The Nation Newspaper

Tag: year’

  • This year…as all others

    (Portrait of the Nigerian journalist in 2017)

    This year as all others, we pretended to have answers to everything. Did we? This year, we spat words and ate them, like the dog that waddles back to gobble its vomit.

    This year, we quoted Nietzsche, Plato, Disreali, Awolowo,Maitama Sule, Ojukwu, among others, to garnish our columns while we silenced true-born dissent on our news pages and networks, lest we incur the ire of irate benefactors.

    I tender unreserved apology to the few media and journalists who lived up to full measure in the spirit of integrity, social responsibility and unimpeachable ethics. They remain Nigerian journalism’s shining lights in a wilderness of vice.

    Yet this is the year we ennobled the thieving statesman and denied the patriot the plaudits we save for noble compatriots. This is the year we celebrated underachievers as the best of overachievers. This year, we celebrated the vanities of dim-witted celebrities on front-pages of our national newspapers.

    Here goes the year we exhausted newsprint and priceless airtime to glamorize the shenanigans of “society bigwigs and dim wigs” although we cannot tell and still cannot tell, the simplest manifestations of our news practice, on say, the vendor who markets the newspaper or the child-labourer to whom Universal Basic Education (UBE) remains an everlasting fantasy.

    This year, we feted the northern mafia, eastern cabal, western gerontocracy, and south-south uprising, as usual, even as they undermined our collective dreams of progress.

    Beyond our elegant words and brazen manifestations of high character, our practice is modeled after some greedy few’s cartography of citizenship than by any internal dynamic of allegiances. Hence our misinterpretation of the social contract between the media and the society we serve.

    Thus this year as all others, we hid behind interviews, ‘big interviews,’ to abdicate our responsibilities to the Nigerian public. Then we taught the public to digest perversion because we know if we treat them to such depravity, we would get more adverts and keep smiling to the banks.

    This year as all others, we turned a blind eye and conveniently lost our voice as creatures running the three arms of government squandered public fund to feed their gluttony. We watched unperturbed as most of our colleagues ennobled and defended with their lives, the rights of the ruling class to pilfer our chests and rob us silly because leaders of men like them deserve to eat and dwell like no ordinary man.

    This year, the ruling class afflicted our lives with ineptitude and savagery. In response, we cried ourselves hoarse, twisting logic and lip service, for and against our favourite public officer; eventually, we lost our voices to bigotry and confusion.

    This is the year in which our brothers in the north-east tirelessly blew to death, our mothers and daughters, sons and fathers, in the market place, schools, on the playground, in the bedrooms and houses of worship, in the name of politics and religion. This year, our brothers in the south-east determinedly kidnapped our wives and daughters, mothers and fathers, sons and heirs apparent, for a ransom, in pursuit of unearned affluence. This is the year in which our brothers in the southwest habitually mortgaged our future on the altar of politics, personal and sectarian greed. This year as all others, we refused to dissect these maladies in the interest of our nation thus helping the world to understand why we are regarded as the inheritors in whose hands the heritage dies.

    This year, we affirmed that we are amoral and somewhat intellectually challenged courtesy our ethnic and intellectual bigotry.

    This year, we failed to actualize press freedom because it was socio-politically incorrect to do so. This year as all others, we failed to acknowledge that our survival or death as a nation is undeniably entwined with the tenor of practice and citizenship of the Nigerian press.

    This year as all others, I make a case for re-sensitization of the Nigerian press. It is time we dismembered our clan of the charlatan.

    In spite of everything, we choose to play god. That is why “dogs don’t eat dogs” in our Fourth Estate although it’s okay if we eat the entrails of a few ordinary Nigerians like the unfortunate adulterer caught pants down even as we underreport thieving bankers stealing from the poor to enrich rogue CEOs and the ruling class.

    I hope we find the courage to report; “The Rot in the Media” and that for every kobo looted by government, from public and private coffers, the press gets its share. Dateline: media parleys, press conferences and governors’ roundtables.

    This year as all others, I suggest humaneness and high ethics, to improve our welfare and standard of delivery. It’s time we asked: “Who is a journalist?” and aspire to an untainted definition of it. It’s about time we redefined what level of knowledge, qualification and professionalism is expected of a journalist. It’s time we ascertained what manner of passion channels the direction of our news practice.

    This year as all others, I suggest we ditch politicians who treat us as disposable pawns in their grand theme of schemes. Come 2018, shall we service depravity of folk for whom our pens write melodies, instead of maladies impoverished folk are dying to have us publicize that they might fare better?

    In 2018, shall we remain intellectual hit men for every hoodlum with deep pocket? Shall we become cliff-hangers to take portraits of looters and celebrity-nincompoops with promising smiles? Shall we remain the media managers that pay poorly even as we label expatriate firms slave-drivers?

    Next year, will the masses stare at our cover pages resignedly, knowing they would never feel or hear the infinitesimal clangor of freed hope because we remain aberrations of their desperate circumstances? Shall we continue to speak from both sides of the mouth? Shall we continue to eat like “idiots” at the feast of the one who calls us “idiot?”

