THE IGBOKWES AND AKWA IBOM STATE GOVERNMENT
Recently the media have been awash with reports of a printing machine that a company owned by Chiefs Edwin and Christy Igbokwe supplied to Akwa Ibom Newspapers Corporation, AKNC. The controversy have been raging on, did the company supply an old machine? Was the machine supplied non functional? Has the machine been given regular servicing and maintenance?
One did not want to join in this controversy but the recent panel set up by the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and the report of the panel is worrisome. Also worrisome is the arrest warrant issued by the assembly on the Igbokwes. With due respect to the dishonourable, sorry, honourable, members this committee is a kangorro court. From their utterances and report, the house was bias even before the committee was set up. The report seems to have been agreed before the inauguration of the committee. In these days of the rule of law, were the accused given fair hearing? Were they given the opportunity to defend themselves? What was the reason for setting up the panel? Who is the target of the probe panel? Is it true that the Igbokwes are being persecuted because of their perceived links and relationship with former Governor Victor Attah? Is the probe panel that investigated the printing machine issue embarking on an indirect probe of the past administration in the state?
If the House of Assembly is embarking on a probe of past administrations in the state they should look into an earlier one million dollars that was given to a female contractor to supply printing machine for the same newspaper and a pin was not deliver. They should look at the contract for the building housing the machine and the newspaper and why it was unnecessarily delayed. They should also look at the management and staff composition of the newspaper and how competent and capable are they to produce a 21st century newspaper. They should also look at all the projects and contracts awarded in the last nine years. The legislators should ask the contractor that handled the Nkemba street road construction why the road failed few weeks after it was completed.
I learnt the House of Assembly committee investigating the machine issue visited the Rivers State Newspapers Corporation which does not have similar machine, what did they learnt form such visit? We have renowned printers from and in Akwa Ibom state, did the committee seek their expert advice on the state of the machine and how good it is? Let us assume that since that machine was bought and installed it was not use for one day, does that make it a new machine or isolate it from malfunctioning as a result of neglect and non usage? Can any of the assembly members buy a car that was bought 10 years ago and packed in a garage as a new car today at the prevailing market price? Was there no warranty or maintenance agreement between the corporation and the suppliers? When did warranty expire if there was any? Did the company supply a new or refurbished machine? If the machine was refurbished who and why did AKNC accepted it? How regular has the machine been service since it was installed?
The controversial machine was printing the Akwa Ibom State Government owned Pioneer Newspaper until a new management came into the corporation and the machine suddenly became obsolete, old and malfunctioning. Then the current management of the paper decided to go to Port Harcourt and do their printing using a similar machine supplied by the same Igbokwe. What an irony! The machine in Port Harcourt prints two daily newspapers every day besides The Pioneer and other sundry jobs, yet the machine is still functioning. The Pioneer publishes about three editions weekly and its print runs for a week may not be up to what one of those daily newspapers printed by the press they use in Port Harcourt prints daily yet the management of AKNC is complaining about their machine which is almost a decade old.
There is nothing wrong with the house investigating questionable contracts and uncompleted projects but the bottom line should be the overall interest of Akwa Ibom state and its people and not to settle political scores or rubbish perceived enemies of government. After all most of the political actors in the state today are products of the last administration therefore if the last administration failed they also share in the failure. There is no need making an escape goat of the Igbokwes. When the last administration was in office the then government, according to the current political actors, was the best thing that had ever happen to the state. They sang the praises of the administration to high heavens and now barely one year after the same people are turning around to demonize the government.
We are aware that every political appointment is seen as God- ordained opportunity for the appointees ‘to make it.’ Even when the appointee may not be keen on abusing them system for pecuniary reasons, he or she would be prodded by relatives and other well wishers to make the best use of the opportunity, since as they said, opportunity knocks but once, and this once must be maximize to the fullest. I think this is the scenario in AKNC. Some one just wants to make money from the company though the idea of acquisition of a new printing press. And to justify the need for a new machine the one that was in place must be declared a scrap and unserviceable.
Christy Essien Igbokwe is a great daughter and ambassador of Akwa Ibom State and deserves respect, honour and appreciation from indigenes of the state, especially those occupying public office. And as a worthy daughter she has all the rights and privileges to bid for and execute any contract or project that she has the technical know-how and capability. But it seems that members of the assembly are out to rubbish her well earned reputation. And this is not fair. Those who live in glass houses have always been admonished to abstain from throwing stones, power is transient, today it is Igbokwe tomorrow it may be one of these legislators. Whatever is the matter and situation, maintain the standard and let truth and fair prevail.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
थे इग्बोक्वेस थे अक्वा इबोम स्टेट GOVERNMENT
THE IGBOKWES AND AKWA IBOM STATE GOVERNMENT
Recently the media have been awash with reports of a printing machine that a company owned by Chiefs Edwin and Christy Igbokwe supplied to Akwa Ibom Newspapers Corporation, AKNC. The controversy have been raging on, did the company supply an old machine? Was the machine supplied non functional? Has the machine been given regular servicing and maintenance?
One did not want to join in this controversy but the recent panel set up by the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and the report of the panel is worrisome. Also worrisome is the arrest warrant issued by the assembly on the Igbokwes. With due respect to the dishonourable, sorry, honourable, members this committee is a kangorro court. From their utterances and report, the house was bias even before the committee was set up. The report seems to have been agreed before the inauguration of the committee. In these days of the rule of law, were the accused given fair hearing? Were they given the opportunity to defend themselves? What was the reason for setting up the panel? Who is the target of the probe panel? Is it true that the Igbokwes are being persecuted because of their perceived links and relationship with former Governor Victor Attah? Is the probe panel that investigated the printing machine issue embarking on an indirect probe of the past administration in the state?
If the House of Assembly is embarking on a probe of past administrations in the state they should look into an earlier one million dollars that was given to a female contractor to supply printing machine for the same newspaper and a pin was not deliver. They should look at the contract for the building housing the machine and the newspaper and why it was unnecessarily delayed. They should also look at the management and staff composition of the newspaper and how competent and capable are they to produce a 21st century newspaper. They should also look at all the projects and contracts awarded in the last nine years. The legislators should ask the contractor that handled the Nkemba street road construction why the road failed few weeks after it was completed.
I learnt the House of Assembly committee investigating the machine issue visited the Rivers State Newspapers Corporation which does not have similar machine, what did they learnt form such visit? We have renowned printers from and in Akwa Ibom state, did the committee seek their expert advice on the state of the machine and how good it is? Let us assume that since that machine was bought and installed it was not use for one day, does that make it a new machine or isolate it from malfunctioning as a result of neglect and non usage? Can any of the assembly members buy a car that was bought 10 years ago and packed in a garage as a new car today at the prevailing market price? Was there no warranty or maintenance agreement between the corporation and the suppliers? When did warranty expire if there was any? Did the company supply a new or refurbished machine? If the machine was refurbished who and why did AKNC accepted it? How regular has the machine been service since it was installed?
The controversial machine was printing the Akwa Ibom State Government owned Pioneer Newspaper until a new management came into the corporation and the machine suddenly became obsolete, old and malfunctioning. Then the current management of the paper decided to go to Port Harcourt and do their printing using a similar machine supplied by the same Igbokwe. What an irony! The machine in Port Harcourt prints two daily newspapers every day besides The Pioneer and other sundry jobs, yet the machine is still functioning. The Pioneer publishes about three editions weekly and its print runs for a week may not be up to what one of those daily newspapers printed by the press they use in Port Harcourt prints daily yet the management of AKNC is complaining about their machine which is almost a decade old.
There is nothing wrong with the house investigating questionable contracts and uncompleted projects but the bottom line should be the overall interest of Akwa Ibom state and its people and not to settle political scores or rubbish perceived enemies of government. After all most of the political actors in the state today are products of the last administration therefore if the last administration failed they also share in the failure. There is no need making an escape goat of the Igbokwes. When the last administration was in office the then government, according to the current political actors, was the best thing that had ever happen to the state. They sang the praises of the administration to high heavens and now barely one year after the same people are turning around to demonize the government.
We are aware that every political appointment is seen as God- ordained opportunity for the appointees ‘to make it.’ Even when the appointee may not be keen on abusing them system for pecuniary reasons, he or she would be prodded by relatives and other well wishers to make the best use of the opportunity, since as they said, opportunity knocks but once, and this once must be maximize to the fullest. I think this is the scenario in AKNC. Some one just wants to make money from the company though the idea of acquisition of a new printing press. And to justify the need for a new machine the one that was in place must be declared a scrap and unserviceable.
Christy Essien Igbokwe is a great daughter and ambassador of Akwa Ibom State and deserves respect, honour and appreciation from indigenes of the state, especially those occupying public office. And as a worthy daughter she has all the rights and privileges to bid for and execute any contract or project that she has the technical know-how and capability. But it seems that members of the assembly are out to rubbish her well earned reputation. And this is not fair. Those who live in glass houses have always been admonished to abstain from throwing stones, power is transient, today it is Igbokwe tomorrow it may be one of these legislators. Whatever is the matter and situation, maintain the standard and let truth and fair prevail.
Recently the media have been awash with reports of a printing machine that a company owned by Chiefs Edwin and Christy Igbokwe supplied to Akwa Ibom Newspapers Corporation, AKNC. The controversy have been raging on, did the company supply an old machine? Was the machine supplied non functional? Has the machine been given regular servicing and maintenance?
One did not want to join in this controversy but the recent panel set up by the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and the report of the panel is worrisome. Also worrisome is the arrest warrant issued by the assembly on the Igbokwes. With due respect to the dishonourable, sorry, honourable, members this committee is a kangorro court. From their utterances and report, the house was bias even before the committee was set up. The report seems to have been agreed before the inauguration of the committee. In these days of the rule of law, were the accused given fair hearing? Were they given the opportunity to defend themselves? What was the reason for setting up the panel? Who is the target of the probe panel? Is it true that the Igbokwes are being persecuted because of their perceived links and relationship with former Governor Victor Attah? Is the probe panel that investigated the printing machine issue embarking on an indirect probe of the past administration in the state?
If the House of Assembly is embarking on a probe of past administrations in the state they should look into an earlier one million dollars that was given to a female contractor to supply printing machine for the same newspaper and a pin was not deliver. They should look at the contract for the building housing the machine and the newspaper and why it was unnecessarily delayed. They should also look at the management and staff composition of the newspaper and how competent and capable are they to produce a 21st century newspaper. They should also look at all the projects and contracts awarded in the last nine years. The legislators should ask the contractor that handled the Nkemba street road construction why the road failed few weeks after it was completed.
I learnt the House of Assembly committee investigating the machine issue visited the Rivers State Newspapers Corporation which does not have similar machine, what did they learnt form such visit? We have renowned printers from and in Akwa Ibom state, did the committee seek their expert advice on the state of the machine and how good it is? Let us assume that since that machine was bought and installed it was not use for one day, does that make it a new machine or isolate it from malfunctioning as a result of neglect and non usage? Can any of the assembly members buy a car that was bought 10 years ago and packed in a garage as a new car today at the prevailing market price? Was there no warranty or maintenance agreement between the corporation and the suppliers? When did warranty expire if there was any? Did the company supply a new or refurbished machine? If the machine was refurbished who and why did AKNC accepted it? How regular has the machine been service since it was installed?
The controversial machine was printing the Akwa Ibom State Government owned Pioneer Newspaper until a new management came into the corporation and the machine suddenly became obsolete, old and malfunctioning. Then the current management of the paper decided to go to Port Harcourt and do their printing using a similar machine supplied by the same Igbokwe. What an irony! The machine in Port Harcourt prints two daily newspapers every day besides The Pioneer and other sundry jobs, yet the machine is still functioning. The Pioneer publishes about three editions weekly and its print runs for a week may not be up to what one of those daily newspapers printed by the press they use in Port Harcourt prints daily yet the management of AKNC is complaining about their machine which is almost a decade old.
There is nothing wrong with the house investigating questionable contracts and uncompleted projects but the bottom line should be the overall interest of Akwa Ibom state and its people and not to settle political scores or rubbish perceived enemies of government. After all most of the political actors in the state today are products of the last administration therefore if the last administration failed they also share in the failure. There is no need making an escape goat of the Igbokwes. When the last administration was in office the then government, according to the current political actors, was the best thing that had ever happen to the state. They sang the praises of the administration to high heavens and now barely one year after the same people are turning around to demonize the government.
We are aware that every political appointment is seen as God- ordained opportunity for the appointees ‘to make it.’ Even when the appointee may not be keen on abusing them system for pecuniary reasons, he or she would be prodded by relatives and other well wishers to make the best use of the opportunity, since as they said, opportunity knocks but once, and this once must be maximize to the fullest. I think this is the scenario in AKNC. Some one just wants to make money from the company though the idea of acquisition of a new printing press. And to justify the need for a new machine the one that was in place must be declared a scrap and unserviceable.
Christy Essien Igbokwe is a great daughter and ambassador of Akwa Ibom State and deserves respect, honour and appreciation from indigenes of the state, especially those occupying public office. And as a worthy daughter she has all the rights and privileges to bid for and execute any contract or project that she has the technical know-how and capability. But it seems that members of the assembly are out to rubbish her well earned reputation. And this is not fair. Those who live in glass houses have always been admonished to abstain from throwing stones, power is transient, today it is Igbokwe tomorrow it may be one of these legislators. Whatever is the matter and situation, maintain the standard and let truth and fair prevail.
गाम्बरी थे थे नाइजर DELTA
GAMBARI AND THE NIGER DELTA
The appointment of Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative to United Nations, Professor Ibrahim Gambari as the Chairman, Steering Committee, of the proposed Niger Delta Summit has drawn a lot of ire from within and outside the region. “Once bitten twice shy,” the saying still goes. This is the attitude of the Niger Delta people to the appointment of Gambari. It is reported that during the trial and killing of late Ken Saro-Wiwa, Gambari was credited to have described the late environmental rights activist as a common criminal. And since it is a common practice to use the past to assess the present and predict the future then Gambari by his past utterances is unfit to chair or participate in anything that has to do with the region. The same issues Saro-Wiwa was killed for are what Gambari is going to discuss at the summit. He was bias and would be bias, simple! The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, in this issue, his mouth betrays the content of his heart. He may never see anything good with the Niger Delta. Forget about the years he has spent at the United Nations. A leopard does not change its spots overnight. We would have prefer a Gani Fawehmi, Colonel Abubakar Umar, Wole Soyinka, Emeka Anyaoku, Justice Oputa, Justice Karibi -Whyte or even a Kofi Anan but definitely not Gambari.
But Gambari said he would not resign despite the opposition to his appointment. He tried to justify his appointment. This is arrogance, sheer arrogance! Gambari is an establishment man and he has no genuine solution to the Niger Delta problem. Moreover, Gambari is a symbol of the Northern oligarchy and therefore cannot preside over a summit where issues that would empower and improve the lives of the Niger Delta people are discussed. Remember what Northern delegates did at the last National Conferences when the issue of 25 per cent derivation to the oil producing states was discussed, they make sure that this was not possible. We cannot trust Gambari. Gambari, we no wan you, na by force?
The voice of the people is said to be the voice of God, if majority of the people say they don’t want Gambari, the federal government should respect their views. And if we are truly practicing democracy which is said to be government of the people for the people and by the people then the popular opinion and desire of the Niger Delta indigenes should be respected. Don’t mind the declarations and promises by the Niger Delta governors that they would attend the planned Peace Summit, they have no option. They may pose as elected representatives of their people but do they really represent, promote and protect the interests of the people? They have to show loyalty to the powers that be in Abuja, remember how they came into offices?
We do not only just don’t want Gambari, we do not want any peace summit, workshop, conference, seminar and other talk shops on the Niger Delta as they are all talks without action. We want action. We are tired of these conferences. What conference, seminar or workshop was held to develop Abuja into one of the most beautiful nation capital in the world? This is the question on the lips of every Niger Deltan. Every one is now an expert on Niger Delta and its problems; everyone is now an expert on conflict resolution, pseudo development experts are everywhere. Working for peace is now a big industry in the Niger Delta, every one thinks he or she has a solution to the problems of the region and they wish the crisis would continue so that the business will continue as usual. We desire peace like every other human but what manner of peace and at what cost. We cannot have peace without justice, fairness and equity. We want to see development in every nook and cranny of the region, our patience is running out. Give us jobs, durable roads, electricity, schools, hospitals, rehabilitate our lands that has been defiled by oil exploration, stop gas flaring and oil spills, give us resource control, revoke the Petroleum Act and Land Use Act, and there will be peace. Why do we need peace in the region and what do we really need peace for: is it to give conducive environment for the oil exploitation and exploration by the multinational oil companies? Is this peace to enable development in the Delta? If it is for development, why didn’t government develop the region during the first 40 years when there was no violence?
Testifying at the Rivers State Truth and Reconciliation Commission, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteers Force (NDPVF) Alhaji Mujihad Dokubo-Asari, alleged that the Niger Delta crisis is a deliberate and planned instigation from outside the region to paint a picture of insecurity in order to scare away investors who are now moving into nearby states. Dokubo-Asari may not be far from the truth as oil companies with head offices outside their areas of operation were directed to relocate their Corporate Headquarters to states in the region where they are carry out their businesses, Shell have done it but ExxonMobil is yet to move to Eket in Akwa Ibom State and may use the situation in the Delta as an excuse and a justification for not relocating. Shell can also latch on this insecurity plea to move back to Lagos and we all know what this translate to in terms of PAYE, VAT and other taxes as well as the spill over effect of having headquarters of these companies in an environment.
We have never been troublesome people; it is not in our character. We were forced into this situation that has now been hijacked by criminal elements parading as freedom fighters. We expressed our fears at the Willinks Commission and 50 years after our fears have come to pass. And based on this we are also afraid that when the oil dried off, we will be abandoned to our fate by the Nigerian state. Our fears are genuine, look at Oloibiri where oil was first found in 1956, it is a sad reminder of what may befall the Niger Delta if nothing is done now to address the neglect, degradation, poverty and lack of infrastructures in the region. And now is the time.
