategic industries that create jobs and spur growth.  Tax credits, subsidies and the insulation from the negative impact of imports for critical sectors should be integral to this plan. We must remember a national economy cannot grow beyond the capacity of the infrastructural that serves it.

    “Thus, we need a national infrastructure plan closely linked to the industrial plan.  New infrastructure is needed where the new industrial work will take place. We must conquer the political and bureaucratic bottlenecks preventing affordable, reliable electrical power. This impediment places us literally and figuratively in the dark regarding our economic condition.

    “The problems are not technical in nature as reliable electricity is a staple of economic life in nations less endowed than Nigeria. We must persuade and convince those factors that currently impede our national quest for reliable power to move aside so that we can achieve this crucial precursor to economic vitality.

    “Our farmers need a reprieve. We need to increase farm productivity by taking a few critical steps. For example, commodity exchange boards and futures markets to ensure minimum farm incomes and encourage production must become part of our rural economies.”

    He maintained that the Nigeria nation “stand at a moment where history will be made for better or worse.  Other nations have faced tough times. Those which overcame their challenges did so by using creative insight to accurately assess their shortcomings and to identify solutions that would serve them into the future.

    “Nigeria must act in similar fashion. Nothing that any other nation has done is beyond our grasp if we commit ourselves to the task. We have much work to do to create the Nigeria we seek so that the Daily Times may continue to report on the progress of this nation for another 91 years or more.  In doing so, let it chronicle the rebirth of Nigeria as a nation much more prosperous and great than when it was first conceived.”

    The APC leader who went down memory lane to chronicle the contribution of the Daily Times to Nigeria’s political development said “In less than a decade, the Daily Times shall celebrate its centennial.  By God’s grace, we all shall gather again to mark that occasion. But we must ask, what type of Nigeria will Nigeria be ten years hence? If we want to render a good and pleasant answer, we must begin to shape that reply today.

    “Thus, I am here as a Nigerian to speak of what we must do as Nigerians to construct a better land. To some degree or another, our successes and failures belong to all of us. Therefore, this is not the time nor the place to apportion blame or accolade.

    “Instead, I present a vision that I hope can be embraced by all Nigerians regardless of creed, place of birth, social station and political affiliation. Nigeria is at a juncture where it must redefine itself or forever forfeit the right of way to a better future.

    “The primary challenge of our time is our political economy.  The slump in oil prices exposed the weakness of our economy for even the blind to see.  The truth be told, we always knew this weakness existed.

    “Yet we did nothing to cure it when fixing the gap would have been less painful and less urgent. Through indifference, selfishness or ignorance we failed to forge a consensus on how to resolve the collective problem. This failure speaks to a problem of our politics because the decision on how to structure the economy is essentially political in nature.

    “For all the energy invested in politics, the output has been minimal. In short, our politics has been directed at the wrong things. Because of this, Nigeria has too long travelled a self-defeating economic road.

    “Dare not think that we can afford to sit idly and outwait the low oil prices. We cannot fool ourselves into believing that the prices will rebound to prior levels and things will return to normal. That normal many of us pine for was never good enough. It was simply the prelude to the troubles of today and the challenges of tomorrow.

    “To merely wait as if waiting is all we can do is to be like the wishful man who does nothing although he knows a great storm approaches and he has a gaping hole in the roof of the house he just bought.

    “He concludes the rain will not enter his house because such a thing would be unfair since the hole was caused by the mischief of the former owner and not by his own hand. Some might call this man’s belief one of undue optimism. Others might deem it foolhardy. Either way, it is costly, perhaps fatal.

    “The impersonal forces of the economy owe us nothing that we do not doubly owe ourselves. We must break from the inertia that has characterized our approach to major national problems.

    “We need to summon a greater love of our fellow Nigerians.  Such empathy will compel us to embrace ideas to reform the political economy in a manner that lends greater justice and prosperity to all Nigerians.

    “Then we must have the courage not only to envision the beautiful thing, we must have the bravery to embark on the hard work and progressive reforms needed to turn the fine dream into a living and material reality.

    “Our economy has been one where too many people and resources were left idle and thus made poor by virtue of this static predicament. Joblessness or poverty became the byword describing the lives of most people. The industrial base we were developing vanished under a torrent of imported goods.

    “Agricultural production was insufficient to satisfy our needs. Even then, much local produce was allowed to rot on the vine or in transit due to poor farm-to-market physical and financial infrastructure. The harder a farmer worked, the poorer he became. The more a city resident looked for a job, the more frustration overlook him for not finding one.

    “The businessman who wanted to invest in a factory to create jobs and goods found that interest rates and high production costs due to erratic power would turn his balance sheet crimson and were foes too strong for him to overcome. While the productive sectors of the economy floundered, the rentier and financial sector flourished.