  • Real sector: Brighter prospects after a turbulent year

    Real sector: Brighter prospects after a turbulent year

    The outgoing year was challenging for operators and stakeholders in the real sector, which comprises manufacturing and agriculture. The harsh operating environment caused by the dearth of infrastructure and faulty fiscal and monetary policies literarily forced the sector on its knees. The good news, however, is that some strategic policy responses by the Federal Government have set the stage for the sector’s dramatic turnaround in the coming year. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA evaluates the critical events that shaped the sector this year and some of the signals that a new dawn is in the offing.

    The outgoing year is a mixed bag of blessings for the real sector. It will probably go down as the most challenging year for the real sector, which comprises manufacturing and agriculture.

    The sector was, perhaps, worst hit by the crisis triggered by the economy’s relapse into a debilitating recession following the crash in oil prices at the international market. For instance, the result of declining Foreign Exchange (forex) inflow caused by the sharp drop in oil prices and the activities of militants in the Niger Delta region was devastating.

    For one, many real sector operators, especially manufacturers, were unable to source forex to import critical raw materials that were not available. Consequently, manufacturing capacities stagnated. Many manufacturers recorded huge financial losses. Those who could not weather the storm were either forced to shut or relocate to neighbouring West African countries. Those who managed to remain afloat trimmed their workforce; others slashed their workers’pay as part of a cost-cutting measure.

    Manufacturers were also faced with high-lending rate, high cost of power generation and declining household consumption. Inflation and interest rates rose to as high as 18.3 per cent and 14 per cent.  The exchange rate of the naira to the dollar was no less disturbing. At some point, it stood at N310/$1 at the official market and N475/$1 at the parallel market. At such exchange rate, it was almost impossible for manufacturers to sustain production, as inventory of raw materials dried up without sustainable means of sourcing forex for replenishment.

    That was not all. The year, like the previous ones, was also signposted by the government’s policy inconsistencies, lack of supportive infrastructure particularly electricity supply and efficient road and rail networks, among others. While the lack of stable electricity supply hampered the growth of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which further exacerbated the troubles of the manufacturing sector, the sudden scarcity and high cost of petroleum products towards the end of the year added to the sector’s litany of woes.

    Expectedly, these challenges undermined the sector’s capacity to grow and contribute significantly to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP); particularly for the manufacturing sector,  widely acknowledged as the engine of growth, wealth creation and sustainable platform for employment and development, it was a serious blow on the Federal Government’s economic diversification agenda.

     

    A new dawn beckons

    Although 2017 was challenging for most real sector operators, it was also perhaps, the most promising year. Indications to this emerged in the second quarter when the economy exited its worst recession in history, recording a positive growth rate of 0.5 per cent year-on-year (y/y). The recovery was in part due to a sharp recovery in the oil sector, driven by an improvement in oil prices and production volumes.

    In addition, the non-oil sector recorded a positive growth for the second consecutive quarter, spurred by ongoing recovery in the manufacturing sector due to improved Foreign Exchange (FX) liquidity. Asides the improvement in real GDP, the performance across several other macro-indicators suggest that the economy was on track for a broad-based recovery.

    Apart from recording positive growth in first quarter of last year, hitting 1.36 per cent, against -2.54 per cent it recorded in fourth quarter of the year, the manufacturing sector’s capacity utilisation also significantly increased. Describing this as “heart-warming,” Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) President Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs attributed the growth recovery to better policy adjustments, particularly in forex management.

    Jacobs added that this was followed by MAN’s various meetings and presentations to the Federal Government. He, however, noted that in line with the recovery momentum in the manufacturing sector, there was the need for more credible measures that would help sustain and strengthen the sector’s recovery. He expressed optimism that the government’s policies and guidelines aimed at addressing the challenges facing manufacturers will improve the operating environment in due course.

     

    ‘Executive Order’ to the rescue

    One of the policies Jacobs referred to was the signing of three executive orders by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo aimed at compelling a systemic change in the way businesses are conducted, thereby eliminating the hurdles in the way of a bigger and more productive private sector.

    The executive orders, signed at the State House, Abuja, sought to facilitate the ease of doing business in the country to save time and cost, promote transparency and efficiency in the business environment as well as promote Made-in-Nigeria products and services by supporting local contents in public procurement by the Federal Government.

    It also sought to enthrone a regime of timely submission of yearly budgetary estimates by all statutory and non-statutory agencies, including companies owned by the Federal Government. The objective of the initiative was to stimulate a rebound of an economy severely battered by recession and also fast-track Nigeria’s transition to a non-oil economy.

    The stipulation of sanctions and punitive measures meant to address violations of the executive orders was seen by some private sector operators as indication that a new dawn is, perhaps, in the offing. This is so, particularly, for manufacturers many of who believe that the aspect that encourages the ‘Made-in-Nigeria’ or ‘Buy Nigeria campaign’ by supporting local contents in public procurement by the Federal Government was necessary to revitalise the sector and boost its competitiveness.