This present crisis and insecurity in the region started about 10 years ago, and oil exploration and exploitation have been going on in the region for the past 50 years. If one may ask before the violence and insecurity what genuine effort was made by the federal government to address the yearning and aspirations of the people? Since peace did not pay, the people have to try violence to see the reactions and actions of the central government in Lagos and later Abuja. Rather the government should be blame for the violence in the area for failing to do what it should have done when it should have been done.
To show Gambari’s insincerity that whatever decisions or suggestions from the planned peace summit would not be implemented by the federal government, while he was calling on the militant groups to observe a 90 day ceasefire, federal troops were busy bombing the so-called militants’ camps in the region. The bombings took place on Tuesday whereas the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has already declared a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday before Gambari made his call. According to the militants this is a declaration of war. Can we hold a Peace Summit when our region is under attack by security forces? We see the 90 day ceasefire demand as a time buying ploy to douse the heighten insecurity in the region and to enable government come out with a security strategy to contain the militants in the region. We do not support violence as violence would only beget violence but we abhor intimidation and harassment by security forces. Genuine peace cannot be obtained under this atmosphere; it will be merely a grave yard peace. The criminal neglect and marginalization of the region is wickedness, and the Bible says no peace to the wicked so peace cannot thrives where there is wickedness. Let the root of evil and wickedness visited on the region be dealt with and peace would take its natural place in Niger Delta, where it rightly belong.
The choice of the venue of the Peace Summit is laughable. Why should someone suggest Abuja or anywhere outside the region for the summit. If the summit must hold it must be in the region. Anywhere outside the region would not be conducive for all stakeholders to participate. Let the summit participants come to the region and “enjoy the good roads, water and facilities we have here.” It is not every area in the region that is prone to violence or is a high security risk area. Also it would be capital flight to take Niger Delta money to pay transport, pay hotels bills, allowances and other logistics by the committee. The money that would be taken to Abuja or any where outside the region can be used to meet some of the developmental needs of the region.
How would delegates to the summit be selected, who will do the selection? How do we determine the real stakeholders and representatives of the people and region? Government should be wary of those who parade themselves as leaders of the region as they are part of the problem. They share part of the blame for the neglect and underdevelopment of the region. They condemned the boys in the open only to turn around and asked them to fire on. They arrange, aid and abet kidnapping and hostage taking only to turn around and play negotiators between the boys and the oil companies. No more summit, workshop, seminar and forum on Niger Delta problems. Give us our heart desires and peace will come naturally. Peace be unto Niger Delta and Nigeria.
The appointment of Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative to United Nations, Professor Ibrahim Gambari as the Chairman, Steering Committee, of the proposed Niger Delta Summit has drawn a lot of ire from within and outside the region. “Once bitten twice shy,” the saying still goes. This is the attitude of the Niger Delta people to the appointment of Gambari. It is reported that during the trial and killing of late Ken Saro-Wiwa, Gambari was credited to have described the late environmental rights activist as a common criminal. And since it is a common practice to use the past to assess the present and predict the future then Gambari by his past utterances is unfit to chair or participate in anything that has to do with the region. The same issues Saro-Wiwa was killed for are what Gambari is going to discuss at the summit. He was bias and would be bias, simple! The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, in this issue, his mouth betrays the content of his heart. He may never see anything good with the Niger Delta. Forget about the years he has spent at the United Nations. A leopard does not change its spots overnight. We would have prefer a Gani Fawehmi, Colonel Abubakar Umar, Wole Soyinka, Emeka Anyaoku, Justice Oputa, Justice Karibi -Whyte or even a Kofi Anan but definitely not Gambari.
But Gambari said he would not resign despite the opposition to his appointment. He tried to justify his appointment. This is arrogance, sheer arrogance! Gambari is an establishment man and he has no genuine solution to the Niger Delta problem. Moreover, Gambari is a symbol of the Northern oligarchy and therefore cannot preside over a summit where issues that would empower and improve the lives of the Niger Delta people are discussed. Remember what Northern delegates did at the last National Conferences when the issue of 25 per cent derivation to the oil producing states was discussed, they make sure that this was not possible. We cannot trust Gambari. Gambari, we no wan you, na by force?
The voice of the people is said to be the voice of God, if majority of the people say they don’t want Gambari, the federal government should respect their views. And if we are truly practicing democracy which is said to be government of the people for the people and by the people then the popular opinion and desire of the Niger Delta indigenes should be respected. Don’t mind the declarations and promises by the Niger Delta governors that they would attend the planned Peace Summit, they have no option. They may pose as elected representatives of their people but do they really represent, promote and protect the interests of the people? They have to show loyalty to the powers that be in Abuja, remember how they came into offices?
We do not only just don’t want Gambari, we do not want any peace summit, workshop, conference, seminar and other talk shops on the Niger Delta as they are all talks without action. We want action. We are tired of these conferences. What conference, seminar or workshop was held to develop Abuja into one of the most beautiful nation capital in the world? This is the question on the lips of every Niger Deltan. Every one is now an expert on Niger Delta and its problems; everyone is now an expert on conflict resolution, pseudo development experts are everywhere. Working for peace is now a big industry in the Niger Delta, every one thinks he or she has a solution to the problems of the region and they wish the crisis would continue so that the business will continue as usual. We desire peace like every other human but what manner of peace and at what cost. We cannot have peace without justice, fairness and equity. We want to see development in every nook and cranny of the region, our patience is running out. Give us jobs, durable roads, electricity, schools, hospitals, rehabilitate our lands that has been defiled by oil exploration, stop gas flaring and oil spills, give us resource control, revoke the Petroleum Act and Land Use Act, and there will be peace. Why do we need peace in the region and what do we really need peace for: is it to give conducive environment for the oil exploitation and exploration by the multinational oil companies? Is this peace to enable development in the Delta? If it is for development, why didn’t government develop the region during the first 40 years when there was no violence?
Testifying at the Rivers State Truth and Reconciliation Commission, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteers Force (NDPVF) Alhaji Mujihad Dokubo-Asari, alleged that the Niger Delta crisis is a deliberate and planned instigation from outside the region to paint a picture of insecurity in order to scare away investors who are now moving into nearby states. Dokubo-Asari may not be far from the truth as oil companies with head offices outside their areas of operation were directed to relocate their Corporate Headquarters to states in the region where they are carry out their businesses, Shell have done it but ExxonMobil is yet to move to Eket in Akwa Ibom State and may use the situation in the Delta as an excuse and a justification for not relocating. Shell can also latch on this insecurity plea to move back to Lagos and we all know what this translate to in terms of PAYE, VAT and other taxes as well as the spill over effect of having headquarters of these companies in an environment.
We have never been troublesome people; it is not in our character. We were forced into this situation that has now been hijacked by criminal elements parading as freedom fighters. We expressed our fears at the Willinks Commission and 50 years after our fears have come to pass. And based on this we are also afraid that when the oil dried off, we will be abandoned to our fate by the Nigerian state. Our fears are genuine, look at Oloibiri where oil was first found in 1956, it is a sad reminder of what may befall the Niger Delta if nothing is done now to address the neglect, degradation, poverty and lack of infrastructures in the region. And now is the time.
This present crisis and insecurity in the region started about 10 years ago, and oil exploration and exploitation have been going on in the region for the past 50 years. If one may ask before the violence and insecurity what genuine effort was made by the federal government to address the yearning and aspirations of the people? Since peace did not pay, the people have to try violence to see the reactions and actions of the central government in Lagos and later Abuja. Rather the government should be blame for the violence in the area for failing to do what it should have done when it should have been done.
To show Gambari’s insincerity that whatever decisions or suggestions from the planned peace summit would not be implemented by the federal government, while he was calling on the militant groups to observe a 90 day ceasefire, federal troops were busy bombing the so-called militants’ camps in the region. The bombings took place on Tuesday whereas the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has already declared a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday before Gambari made his call. According to the militants this is a declaration of war. Can we hold a Peace Summit when our region is under attack by security forces? We see the 90 day ceasefire demand as a time buying ploy to douse the heighten insecurity in the region and to enable government come out with a security strategy to contain the militants in the region. We do not support violence as violence would only beget violence but we abhor intimidation and harassment by security forces. Genuine peace cannot be obtained under this atmosphere; it will be merely a grave yard peace. The criminal neglect and marginalization of the region is wickedness, and the Bible says no peace to the wicked so peace cannot thrives where there is wickedness. Let the root of evil and wickedness visited on the region be dealt with and peace would take its natural place in Niger Delta, where it rightly belong.
The choice of the venue of the Peace Summit is laughable. Why should someone suggest Abuja or anywhere outside the region for the summit. If the summit must hold it must be in the region. Anywhere outside the region would not be conducive for all stakeholders to participate. Let the summit participants come to the region and “enjoy the good roads, water and facilities we have here.” It is not every area in the region that is prone to violence or is a high security risk area. Also it would be capital flight to take Niger Delta money to pay transport, pay hotels bills, allowances and other logistics by the committee. The money that would be taken to Abuja or any where outside the region can be used to meet some of the developmental needs of the region.
How would delegates to the summit be selected, who will do the selection? How do we determine the real stakeholders and representatives of the people and region? Government should be wary of those who parade themselves as leaders of the region as they are part of the problem. They share part of the blame for the neglect and underdevelopment of the region. They condemned the boys in the open only to turn around and asked them to fire on. They arrange, aid and abet kidnapping and hostage taking only to turn around and play negotiators between the boys and the oil companies. No more summit, workshop, seminar and forum on Niger Delta problems. Give us our heart desires and peace will come naturally. Peace be unto Niger Delta and Nigeria.
गाम्बरी थे थे नाइजर DELTA
GAMBARI AND THE NIGER DELTA
The appointment of Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative to United Nations, Professor Ibrahim Gambari as the Chairman, Steering Committee, of the proposed Niger Delta Summit has drawn a lot of ire from within and outside the region. “Once bitten twice shy,” the saying still goes. This is the attitude of the Niger Delta people to the appointment of Gambari. It is reported that during the trial and killing of late Ken Saro-Wiwa, Gambari was credited to have described the late environmental rights activist as a common criminal. And since it is a common practice to use the past to assess the present and predict the future then Gambari by his past utterances is unfit to chair or participate in anything that has to do with the region. The same issues Saro-Wiwa was killed for are what Gambari is going to discuss at the summit. He was bias and would be bias, simple! The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, in this issue, his mouth betrays the content of his heart. He may never see anything good with the Niger Delta. Forget about the years he has spent at the United Nations. A leopard does not change its spots overnight. We would have prefer a Gani Fawehmi, Colonel Abubakar Umar, Wole Soyinka, Emeka Anyaoku, Justice Oputa, Justice Karibi -Whyte or even a Kofi Anan but definitely not Gambari.
But Gambari said he would not resign despite the opposition to his appointment. He tried to justify his appointment. This is arrogance, sheer arrogance! Gambari is an establishment man and he has no genuine solution to the Niger Delta problem. Moreover, Gambari is a symbol of the Northern oligarchy and therefore cannot preside over a summit where issues that would empower and improve the lives of the Niger Delta people are discussed. Remember what Northern delegates did at the last National Conferences when the issue of 25 per cent derivation to the oil producing states was discussed, they make sure that this was not possible. We cannot trust Gambari. Gambari, we no wan you, na by force?
The voice of the people is said to be the voice of God, if majority of the people say they don’t want Gambari, the federal government should respect their views. And if we are truly practicing democracy which is said to be government of the people for the people and by the people then the popular opinion and desire of the Niger Delta indigenes should be respected. Don’t mind the declarations and promises by the Niger Delta governors that they would attend the planned Peace Summit, they have no option. They may pose as elected representatives of their people but do they really represent, promote and protect the interests of the people? They have to show loyalty to the powers that be in Abuja, remember how they came into offices?
We do not only just don’t want Gambari, we do not want any peace summit, workshop, conference, seminar and other talk shops on the Niger Delta as they are all talks without action. We want action. We are tired of these conferences. What conference, seminar or workshop was held to develop Abuja into one of the most beautiful nation capital in the world? This is the question on the lips of every Niger Deltan. Every one is now an expert on Niger Delta and its problems; everyone is now an expert on conflict resolution, pseudo development experts are everywhere. Working for peace is now a big industry in the Niger Delta, every one thinks he or she has a solution to the problems of the region and they wish the crisis would continue so that the business will continue as usual. We desire peace like every other human but what manner of peace and at what cost. We cannot have peace without justice, fairness and equity. We want to see development in every nook and cranny of the region, our patience is running out. Give us jobs, durable roads, electricity, schools, hospitals, rehabilitate our lands that has been defiled by oil exploration, stop gas flaring and oil spills, give us resource control, revoke the Petroleum Act and Land Use Act, and there will be peace. Why do we need peace in the region and what do we really need peace for: is it to give conducive environment for the oil exploitation and exploration by the multinational oil companies? Is this peace to enable development in the Delta? If it is for development, why didn’t government develop the region during the first 40 years when there was no violence?
Testifying at the Rivers State Truth and Reconciliation Commission, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteers Force (NDPVF) Alhaji Mujihad Dokubo-Asari, alleged that the Niger Delta crisis is a deliberate and planned instigation from outside the region to paint a picture of insecurity in order to scare away investors who are now moving into nearby states. Dokubo-Asari may not be far from the truth as oil companies with head offices outside their areas of operation were directed to relocate their Corporate Headquarters to states in the region where they are carry out their businesses, Shell have done it but ExxonMobil is yet to move to Eket in Akwa Ibom State and may use the situation in the Delta as an excuse and a justification for not relocating. Shell can also latch on this insecurity plea to move back to Lagos and we all know what this translate to in terms of PAYE, VAT and other taxes as well as the spill over effect of having headquarters of these companies in an environment.
We have never been troublesome people; it is not in our character. We were forced into this situation that has now been hijacked by criminal elements parading as freedom fighters. We expressed our fears at the Willinks Commission and 50 years after our fears have come to pass. And based on this we are also afraid that when the oil dried off, we will be abandoned to our fate by the Nigerian state. Our fears are genuine, look at Oloibiri where oil was first found in 1956, it is a sad reminder of what may befall the Niger Delta if nothing is done now to address the neglect, degradation, poverty and lack of infrastructures in the region. And now is the time.
This present crisis and insecurity in the region started about 10 years ago, and oil exploration and exploitation have been going on in the region for the past 50 years. If one may ask before the violence and insecurity what genuine effort was made by the federal government to address the yearning and aspirations of the people? Since peace did not pay, the people have to try violence to see the reactions and actions of the central government in Lagos and later Abuja. Rather the government should be blame for the violence in the area for failing to do what it should have done when it should have been done.
To show Gambari’s insincerity that whatever decisions or suggestions from the planned peace summit would not be implemented by the federal government, while he was calling on the militant groups to observe a 90 day ceasefire, federal troops were busy bombing the so-called militants’ camps in the region. The bombings took place on Tuesday whereas the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has already declared a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday before Gambari made his call. According to the militants this is a declaration of war. Can we hold a Peace Summit when our region is under attack by security forces? We see the 90 day ceasefire demand as a time buying ploy to douse the heighten insecurity in the region and to enable government come out with a security strategy to contain the militants in the region. We do not support violence as violence would only beget violence but we abhor intimidation and harassment by security forces. Genuine peace cannot be obtained under this atmosphere; it will be merely a grave yard peace. The criminal neglect and marginalization of the region is wickedness, and the Bible says no peace to the wicked so peace cannot thrives where there is wickedness. Let the root of evil and wickedness visited on the region be dealt with and peace would take its natural place in Niger Delta, where it rightly belong.
The choice of the venue of the Peace Summit is laughable. Why should someone suggest Abuja or anywhere outside the region for the summit. If the summit must hold it must be in the region. Anywhere outside the region would not be conducive for all stakeholders to participate. Let the summit participants come to the region and “enjoy the good roads, water and facilities we have here.” It is not every area in the region that is prone to violence or is a high security risk area. Also it would be capital flight to take Niger Delta money to pay transport, pay hotels bills, allowances and other logistics by the committee. The money that would be taken to Abuja or any where outside the region can be used to meet some of the developmental needs of the region.
How would delegates to the summit be selected, who will do the selection? How do we determine the real stakeholders and representatives of the people and region? Government should be wary of those who parade themselves as leaders of the region as they are part of the problem. They share part of the blame for the neglect and underdevelopment of the region. They condemned the boys in the open only to turn around and asked them to fire on. They arrange, aid and abet kidnapping and hostage taking only to turn around and play negotiators between the boys and the oil companies. No more summit, workshop, seminar and forum on Niger Delta problems. Give us our heart desires and peace will come naturally. Peace be unto Niger Delta and Nigeria.
The appointment of Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative to United Nations, Professor Ibrahim Gambari as the Chairman, Steering Committee, of the proposed Niger Delta Summit has drawn a lot of ire from within and outside the region. “Once bitten twice shy,” the saying still goes. This is the attitude of the Niger Delta people to the appointment of Gambari. It is reported that during the trial and killing of late Ken Saro-Wiwa, Gambari was credited to have described the late environmental rights activist as a common criminal. And since it is a common practice to use the past to assess the present and predict the future then Gambari by his past utterances is unfit to chair or participate in anything that has to do with the region. The same issues Saro-Wiwa was killed for are what Gambari is going to discuss at the summit. He was bias and would be bias, simple! The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, in this issue, his mouth betrays the content of his heart. He may never see anything good with the Niger Delta. Forget about the years he has spent at the United Nations. A leopard does not change its spots overnight. We would have prefer a Gani Fawehmi, Colonel Abubakar Umar, Wole Soyinka, Emeka Anyaoku, Justice Oputa, Justice Karibi -Whyte or even a Kofi Anan but definitely not Gambari.
But Gambari said he would not resign despite the opposition to his appointment. He tried to justify his appointment. This is arrogance, sheer arrogance! Gambari is an establishment man and he has no genuine solution to the Niger Delta problem. Moreover, Gambari is a symbol of the Northern oligarchy and therefore cannot preside over a summit where issues that would empower and improve the lives of the Niger Delta people are discussed. Remember what Northern delegates did at the last National Conferences when the issue of 25 per cent derivation to the oil producing states was discussed, they make sure that this was not possible. We cannot trust Gambari. Gambari, we no wan you, na by force?