    “Those fortunate enough to have access to high finance, made windfall profits merely by virtue of being in the so-called right place at the right time. They did nothing of true economic value. They simply funneled money from one hand to the other. At the expense of the rest of the nation, they profited handsomely from this financial juggling act.

    “The economy became an ungainly and unbalanced albatross. Any growth in the economy only compounded the distorting instead of curing them. The fall in oil prices exposed this economic model for the lie that it was. Now we must fashion a new political economy.

    “In due course, the present recession will end. This should come as some relief. In itself, however, it is not cause for celebration. Far from it. The end of recession does not mean the beginning of prosperity. If we conflate the two, we will shun the labor required to properly reform the political economy. Things will remain as they are. Repeated downdraft and contraction will chase us as surely as night chases day and day chases night.”

    Those in attendance include former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, senator Bala Ibn Na’allah, Senator John’s Lidani, Senator Sanusi Dagash, Prince Tony Momoh, Sam Amuka, Pete Edochie, senator Moa Ohuabunwa, Senator Enyinaya Abaribe, senator Shehu Sani, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Hon Ado Doguwa, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, Senator T.A. Orin, Gov. Willie Obiano and his deputy, Gov. Yahaya Bello and his deputy, Ibrahim Shehu Shema, Gov. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, Patrick Dele Cole, Senator John Danboyi, Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, Gov. Raul Aregbesola, Kabiru Tanumi Turaki who represented former President Goodluck Jonathan, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina and a host of others.

     

  • Robbers attack Vanguard publisher Sam Amuka

    Robbers attack Vanguard publisher Sam Amuka

    Suspected armed robbers yesterday invaded the Lagos home of Vanguard publisher Sam Amuka, injuring him and carting away cash and some items.

    The raid was the second on Amuka’s home in about two years.

    The invaders  allegedly hit the octogenarian  with an iron rod. He was rushed to a private hospital.

    Ten suspects arrested in connection with the attack are being quizzed at the Special Anti-Robbery Sqaud (SARS), Ikeja.

    Detectives were said to be screening Amuka’s private guards, domestic staff as well as all the the estate’s security personnel.

    It was gathered that the criminals stormed Amuka’s Anthony Village residence at about 1:30am after scaling the high fence.

    They were said to have broken the burglarproof on one of the windows.

    They smashed the ceiling leading to his bedroom where he was found and ordered him to bring ‘the money’.

    The Nation gathered that the criminals overpowered and tied the private guards at Amuka’s compound and held them hostage for over 45 minutes.

    According to one of the guards, after tying their hands and covering their faces, four of the armed men went into the building, leaving one to watch over them.

    The guard said: “I was on a chair at the entrance gate when I saw five young men moving from the wall close to the gate towards the house. I accosted them but they subdued me and my mate.

    “They tied our hands and covered our faces while one of them kept watch over us at the gate. Other members of the gang  went inside the house only to come out about 45 minutes later and ordered us to unlock the main gate.

    “As soon as we obeyed them, they left the compound and we heard the screeching of tyres of a car zooming off.”

    An employee with the Vanguard newspaper, who usually brought dailies to the publisher’s house claimed that  he saw an ash colour car sped off as he approached the main gate to deliver yesterday’s dailies.

    It was learnt that efforts by the Commander, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Tunji Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police  (ACP), to apprehend the criminals were unsuccessful because all the gates leading to Amuka’s place were locked.

    Disu, who was the first policeman to arrive at the scene with his men, were said to have contacted the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Anthony, Chima Agha, a Superintendent of Police (SP) to create access, but the bandits had fled before that was achieved.

    The Police Commissioner, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, who arrived at the scene much later and also visited ‘Uncle Sam’ at the hospital, assured that the culprits will be fished out and prosecuted.

  • Ambode greets Sam Amuka at 80

    Ambode greets Sam Amuka at 80

    Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode yesterday paid tribute to the Chairman of Vanguard Media Limited and veteran journalist, Chief Sam Amuka-Pemu, who turned 80 on Saturday.

    In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Habib Aruna, the governor said Amuka-Pemu has contributed largely to the uplift of journalism in Nigeria.

    Ambode said his strides towards the growth of the media are not only evident in how he has spearheaded Vanguard to enviable heights, but also his stance on political stability, accountability and the rule of law.

    He said: “Nigeria has benefitted immensely by the presence of Uncle Sam Amuka in the media both as a journalist and columnist from the days of the Daily Times group, of which he served as Editor of the Sunday Times”.

    “His then column, ‘Sad-Sam’, stood tall amongst equals as he continuously kept his readers glued to his satirical and literary styled articles, a model he has maintained over the years.

    “It is not surprising that he has brought his wealth of experience to bear to Vanguard, one of the newspapers to reckon with in the country today”.

    “On behalf of my family, the government and people of Lagos, I wish you a Happy 80th birthday and many more years of good health, good speed and new heights going forward.”

  • Asiwaju Bola Tinubu @61 Dinner

    Asiwaju Bola Tinubu @61 Dinner