    Under the new order, at least 40 per cent of government procurement spending will be on made-in-Nigeria goods and services. As the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, explained, all Ministries, Departments or Agencies (MDAs) shall give preference to local manufacturers of goods and services in their procurements.

    The immediate past president of Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), Mrs. Nike Akande, said that the three main pillars of the executive orders have been key focus areas of LCCI’s advocacy campaign over the last few years. She expressed optimism that the executive orders will impact the ease of doing business, fast-track budgetary administration as well as promote made in Nigeria products.

    She, therefore, urged the government to ensure that stipulated timelines were adhered to by all the parties affected by the orders. She asked for continued consultations and engagement with the business community and the bureaucracy in building understanding and buy-in of all stakeholders.

     

    EGRP also

    Last April, the Federal Government launched the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020, which lists 24 programmes made up of 60 strategies and 369 key activities.

    The medium-term economic plan, which was launched by President Buhari, charts a course for the  economy over the next four years (2017–2020).

    The vision of the ERGP was to restore growth, invest in Nigerians, and to build a globally competitive economy. The plan aims to achieve these by focusing on five execution priorities namely, stabilising the macroeconomic environment and achieving agriculture and food security.

    Others are ensuring energy efficiency (especially in power and petroleum products), improving transportation infrastructure and driving industrialisation primarily through SMEs.

    The ERGP will return Nigeria’s economy to sustainable, inclusive and diversified growth, and to transform Nigeria from an import-dependent to a producing economy; a country that grows what it eats and consumes what it produces.

     

    Alignment of monetary, fiscal and trade policies

    The Federal Government also made progress with the alignment of monetary, fiscal and trade policies. For instance, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) FX regime reforms led to increased stability in the FX market and increasing appetite for Nigerian stocks by foreign portfolio investors.

    Some of the reforms that gladdened the real sector operators included the creation in April 2017 of a new FX window for investors and exporters. The new window attracted $1.4 billion in its first four weeks of operation, according to CBN’s data.

    There was also the revision of the list of 41 items excluded from the CBN’s FX window, in line with the request from MAN as well as the introduction of a new, tariff-driven tomato policy to support domestic producers and production.

     

    Ease of Doing Business, MSME clinic, others

    The establishment of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) also raised hopes of operators of a significant boost in the performance of the real sector.

    PEBEC’s mandate is to improve the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) in the country. As Jacobs stated, “The performance score card of PEBEC indicates that its seven points objectives set in line with the World Bank Indices of EODB have been achieved.”

    The MAN boss observed, for instance, that there has been visible improvement in the ease of company registration, which is now being facilitated through a web portal. Also, trade facilitation constraints have been removed. He also noted the implementation of some aspects of the single windows ports operations, among others.

    He, however, said MAN will continue to encourage investors to take advantage of these initiatives while imploring government to extend the improvements to other areas that affect the Ease of Doing Business not currently captured in PEBEC framework to improve Nigeria’s competitiveness.

    Other policy interventions that may have signalled a new dawn for the sector include the launch of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Clinic, the inauguration of the Nigerian Industrial Policy and Competitive Advisory Council, which has the mandate to drive Nigeria’s industrial agenda of which MAN is a strong member.

     

    Reduced interest rate for manufacturers

    The Federal Government as part of its commitment to supporting and encouraging local manufacturing industries, towards the end of the year, unveiled plans to begin the implementation of the reduction of interest rate for local manufacturers from the first quarter of next year.

    The move, the government said, was aimed at tackling the issue of rising interest rate in the sector. It also followed the inauguration of the National Industrial Policy and Competitive Advisory Council by Vice President Osinbajo for the purpose of devising and supervising policies that will speed up Nigeria’s industrialisation.

    The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar, who made the plan known in Ota, Ogun State, said under the industrial council, sub-committees charged with tackle financing issues have made their presentations and interventions have been proposed that can be used to soften and ensure interest rates are reduced to encourage local industries.

    “Everybody is talking about the interest rate and that funds that are coming are not good for the industry; it doesn’t work that way. There is a plan that we are trying to unfold definitely to see what we can do quickly to speed up the industrialisation process. By first quarter of 2018, definitely there will be something put down to tackle the issue of financing, hopefully first quarter of next year for implementation,” she said.

    Heart-warming as these policies are for operators, the consensus is that their capacity to translate to a significant boost to the real sector will depend largely on the government’s political will and, of course, the collaboration of stakeholders.

  • STL Trustees emerges best Trustees of the year

    STL Trustees emerges best Trustees of the year

    Commendation has come the way of STL Trustees Limited with its recent recognition as the best “Non-Interest Trustees of the Year 2017th.

    The firm clinched the award during the third African International Conference on Islamic Finance organised by The Metropolitan Skills Limited in conjunction with the Islamic Finance Council and the Islamic Finance Institute of Southern Africa.

    This award category is the first of its kind in the history of the African International Conference on Islamic Finance and STL is being awarded in recognition of its competence and expertise in delivering cutting-edge trust solutions in the area of non interest financial instruments which is fast evolving in Nigeria.