The voice of the people is said to be the voice of God, if majority of the people say they don’t want Gambari, the federal government should respect their views. And if we are truly practicing democracy which is said to be government of the people for the people and by the people then the popular opinion and desire of the Niger Delta indigenes should be respected. Don’t mind the declarations and promises by the Niger Delta governors that they would attend the planned Peace Summit, they have no option. They may pose as elected representatives of their people but do they really represent, promote and protect the interests of the people? They have to show loyalty to the powers that be in Abuja, remember how they came into offices?
We do not only just don’t want Gambari, we do not want any peace summit, workshop, conference, seminar and other talk shops on the Niger Delta as they are all talks without action. We want action. We are tired of these conferences. What conference, seminar or workshop was held to develop Abuja into one of the most beautiful nation capital in the world? This is the question on the lips of every Niger Deltan. Every one is now an expert on Niger Delta and its problems; everyone is now an expert on conflict resolution, pseudo development experts are everywhere. Working for peace is now a big industry in the Niger Delta, every one thinks he or she has a solution to the problems of the region and they wish the crisis would continue so that the business will continue as usual. We desire peace like every other human but what manner of peace and at what cost. We cannot have peace without justice, fairness and equity. We want to see development in every nook and cranny of the region, our patience is running out. Give us jobs, durable roads, electricity, schools, hospitals, rehabilitate our lands that has been defiled by oil exploration, stop gas flaring and oil spills, give us resource control, revoke the Petroleum Act and Land Use Act, and there will be peace. Why do we need peace in the region and what do we really need peace for: is it to give conducive environment for the oil exploitation and exploration by the multinational oil companies? Is this peace to enable development in the Delta? If it is for development, why didn’t government develop the region during the first 40 years when there was no violence?
Testifying at the Rivers State Truth and Reconciliation Commission, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteers Force (NDPVF) Alhaji Mujihad Dokubo-Asari, alleged that the Niger Delta crisis is a deliberate and planned instigation from outside the region to paint a picture of insecurity in order to scare away investors who are now moving into nearby states. Dokubo-Asari may not be far from the truth as oil companies with head offices outside their areas of operation were directed to relocate their Corporate Headquarters to states in the region where they are carry out their businesses, Shell have done it but ExxonMobil is yet to move to Eket in Akwa Ibom State and may use the situation in the Delta as an excuse and a justification for not relocating. Shell can also latch on this insecurity plea to move back to Lagos and we all know what this translate to in terms of PAYE, VAT and other taxes as well as the spill over effect of having headquarters of these companies in an environment.
We have never been troublesome people; it is not in our character. We were forced into this situation that has now been hijacked by criminal elements parading as freedom fighters. We expressed our fears at the Willinks Commission and 50 years after our fears have come to pass. And based on this we are also afraid that when the oil dried off, we will be abandoned to our fate by the Nigerian state. Our fears are genuine, look at Oloibiri where oil was first found in 1956, it is a sad reminder of what may befall the Niger Delta if nothing is done now to address the neglect, degradation, poverty and lack of infrastructures in the region. And now is the time.
This present crisis and insecurity in the region started about 10 years ago, and oil exploration and exploitation have been going on in the region for the past 50 years. If one may ask before the violence and insecurity what genuine effort was made by the federal government to address the yearning and aspirations of the people? Since peace did not pay, the people have to try violence to see the reactions and actions of the central government in Lagos and later Abuja. Rather the government should be blame for the violence in the area for failing to do what it should have done when it should have been done.
To show Gambari’s insincerity that whatever decisions or suggestions from the planned peace summit would not be implemented by the federal government, while he was calling on the militant groups to observe a 90 day ceasefire, federal troops were busy bombing the so-called militants’ camps in the region. The bombings took place on Tuesday whereas the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has already declared a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday before Gambari made his call. According to the militants this is a declaration of war. Can we hold a Peace Summit when our region is under attack by security forces? We see the 90 day ceasefire demand as a time buying ploy to douse the heighten insecurity in the region and to enable government come out with a security strategy to contain the militants in the region. We do not support violence as violence would only beget violence but we abhor intimidation and harassment by security forces. Genuine peace cannot be obtained under this atmosphere; it will be merely a grave yard peace. The criminal neglect and marginalization of the region is wickedness, and the Bible says no peace to the wicked so peace cannot thrives where there is wickedness. Let the root of evil and wickedness visited on the region be dealt with and peace would take its natural place in Niger Delta, where it rightly belong.
The choice of the venue of the Peace Summit is laughable. Why should someone suggest Abuja or anywhere outside the region for the summit. If the summit must hold it must be in the region. Anywhere outside the region would not be conducive for all stakeholders to participate. Let the summit participants come to the region and “enjoy the good roads, water and facilities we have here.” It is not every area in the region that is prone to violence or is a high security risk area. Also it would be capital flight to take Niger Delta money to pay transport, pay hotels bills, allowances and other logistics by the committee. The money that would be taken to Abuja or any where outside the region can be used to meet some of the developmental needs of the region.
How would delegates to the summit be selected, who will do the selection? How do we determine the real stakeholders and representatives of the people and region? Government should be wary of those who parade themselves as leaders of the region as they are part of the problem. They share part of the blame for the neglect and underdevelopment of the region. They condemned the boys in the open only to turn around and asked them to fire on. They arrange, aid and abet kidnapping and hostage taking only to turn around and play negotiators between the boys and the oil companies. No more summit, workshop, seminar and forum on Niger Delta problems. Give us our heart desires and peace will come naturally. Peace be unto Niger Delta and Nigeria.
गुड बाय माय एक्जीक्यूटिव DRIVER
TONY ITA ETIM
itaetim@yahoo.com, 08037269329
GOODBYE! MY EXECUTIVE DRIVER
One day when I was working with Statesman Newspapers, Owerri published by the Imo State Government, the then Managing Director of the company, Mr. Livy Iwunze gave me a ride in his silver colour Mercedes Benz car. There was another passenger in the front seat before my arrival so I had to go to the back. I tried to keep a distance from the “owner’s corner” because Iwunze himself was driving but he ordered me to go over to the owner’s corner and have a nice time. He told me that one that one day I will buy a Mercedes car, even bigger than his own, but I may not have a quality driver like him, in his own word, “an executive driver.” That was “my executive driver” he had no airs around him. We felt like his inferiors were made to be relaxed when we are in his presence. No intimidation or harassment.
In those days of Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) Iwunze sent me to cover an event at the commission’s office along Orlu Road in Owerri; at the end of the assignment the commissioner gave me some money which I politely turned down and left. The commissioner felt slighted and called Iwunze and reported the insult from his reporter. Immediately I arrived the newsroom I was informed that the MD was looking for me. I was scared that that was my end in Statesman but when I got there he asked me to explain what took place. After my explanation he called the commissioner in my presence and he told the man that despite my size and age I did not represent myself but the corporate image of the company. He praised me for rejecting the money despite the fact that as at that time we were owed arrears of salaries and later gave me N500, which was about a quarter of my salary as a Level 7 staff then. He advised me that whenever and wherever I go as a reporter I should not think of myself as a mere reporter but as a representative of the organization I work for and this mentality I carry till date. And many have mistaken it for pride or arrogance.
Iwunze was a highly detribalized Nigerian though proud of his Igbo heritage. He loved the Igbo language and culture and was always ready to do anything that would enhance the Igbo race, language and culture. For non indigenes of Imo State, who were working in Statesman, he was our godfather. He always said that he would employ a good staff anytime, anyday no matter where the person is from. His argument was that there should be a proof that the non indigenes were incompetent and he would sack them. We were more than 10 non indigenes during his administration and they came from all parts of the country. This staffs were working at the company’s headquarters in Owerri. We were four Akwa Ibom indigenes working with the company as at that time.
A lover of education, Iwunze was always ready to assist anyone who wants to go to school. Most of the staff who worked in his office today has gone beyond the academic qualification they used in getting jobs there, especially those young staff who were working with their school certificates. He was always encouraging staff to seek more education. One day he called me into his office and asked why I am contented with a National Diploma in Mass Communication and suggested I should seek admission into Imo State University for a degree programme. I told him I will do something about it. After a while, he called me and threatened to sack me if I failed to go to the university. I was now forced to confess that I was already a third year student in the University of Uyo. He asked how I was coping and I told him that my editors allow me to go to Uyo from Mondays to Fridays and to return to Owerri for the weekends. And while in Uyo I will be filing stories. He was impressed and once in a while gave me money for transportation as well as created avenues for me to make extra money outside my salary. For this gesture I shall remain eternally grateful to him and the people of Imo State.
Back home in the University of Uyo, the reverse was the case; my late Head of Department and kinsman Dr. Bassey Umoh asked me to choose between working and going to school. Umoh and I are from the same Nung Ikpene group in Ibesikpo and when I missed one of his tests and approached him for a make up, he told me there is nothing he can do but to carry over the course. Umoh insisted that I cannot be carrying two things (work and school) and climb a ladder. You see it is not really where you come from.
I really did not get to know his family very well since they were staying in Lagos but I know he was fond of them. He loved his children with passion. He was always talking about his first daughter, Ada, who was student in one of the federal government colleges in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He was a consummate family man. Iwunze loved and cherished his family. They will surely miss him.
Sir, the obituary by your wife and children in Daily Champion of April 7, erased my doubts that you are dead after all. I thought your death was one of those wicked rumours that would soon be disproved. But my wish could not bring you back. Sorry sir, I could not keep my promise to you that anytime I am in Lagos I will pay homage. It is no longer possible for obvious reason. You are gone but you live in the lives of those of us you touched. I hate to say goodbye.
This is the season of death, from Iwunze to Ikunze. Last Saturday, April 5, our friend and colleague, Mr. Chris Ikunze of the Sun Newspapers, Port Harcourt office was buried in his village, Olokoro in Umuahia, Abia State. Chris died on Friday, February 8, 2008 when doctors at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital who were embarking on strike allegedly disconnected him from an oxygen support and discharged him from the hospital when he was not fit to walk. Is it proper for doctors to murder their patients just because they want to embark on strike to pursue their selfish interests? When the demands of the striking doctors are made have do they bring back the deaths that took place while they callously embarked on strike? What is the essence of taking the Hippocratic Oath when the lives of patients entrusted to their care no longer means anything to them? The life of one patient is worth more than all the needs, demands and wants of all Nigerian doctors put together. Life is of inestimable value and the doctors should know better. Maybe their daily encounters with death in the course of their jobs have erased their value for human life. Chris, my main man, the omnipresent Chris, goodnight!
itaetim@yahoo.com, 08037269329
GOODBYE! MY EXECUTIVE DRIVER
One day when I was working with Statesman Newspapers, Owerri published by the Imo State Government, the then Managing Director of the company, Mr. Livy Iwunze gave me a ride in his silver colour Mercedes Benz car. There was another passenger in the front seat before my arrival so I had to go to the back. I tried to keep a distance from the “owner’s corner” because Iwunze himself was driving but he ordered me to go over to the owner’s corner and have a nice time. He told me that one that one day I will buy a Mercedes car, even bigger than his own, but I may not have a quality driver like him, in his own word, “an executive driver.” That was “my executive driver” he had no airs around him. We felt like his inferiors were made to be relaxed when we are in his presence. No intimidation or harassment.
In those days of Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) Iwunze sent me to cover an event at the commission’s office along Orlu Road in Owerri; at the end of the assignment the commissioner gave me some money which I politely turned down and left. The commissioner felt slighted and called Iwunze and reported the insult from his reporter. Immediately I arrived the newsroom I was informed that the MD was looking for me. I was scared that that was my end in Statesman but when I got there he asked me to explain what took place. After my explanation he called the commissioner in my presence and he told the man that despite my size and age I did not represent myself but the corporate image of the company. He praised me for rejecting the money despite the fact that as at that time we were owed arrears of salaries and later gave me N500, which was about a quarter of my salary as a Level 7 staff then. He advised me that whenever and wherever I go as a reporter I should not think of myself as a mere reporter but as a representative of the organization I work for and this mentality I carry till date. And many have mistaken it for pride or arrogance.
Iwunze was a highly detribalized Nigerian though proud of his Igbo heritage. He loved the Igbo language and culture and was always ready to do anything that would enhance the Igbo race, language and culture. For non indigenes of Imo State, who were working in Statesman, he was our godfather. He always said that he would employ a good staff anytime, anyday no matter where the person is from. His argument was that there should be a proof that the non indigenes were incompetent and he would sack them. We were more than 10 non indigenes during his administration and they came from all parts of the country. This staffs were working at the company’s headquarters in Owerri. We were four Akwa Ibom indigenes working with the company as at that time.
A lover of education, Iwunze was always ready to assist anyone who wants to go to school. Most of the staff who worked in his office today has gone beyond the academic qualification they used in getting jobs there, especially those young staff who were working with their school certificates. He was always encouraging staff to seek more education. One day he called me into his office and asked why I am contented with a National Diploma in Mass Communication and suggested I should seek admission into Imo State University for a degree programme. I told him I will do something about it. After a while, he called me and threatened to sack me if I failed to go to the university. I was now forced to confess that I was already a third year student in the University of Uyo. He asked how I was coping and I told him that my editors allow me to go to Uyo from Mondays to Fridays and to return to Owerri for the weekends. And while in Uyo I will be filing stories. He was impressed and once in a while gave me money for transportation as well as created avenues for me to make extra money outside my salary. For this gesture I shall remain eternally grateful to him and the people of Imo State.
Back home in the University of Uyo, the reverse was the case; my late Head of Department and kinsman Dr. Bassey Umoh asked me to choose between working and going to school. Umoh and I are from the same Nung Ikpene group in Ibesikpo and when I missed one of his tests and approached him for a make up, he told me there is nothing he can do but to carry over the course. Umoh insisted that I cannot be carrying two things (work and school) and climb a ladder. You see it is not really where you come from.
I really did not get to know his family very well since they were staying in Lagos but I know he was fond of them. He loved his children with passion. He was always talking about his first daughter, Ada, who was student in one of the federal government colleges in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He was a consummate family man. Iwunze loved and cherished his family. They will surely miss him.
Sir, the obituary by your wife and children in Daily Champion of April 7, erased my doubts that you are dead after all. I thought your death was one of those wicked rumours that would soon be disproved. But my wish could not bring you back. Sorry sir, I could not keep my promise to you that anytime I am in Lagos I will pay homage. It is no longer possible for obvious reason. You are gone but you live in the lives of those of us you touched. I hate to say goodbye.
This is the season of death, from Iwunze to Ikunze. Last Saturday, April 5, our friend and colleague, Mr. Chris Ikunze of the Sun Newspapers, Port Harcourt office was buried in his village, Olokoro in Umuahia, Abia State. Chris died on Friday, February 8, 2008 when doctors at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital who were embarking on strike allegedly disconnected him from an oxygen support and discharged him from the hospital when he was not fit to walk. Is it proper for doctors to murder their patients just because they want to embark on strike to pursue their selfish interests? When the demands of the striking doctors are made have do they bring back the deaths that took place while they callously embarked on strike? What is the essence of taking the Hippocratic Oath when the lives of patients entrusted to their care no longer means anything to them? The life of one patient is worth more than all the needs, demands and wants of all Nigerian doctors put together. Life is of inestimable value and the doctors should know better. Maybe their daily encounters with death in the course of their jobs have erased their value for human life. Chris, my main man, the omnipresent Chris, goodnight!
इलेक्टोरल फ्रौड़ इन NIGERIA
In the past few months, elections of some state governors in Nigeria have been nullified by various Courts of Appeal across the country and the courts have ordered for re-run elections, some of which have been conducted. Elections of legislators at various levels have also been nullified and in some cases rerun were ordered.
Nullification of election results means that something was wrong with the elections. By the nullification of their elections the elected officers are assumed to have been punished for whatever electoral offence they committed. But is cancellation or nullification of the outcomes of elections enough punishment and deterrent to check the evil of electoral fraud in Nigeria?
What is the punishment for the staff, permanent and adhoc, of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) or whatever designation Nigeria’s electoral body may answer now or in the future? INEC staff cannot be exonerated from electoral malpractices and fraud in the country. They connive with the politicians to rig elections; and for aiding and abetting electoral malpractices they should be punished for this crime against the country. Some of the electoral body staff by their actions and inactions are be fair to all and provide a free and fair platform for all political players.
biased. It may not be possible for all of them to be 100 per cent apolitical but they should
Also, there should be a mechanism in place to checkmate the victimization of electoral body staff by governments in power, when they do the right things during elections, and such actions may not meet the political yearnings of the politicians.
It is not fair to punish students, schools, teachers and their head teachers who are accused of aiding and abetting examination malpractices while electoral personnel go home free. There should be sanctions for electoral officers who preside over flawed elections. Sanctions may serve as a deterrent and a check to electoral malpractice. It may not be a cure-all remedy but it can reduce the level of electoral malpractice.
A malpractice is a malpractice, whether examination or electoral and should be punished in this era of rule of law. If our political leaders are involved in electoral malpractice they have no moral right to scold school children who engage in examination malpractice. Parents who are supposed to show good example to the wards aid and abet examination malpractice as well as get involved in electoral malpractice. There is an Akwa Ibom proverb that a baby goat follows the footstep of her mother. The school children are the leaders of tomorrow and they are following the footsteps of their parents in practicing malpractice and the path to graduating into electoral fraudsters.
The electoral reforms should include sanctions for INEC staff and any of its adhoc staff during elections. Also those to be used as adhoc staff in future elections should be civil servants so that they can be punished when they err during elections. It has been observed that during elections most of the adhoc staff are card carrying members of political parties; especially the ruling parties and they cannot be impartial during the elections. They would do everything to favour their parties. The use of unemployed or party loyalists as adhoc staff should be discouraged. Rather, serving civil servants should be used as adhoc staff during elections so that if they compromise during elections they could be disciplined administratively through suspension, dismissal or any other appropriate punitive measures.
Also, political parties should be penalised for electoral fraud. In cases where a party has a problem deciding its actual candidate, such party should not be allowed to take part in the elections. Such parties should be fined for such conduct. A case in point is the Uyo Senatorial District in Akwa Ibom where the Party (PDP) is claiming that the sitting Senator Effiong Bob was not the Party candidate for the April 2007 elections, yet he is currently representing the area in Upper House. What manner of Party is this?
Rerun elections and campaigns preceding these elections cost money and in most cases this money is from the public purse whether the politicians would accept it or not. Such funds could have been used to provide desirable facilities and infrastructures. So in a way, this amounts to waste of public funds. Unnecessary litigations that follow elections are uncalled for if due processes where followed by electoral body and parties in their selections of candidates for elections and also during and after the conduct of elections.
Where does INEC loyalty lie during the conduct of elections? Does its loyalty lie with the government in power that appointed the commission’s top hierarchy? Is the body loyal to the Nigerian people and constitution? Should government be responsible for appointing members into the commission? Should each political party appoint a representative into INEC board? With a motley crowd of 50 parties it may not be possible for each party to have a representative. But if I have my way, besides the civil servants in INEC, the federal commissioners should come from all the parties while Nigerians should evolved a way of isolating the commission staff from political influence.
This crowd of 50 parties does not augur well for Nigerian democracy because a politician who is dissatisfied in one party would just jump to another or form his own party. Our politicians have no ideological leanings, they just go into politics because of what they can get and not because they have something to offer. This brings us to the issue of a two party system. A two party system may not be the best but at least if you don’t belong to the left you would be in the right. You cannot be neutral.
For this democracy to stabilize we need a transparent electoral process and system. Both the parties and the electoral body must follow due process in all their dealings. And sanctions must be impose on those who violate our electoral process.
Nullification of election results means that something was wrong with the elections. By the nullification of their elections the elected officers are assumed to have been punished for whatever electoral offence they committed. But is cancellation or nullification of the outcomes of elections enough punishment and deterrent to check the evil of electoral fraud in Nigeria?
What is the punishment for the staff, permanent and adhoc, of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) or whatever designation Nigeria’s electoral body may answer now or in the future? INEC staff cannot be exonerated from electoral malpractices and fraud in the country. They connive with the politicians to rig elections; and for aiding and abetting electoral malpractices they should be punished for this crime against the country. Some of the electoral body staff by their actions and inactions are be fair to all and provide a free and fair platform for all political players.
biased. It may not be possible for all of them to be 100 per cent apolitical but they should
Also, there should be a mechanism in place to checkmate the victimization of electoral body staff by governments in power, when they do the right things during elections, and such actions may not meet the political yearnings of the politicians.
It is not fair to punish students, schools, teachers and their head teachers who are accused of aiding and abetting examination malpractices while electoral personnel go home free. There should be sanctions for electoral officers who preside over flawed elections. Sanctions may serve as a deterrent and a check to electoral malpractice. It may not be a cure-all remedy but it can reduce the level of electoral malpractice.
A malpractice is a malpractice, whether examination or electoral and should be punished in this era of rule of law. If our political leaders are involved in electoral malpractice they have no moral right to scold school children who engage in examination malpractice. Parents who are supposed to show good example to the wards aid and abet examination malpractice as well as get involved in electoral malpractice. There is an Akwa Ibom proverb that a baby goat follows the footstep of her mother. The school children are the leaders of tomorrow and they are following the footsteps of their parents in practicing malpractice and the path to graduating into electoral fraudsters.
The electoral reforms should include sanctions for INEC staff and any of its adhoc staff during elections. Also those to be used as adhoc staff in future elections should be civil servants so that they can be punished when they err during elections. It has been observed that during elections most of the adhoc staff are card carrying members of political parties; especially the ruling parties and they cannot be impartial during the elections. They would do everything to favour their parties. The use of unemployed or party loyalists as adhoc staff should be discouraged. Rather, serving civil servants should be used as adhoc staff during elections so that if they compromise during elections they could be disciplined administratively through suspension, dismissal or any other appropriate punitive measures.
Also, political parties should be penalised for electoral fraud. In cases where a party has a problem deciding its actual candidate, such party should not be allowed to take part in the elections. Such parties should be fined for such conduct. A case in point is the Uyo Senatorial District in Akwa Ibom where the Party (PDP) is claiming that the sitting Senator Effiong Bob was not the Party candidate for the April 2007 elections, yet he is currently representing the area in Upper House. What manner of Party is this?
Rerun elections and campaigns preceding these elections cost money and in most cases this money is from the public purse whether the politicians would accept it or not. Such funds could have been used to provide desirable facilities and infrastructures. So in a way, this amounts to waste of public funds. Unnecessary litigations that follow elections are uncalled for if due processes where followed by electoral body and parties in their selections of candidates for elections and also during and after the conduct of elections.
Where does INEC loyalty lie during the conduct of elections? Does its loyalty lie with the government in power that appointed the commission’s top hierarchy? Is the body loyal to the Nigerian people and constitution? Should government be responsible for appointing members into the commission? Should each political party appoint a representative into INEC board? With a motley crowd of 50 parties it may not be possible for each party to have a representative. But if I have my way, besides the civil servants in INEC, the federal commissioners should come from all the parties while Nigerians should evolved a way of isolating the commission staff from political influence.
This crowd of 50 parties does not augur well for Nigerian democracy because a politician who is dissatisfied in one party would just jump to another or form his own party. Our politicians have no ideological leanings, they just go into politics because of what they can get and not because they have something to offer. This brings us to the issue of a two party system. A two party system may not be the best but at least if you don’t belong to the left you would be in the right. You cannot be neutral.
For this democracy to stabilize we need a transparent electoral process and system. Both the parties and the electoral body must follow due process in all their dealings. And sanctions must be impose on those who violate our electoral process.
पेइंग फॉर थे सिंस ऑफ़ यौर CHILD
PAYING FOR THE SINS OF YOUR CHILD
Years back when I was living in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state one of my friends neighbor’s, a local 419 operator known in the local parlance as “Utoto” beat his son mercilessly for stealing. When we confronted him and jokingly told him that he was a thief and a criminal and the son was following his footsteps he told us that though he was a criminal none of his children would be a criminal and that he would rather kill such a child than allow the child to spoil his family name. Can you see who is protecting his family name? Even criminals want to have good children.
Recently, Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Innocent IIozuoke at a press briefing in Owerri declared that the state Police Command would arrest parents of people involved in kidnapping. The argument of the police boss is that it is the responsibility of parents to bring up their children in the right way. I condemn kidnapping, abduction and every form of criminality. I strive as much as possible to be on the right side of law. With all modesty, I am a law abiding and obedient citizen of Nigeria. But the idea of my innocent mother in the village paying for my crime is unacceptable. Even God himself repented and said that children would no longer suffer for the sins of their parents rather the soul that sin shall die. So why should an innocent parent pay for the sin of a child who decided to embark on self destruction through crime. What is the position of the Nigerian Constitution and laws on arresting a parent for the crime of a child? Is the police commissioner advocacy legal and constitutional? Are we going back to the military era when people were arrested for the offence of their relations?
Some parents may, directly or indirectly, encourage their children into crime but not every parent. Child upbringing is a trickish business; some have it easy, others do not. According to the Bible, it is not by power or might but the spirit of God that we achieve certain things in life and not that we are smarter, more intelligent, righteous or religious than others. It is the sheer grace of God that ones children turn out well and do well. Many of the children who turn out bad are from good homes and were given proper home training but some decide to do the opposite of what they were taught at home.
Though some parents maybe in the know that their children are criminals and they even benefit from the proceeds of such criminal activities but most parents are not in support of their children’s anti social behaviors. A parent could be arrested for the crime of his child if that child uses the parents’ vehicle or premises for the crime; or there is concrete evidence showing that the parents gave support to the child in the course of committing the crime. This idea of arresting parents for their children’s crime if allowed to take place would be taken advantage of by Nigerians. All I have to do to get my enemies (perceived or imaginary) is to accuse their child of kidnapping and before the family may have the opportunity to say “I no follow”, the parents are in detention for a crime that might not have been committed in the first place or for what they are innocent of. Trust Nigerians for being experts at finding legal loopholes in every law and manipulating them to suit their desires.
Ilozuoke’s suggestion that parents should monitor their children is a good one and acceptable. But how can a man living and working in Lagos monitor his ward who is a student of Imo State University, Owerri. Monitoring an undergraduate would have been possible if all the students in tertiary institutions and their parents were residents of the town where their institutions are located. Even at that the child would still have one excuse or the other to go out. When I was an undergraduate I preferred reading in the night (in the school premises) because there would be less distraction; and one was sure of a steady power supply. I did not embark on evil deeds when I am out in the night. I could have done anything as my parents were not there with me. With the dismal performance of the public power supply every parent would allow his child to go out to read and so when the child is out of the house how do you monitor his activities?
Since they have failed or their children refused to be good should parents have to pay for sins of their wards? Would Ilozuoke be happy to be sacked from the police force because a constable within his command collected N20 from a motorist? How would the commissioner feel if he is arrested on an allegation that he child was involved in an examination malpractice? Would he not cry foul if he is punished for an offence committed by any of his men, even when he was not aware or supported the offence? Should a teacher be punished for his students’ inability to pass examinations? Should a preacher be blamed for his church members sinful lifestyles, who refused to abide by the word of God, preached by their pastor?
The commissioner of police can go ahead and arrest wives and children of public officers accused of corruption as they are direct beneficiaries of these loots, if their spouses and parents are guilty. He could as well go for family members of Nigerians who aid and abet electoral malpractices. The police boss should also arrest families of policemen who are accused of extortion and other forms of corrupt practices. Any man that commits a crime should pay for his offence except there is concrete evidence that his family members aid and abet the commission of such crime. The police should improve on its intelligence service and investigation skills instead of resorting to the easy way out- arresting relatives of criminals.
Years back when I was living in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state one of my friends neighbor’s, a local 419 operator known in the local parlance as “Utoto” beat his son mercilessly for stealing. When we confronted him and jokingly told him that he was a thief and a criminal and the son was following his footsteps he told us that though he was a criminal none of his children would be a criminal and that he would rather kill such a child than allow the child to spoil his family name. Can you see who is protecting his family name? Even criminals want to have good children.
Recently, Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Innocent IIozuoke at a press briefing in Owerri declared that the state Police Command would arrest parents of people involved in kidnapping. The argument of the police boss is that it is the responsibility of parents to bring up their children in the right way. I condemn kidnapping, abduction and every form of criminality. I strive as much as possible to be on the right side of law. With all modesty, I am a law abiding and obedient citizen of Nigeria. But the idea of my innocent mother in the village paying for my crime is unacceptable. Even God himself repented and said that children would no longer suffer for the sins of their parents rather the soul that sin shall die. So why should an innocent parent pay for the sin of a child who decided to embark on self destruction through crime. What is the position of the Nigerian Constitution and laws on arresting a parent for the crime of a child? Is the police commissioner advocacy legal and constitutional? Are we going back to the military era when people were arrested for the offence of their relations?
Some parents may, directly or indirectly, encourage their children into crime but not every parent. Child upbringing is a trickish business; some have it easy, others do not. According to the Bible, it is not by power or might but the spirit of God that we achieve certain things in life and not that we are smarter, more intelligent, righteous or religious than others. It is the sheer grace of God that ones children turn out well and do well. Many of the children who turn out bad are from good homes and were given proper home training but some decide to do the opposite of what they were taught at home.
Though some parents maybe in the know that their children are criminals and they even benefit from the proceeds of such criminal activities but most parents are not in support of their children’s anti social behaviors. A parent could be arrested for the crime of his child if that child uses the parents’ vehicle or premises for the crime; or there is concrete evidence showing that the parents gave support to the child in the course of committing the crime. This idea of arresting parents for their children’s crime if allowed to take place would be taken advantage of by Nigerians. All I have to do to get my enemies (perceived or imaginary) is to accuse their child of kidnapping and before the family may have the opportunity to say “I no follow”, the parents are in detention for a crime that might not have been committed in the first place or for what they are innocent of. Trust Nigerians for being experts at finding legal loopholes in every law and manipulating them to suit their desires.
Ilozuoke’s suggestion that parents should monitor their children is a good one and acceptable. But how can a man living and working in Lagos monitor his ward who is a student of Imo State University, Owerri. Monitoring an undergraduate would have been possible if all the students in tertiary institutions and their parents were residents of the town where their institutions are located. Even at that the child would still have one excuse or the other to go out. When I was an undergraduate I preferred reading in the night (in the school premises) because there would be less distraction; and one was sure of a steady power supply. I did not embark on evil deeds when I am out in the night. I could have done anything as my parents were not there with me. With the dismal performance of the public power supply every parent would allow his child to go out to read and so when the child is out of the house how do you monitor his activities?
Since they have failed or their children refused to be good should parents have to pay for sins of their wards? Would Ilozuoke be happy to be sacked from the police force because a constable within his command collected N20 from a motorist? How would the commissioner feel if he is arrested on an allegation that he child was involved in an examination malpractice? Would he not cry foul if he is punished for an offence committed by any of his men, even when he was not aware or supported the offence? Should a teacher be punished for his students’ inability to pass examinations? Should a preacher be blamed for his church members sinful lifestyles, who refused to abide by the word of God, preached by their pastor?
The commissioner of police can go ahead and arrest wives and children of public officers accused of corruption as they are direct beneficiaries of these loots, if their spouses and parents are guilty. He could as well go for family members of Nigerians who aid and abet electoral malpractices. The police boss should also arrest families of policemen who are accused of extortion and other forms of corrupt practices. Any man that commits a crime should pay for his offence except there is concrete evidence that his family members aid and abet the commission of such crime. The police should improve on its intelligence service and investigation skills instead of resorting to the easy way out- arresting relatives of criminals.
पॉलिटिक्स विथौत PRINCIPLES
POLITICS WITHOUT PRINCIPLE
“He (Yar’Adua) has never called me, and he has never sent anybody to plead so that I withdraw the case against him.” This is the confession of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).
Buhari in an interview with the Hausa service of the Voice of America was giving reason why he is still in court challenging the election of President Umaru Yar’Adua. According to the report, Buhari’s reason for being in court is that Yar’Adua ignored him since he emerged as the declared winner of the 2007 elections; and Yar’Adua ignoring him is the reason why he continued with the legal battle that is currently in the Supreme Court.
Leader of the Indian Nationalist Movement against British rule, Mohandas (Mahatma) Ghandi, gave the world seven deadly sins and among these sins is “Politics without Principle.” And I think that Buhari has committed this sin. I am not judging the general because the Bible does not grant me such privilege to judge another man as we are all sinners.
Buhari is one of the few Nigerians that I held with high regard but the utterance he made on the interview has made me to review my opinion on him. For Buhari to say that his continued stay in court is because Yar’Adua has not reached out to him is most unbecoming of a leader. I thought he was a principled man but now am a bit confused. Buhari is sending conflicting signals to millions of Nigeria who look up to him and believed he would have made a better president.
Is Buhari telling us that as a former Head of State he is in court to seek for national relevance? In those days of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) when Buhari was the chairman I used to defend him that there was nothing wrong for a former Commander- in- Chief to work under another if the motive was for national progress, growth and development. I then thought that Buhari was doing this in the national interest. But am afraid, something inside me is telling me that he accepted the position to remain relevant and to give the administration of General Sani Abacha credibility.
What other relevance does our general need when he is a member of the Council of State by virtue of his position as a former head of state? During the Obasanjo’s days Buhari denied Nigerians of his contributions to national development by not attending the council meeting on the ground that he did not recognize Baba Iyabo’s administration. Despite our militancy and contribution to national development there is no one from the South- South and Niger Delta in the council. The Council of State does not have respect for federal character. By attending the council meeting Buhari would have been able to contribute his wonderful ideas for the development of the country. A good leader must always be a good follower. A man who cannot follow cannot lead well as he would be autocratic.
Is Buhari challenging Yar’Adua elections because he does not want another Commander-in Chief to come from Katsina. As, Nigerians are known to say, our general perhaps wants to be “the only cock to crow.” But Niger State has two C-in-C and Ogun state has one and a half so there is nothing wrong for Katsina State to rival Niger’s record. Since Yar’dua is from Katsina like you, if you can’t get it and it goes to him there is nothing wrong. It is people like us who should complain by saying that it is not the heritage of Katsina people to produce the headship of the country. Remember Yar’Adua’s elder brother was a second in command to Baba Iyabo in the seventies, “abi dem born una born presidency?”
Buhari seems to be a rebel without a cause. His party the ANPP is part of the Government of National Unity but our general is pursuing a court case without the support of his party. Buhari cannot be greater that the party on which platform he ran for the presidency in 2003 and 2007. As a ‘good’ party man he must learn to toe the party line and not try to run his own show. He seems to be a man alone. But can a C-in-C take orders from bloody civilians. Our general should do away with his military mentality where his orders are obeyed without complains. This is a civilian administration and a democratic setting and not an army barracks. I dare say our general is on an ego trip trying to seek national recognition and also recognition from the presidency. Then where lies the public interest that he seeks to protect if he becomes the president of Nigeria.
On a lighter note, Buhari defiled the shrine of democracy and sinned against the gods of democracy. He was a leading beneficiary of the coup plot that overthrew a democratically elected government in 1983; and now he is going to the same shrine and gods to seek for power. Has or can he atone for his sins and have the gods forgiven him? Is our general now seeking democratic power because he is no longer in position to overthrow a government in power? By his posturing and body language, if our general has his way the Yar’dua government would have been shoved aside and the leading characters would have been sentenced to jail terms ranging from 50 to 500 years. But this is democracy.
I have my opinion on coups and that it is a criminal offence against the Nigerian state. Any coup plotter or those that profited from coups have sinned against the country and they are enemies of the state since there is nothing like a successful robbery operation or a failed or foiled operation. A robber is a robber. The intent of the robber is not taken into consideration when he faces trial, therefore a coup is a coup whether successful or not and those who partook in it are enemies of the country no matter their claims to national interests.
I believe that those who aspire for public offices should do so with a sincere intention to offer service to the people and not an ego trip for personal reasons. If one is challenging an election result it should be because the elections was not free and fair; or he was wrong in one way or the other but not an avenue to seek relevance and settlement. We should start playing politics base on principle and ideology and not politics of sentiments. Politics should be a serious business for public service and not an employment opportunity for lay about, retired or unemployed persons. Many of our politicians are having a formal job or employment for the first time after being elected or appointed into office. Politics should not been seen an avenue to make quick money and be socially relevant. Let people aspire to public office because the have something to offer and they are willing to serve the public.