    STL Trustees Limited is a delegate Trustee to the first Sukuk Issuance in Nigeria, the State of Osun Sukuk Al-Ijara which was issued by the government of the State of Osun to finance the construction of modern elementary, middle and High schools in the State.

    STL was also recently appointed as a Delegate Trustee to the first sovereign Sukuk to be issued in Nigeria, the N100B FGN Road Sukuk 1.which was issued by the Federal Government to fund the construction and rehabilitation of some roads across the six geo-political zones in the country.

    Speaking on the operating culture that differentiates STL Trustees from the rest, Funmi Ekundayo, the company’s CEO, said: “We believe so much in our core values which include commitment, innovation and professionalism. Our business model is unique to us and we believe strong in constantly innovating our business model because we operate in an industry that evolves by the day and is extremely dynamic.  This is why at STL Trustees, we continuously train and retrain ourselves towards ensuring that we continuously deliver quality service with the required speed and innovation to excite our clients.”

  • Michael Ade-Ojo celebrates another beautiful year

    Chairman of Elizade Motors, Chief Michael Ade-Ojo, turned 79 a few days ago and celebrated the occasion with a grand birthday soiree organised by family members. Mr. Toyota, as he is fondly called, was in his elements at the occasion, radiating energy and effervescence at the grand age.

    The golden boy of Ondo State is regarded as the face of Toyota in Nigeria as his company, Elizade Motors, has the sole right to distribute Toyota vehicles in the country. High society was on hand to witness the golf tournament held in honour of the founder of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, at Smokin Hills Golf Resort in his Ilara-Mokin hometown.

    The two-day event witnessed spectacular display of golf on the 18-hole course by amateur golfers. That was followed by a gala night of colour and merriment. Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, was the guest of honour at the occasion.

    Chief Ade-Ojo was born on June 14, 1938 in Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State. He is one of the country’s foremost businessmen with interests in automobile, shipping, insurance and telecoms, among others.

  • NBL kicks off 2017 Maltina Teacher of the Year award

    Nigerian Breweries Plc (NBL) on Tuesday opened entries for this year’s edition of the Maltina Teacher of the Year Award.

    At the unveiling at the Eko Hotel&Sutes, Victoria Island, Lagos  on Tuesday, the firm’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Nikolaas Vervelde, recalled that the initiative, which began in 2015, is to recognise and celebrate exceptional teachers nationwide.

    It remains part of the organisation’s continuous commitment to the development of education in the country, Vervelde further explained.

    Represented by the firm’s Corporate Affairs Adviser, Mr. Kufre Ekanem, Vervelde also stated that for the first time, the competition would be expanding its tentacles to accommodate teachers across private schools nationwide.

    According to him, the contest sponsored under the initiative of the Nigerian Breweries Felix Ohiwerel Education Trust Fund (NB-FO-ETF) intervention in the education sector, has brought about the construction of over 280 classrooms and 30 libraries in both primary and secondary schools across the 44 communities in Nigeria, in addition to impacting over 20, 000 students directly.

    He said the expansion of NB-FO-ETF birthed the Maltina teacher of the year, anchored on the fact that despite the sensitive role teachers play in moulding future leaders, they are often underestimated.

    According to him, collection of applications which opened on Tuesday, would last till Friday July 7, adding that interested teachers are to download application forms from the Maltina website -www.maltina-nigeria.com.

    Applications forms should be completed and uploaded to the website or sent by email to maltinateacheroftheyear@heineken.com or by post to P.M.B. 12632, Marina, Lagos.

    “As it was the case in the previous editions, all duly completed applications will be subjected to an intense selection and judging process. An external and independent panel of judges has been constituted to ensure transparency, credibility and objectivity of the initiative,” he added.

    He said the five-step evaluation process of entries received would result in 37 champions (one per state and the FCT), subject to entries meeting the threshold as set by the panel of judges. From among the states champions, the teacher of the year 2017 will emerge.

    He added that all state champions and winners would be rewarded at a grand ceremony on Thursday, October 12, to also commemorate the World Teachers’ Day.

    The Maltina Teacher of the Year Award has so far produced 42 state champions and two overall winners. The maiden winner was Mrs. Nkemdillim Obi of the Federal Government Girls College, Onitsha, Anambra State, while Mr. Imo Essien, a teacher at the Special Education Centre for Exceptional Children, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State who the subsequent edition.

  • Dogara: Political Icon of the Year

    The Board of Editors voted for you in recognition of your antecedents as a dogged patriot, a torch bearer, a staunch believer in the principle of the separation of powers and ultimately the defender of the democratic faith. We have followed your path since you emerged the Speaker of the House. We also know that there have been battles here and there. But you are still here and we recognize the courage you have shown maintaining the delicate balance between the independence of the legislature and working with the executive and more importantly, your safeguarding the principle of separation of power without rocking the boat.” These were the exact words of Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of The Sun newspaper Eric Osagie when he led management staff of the paper to formally notify the Speaker of the award as Political Icon of the Year 2016.