“He (Yar’Adua) has never called me, and he has never sent anybody to plead so that I withdraw the case against him.” This is the confession of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).
Buhari in an interview with the Hausa service of the Voice of America was giving reason why he is still in court challenging the election of President Umaru Yar’Adua. According to the report, Buhari’s reason for being in court is that Yar’Adua ignored him since he emerged as the declared winner of the 2007 elections; and Yar’Adua ignoring him is the reason why he continued with the legal battle that is currently in the Supreme Court.
Leader of the Indian Nationalist Movement against British rule, Mohandas (Mahatma) Ghandi, gave the world seven deadly sins and among these sins is “Politics without Principle.” And I think that Buhari has committed this sin. I am not judging the general because the Bible does not grant me such privilege to judge another man as we are all sinners.
Buhari is one of the few Nigerians that I held with high regard but the utterance he made on the interview has made me to review my opinion on him. For Buhari to say that his continued stay in court is because Yar’Adua has not reached out to him is most unbecoming of a leader. I thought he was a principled man but now am a bit confused. Buhari is sending conflicting signals to millions of Nigeria who look up to him and believed he would have made a better president.
Is Buhari telling us that as a former Head of State he is in court to seek for national relevance? In those days of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) when Buhari was the chairman I used to defend him that there was nothing wrong for a former Commander- in- Chief to work under another if the motive was for national progress, growth and development. I then thought that Buhari was doing this in the national interest. But am afraid, something inside me is telling me that he accepted the position to remain relevant and to give the administration of General Sani Abacha credibility.
What other relevance does our general need when he is a member of the Council of State by virtue of his position as a former head of state? During the Obasanjo’s days Buhari denied Nigerians of his contributions to national development by not attending the council meeting on the ground that he did not recognize Baba Iyabo’s administration. Despite our militancy and contribution to national development there is no one from the South- South and Niger Delta in the council. The Council of State does not have respect for federal character. By attending the council meeting Buhari would have been able to contribute his wonderful ideas for the development of the country. A good leader must always be a good follower. A man who cannot follow cannot lead well as he would be autocratic.
Is Buhari challenging Yar’Adua elections because he does not want another Commander-in Chief to come from Katsina. As, Nigerians are known to say, our general perhaps wants to be “the only cock to crow.” But Niger State has two C-in-C and Ogun state has one and a half so there is nothing wrong for Katsina State to rival Niger’s record. Since Yar’dua is from Katsina like you, if you can’t get it and it goes to him there is nothing wrong. It is people like us who should complain by saying that it is not the heritage of Katsina people to produce the headship of the country. Remember Yar’Adua’s elder brother was a second in command to Baba Iyabo in the seventies, “abi dem born una born presidency?”
Buhari seems to be a rebel without a cause. His party the ANPP is part of the Government of National Unity but our general is pursuing a court case without the support of his party. Buhari cannot be greater that the party on which platform he ran for the presidency in 2003 and 2007. As a ‘good’ party man he must learn to toe the party line and not try to run his own show. He seems to be a man alone. But can a C-in-C take orders from bloody civilians. Our general should do away with his military mentality where his orders are obeyed without complains. This is a civilian administration and a democratic setting and not an army barracks. I dare say our general is on an ego trip trying to seek national recognition and also recognition from the presidency. Then where lies the public interest that he seeks to protect if he becomes the president of Nigeria.
On a lighter note, Buhari defiled the shrine of democracy and sinned against the gods of democracy. He was a leading beneficiary of the coup plot that overthrew a democratically elected government in 1983; and now he is going to the same shrine and gods to seek for power. Has or can he atone for his sins and have the gods forgiven him? Is our general now seeking democratic power because he is no longer in position to overthrow a government in power? By his posturing and body language, if our general has his way the Yar’dua government would have been shoved aside and the leading characters would have been sentenced to jail terms ranging from 50 to 500 years. But this is democracy.
I have my opinion on coups and that it is a criminal offence against the Nigerian state. Any coup plotter or those that profited from coups have sinned against the country and they are enemies of the state since there is nothing like a successful robbery operation or a failed or foiled operation. A robber is a robber. The intent of the robber is not taken into consideration when he faces trial, therefore a coup is a coup whether successful or not and those who partook in it are enemies of the country no matter their claims to national interests.
I believe that those who aspire for public offices should do so with a sincere intention to offer service to the people and not an ego trip for personal reasons. If one is challenging an election result it should be because the elections was not free and fair; or he was wrong in one way or the other but not an avenue to seek relevance and settlement. We should start playing politics base on principle and ideology and not politics of sentiments. Politics should be a serious business for public service and not an employment opportunity for lay about, retired or unemployed persons. Many of our politicians are having a formal job or employment for the first time after being elected or appointed into office. Politics should not been seen an avenue to make quick money and be socially relevant. Let people aspire to public office because the have something to offer and they are willing to serve the public.
अक्वा इबोम स्टेट @ 21
AKWA IBOM STATE @ 21
Wednesday September 23, 1987 remains a memorable day in the life of most Akwa Abasi Ibom people. That evening during a nationwide broadcast, the then Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida announced the creation of the state alongside Katsina; and this brought the number of states in the federation from 19 to 21. Immediately the creation of the new state was announced what constituted the present Akwa Ibom state erupted into wild celebration that lasted till the next day. But for my family, the celebration was short-lived as my paternal grandmother, Madam Susanna Mark Asuquo Akpan died that evening a couple after the new state was created.
On that Wednesday evening a 60 year old dream became a reality. The Akwa Ibom people are reported to have started the agitation for state creation 60 years before God used Babangida to bring it to pass. Overnight Uyo, that was my local government then, suddenly translated from a local government headquarters to a state capital.
At 21 the state has come of age and the occasion did not call for riotous celebration. One commends the decision of the state government to have a low key anniversary. It should have been a day of solemn assembly and soul searching. A day to take stock and reflect on our achievements as a people in the past 21 years. A day that should be adopted as our annual Thanksgiving Day to tell God how grateful we are as a people for what he has done in our lives as individuals and as a state in days past. A day to return glory to Akwa Abasi Ibom for all the victories and success stories he has given us.
There is need for a spiritual rebirth in the state. A state that is name after the Almighty God should have God as its foundation. Our leaders and indigenes should stop being religious and worship God in truth and in spirit. We should go back to our creator and reconcile with him in any way we have rebelled against him. We should ask ourselves why indigenes of our state are literally absence from national politics and other spheres of national where our forebears were pioneers. Why have we not been able to translate the enormous human and material resources of the state into better life for indigenes of the state? The self-help or communal spirit that our people were noted for have vanished it is now to your tent Oh Israel. Those who benefited for such communal effort have not deemed it fit to give back to the community what the got. Rather most of them now see themselves as our masters while we are their slaves. Some of the families that benefited from the communal effort now considered themselves the elites or privileged class in the state. After using the ladder of communal effort to get to where they are now, they took away the ladder when they got to the top.
Twenty one years after state creation have we achieved the dreams, yearnings and aspirations of our forebears? Have we justified the creation of the state? Have the expectations of the indigenes at the creation of the state been met? Do we really have a cause to celebrate except to thank God for his mercies and for the creation of the state?
Though some persons may argued that 21 years is too short a time to address the progress, growth and development of the state, what foundation do we have in place to take our people to the “Land of Fulfillment.” The Akwa Ibom people have tarried for so long waiting to get into the Promised Land but daily the Promised Land seemed too far to get there. The Promised Land seems elusive and the people have started doubting whether such a land existed and if they would one there get there. The enthusiasm that greeted the creation of the state was infectious. Many donated their property, at no cost, for the takeover of the new state. The creation of the state then looks like a magic wand and the key to the transformation of the land and people to a better land and life. It seems there is a deliberate attempt by leaders and rulers to keep the people in the wilderness of hopelessness. Agreed that the first 12 years after the state was created were under military regimes and the then military administrators and governors were merely soldiers of fortune who were on “national duty” and they were not accountable to the people of the state but those who sent them.
Since the creation of the state 21 years ago, Uyo the state capital has no state-government owned General Hospital. The Akwa Ibom State Government is yet to establish a primary or a secondary school in the state capital. All the schools in the Uyo are privately owned or were built by their host communities, a voluntary organization or religious group. The state government even took over the Aka Offot Community Secondary School and handed it over to the Federal Technical College (for girls) and has not deemed it fight to build a new one. Except for renovation work done in few primary schools in the state capital, all the secondary schools are as they were 21 years ago except that government pay staff salaries and provide overhead cost. If this can happen to schools in the state capital one wonders what in the fate of schools in Eastern Obolo, Ini, Udung Uko and other far flung local government areas.
Though the state government recently launched a township taxi project, those 400 taxis are not seen on the streets of Uyo except for the “winners or owners” using them. Commercial motorcycle or “alalok” as it is popularly known in the state remains the major means of intra city and intra local government transportation.
Despite the huge resources that has accrued to the state in the past nine years commercial motorcycle riding (okada business) still remain the major profession of the youths of the state. There seems to be no plan by government to train youths on skill acquisition as well as provide jobs for the teeming graduates. Children from the state still form the bulk of house helps that one sees across the country. Many youths and women in the state are still victims of human traffickers in their bids to get jobs to take care of themselves and loved ones.
Creating a state is not enough; the federal government has not done anything to improve the lives of the people. Currently there is no federal road in the state that is motorable. All of them are in various state of neglect. And this has forced the state government to use its scarce resources to carry out remedial works on these roads. Also most federal institutions in the state only exist in name without adequate funding, provision of equipment and facilities. The University of Uyo which the federal government established in 1991 is still operating from a primary school, the Uyo Practising School along Ikpa Road. Such is the situation of other federal institutions. The only noticeably federal presence in the state is the Federal Secretariat.
But if outsiders cannot help us, why can’t we help ourselves? No outsider would come and invest in the state if our people and not leading the way by investing in the state. Indigenous investments would give confidence to outsiders to come to the state and invest. For now we have no other state than Akwa Ibom and our political leaders should subdue their personal interests and allow the collective interests of the people to reign supreme. The state resources should be maximize for the progress, growth and development of the state and its people. The state resources should not be the exclusive reserve of few party stalwarts and political leaders. It belongs to all of us. God bless Akwa Ibom State. Abasi Ibom bo ekom.
Wednesday September 23, 1987 remains a memorable day in the life of most Akwa Abasi Ibom people. That evening during a nationwide broadcast, the then Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida announced the creation of the state alongside Katsina; and this brought the number of states in the federation from 19 to 21. Immediately the creation of the new state was announced what constituted the present Akwa Ibom state erupted into wild celebration that lasted till the next day. But for my family, the celebration was short-lived as my paternal grandmother, Madam Susanna Mark Asuquo Akpan died that evening a couple after the new state was created.
On that Wednesday evening a 60 year old dream became a reality. The Akwa Ibom people are reported to have started the agitation for state creation 60 years before God used Babangida to bring it to pass. Overnight Uyo, that was my local government then, suddenly translated from a local government headquarters to a state capital.
At 21 the state has come of age and the occasion did not call for riotous celebration. One commends the decision of the state government to have a low key anniversary. It should have been a day of solemn assembly and soul searching. A day to take stock and reflect on our achievements as a people in the past 21 years. A day that should be adopted as our annual Thanksgiving Day to tell God how grateful we are as a people for what he has done in our lives as individuals and as a state in days past. A day to return glory to Akwa Abasi Ibom for all the victories and success stories he has given us.
There is need for a spiritual rebirth in the state. A state that is name after the Almighty God should have God as its foundation. Our leaders and indigenes should stop being religious and worship God in truth and in spirit. We should go back to our creator and reconcile with him in any way we have rebelled against him. We should ask ourselves why indigenes of our state are literally absence from national politics and other spheres of national where our forebears were pioneers. Why have we not been able to translate the enormous human and material resources of the state into better life for indigenes of the state? The self-help or communal spirit that our people were noted for have vanished it is now to your tent Oh Israel. Those who benefited for such communal effort have not deemed it fit to give back to the community what the got. Rather most of them now see themselves as our masters while we are their slaves. Some of the families that benefited from the communal effort now considered themselves the elites or privileged class in the state. After using the ladder of communal effort to get to where they are now, they took away the ladder when they got to the top.
Twenty one years after state creation have we achieved the dreams, yearnings and aspirations of our forebears? Have we justified the creation of the state? Have the expectations of the indigenes at the creation of the state been met? Do we really have a cause to celebrate except to thank God for his mercies and for the creation of the state?
Though some persons may argued that 21 years is too short a time to address the progress, growth and development of the state, what foundation do we have in place to take our people to the “Land of Fulfillment.” The Akwa Ibom people have tarried for so long waiting to get into the Promised Land but daily the Promised Land seemed too far to get there. The Promised Land seems elusive and the people have started doubting whether such a land existed and if they would one there get there. The enthusiasm that greeted the creation of the state was infectious. Many donated their property, at no cost, for the takeover of the new state. The creation of the state then looks like a magic wand and the key to the transformation of the land and people to a better land and life. It seems there is a deliberate attempt by leaders and rulers to keep the people in the wilderness of hopelessness. Agreed that the first 12 years after the state was created were under military regimes and the then military administrators and governors were merely soldiers of fortune who were on “national duty” and they were not accountable to the people of the state but those who sent them.
Since the creation of the state 21 years ago, Uyo the state capital has no state-government owned General Hospital. The Akwa Ibom State Government is yet to establish a primary or a secondary school in the state capital. All the schools in the Uyo are privately owned or were built by their host communities, a voluntary organization or religious group. The state government even took over the Aka Offot Community Secondary School and handed it over to the Federal Technical College (for girls) and has not deemed it fight to build a new one. Except for renovation work done in few primary schools in the state capital, all the secondary schools are as they were 21 years ago except that government pay staff salaries and provide overhead cost. If this can happen to schools in the state capital one wonders what in the fate of schools in Eastern Obolo, Ini, Udung Uko and other far flung local government areas.
Though the state government recently launched a township taxi project, those 400 taxis are not seen on the streets of Uyo except for the “winners or owners” using them. Commercial motorcycle or “alalok” as it is popularly known in the state remains the major means of intra city and intra local government transportation.
Despite the huge resources that has accrued to the state in the past nine years commercial motorcycle riding (okada business) still remain the major profession of the youths of the state. There seems to be no plan by government to train youths on skill acquisition as well as provide jobs for the teeming graduates. Children from the state still form the bulk of house helps that one sees across the country. Many youths and women in the state are still victims of human traffickers in their bids to get jobs to take care of themselves and loved ones.
Creating a state is not enough; the federal government has not done anything to improve the lives of the people. Currently there is no federal road in the state that is motorable. All of them are in various state of neglect. And this has forced the state government to use its scarce resources to carry out remedial works on these roads. Also most federal institutions in the state only exist in name without adequate funding, provision of equipment and facilities. The University of Uyo which the federal government established in 1991 is still operating from a primary school, the Uyo Practising School along Ikpa Road. Such is the situation of other federal institutions. The only noticeably federal presence in the state is the Federal Secretariat.
But if outsiders cannot help us, why can’t we help ourselves? No outsider would come and invest in the state if our people and not leading the way by investing in the state. Indigenous investments would give confidence to outsiders to come to the state and invest. For now we have no other state than Akwa Ibom and our political leaders should subdue their personal interests and allow the collective interests of the people to reign supreme. The state resources should be maximize for the progress, growth and development of the state and its people. The state resources should not be the exclusive reserve of few party stalwarts and political leaders. It belongs to all of us. God bless Akwa Ibom State. Abasi Ibom bo ekom.
मिनिस्ट्री ऑफ़ नाइजर DELTA
MINISTRY OF NIGER DELTA?
Do we need a Federal Ministry to develop the Niger Delta, rehabilitate the land, and provide electricity and water? Do we need a ministry to repeal the Petroleum Act, the Land Use Act and other obnoxious laws that have been working against the interest of the region? Do we need a Niger Delta ministry to check erosion menace, ocean surge, and environmental degradation or to stop gas flaring and the pollution of our region?
One is not being pessimistic but just skeptical that Ministry of Niger Delta would not impact positively on the people of Niger Delta. This ministry is unnecessary. We have Federal Ministry of Works but no roads. Ministry of Power and Energy, no electricity, Ministry of Education and our public school system is getting worse by the day, Water Resources but no potable water. Can anything good come out of Ministry of Niger Delta? For about 48 years since independence, how has the various federal ministries impacted on the lives of Nigerians? The existing ministries, before the creation of the Niger Delta ministry, could have met the needs of the region if there was a political will.
Those celebrating the creation of the ministry are people who are already scheming for one position or the other; looking for contracts and other bogus consultancy jobs on how to develop the Niger Delta. Will the new ministry meet its mandate or fulfill the desires of the indigenes? Will it not turn out to be a conduit pipe to fund the ruling party? And also where contracts for developmental projects would be given to party faithful and cronies; and like most Nigerian government contracts these jobs would be abandoned or shoddily executed. Why did the federal government not embark on the implementation of the Niger Delta Master plan developed by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC? Have the federal and states governments played their designated roles in making the master plan to come to fruition?
One is not being cynical but I am skeptical that the new ministry would not meet the needs, desires, aspirations and yearning of the neglected people of the region. The huge bureaucracy and money to be spent running the ministry in 10 years would have solved the electricity problem in the region. Unspent budget of the ministry at the end of every year would be shared among the staff and top shots of the ministry like was the case with the Ministry of Health recently. Also the new ministry would encounter the problem of non release of funds or budgetary allocation to the ministry to carry out its projects. How are we sure that budgetary allocation and other funds meant for the new ministry would not expired like the NDDC fund?