    Tomorrow, the Speaker will step forward for this recognition, which comes with its own concomitant responsibilities.

    Coming from a very humble background, one would have said that he was not cut out for politics because from his days at the University of Jos to the early part of his legal practice; nothing in his life indicated that he will become a politician. His life, is a personification of the awesome grace of the almighty God who has consistently led him in all his endeavours.  What distinguishes and endears him to people is his uncommon humility which is seldom the case with people occupying high positions in our country. He plays politics without bitterness and reaches out to even his staunchest critics and self-declared enemies.

    I recall that just few hours after his election as Speaker on June 9, 2015, the Speaker started the work of reaching out to his opponent in both words and actions as he said in his inaugural speech that, “together we will heal the wounds and divisions of this contest. Together we shall work to deliver good legislation and good government to our people.”

    At around 2am, we drove to the residence of Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila in Apo Legislative quarters in Abuja in company of scores of members where he truly began the work of healing the wounds and divisions of the election.  It was the Speaker’s singular decision even against the wishes of many of his strong supporters and allies in the House that saw to the emergence of Gbajabiamila as the House Leader. He continued to appeal to and pacify those opposed to it and the rest as they say, is history. Tomorrow, the House Leader is leading members, friends and colleagues to accompany the Speaker to receive this award in Lagos.

    The next big challenge was the constitution of the standing committees of the House. In that too, Dogara was able to navigate the tumultuous waters displaying uncommon political and leadership prowess. In spite of initial misgivings by few of his colleagues everything went smoothly and one after the other he kept reaching out to them.

    I recall that the House Chief Whip Rt. Hon. Alhassan Ado Garba once told me that he was shocked and that if he had his way he would have dug the ground and buried himself when he heard a knock on his door and lo and behold it was the Speaker – the very man whom he did everything to stop from emerging and even continued to oppose his leadership. Once the door was opened the Speaker only told him that “Alhassan we are brothers please come let’s work together. Let’s put our differences aside and begin the work of remaking Nigeria.”

    Interestingly, for these same and many other reasons the Leadership newspapers bestowed on him the award of Politician of the Year 2015. Of particular interest is that these recognitions are coming despite desperate, calculated and well-planned efforts and attempts by his traducers to tarnish his hard-earned reputation as incorruptible and patriotic leader. Thankfully, the Speaker has been able to come out clean, with his head high.

    The tales of lies, mischief, distortions, and allegations peppered with tongue-in-cheek drumbeats and obvious fabrications have now crumbled on their very head. Nigerians now know the truth because as Winston Churchill said “Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is.”

    There is nothing greater than the truth and Dogara’s life story reflects nothing but the truth. It is his life, his way and what defines his person. Here is one who achieved greatness through sheer hard work, honesty, commitment to common cause and antique shrewdness.

    It is Dogara’s philosophy that leaders should at all times live exemplary lives of service, sacrifice and selflessness. The Speaker always says that justice is needed in building a civil society, and that for societies to grow, leaders must understand the workings of justice which is necessary in any democracy for equality to thrive. In fact, he strongly believes that establishing both principles is necessary for Nigeria to make any meaningful progress.

    Today, the House of the Nigerian people, the green chamber, is at peace with itself and busy legislating for the good of the people. Indeed, Dogara’s efforts and leadership have started yielding positive fruits for the country as record numbers of bills are being passed on daily basis. In just one and half years, more than 150 bills have been passed by the House just as work is being done on about 800 more. Of the 18 non-budget-related bills signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, 17 are House bills and all emanated from the statues reforms committee set up by the Speaker.

    In addition to this, Dogara is also strongly leading campaigns for the financial and political autonomy for local governments which saw the leadership of Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees paying him a “Thank you and solidarity” visit recently.

    Worthy of mention is the Speaker’s interventions on the humanitarian crisis in the North-east where he is championing calls for the convocation of an international donor conference to rebuild the region in addition to his sponsoring of the North East Development Commission Establishment bill which is now awaiting presidential assent; to his many visits to Internally Displaced Persons camps across the country providing succour and relief materials to them.

    “This kind of award…serves as a motivation and without motivation we cannot achieve much. We cannot innovate without motivation and whether we like it or not, politics remains the only way through which leadership can be recruited in many countries and the only way we can institute governments. So, it (politics) has come to be with us; we cannot run away from it. It can only take people and not angels to improve on existing situations; so when leaders who truly love what they do are motivated, this increases the chances of having better leadership, which will translate to the development of the country,” the Speaker said on December 6, 2016 when management of The Sun newspaper delivered the award letter to him.

     

    • Hassan is Special Adviser on Media & Public Affairs to Speaker Dogara

  • Baby of the year gift allegation: Mother denies husband’s claims

    he Osun State government has described as false, claims by the father of the baby of the year, Kajogbola Olasunkanmi, that his family was cheated by the management of the State Specialist Hospital, Asubiaro, Osogbo, the state capital, where his wife was delivered of her  baby.

    The government said it was embarrassed by media reports which quoted Olasunkanmi as saying that only a part of the gifts for the baby were presented to his family.

    The government, through the Bureau of Communication and Strategy, said Governor Rauf Aregbesola ordered an investigation into the claims, adding that the mother, Mrs. Kemisola Olasunkanmi, debunked her husband’s claims.

    “It has become imperative to make this clarification in view of the negative impressions generated by Olasunkanmi’s claims.

    After the embarrassing media reports which accused the management of the hospital of shortchanging the family by not presenting all the gifts for the baby of the year, the Governor ordered a full scale investigation.

    “To our chagrin, the mother of the baby of the year said her husband lied with his claims adding that the envelope containing the cash gift from the governor ‘s wife, Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola, was sealed and intact when it was delivered to her.

    “She further explained that the money from the representatives of the Lions Club, which was also delivered, was meant for all the women who were delivered of babies that day and that each of them got her share of the gift.

    “In the course of the interview, Mrs Kemisola Olasunkanmi expressed regrets while lamenting that she did not know what came over her husband to warrant such dubious and false claims,” the Bureau statement noted.

    The Bureau, in its statement signed by the Director, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, therefore urged those who had been misinformed by the misleading allegation to disregard it in its entirety.

  • The herdsman of the year

    The herdsman of the year

    To pick a person of the year is not necessarily an accolade. Sometimes it is. Some other times, you hold your nose as though retrieving something from a toilet bowl. The write-up skewers the choice. Sometimes, it is eminently neutral. The selection this year, for instance, of Donald Trump as Time magazine’s man of the year, could be seen as double-edged. The citation called him the “President of the Divided States of America.”

    When The Nation’s editors picked EFCC chief Ibrahim Magu as the person of the year, it was out of no desire to bathe him in a perfume cloud, or to toss him in a sewer. The Nation saw the double-sidedness of his doing. While he became a sort of gadfly and nemesis to thieving elite, we also saw him as a messiah with specks in his eyes.

    Time started this tradition over 60 years ago and described its pick as the person who has impacted the year the most “either for good or ill.” So, it is a verdict of impact, not about devilry or righteousness. The choice is not necessarily a hero or heroine, a Marquis de Sade or Mother Theresa or Idi Amin Dada.

    My pick this year is a sort of humble fellow, whose narrative is arguably nothing about that. He is the herdsman. The year began with him and ended with that fellow, not literate, nor foppish, nor colourful, not individually a headline grabber. He does not read his story in the newspaper, nor sees television clips, nor surfs the web. He belongs to the lowest caste of the society, but he commands the loyalty of the elite, and sometimes the trepidation of the masters, the hem tugging at the helm.

    At the beginning of the year, the northern elite cavilled at the adjective to the herdsman. They should not be called Fulani herdsman. They are not Fulani, merely a band of shepherds with blood in their eyes, masquerading as Nigerians.

    Nothing characterises the ominous ambiguity of this nomenclature than the firebombs in southern Kaduna. The diminutive impresario and Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai waded in by saying the killings were engendered by a band of criminals, not Fulani herdsmen. Then he contradicted himself by saying they were actually Fulani herdsmen from out of the country.

    He then morphed from governor to foreign minister, deploying envoys to Fulani communities out of the country to broker peace, even sending bribes to soothe their boiling spirits. He said the fellow was angry over killings of his folks during the 2011 polls.

    Suddenly we are right to say Fulani herdsmen, but how does a reporter now characterise them in a news report? Non-Nigerian Fulani herdsmen? We have not been given one evidence that the marauders are indeed outsiders. General Martin Luther Agwai led a panel of enquiry that blamed the Fulani outsider but failed to parade a culprit.

    El-Rufai or Agwai committee may be right. But they have to prove it first. That is why the herdsman story is so intriguing. Earlier in the year, they did not only call themselves innocent, they said they wanted state governments to give mammoth acres of land for grazing. Southern locals said it was brazen.

    Yet the story arose of what is called cattle rustling, where individuals steal their cattle. This led to backlashes of rage. A man steals a cow, the herdsman amasses his fellows and they turn into a band of vengeance. They target not the thief or his family but morph into a barbarous horde in the whole community, slashing throats, raping women, burning down several houses.

    On my television show on TVC on Saturday morning, a caller asked us to accommodate the Fulani because he does not forgive. I asked whether it was right to kill a hundred people and declare war on a community because of one bad egg. This is a nation of laws and not of men. If a person steals, it is not his brother or mother or neighbour who stole. Get the law to punish the person.

    It becomes impunity when one sin waxes into a people’s original sin that must be punished on end as we see now in southern Kaduna. Several people die even when a curfew is imposed and soldiers are deployed. When I wrote a piece last year, the Fulani herdsmen’s leader called me and told me that the Nigerian Fulani herdsmen were responsible for the killings in some communities in Benue State over cattle rustling. He said further that he knew it was not right, but the Fulani never forgave. He explained that if you kill a Fulani man, the Fulani will kill a thousand in revenge. The law has no place for such malice. It punishes what is wrong. The murdering herdsman is not above the law.