Who heads the ministry? It must be a Niger Delta man. Like minister of FCT has become the permanent beat of northerners, this new ministry must be the exclusive rights of indigenes of the nine Niger Delta states, no apologies please. But I would disagree that the staffing of the ministry should be strictly indigenes of the region. If this position is accepted by the federal government the public institutions like the Nigerian Ports Authority should be reserved for indigenes of the catchments areas where these ports are located, so should the Nigerian Railway Corporation and other government institutions and parastatals. You see why I am not comfortable with this idea of Niger Delta ministry: very soon indigenes of the area would be discriminated against during employment in other federal establishments since they have a whole ministry allocated to them. This ministry is cheap blackmail and propaganda to wipe up negative sentiments among Nigerians against the Niger Delta. It is an attempt to paint the Niger Delta and its people as greedy, unappreciative, ungrateful, parochial, ethnic chauvinists, unaccommodative, and intolerance of other Nigerians. If the ministry holds the key to the solution of the Niger Delta crisis, why is there increased violence and sabotaging of oil installations few days after the ministry was created?
One of the aims of the new ministry is to empower Niger Delta youths. I am not comfortable with this idea of empowerment. Empowerment simply means giving handouts to Niger Delta youths, teach a child how to fish rather than give him a fish. The oil companies have been telling us that why they cannot employ indigenes of the region is that they are not qualified to work in the industry as they lack the expertise and technical know how. Let us develop these expertise and workforce. Niger Delta youths should be sent to Oxford, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Harvard to get quality education so that the can come home and get lucrative jobs in the oil and gas industry. An internship programme should be put in place for indigenes of the region to garner skills in the oil industry to prepare them for jobs in the industry. If we embark on aggressive human development programme through quality education, in the next 15 year Niger Delta would be exporting quality human resources to other parts of the world.
We need infrastructural development but what is the essence of providing electricity in a community where the indigenes cannot pay NEPA bills or even connect their houses to the National Grid. Why provide water works in a community where there is no mechanism of sustaining it after the fanfare and photo sessions that accompany the “official commissioning”. Great idea to provide infrastructures and facilities in urban and rural areas but these need to be sustained and managed and trained people are needed. My own idea of development has always been that the human beings should be developed. Any development of infrastructure and facilities without quality human personnel amounts to failure. A wise man once said that success without a successor is failure. Saro-wiwa is a legend in Ogoniland today not because he was the President of MOSOP or because he was killed for the Ogoni cause but because when he was in the Old Rivers state executive Council, he assisted many Ogonis to have education and many are still grateful to him despite efforts by authorities to demonize him.
This ministry is a cheap blackmail so that the enemies of the region can name it among the steps and efforts of the federal government to resolve the Niger Delta crisis and develop the region. It is a public relations stunt. Our public sector has always failed in delivery social service to the people and this new ministry would not be difference.
What is needed is the political will to fast track the development of the region and not the creation of a ministry or setting up interventionist agencies like NDDC. No technical committee, panel, seminar, workshop, conference or dialogue would deliver development to the region without the political will to do so. Until the powers that be and Nigerians from other regions empathize with the situation in the region there will be no show.
Federal Government should repeal all obnoxious laws that work against the interest of the Niger Delta. Give us resource control or 50 per cent derivation. Release money owed NDDC and provides more to develop the region. Even if you create a Republic of Niger Delta without adequate funding and political will it would not impact on the lives of the people positively though it may score a cheap political point.
Do we need a Federal Ministry to develop the Niger Delta, rehabilitate the land, and provide electricity and water? Do we need a ministry to repeal the Petroleum Act, the Land Use Act and other obnoxious laws that have been working against the interest of the region? Do we need a Niger Delta ministry to check erosion menace, ocean surge, and environmental degradation or to stop gas flaring and the pollution of our region?
One is not being pessimistic but just skeptical that Ministry of Niger Delta would not impact positively on the people of Niger Delta. This ministry is unnecessary. We have Federal Ministry of Works but no roads. Ministry of Power and Energy, no electricity, Ministry of Education and our public school system is getting worse by the day, Water Resources but no potable water. Can anything good come out of Ministry of Niger Delta? For about 48 years since independence, how has the various federal ministries impacted on the lives of Nigerians? The existing ministries, before the creation of the Niger Delta ministry, could have met the needs of the region if there was a political will.
Those celebrating the creation of the ministry are people who are already scheming for one position or the other; looking for contracts and other bogus consultancy jobs on how to develop the Niger Delta. Will the new ministry meet its mandate or fulfill the desires of the indigenes? Will it not turn out to be a conduit pipe to fund the ruling party? And also where contracts for developmental projects would be given to party faithful and cronies; and like most Nigerian government contracts these jobs would be abandoned or shoddily executed. Why did the federal government not embark on the implementation of the Niger Delta Master plan developed by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC? Have the federal and states governments played their designated roles in making the master plan to come to fruition?
One is not being cynical but I am skeptical that the new ministry would not meet the needs, desires, aspirations and yearning of the neglected people of the region. The huge bureaucracy and money to be spent running the ministry in 10 years would have solved the electricity problem in the region. Unspent budget of the ministry at the end of every year would be shared among the staff and top shots of the ministry like was the case with the Ministry of Health recently. Also the new ministry would encounter the problem of non release of funds or budgetary allocation to the ministry to carry out its projects. How are we sure that budgetary allocation and other funds meant for the new ministry would not expired like the NDDC fund?
Who heads the ministry? It must be a Niger Delta man. Like minister of FCT has become the permanent beat of northerners, this new ministry must be the exclusive rights of indigenes of the nine Niger Delta states, no apologies please. But I would disagree that the staffing of the ministry should be strictly indigenes of the region. If this position is accepted by the federal government the public institutions like the Nigerian Ports Authority should be reserved for indigenes of the catchments areas where these ports are located, so should the Nigerian Railway Corporation and other government institutions and parastatals. You see why I am not comfortable with this idea of Niger Delta ministry: very soon indigenes of the area would be discriminated against during employment in other federal establishments since they have a whole ministry allocated to them. This ministry is cheap blackmail and propaganda to wipe up negative sentiments among Nigerians against the Niger Delta. It is an attempt to paint the Niger Delta and its people as greedy, unappreciative, ungrateful, parochial, ethnic chauvinists, unaccommodative, and intolerance of other Nigerians. If the ministry holds the key to the solution of the Niger Delta crisis, why is there increased violence and sabotaging of oil installations few days after the ministry was created?
One of the aims of the new ministry is to empower Niger Delta youths. I am not comfortable with this idea of empowerment. Empowerment simply means giving handouts to Niger Delta youths, teach a child how to fish rather than give him a fish. The oil companies have been telling us that why they cannot employ indigenes of the region is that they are not qualified to work in the industry as they lack the expertise and technical know how. Let us develop these expertise and workforce. Niger Delta youths should be sent to Oxford, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Harvard to get quality education so that the can come home and get lucrative jobs in the oil and gas industry. An internship programme should be put in place for indigenes of the region to garner skills in the oil industry to prepare them for jobs in the industry. If we embark on aggressive human development programme through quality education, in the next 15 year Niger Delta would be exporting quality human resources to other parts of the world.
We need infrastructural development but what is the essence of providing electricity in a community where the indigenes cannot pay NEPA bills or even connect their houses to the National Grid. Why provide water works in a community where there is no mechanism of sustaining it after the fanfare and photo sessions that accompany the “official commissioning”. Great idea to provide infrastructures and facilities in urban and rural areas but these need to be sustained and managed and trained people are needed. My own idea of development has always been that the human beings should be developed. Any development of infrastructure and facilities without quality human personnel amounts to failure. A wise man once said that success without a successor is failure. Saro-wiwa is a legend in Ogoniland today not because he was the President of MOSOP or because he was killed for the Ogoni cause but because when he was in the Old Rivers state executive Council, he assisted many Ogonis to have education and many are still grateful to him despite efforts by authorities to demonize him.
This ministry is a cheap blackmail so that the enemies of the region can name it among the steps and efforts of the federal government to resolve the Niger Delta crisis and develop the region. It is a public relations stunt. Our public sector has always failed in delivery social service to the people and this new ministry would not be difference.
What is needed is the political will to fast track the development of the region and not the creation of a ministry or setting up interventionist agencies like NDDC. No technical committee, panel, seminar, workshop, conference or dialogue would deliver development to the region without the political will to do so. Until the powers that be and Nigerians from other regions empathize with the situation in the region there will be no show.
Federal Government should repeal all obnoxious laws that work against the interest of the Niger Delta. Give us resource control or 50 per cent derivation. Release money owed NDDC and provides more to develop the region. Even if you create a Republic of Niger Delta without adequate funding and political will it would not impact on the lives of the people positively though it may score a cheap political point.
नाईजीरिया इस SICK
NIGERIA IS SICK
Nigeria is a sick country and there is no doubt about this. The country and its citizens are plagued by a myriad of diseases such as poor power supply, corruption, unemployment, lack of potable water, poor and dilapidated public facilities and infrastructures. Added to this is the growing crime rate, hunger, poor housing and transportation system, inadequate educational facilities, political and economic instability; as well as poverty itself. The virus that caused these diseases permeates all sectors of the nation’s life. And until a radical surgery operation is carried out, the country would be transiting from one disease to another.
Sickness is not a stranger or visitor to Nigeria. If the foundation is faulty what can the righteous do? The foundation determines the strength of a building and with the kind of foundation we have as a nation (dis)eases cannot be far from us. Our president personified our country Nigeria and if he is sick then Nigeria and Nigerians are sick. His is an apt reflection of the state of health of majority of Nigerians, who daily go about suffering and smiling without national and international attention because they are not fortunate enough to be the president of Nigeria. When the head is bad the whole body is rotten. Though he is not a superman, President Umaru Yar’dua, as a man can be sick. His presidential immunity does not extend to being free from sickness.
Umaru can never solve all the problems of Nigeria but his health challenge should be a pointer to one area that his administration can make a difference. Umaru should emulate Kanu Nwankwo, who after his heart operation, shortly after Atlanta ’96 set up the Kanu Heart Foundation to cater for the less privileged and to draw public and international attentions to millions of Nigerians who are suffering from one heart defect or the other. The health sector should have urgent and compassionate attention from the president. Not many Nigerians can afford the hospital bills in Germany, Saudi Arabia and other foreign hospitals that our leaders and rulers go for their health care. Most of our leaders who jet out at the slightest headache for treatment abroad could not have been doing this if they were to pay from their private purses. Also if there were local alternatives or comparable health facilities, many would not go abroad for treatment. At times the cost of a health trip by one government official may be enough to establish a well-equipped health centre in one remote community that has never seen a doctor or visited by a nurse. We do not begrudge our leaders going abroad for treatment but primary and secondary health facilities in the country should be given adequate attention. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine; this saying cannot be more apt in other sector than health. If Nigerians can have access to preventive drugs and health services, it would be in the interest of the nation.
Health is wealth, the saying goes; and the only difference between the two words is their first letters that means they go together. Healthy Nigerians would simply translate into wealthy Nigerians as most of the money spent on expensive foreign medical trips would have been saved and deployed in other areas of need in the country. We hope most of these foreign medical trips are not another mode of money laundering or siphoning the nation’s scare resources abroad. But one thing is certain: it is capital flight. The federal government should take urgent steps to improve our public health care delivery system and the standard of our health facilities. When this is achieved, the man hours lost to ailments like malaria and other preventable diseases would be reduced if not eliminated. Too many sick leaves, which translate into low productivity, would have been curbed.
Daily in our newspapers, televisions and radio, motor parks and other public places we are confronted with pleas for assistance from one less privileged Nigerian or the other to settle medical bills ranging from 50,000 to 10 million naira to enable them pay for hospital bills within or outside Nigeria. And these sick people are all Nigerians and we have no welfare programme to take care of people with certain ailments which obviously are beyond their financial capacity. If our president was one Umaru, a cattle rearer or ‘maiguard’, he would have been dead since or if he was still alive he would have been a vegetable and a burden to his family, who may not have the courage to abandon or dump him somewhere but would be silently praying for him to die. Can you see the difference that life chances can make in the destiny of a man?
Nobody prays for such sickness so that he/she can get government patronage but there is a need to put in place a social security package that would take care of people suffering from confirmed cases after medical examination by government doctors. They should be treated at government expenses, especially if the victims are youths under 30 years and the aged above 60 years, especially for those who cannot afford such treatment. Like doctors and hospitals that always insisted on payment or police report before treating accident victims, does anyone leaves his house hoping to be involved in an accident and therefore carry enough cash to pay his hospital deposit? Even in these days of ATM cards, one may have cash in the bank but there may be no bank nearby for an individual to get money. Remember you are not supposed to divulge your pin number to another person. Hospitals should also change their policies and attitude towards accident victims and other emergency cases as no man prepares for calamity.
We are not suggesting that all sick Nigerians should be send abroad for treatment rather the National Hospital Abuja should be upgraded to international standard like the one Umaru attended in Germany and Saudi Arabia, at least the one in Saudi is a government one facility. Our leaders should not only go to Mecca for pilgrimages, they should also copy the culture of good governance and strive to replicate same here in Nigeria. Also, at least one teaching hospital in the six geo-political zones in the country should be designated a medical centre of excellence, in terms of funding, facilities and equipment, to avoid the facilities at the National Hospital, Abuja being overstretched. Nigeria has the resources and personnel to offer its citizens the best medical care that one could have anywhere in the world. Why can’t we replicate the good facilities and services we enjoy abroad in our country? Is there anything elitist in being sick or about health facility? Or do we have elitist ailments? A sick man is a sick man whether a noble or a commoner. Sickness like death has no respect for class or calling, once you contract it: the symptoms, diagnoses or treatment are the same if the same, equipment, facilities and drugs are available.
The Bible says if my people who are called by my name would repent and seek me, I would heal their land. We should stop being religious and go to God in sincere repentance and he will heal our land. Those who embezzled money meant for health facilities, equipment and infrastructures; those who import fake, substandard and adulterated drugs need to repent and forsake their evil ways. They should not only ask God to forgive them but should also ask Nigerians to forgive them for what they did to bring our health institutions to its current deplorable state. May God heal Nigeria and our President, Umaru. Long live President Umaru Yar’dua! Long live Nigeria!
Nigeria is a sick country and there is no doubt about this. The country and its citizens are plagued by a myriad of diseases such as poor power supply, corruption, unemployment, lack of potable water, poor and dilapidated public facilities and infrastructures. Added to this is the growing crime rate, hunger, poor housing and transportation system, inadequate educational facilities, political and economic instability; as well as poverty itself. The virus that caused these diseases permeates all sectors of the nation’s life. And until a radical surgery operation is carried out, the country would be transiting from one disease to another.
Sickness is not a stranger or visitor to Nigeria. If the foundation is faulty what can the righteous do? The foundation determines the strength of a building and with the kind of foundation we have as a nation (dis)eases cannot be far from us. Our president personified our country Nigeria and if he is sick then Nigeria and Nigerians are sick. His is an apt reflection of the state of health of majority of Nigerians, who daily go about suffering and smiling without national and international attention because they are not fortunate enough to be the president of Nigeria. When the head is bad the whole body is rotten. Though he is not a superman, President Umaru Yar’dua, as a man can be sick. His presidential immunity does not extend to being free from sickness.
Umaru can never solve all the problems of Nigeria but his health challenge should be a pointer to one area that his administration can make a difference. Umaru should emulate Kanu Nwankwo, who after his heart operation, shortly after Atlanta ’96 set up the Kanu Heart Foundation to cater for the less privileged and to draw public and international attentions to millions of Nigerians who are suffering from one heart defect or the other. The health sector should have urgent and compassionate attention from the president. Not many Nigerians can afford the hospital bills in Germany, Saudi Arabia and other foreign hospitals that our leaders and rulers go for their health care. Most of our leaders who jet out at the slightest headache for treatment abroad could not have been doing this if they were to pay from their private purses. Also if there were local alternatives or comparable health facilities, many would not go abroad for treatment. At times the cost of a health trip by one government official may be enough to establish a well-equipped health centre in one remote community that has never seen a doctor or visited by a nurse. We do not begrudge our leaders going abroad for treatment but primary and secondary health facilities in the country should be given adequate attention. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine; this saying cannot be more apt in other sector than health. If Nigerians can have access to preventive drugs and health services, it would be in the interest of the nation.
Health is wealth, the saying goes; and the only difference between the two words is their first letters that means they go together. Healthy Nigerians would simply translate into wealthy Nigerians as most of the money spent on expensive foreign medical trips would have been saved and deployed in other areas of need in the country. We hope most of these foreign medical trips are not another mode of money laundering or siphoning the nation’s scare resources abroad. But one thing is certain: it is capital flight. The federal government should take urgent steps to improve our public health care delivery system and the standard of our health facilities. When this is achieved, the man hours lost to ailments like malaria and other preventable diseases would be reduced if not eliminated. Too many sick leaves, which translate into low productivity, would have been curbed.
Daily in our newspapers, televisions and radio, motor parks and other public places we are confronted with pleas for assistance from one less privileged Nigerian or the other to settle medical bills ranging from 50,000 to 10 million naira to enable them pay for hospital bills within or outside Nigeria. And these sick people are all Nigerians and we have no welfare programme to take care of people with certain ailments which obviously are beyond their financial capacity. If our president was one Umaru, a cattle rearer or ‘maiguard’, he would have been dead since or if he was still alive he would have been a vegetable and a burden to his family, who may not have the courage to abandon or dump him somewhere but would be silently praying for him to die. Can you see the difference that life chances can make in the destiny of a man?
Nobody prays for such sickness so that he/she can get government patronage but there is a need to put in place a social security package that would take care of people suffering from confirmed cases after medical examination by government doctors. They should be treated at government expenses, especially if the victims are youths under 30 years and the aged above 60 years, especially for those who cannot afford such treatment. Like doctors and hospitals that always insisted on payment or police report before treating accident victims, does anyone leaves his house hoping to be involved in an accident and therefore carry enough cash to pay his hospital deposit? Even in these days of ATM cards, one may have cash in the bank but there may be no bank nearby for an individual to get money. Remember you are not supposed to divulge your pin number to another person. Hospitals should also change their policies and attitude towards accident victims and other emergency cases as no man prepares for calamity.