    At the time of writing, the President has not visited or made a comment on the southern Kaduna tragedy. His spokesman’s assertion that he cannot comment on everything makes light of the tragedy of scores of families dying and living in perpetual terror. The southern Kaduna affair is not a routine robbery in Oshodi. If President Buhari can soar into the clouds in his private jet to sit below the swaggering Gambian despot in his futile trip or go to Zamfara State in solidarity over stolen cows, why not at least issue a statement to condemn the killings? Why not call for arrests and hold his intelligence chiefs to ransom? The President should avoid the suspicion that he is silent because he tacitly condones them.

    We saw the Ekiti State governor also hit headline by holding the herdsman to account. It is the only time the humble fellow was humble in character. The only time he looked as humble as his cow. Law upended hubris. Many, including a popular cleric, saw Fayose as defending his people.

    Throughout the year, the herdsman was humble only in caste. But it was a humility of hubris. They kept the President in silence, turned a governor into a foreign minister, converted a community into a blaze of fire and stench of funeral pyre, confounded the definition of their identity, killed several people in the Southeast and no justice found for the killers. The victims though have found their graves and have been forgotten. Even a cleric, Enoch Adeboye, gave praise to Fayose on their account.

    The humble herdsman was sought in spite of these. We sought the protein in the last Yuletide as well as during the Salah festivities and throughout the year as our eba and pounded yam had ‘accidents’ ploughing through livers, thighs, ponmo, etc.

    The herdsman knows the country. He sees a wide spectrum of vistas, he walks through bushes, slaps his animals’ hides through highways, through sleepy alleys, arboreal retreats, and even the blinding lights of city centres. He touches the leaves and people, he hears the accents and inflexions, he eats, dances, plays, sleeps across the land. But somehow, he reminds me of the classic novel about the “beat generation” in the United States, On The Road, by Jack Kerouac. The main character travels throughout the country. He makes love, drinks, works, makes friend, parties but he does not take with him the soul of anywhere he travels. His is spiritually alienated. He has been in those towns and cities but those towns and cities have not been in him.

    The same applies to the herdsman. He is everywhere in the country, but nowhere is in him, except where he comes from. He is peripatetic without empathy. Like Jack Kerouac’s American, the herdsman is always on the road, like a rolling stone that gathers no soul.

    If we cannot describe him as Nigerian and have no evidence that he is not, and we cannot arrest him, how can we start a conversation of making the herdsman part of our community? How can we give him a grazing land?

    It is this crisis of identity that has erupted into a crisis of deaths, destruction and disunity that makes him my person of the year.

  • Lagos welcomes baby of the year

    The Lagos State government has welcomed the first baby of the year.

    The baby boy, who weighed 2.8 kg, was delivered at General Hospital, Badagry, at 12.01am today.

    Congratulating the 24 year-old mother Mrs Grace Samson, a part three nursing student of Isfopsy University, Cotonou and her child, the governor’s wife, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, said she was delighted to see that mother and child are doing well.

    Mrs. Ambode encouraged mothers to ensure their children are immunised.

    She encouraged mothers to register their babies as advocated by UNICEF and National Population Commission (NPC).

    Health Commissioner Dr Jide Idris said the government will continue to ensure good healthcare is delivered to residents.

  • Farewell to year of shocks

    Farewell to year of shocks

    Were 2016 to be a movie, it would have by now hit a kind of catharsis. Alas, it is no movie, yet it packs in its belly all the attributes of a box office hit.

    In its dying days, this dramatic year has refused to slow down. It keeps confounding world renowned futurists, among whom I am excited to report a governor is numbered. Where are you all those  who say good things hardly come from these climes? Those who thought His Excellency’s talent is limited to pulling stunts and raising hell have been shocked that necromancy has been added to his forte. Now they are saying derisively:”The devil finds work for idle hands.” That was after the governor had bought space in a national newspaper to advertise his predictions for this year that he swore to high heavens actually came to pass, but which his traducers pooh-poohed as mere rabble-rousing. He also listed for his ever-attentive audience the predictions for the coming year. His critics are still reeling from the shock.

    Back to business. The year 2016 continues to shock us all even in its last fortnight. It has been as if the United States has two presidents since billionaire Donald Trump shocked the world by winning the November 8 election, which Russia is believed to have somehow manipulated. You see, it is not only in Nigeria that these things happen; the best candidate in an election trailing the one grudgingly listed as also a runner suddenly becoming a frontrunner and then the winner.

    Trump has been making policy statements and exhibiting little statesmanship in his speeches. To him, the United Nations (UN) is a “club” for people to “have a good time”.

    Incensed by the president-elect’s excesses, the Obama administration reminds him that the United States has one president at a time. Besides, Obama says he could have beaten Trump if he had the opportunity of running for a third term. Shocked? Do not be. It is not only here that presidents wish they could run for a third term. The only difference is that Obama won’t say he never nursed such a wish.