We are not suggesting that all sick Nigerians should be send abroad for treatment rather the National Hospital Abuja should be upgraded to international standard like the one Umaru attended in Germany and Saudi Arabia, at least the one in Saudi is a government one facility. Our leaders should not only go to Mecca for pilgrimages, they should also copy the culture of good governance and strive to replicate same here in Nigeria. Also, at least one teaching hospital in the six geo-political zones in the country should be designated a medical centre of excellence, in terms of funding, facilities and equipment, to avoid the facilities at the National Hospital, Abuja being overstretched. Nigeria has the resources and personnel to offer its citizens the best medical care that one could have anywhere in the world. Why can’t we replicate the good facilities and services we enjoy abroad in our country? Is there anything elitist in being sick or about health facility? Or do we have elitist ailments? A sick man is a sick man whether a noble or a commoner. Sickness like death has no respect for class or calling, once you contract it: the symptoms, diagnoses or treatment are the same if the same, equipment, facilities and drugs are available.
The Bible says if my people who are called by my name would repent and seek me, I would heal their land. We should stop being religious and go to God in sincere repentance and he will heal our land. Those who embezzled money meant for health facilities, equipment and infrastructures; those who import fake, substandard and adulterated drugs need to repent and forsake their evil ways. They should not only ask God to forgive them but should also ask Nigerians to forgive them for what they did to bring our health institutions to its current deplorable state. May God heal Nigeria and our President, Umaru. Long live President Umaru Yar’dua! Long live Nigeria!
सेलिब्रेटिंग MASABA
CELEBRATING MASABA
In the past few weeks the media has been awashed with reports of Alhaji Bello Masaba, the 84 year old man who is married with 86 wives. Though the case is now in court, I shall not talk about the legality and illegality of his action. I am an unlearned man.
But I shall look at the other side of the man achievements. I don’t know why the government of Niger state is disturbing the marital home of their worthy son, Masaba. What marriage has joined together let no government put asunder. The man deserves to be commended and praised instead of being treated as a common criminal. What is wrong if a man decides to marry and keep 86 wives under one roof whereas there some men who have only one wife officially but in a year have slept with more than 300 women in these days of HIV/AIDS? The women are not complaining so why are there hypocrites making a hell of noise about the man’s marital accomplishment. Whether they like it or not Masaba is an accomplished husband and father; his wives and children can testify to this. The man has help to reduce the rank of unmarried women by 86. Asking the man to sack some of his wives is an official way of boosting prostitution as some of the women would swell the number of street women.
Masaba deserved national and international recognition. The keepers of the Guinness Book of Records should hurry to Nigeria and assess our own man for possible entry into the hallowed pages. Maybe those who are trying to rubbish the “strong man of Bida” are envious of his prowess at 84.The Federal Government of Nigeria as a first step should confer on Masaba, a national award, The Grand Commander of Nigerian Women (GCONW). This award is in appreciation for his effort and contribution to the development, exploitation and exploration of the “woman resources” of this country. We know that Niger state has two grand commanders but there is nothing wrong in having a third one especially one that got the award through individual achievement not an ascribed award by default because of positions held.
Also as President Umaru Yar’dua is contemplating tinkering with his cabinet, Masaba is the best candidate for the office of the Honourable Minister of Women Affairs and Youth Development. For a man who can manage and administer 86 women without the women or their children grumbling I believe has the experience and expertise to handle the women ministry well with tangible results. We should start putting round pegs in round holes. In contemporary Nigeria, Masaba is the best material for this ministry. He understands the psychology of women and knows what they need and how to meet their desires. Masaba may not be a card carrying member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but for national interest, appointments to such sensitive offices should not be base on party affiliation but on capability, capacity and experience. Female ministers over the years have not been able to impact on Nigerian women through the Ministry of Women Affairs so for once let us have a change let a man take control, and that man is Masaba. Women are known to be their worst enemies and a change in the gender leadership of the ministry may bring the dreams of Nigerian women to reality. According to media reports, the police in Niger state claim that they found nothing incriminating when they search his house and there are no report of his children’s involvement in crime and anti social behaviours. Yardua should considered Masaba for a ministerial appointment because we don’t want a situation where at his demise he would be described ad the best Minister of Women Affairs Nigeria never had.
Niger State instead of taking Masaba to court should learn to appreciate God’s gift to the people of the state. Masaba house should be turn into a tourist centre where thousands across the globe would visit, yearly, the abode of the “Conqueror of Nigerian Women.” Women looking for the fruit of the womb, men suffering from impotency or having “hard starting”, women and men who cannot easily find their life partners should visit the residence of Masaba for luck. The Masaba abode should be a pilgrimage centre or a fertility shrine. And the state government would be collecting fees from those visiting the residence. This tourist potential would make Niger state a Mecca in Africa. This would boost the internal revenue of the state instead of depending on paltry handouts from federal allocation. Masaba deserves a monthly subvention from the Niger state government to support his family. Remember he has a school within his premises for his offsprings. So these children also should benefit from the Universal Basic Education fund.
The Federal Government on its own part should invite our man, Masaba and get his semen and blood samples taken as well as investigate the source of his virility. At 84 when men half his age cannot perform the man is firing from all cylinders. Perhaps Masaba semen or blood sample can be mass produced and sold to men and women who have conception challenges. If Masaba strength is from herbal medicine or any form of traditional African power, as many are wont to say, NAFDAC should take over the investigation and ascertain the accuracy of the claim. Through Masaba we can now boast of our own made in Nigeria Viagra and it would help conserve foreign exchange and there would be no need to import the blue pills again. Rather we would be exporting to other parts of the world and it would attract billions of dollars in foreign exchange and the federal government can afford to call off the bluff of the criminals in Niger Delta who are masquerading as freedom fighters but Masaba should be given 13 per cent derivation by the government for the exploitation of his natural endowments.
Our universities are not proactive they are waiting until Masaba is made a minister and they would start falling over each other to award him an honorary doctorate degree. Masaba by his reproductive and marital accomplishments deserved honorary degrees in Reproductive Health, Personnel Management, Human Resources among others. He should be appointed a visiting professor or consultant gynecologist, so that he can transfer his knowledge to future generations. We should not allow the man to die with this secret.
Masaba is my man of the year 2008. No shaking. Ride on Baba, nothing do you. More power to your elbow.
In the past few weeks the media has been awashed with reports of Alhaji Bello Masaba, the 84 year old man who is married with 86 wives. Though the case is now in court, I shall not talk about the legality and illegality of his action. I am an unlearned man.
But I shall look at the other side of the man achievements. I don’t know why the government of Niger state is disturbing the marital home of their worthy son, Masaba. What marriage has joined together let no government put asunder. The man deserves to be commended and praised instead of being treated as a common criminal. What is wrong if a man decides to marry and keep 86 wives under one roof whereas there some men who have only one wife officially but in a year have slept with more than 300 women in these days of HIV/AIDS? The women are not complaining so why are there hypocrites making a hell of noise about the man’s marital accomplishment. Whether they like it or not Masaba is an accomplished husband and father; his wives and children can testify to this. The man has help to reduce the rank of unmarried women by 86. Asking the man to sack some of his wives is an official way of boosting prostitution as some of the women would swell the number of street women.
Masaba deserved national and international recognition. The keepers of the Guinness Book of Records should hurry to Nigeria and assess our own man for possible entry into the hallowed pages. Maybe those who are trying to rubbish the “strong man of Bida” are envious of his prowess at 84.The Federal Government of Nigeria as a first step should confer on Masaba, a national award, The Grand Commander of Nigerian Women (GCONW). This award is in appreciation for his effort and contribution to the development, exploitation and exploration of the “woman resources” of this country. We know that Niger state has two grand commanders but there is nothing wrong in having a third one especially one that got the award through individual achievement not an ascribed award by default because of positions held.
Also as President Umaru Yar’dua is contemplating tinkering with his cabinet, Masaba is the best candidate for the office of the Honourable Minister of Women Affairs and Youth Development. For a man who can manage and administer 86 women without the women or their children grumbling I believe has the experience and expertise to handle the women ministry well with tangible results. We should start putting round pegs in round holes. In contemporary Nigeria, Masaba is the best material for this ministry. He understands the psychology of women and knows what they need and how to meet their desires. Masaba may not be a card carrying member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but for national interest, appointments to such sensitive offices should not be base on party affiliation but on capability, capacity and experience. Female ministers over the years have not been able to impact on Nigerian women through the Ministry of Women Affairs so for once let us have a change let a man take control, and that man is Masaba. Women are known to be their worst enemies and a change in the gender leadership of the ministry may bring the dreams of Nigerian women to reality. According to media reports, the police in Niger state claim that they found nothing incriminating when they search his house and there are no report of his children’s involvement in crime and anti social behaviours. Yardua should considered Masaba for a ministerial appointment because we don’t want a situation where at his demise he would be described ad the best Minister of Women Affairs Nigeria never had.
Niger State instead of taking Masaba to court should learn to appreciate God’s gift to the people of the state. Masaba house should be turn into a tourist centre where thousands across the globe would visit, yearly, the abode of the “Conqueror of Nigerian Women.” Women looking for the fruit of the womb, men suffering from impotency or having “hard starting”, women and men who cannot easily find their life partners should visit the residence of Masaba for luck. The Masaba abode should be a pilgrimage centre or a fertility shrine. And the state government would be collecting fees from those visiting the residence. This tourist potential would make Niger state a Mecca in Africa. This would boost the internal revenue of the state instead of depending on paltry handouts from federal allocation. Masaba deserves a monthly subvention from the Niger state government to support his family. Remember he has a school within his premises for his offsprings. So these children also should benefit from the Universal Basic Education fund.
The Federal Government on its own part should invite our man, Masaba and get his semen and blood samples taken as well as investigate the source of his virility. At 84 when men half his age cannot perform the man is firing from all cylinders. Perhaps Masaba semen or blood sample can be mass produced and sold to men and women who have conception challenges. If Masaba strength is from herbal medicine or any form of traditional African power, as many are wont to say, NAFDAC should take over the investigation and ascertain the accuracy of the claim. Through Masaba we can now boast of our own made in Nigeria Viagra and it would help conserve foreign exchange and there would be no need to import the blue pills again. Rather we would be exporting to other parts of the world and it would attract billions of dollars in foreign exchange and the federal government can afford to call off the bluff of the criminals in Niger Delta who are masquerading as freedom fighters but Masaba should be given 13 per cent derivation by the government for the exploitation of his natural endowments.
Our universities are not proactive they are waiting until Masaba is made a minister and they would start falling over each other to award him an honorary doctorate degree. Masaba by his reproductive and marital accomplishments deserved honorary degrees in Reproductive Health, Personnel Management, Human Resources among others. He should be appointed a visiting professor or consultant gynecologist, so that he can transfer his knowledge to future generations. We should not allow the man to die with this secret.
Masaba is my man of the year 2008. No shaking. Ride on Baba, nothing do you. More power to your elbow.
न्न्प्क पय्मेंट्स तो मिलितंत GROUPS
NNPC PAYMENTS TO MILITANT GROUPS
Recently there have been media reports on claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) that it paid millions of dollars to some militant groups in the Niger Delta region to protect petroleum pipelines. And yet almost on a daily basis there are cases of pipeline vandalisation and attacks on oil installations.
Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, has denied that it benefited from the largess. Please can NNPC furnish us with a list of the benefiting groups and how much each gets? So that the groups can react to these claims, what they get and how much, who get what and how much. We are aware that in most cases of hostage taking, about 10 per cent of money paid to hostage takers got to them while 90 are lost in transit between the people doling out the money, the negotiators and couriers of the ransom. And this NNPC payment would not be an exception. Who introduce NNPC to these gangs and who was the go between them?
Federal Government position is that the militant groups are criminal gangs. How then did NNPC, a government organization, be funding these groups in the name of payment for protection of pipeline? How are we sure that the proliferation of weapons in the region is not from this NNPC largess.
How much has the NNPC contributed to the development of the Niger Delta within the same period that this money was paid to the militants? Besides the joint venture projects what and what has NNPC contributed to Niger Delta? What is the total value of its joint venture projects in during the period of these payments? How much has NNPC contributed to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, for the development of the oil bearing communities.
Those NNPC officials behind these payments are as guilty as the criminals in the region claiming to be militants. The NNPC officials who approved the payment of this protection fee should be made to face the law as well as refund the money. NNPC should tell us the leaders of these groups and who linked them with the organization. There are groups across all the nine Niger Delta states claiming to militant groups, did NNPC paid to all the groups in all these states. What values are NNPC promoting in the society, that this is a society that celebrates criminals, law breakers and deviants? Why would pipeline vandalisation abate when it is the quickest way to make money and get recognition from those in power and prominent members of the society? How can we be sure that NNPC officials do not instigate these gangs to sabotage oil facilities so that payment would be made and the staff would get their own cuts?
Why are pipelines and oil facilities still being vandalized or sabotage if this money was actually paid and to the right groups, if there are such groups? No group can lay claim of being in charge or in control of the region. Militants like criminal gangs have their own sphere of influence and you cannot exert authority where you are not in control. The recent clashes in Bayelsa was as a result of a group in Rivers that wanted to established a base in Bayelsa and the group there resisted them, especially as the overall leader of the group was not an indigene of Bayelsa. It was a war of supremacy, which is in street language “na our area be this.” The latest shooting and killing in Abonnema axis of Rivers State is a show of power between two rival groups over illegal bunkering territories. So if NNPC pays to one group and ignored the other; the other group would try to show relevance by sabotaging the oil facilities. This payment if it is true might have been responsible for the increasing number of militant camps and criminal gangs in the regions because all a group of young men has to do is to give themselves one name and claim independence and in charge of part of the Delta. Or a patron can fund a gang and then serve as a negotiator between this gang and NNPC or other organizations that want to deal with the militant groups. The payment can also be responsible for breaking away of members of militant groups or criminal gangs who are not comfortable they way their groups are run or felt cheated in the sharing of proceeds from their illegal runs.
Like former, State Security Services, SSS, Director in Rivers State, Alhaji Kolawole Adesina, now the agency director in Federal Capital Territory, those who negotiate with kidnappers should tell security agencies how they got to know the exact group that took a hostage and should reveal the persons they normally give these ransom to if they are not patrons or partners in crime. I would adopt this advocacy that the NNPC officials should tell us who they paid the money to. Was the money part of the NNPC budget and what the subheading for such expenditures was?
We have heard stories of how state governors, especially in the Niger Delta, fleece their states in the name of security votes. The Niger Delta crisis is now the fastest growing industry in Nigeria and those who are profiting from it would not like to see the end of it. These beneficiaries include security agencies, traditional rulers, youth groups and youth leaders, political leaders and office holders, Non Governmental Organisations among others. Security agencies are alleged to be churning out spurious security reports on a daily basis to justify the continued militarization of the region and the huge amount of money release to them by the various state governors.
The NNPC must tell us who are these groups and their leaders that are benefiting from the organization’s protection fee as it may hold the key to the solution of the Niger Delta crisis. More revelations may come out in relation to the funding of these groups besides the assumptions that they make money from illegal bunkering and hostage taking. We may also know who are the real patrons and sponsors of these groups and their sources of weapons. The Niger Delta crisis may be externally stimulated to create an atmosphere of insecurity and instability to divert investments to other parts of the country. Also money that could have been use for the development of the region would have be used to settle criminals (and their patrons) claiming to be fighting for the region. NNPC tell us the truth.
Recently there have been media reports on claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) that it paid millions of dollars to some militant groups in the Niger Delta region to protect petroleum pipelines. And yet almost on a daily basis there are cases of pipeline vandalisation and attacks on oil installations.
Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, has denied that it benefited from the largess. Please can NNPC furnish us with a list of the benefiting groups and how much each gets? So that the groups can react to these claims, what they get and how much, who get what and how much. We are aware that in most cases of hostage taking, about 10 per cent of money paid to hostage takers got to them while 90 are lost in transit between the people doling out the money, the negotiators and couriers of the ransom. And this NNPC payment would not be an exception. Who introduce NNPC to these gangs and who was the go between them?
Federal Government position is that the militant groups are criminal gangs. How then did NNPC, a government organization, be funding these groups in the name of payment for protection of pipeline? How are we sure that the proliferation of weapons in the region is not from this NNPC largess.
How much has the NNPC contributed to the development of the Niger Delta within the same period that this money was paid to the militants? Besides the joint venture projects what and what has NNPC contributed to Niger Delta? What is the total value of its joint venture projects in during the period of these payments? How much has NNPC contributed to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, for the development of the oil bearing communities.
Those NNPC officials behind these payments are as guilty as the criminals in the region claiming to be militants. The NNPC officials who approved the payment of this protection fee should be made to face the law as well as refund the money. NNPC should tell us the leaders of these groups and who linked them with the organization. There are groups across all the nine Niger Delta states claiming to militant groups, did NNPC paid to all the groups in all these states. What values are NNPC promoting in the society, that this is a society that celebrates criminals, law breakers and deviants? Why would pipeline vandalisation abate when it is the quickest way to make money and get recognition from those in power and prominent members of the society? How can we be sure that NNPC officials do not instigate these gangs to sabotage oil facilities so that payment would be made and the staff would get their own cuts?
Why are pipelines and oil facilities still being vandalized or sabotage if this money was actually paid and to the right groups, if there are such groups? No group can lay claim of being in charge or in control of the region. Militants like criminal gangs have their own sphere of influence and you cannot exert authority where you are not in control. The recent clashes in Bayelsa was as a result of a group in Rivers that wanted to established a base in Bayelsa and the group there resisted them, especially as the overall leader of the group was not an indigene of Bayelsa. It was a war of supremacy, which is in street language “na our area be this.” The latest shooting and killing in Abonnema axis of Rivers State is a show of power between two rival groups over illegal bunkering territories. So if NNPC pays to one group and ignored the other; the other group would try to show relevance by sabotaging the oil facilities. This payment if it is true might have been responsible for the increasing number of militant camps and criminal gangs in the regions because all a group of young men has to do is to give themselves one name and claim independence and in charge of part of the Delta. Or a patron can fund a gang and then serve as a negotiator between this gang and NNPC or other organizations that want to deal with the militant groups. The payment can also be responsible for breaking away of members of militant groups or criminal gangs who are not comfortable they way their groups are run or felt cheated in the sharing of proceeds from their illegal runs.