    Yahaya Jammeh of The Gambia shocked the world when many days after conceding defeat in an election he suddenly recanted. He would not surrender his seat to the winner, he said. President Muhammadu Buhari and other ECOWAS leaders went to Banjul to persuade him to step down. He agreed. A few days after, he dismissed his visitors as busybodies who had no right to tell him to go. Now the world is watching how Jammeh’s 22-year iron-fist rule will end. Bloody?

    Entertainment giants won’t stop leaving in a shocking manner. Songster George Michael departed on Christmas Day, sending the global pop community into mourning.

    Pentecostal giant Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye was in Ekiti where he praised Governor Ayodele Fayose’s courage at defending his people. Being used to such encomiums, the governor’s admirers and aides saw it as a routine. Not so his critics and political opponents, particularly those who know nothing about the workings of a spiritual mind. In their shock, they lashed out at the man of God, querying why he visited and praised Fayose, who in their view does not merit such numinous privilege. We should know how to draw the line. What says the holy book about those our Lord  was sent to? Besides, is Pastor Adeboye not entitled to his own opinion? Have we stopped subscribing to the universal right to the freedom of speech?

    Just before Christmas Eve, photographs of  former Delta State Governor James Onanefe Ibori coming out of a British jail were splashed all over the Internet.  He was in for six years after being convicted for money laundering. His friends launched into a street dance that only the weather in its chilliness moderated.

    His kinsmen in Oghara have been dancing ever since over the imminent return of their dearest son. His London home has become a mini studio. Politicians are flying in to record their encounters with him. Champagne glasses in their hands, they pose for photographs with the Ogidigboigbo. All these are uploaded on the Internet to shock many who feel that the matter calls for some somberness and introspection. Among the shocked, it has now turned out, is former Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan who has told those celebrating Ibori’s release to be circumspect.

    In Lagos, rice merchants have been shocked out of their wits. They had thought Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s plan to flood the market with LAKE Rice, following his collaboration with his Kebbi State counterpart Abubakar Atiku  Bagudu was a mere threat. They thought they had smuggled in enough to saturate the market and, as usual, dampen the Yuletide spirit for the poor. Suddenly, LAKE Rice made its delicious debut. Even those who have been able to buy this rice for as low as N2,500 are shocked. Now many are saying with Lake Rice and Ebonyi Rice, Nigeria is on the way to conserving scare foreign exchange that has been going into rice importation.

    Nigerians were shocked when the military announced that Sambisa Forest, the dreaded redoubt of the Boko Haram terror machine, had been captured. It was, no doubt, the biggest Christmas present ever. It is, however, a matter of regret that some people have doubted this remarkable feat of our gallant troops, despite the pictorial and video evidence that are available. They have been asking questions. If indeed Sambisa has fallen, where are the Chibok girls? Where is Shekau, the loudmouth who leads –or led – the deadly group? Where are the other captives?

    More videos of the Sambisa operation have since been released. Only fools doubt proofs, according to Bishop David Oyedepo. Even in this season of shocks, our Armed Forces deserve some praise for their sacrifice, not doubts and denigration. They should be credited with some credibility, no matter how little.

    The Federal Government also shocked many with its new policy on whistle blowing. If you report a fraud or some loot stashed somewhere, you get five per cent of it. Since the news broke, a friend of mine has been threatening to set up a company to go all over the world in search of looted funds. He plans to have his members of staff working round the clock in Panama, Luxemburg, Switzerland and others where our privileged compatriots may have kept their hard earned cash.

    Besides, he is also hiring some local bankers who will let him into the financial affairs of some notable citizens who must explain how they came about their fortune or become victims of whistle blowing. Shocked? Do not be. Isn’t this, according to a consultant with vast experience, a creative way of creating jobs? Imagine five per cent of N10 billion, for instance. Just imagine.

    Even as many are yet to recover from the hangover of MMM’s shocking departure, Nigerians have turned it all into incredible jokes. A popular Yoruba song has suddenly become commonplace, now titled MMM:

    Mole mo ba mo tun gbaa pada,

    Mole mo ba mo tun gbaa pada,

    Mole mo ba mo tun gbaa pada,

    Ohun t’ota gba lowo mi o mole mo ba

    (I chased it and got it

    What the enemy has taken from me

    I got it)

    There is also a poster inviting people to a seven-day “powerful fire vigil”. It reads: “Mole Moba Motungbapada Ministry. Are you a MMM  investor? You are cordially invited to a 7 days powerful fire vigil. Theme: MAVRODI RETURN MY MONEY.Mavrodi da owo mi pada.

    Date: Jan. 7th -13th  2017. Venue: Main Bowl, Abuja National Stadium. Time: 9pm prompt. Come with your laptop, computer, I Pad, phone and every other thing you use in logging into MMM for anointing. Bishop Fireman Dapada (Baba Dapada Now Now, Chief Host).”

    The good thing is that in two days we will be saying farewell to this year of shocks.

    Compliments.