Like former, State Security Services, SSS, Director in Rivers State, Alhaji Kolawole Adesina, now the agency director in Federal Capital Territory, those who negotiate with kidnappers should tell security agencies how they got to know the exact group that took a hostage and should reveal the persons they normally give these ransom to if they are not patrons or partners in crime. I would adopt this advocacy that the NNPC officials should tell us who they paid the money to. Was the money part of the NNPC budget and what the subheading for such expenditures was?
We have heard stories of how state governors, especially in the Niger Delta, fleece their states in the name of security votes. The Niger Delta crisis is now the fastest growing industry in Nigeria and those who are profiting from it would not like to see the end of it. These beneficiaries include security agencies, traditional rulers, youth groups and youth leaders, political leaders and office holders, Non Governmental Organisations among others. Security agencies are alleged to be churning out spurious security reports on a daily basis to justify the continued militarization of the region and the huge amount of money release to them by the various state governors.
The NNPC must tell us who are these groups and their leaders that are benefiting from the organization’s protection fee as it may hold the key to the solution of the Niger Delta crisis. More revelations may come out in relation to the funding of these groups besides the assumptions that they make money from illegal bunkering and hostage taking. We may also know who are the real patrons and sponsors of these groups and their sources of weapons. The Niger Delta crisis may be externally stimulated to create an atmosphere of insecurity and instability to divert investments to other parts of the country. Also money that could have been use for the development of the region would have be used to settle criminals (and their patrons) claiming to be fighting for the region. NNPC tell us the truth.
जुम्बो वागेस थे थे नाइजीरियन MASSES
JUMBO WAGES AND THE NIGERIAN MASSES
What manner of people are Nigerians? Nigerians are a bunch of ungrateful citizens who do not see anything good in their “patriotic” leaders, or is it rulers. They complain, murmur and criticize, protest about every “good” decision and policy that their rulers are taking in “the national interest”. Recently the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) announced its recommendation of more than 100 per cent increase in the remuneration packages and allowances of public office holders, legislators and judicial workers and since then these ‘ungrateful’ Nigerians have been shouting themselves to high heavens.
What is wrong in rewarding our politicians and public office holders for their misrule and mis-governance of the country? These politicians need to be rewarded for the epileptic power supply, poor state of our roads, poor health facilities, collapse of the public school system, poor state of public facilities and infrastructures; and of late, the mounting insecurity in the Niger Delta region. They deserve to be rewarded because these are the result of their performance in office. These legislators and office holders are our representatives; so if the get jumbo packages, we are the ones getting them. As custodians of constituency projects fund, who know what is best for their people, what are these hue and cries over meager salaries. If they can use their constituency funds so well, what are a few millions to them? I think we are insulting the sensibilities of our (dis)honourable men when we raise hell over their welfare.
These politicians and office holders deserved these jumbo packages because they represent us. If we cannot send our children to schools any longer, but our leaders’ children are attending high fee-paying schools abroad, there is nothing wrong. These children are representing our children at home, like their parents. If a Nigerian cannot afford a treated mosquito net or over-the-counter (OTC) anti malaria drugs, but our politicians and office holders can receive medicare from the best medical facilities abroad, there is nothing wrong. They are representing us; and their good health is for national interest. If Nigerians do not have access to potable water, but our politicians can afford the choicest wine in the world, it is in our best interest for them to drink these wines, not because they are gluttonous but it is all in national interest.
Like George Orwell said in Animal Farm, these public officers and politicians do a lot of “brain work” and like the pigs in the story, who took milk just to facilitate their governing of the animal kingdom; our politicians need these jumbo packages and other pecks of office, to enable them misgovern, or is it misrule us, it is well. It is in our national and collective interests that our politicians must be well paid. Forget these stories of corruption and contract scams; it is the work of the opposition. Talking about opposition reminds one of a call by the Action Congress that, Nigerians should take to the streets to protest the proposed new packages. You see this Action Congress people; they have nothing doing, and like Nigerian universities students, they are often looking for “action”. Who made them opposition party, or watchdog of the greatest party in black Africa? Lest they forget, our great party will be in office for the next 50, 60 or is it hundred years. These action people are the real enemies of Nigeria and Nigerians, if the Nigerian leaders are well fed or well taken care of; it simply means that Nigerians are well taken care of.
Don’t mind those press boys who are complaining that senators were paid N2.5 million for one sitting, when they passed the supplementary budget. A man that passed a supplementary budget also needs some supplement himself? These press boys are jealous; our senators did not go to the National Assembly to become poorer. If they pass budget and there is no fall out into their pockets then why are they our senators? After all, what is wrong if a man who is sharing something starts the sharing from himself; and also end up taking the largest portion?
Even though their sitting allowance for one day was more than the total remuneration recommended by the RMAFC, we deserve it because they have to cut short their well deserved recess to come and pass the budget for the interest and welfare of Nigerians. Don’t ask me what they were doing during the period they sat before recess. Also, this token was not just an encouragement for our members to attend the senate sittings, but also a kind of inconvenience allowance. You must be stupid to consider our senators our servants. What an insult? They did not seek your votes (did your votes actually count) to serve you. They really seek your vote and consent to serve them, so don’t complain. By now, these Nigerians must come to the realization that all Nigerians are equal, but some Nigerians are more equal than others. Nigerians get levels.
The other day, my friend was complaining that the member representing his federal constituency has never contributed to any issue in the hallowed chamber of the house. And that, on a daily basis, members of the constituency have been gathering around their televisions to catch a glimpse of their representative; even if he is sleeping when the house is in session, but their hopes have always been dashed. The people are wondering whether it is a conspiracy by television houses not to show this representative or his political detractors have bribed the cameramen to blacklist their “worthy” son. But another indigene of their area wondered if their brother is given the opportunity to speak in the house, what would he say; and in what language would he speak, the official English language or their native tongue; and moreover, what would he say? But this honourable member is supposed to be the voice of the constituency. I consoled them that their representative maybe a silent operator, who works behind the scenes and is active and vibrant at the committee level. But they laughed me to scorn.
Press boys, Action Congress and all those “bad belle” people who are complaining about the new packages for our legislators and public office holders should go, join a political and contest election to enjoy these freebies instead of murmuring. Napoleons are always right and whatever they do are in the national interest.
What manner of people are Nigerians? Nigerians are a bunch of ungrateful citizens who do not see anything good in their “patriotic” leaders, or is it rulers. They complain, murmur and criticize, protest about every “good” decision and policy that their rulers are taking in “the national interest”. Recently the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) announced its recommendation of more than 100 per cent increase in the remuneration packages and allowances of public office holders, legislators and judicial workers and since then these ‘ungrateful’ Nigerians have been shouting themselves to high heavens.
What is wrong in rewarding our politicians and public office holders for their misrule and mis-governance of the country? These politicians need to be rewarded for the epileptic power supply, poor state of our roads, poor health facilities, collapse of the public school system, poor state of public facilities and infrastructures; and of late, the mounting insecurity in the Niger Delta region. They deserve to be rewarded because these are the result of their performance in office. These legislators and office holders are our representatives; so if the get jumbo packages, we are the ones getting them. As custodians of constituency projects fund, who know what is best for their people, what are these hue and cries over meager salaries. If they can use their constituency funds so well, what are a few millions to them? I think we are insulting the sensibilities of our (dis)honourable men when we raise hell over their welfare.
These politicians and office holders deserved these jumbo packages because they represent us. If we cannot send our children to schools any longer, but our leaders’ children are attending high fee-paying schools abroad, there is nothing wrong. These children are representing our children at home, like their parents. If a Nigerian cannot afford a treated mosquito net or over-the-counter (OTC) anti malaria drugs, but our politicians and office holders can receive medicare from the best medical facilities abroad, there is nothing wrong. They are representing us; and their good health is for national interest. If Nigerians do not have access to potable water, but our politicians can afford the choicest wine in the world, it is in our best interest for them to drink these wines, not because they are gluttonous but it is all in national interest.
Like George Orwell said in Animal Farm, these public officers and politicians do a lot of “brain work” and like the pigs in the story, who took milk just to facilitate their governing of the animal kingdom; our politicians need these jumbo packages and other pecks of office, to enable them misgovern, or is it misrule us, it is well. It is in our national and collective interests that our politicians must be well paid. Forget these stories of corruption and contract scams; it is the work of the opposition. Talking about opposition reminds one of a call by the Action Congress that, Nigerians should take to the streets to protest the proposed new packages. You see this Action Congress people; they have nothing doing, and like Nigerian universities students, they are often looking for “action”. Who made them opposition party, or watchdog of the greatest party in black Africa? Lest they forget, our great party will be in office for the next 50, 60 or is it hundred years. These action people are the real enemies of Nigeria and Nigerians, if the Nigerian leaders are well fed or well taken care of; it simply means that Nigerians are well taken care of.
Don’t mind those press boys who are complaining that senators were paid N2.5 million for one sitting, when they passed the supplementary budget. A man that passed a supplementary budget also needs some supplement himself? These press boys are jealous; our senators did not go to the National Assembly to become poorer. If they pass budget and there is no fall out into their pockets then why are they our senators? After all, what is wrong if a man who is sharing something starts the sharing from himself; and also end up taking the largest portion?
Even though their sitting allowance for one day was more than the total remuneration recommended by the RMAFC, we deserve it because they have to cut short their well deserved recess to come and pass the budget for the interest and welfare of Nigerians. Don’t ask me what they were doing during the period they sat before recess. Also, this token was not just an encouragement for our members to attend the senate sittings, but also a kind of inconvenience allowance. You must be stupid to consider our senators our servants. What an insult? They did not seek your votes (did your votes actually count) to serve you. They really seek your vote and consent to serve them, so don’t complain. By now, these Nigerians must come to the realization that all Nigerians are equal, but some Nigerians are more equal than others. Nigerians get levels.
The other day, my friend was complaining that the member representing his federal constituency has never contributed to any issue in the hallowed chamber of the house. And that, on a daily basis, members of the constituency have been gathering around their televisions to catch a glimpse of their representative; even if he is sleeping when the house is in session, but their hopes have always been dashed. The people are wondering whether it is a conspiracy by television houses not to show this representative or his political detractors have bribed the cameramen to blacklist their “worthy” son. But another indigene of their area wondered if their brother is given the opportunity to speak in the house, what would he say; and in what language would he speak, the official English language or their native tongue; and moreover, what would he say? But this honourable member is supposed to be the voice of the constituency. I consoled them that their representative maybe a silent operator, who works behind the scenes and is active and vibrant at the committee level. But they laughed me to scorn.
Press boys, Action Congress and all those “bad belle” people who are complaining about the new packages for our legislators and public office holders should go, join a political and contest election to enjoy these freebies instead of murmuring. Napoleons are always right and whatever they do are in the national interest.
नीद फॉर फिस्कल फेदेरालिस्म इन NIGERIA
NEED FOR FISCAL FEDERALISM
Northern Governors are angry. Their anger is attributed to insinuations that they depend on oil proceeds from the Niger Delta region for the survival of their states. For the Chairman of the Northern Governor’s Forum, Dr. Babangida Aliyu to claim that the North is not depending on the oil resources of the South is the height of insincerity, deceit and hypocrisy. Can Aliyu tell the world the source of the funds that were used to develop Minna, the capital of his state, during the General Ibrahim Babangida era or the money spent and are still be spent on the Federal Capital Territory, where he was a key player.
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines a parasite as a person who always relies or benefits from other people and gives nothing back. What is the contribution of Niger State to the federation account? People like Aliyu have been the bane of the North. They always refused to accept the truth and take deliberate action to correct whatever might have been wrong. Rather they would resort to ethnic and religious sentiments as well as paint a picture of southerners as the enemies of the North who must be destroyed if the North must have peace and progress. Such boastful declarations by Aliyu and his likes smacks of arrogance. And arrogance most of the time may not be a sign of courage or self confidence but an indication of inadequacies, low self esteem and inferiority complex. Trying to cover up some flaws or pretending to be what one is not.
Aliyu’s anger is that people from the Niger Delta are complaining that the North depends on the oil proceeds from the region for its developmental projects while the oil bearing communities are neglected. If this assertion is a lie, Aliyu should tell us the monthly internally generated revenue of his state and other sources of funding the Niger state government. Aliyu is behaving like the Ayatollah of Nigeria, Senator Sani Yerima, who declared Sharia in Zamfara but still went ahead and collected proceeds for vats, alcoholic drinks inclusive. Yerima and other apostles of Sharia should have insisted that VATS from alcoholic beverages should be set aside and shared among those states that do not practice Sharia law but this has not been the case. They share everything and if prostitutes were to pay vats, they would partake of it. Akwa Ibom people have a saying that (adia nkpo ino ino ke ado) whosoever shares in the booty of a thief is a thief, period. This is hypocrisy and nothing else. If you don’t allow the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages within your state why do you share in the proceeds thereof?
The Northern Governors should call off the Niger Delta bluff and reject further oil proceed-dominated federal allocations. If they can’t do that immediately then they have acknowledged that they cannot do without the oil revenue, till further notice. This means currently the North have no alternative source of income outside oil revenue. Why did they abandon agriculture, in the first place? Does the negative impact of oil exploitation activities in the Delta affect agriculture in the North? The North going back to agriculture should not be because they have been abused of being parasites rather farming would create jobs for the millions of Almajaris that roam the streets of the North. Agriculture would help check the food crisis in the country as oil is helping to check the energy crisis in the world. If the North returns to agriculture the problem of religious violence and clashes would have been reduced as the farmers after a hard day job would be too tired and unavailable as ready tools for mischief makers masquerading as religious puritans. But Aliyu should also be reminded that most of the dams and irrigation projects in the North that would be use for his agricultural renaissance were built from proceeds from Niger Delta oil. Even the subsidies on fertilizers are funded from Niger Delta oil. So when the proceeds from the agricultural revolution are harvested, for the first 50 years, the North should be entitle to five per cent derivation while 30 per cent should be given to the Niger Delta as ecological fund. The current derivation formula must be maintained whenever agriculture becomes the mainstay of the Nigerian economy and sole foreign exchange earner.
It is a contradiction that the infrastructural development in the Niger Delta does not reflect the huge resources in the region. Many have put the blame on the doorsteps of the leaders of the region but I disagreed with this line of thinking. The neglect of the region spans more than five decades and indigenous leadership in the administration of these states is less than a decade and no one can transform an area that was neglect for so long into a paradise in short time with the encumbering federal laws like the Petroleum Acts and Land Use Act, among other oppressive federal legislations. I would always put the blame on the federal authorities, though not exonerating the indigenous leaders who were in power, no matter how short. They fail to lay the foundation as well as give focus and direction as to what should be done to turn around the situation in the delta.
No man is an island. The resources that God deposited in the Niger Delta are not meant for the people alone. That is why world powers are falling over themselves to have a share of the oil through importation of the crude, and oil exploration in the region. The Niger Delta alone cannot use all the oil and gas products from their soil internally. God gave them more than enough so that they can share with others. But in sharing these resources with other Nigerians the Niger Delta people should not be left with the crumbs and the environmental degradation resulting from oil exploration activities. Everything that represents good that can be found in any part of Nigeria should be in Niger Delta by default, that is, good roads, schools, health facilities, potable water, reliable power supply, employment, sustainable development among others. Let the Niger Delta not be like the proverbial carpenter who make doors for other but have none in his house.
There is no part of Nigeria that cannot survive on its own. God knows why he brought us together and the colonialists later lump us as one country. The Akwa Ibom people have a saying that when God created mud, he also created water for washing. I believe in Nigeria and its continued existence as one country but this oneness must be on the basis of equality of all the groups that make up the country. No part of Nigeria should feel superior in the comity of all the nationalities that constitute this great country. No part of the country should feel it is indispensable. No part should think it can go all alone. No part of the country has monopoly over any virtue or vice. I always tell people that there is nothing wrong with Nigeria. No country is like Nigeria and will never be, despite our shortcomings. Nigeria is a great country and would always remain great. But the problem of Nigeria is we, Nigerians, simply.
For national unity, peace and stability we should do good to all manner of Nigerians no matter where they come from. The North opposition to 50 per cent derivation formula, (which they enjoyed in the 60s) at the National Political conference showed that they depend on oil resources. And given 50 per cent to communities that generate federal revenue would reduce what they get. Let us maintain the standard and adopt fiscal federalism as it practice in other parts of the world. Let the derivation percentage not be shifted or manipulated to suit certain interests depending on where the resources are coming from. Let us have a common standard of measure whether it is petroleum resources, palm oil, cocoa, groundnut or cotton. Fiscal federalism would put an end to this suspicion and abuse as each state would retain 50 per cent of they generate from their state.
Northern Governors are angry. Their anger is attributed to insinuations that they depend on oil proceeds from the Niger Delta region for the survival of their states. For the Chairman of the Northern Governor’s Forum, Dr. Babangida Aliyu to claim that the North is not depending on the oil resources of the South is the height of insincerity, deceit and hypocrisy. Can Aliyu tell the world the source of the funds that were used to develop Minna, the capital of his state, during the General Ibrahim Babangida era or the money spent and are still be spent on the Federal Capital Territory, where he was a key player.
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines a parasite as a person who always relies or benefits from other people and gives nothing back. What is the contribution of Niger State to the federation account? People like Aliyu have been the bane of the North. They always refused to accept the truth and take deliberate action to correct whatever might have been wrong. Rather they would resort to ethnic and religious sentiments as well as paint a picture of southerners as the enemies of the North who must be destroyed if the North must have peace and progress. Such boastful declarations by Aliyu and his likes smacks of arrogance. And arrogance most of the time may not be a sign of courage or self confidence but an indication of inadequacies, low self esteem and inferiority complex. Trying to cover up some flaws or pretending to be what one is not.
Aliyu’s anger is that people from the Niger Delta are complaining that the North depends on the oil proceeds from the region for its developmental projects while the oil bearing communities are neglected. If this assertion is a lie, Aliyu should tell us the monthly internally generated revenue of his state and other sources of funding the Niger state government. Aliyu is behaving like the Ayatollah of Nigeria, Senator Sani Yerima, who declared Sharia in Zamfara but still went ahead and collected proceeds for vats, alcoholic drinks inclusive. Yerima and other apostles of Sharia should have insisted that VATS from alcoholic beverages should be set aside and shared among those states that do not practice Sharia law but this has not been the case. They share everything and if prostitutes were to pay vats, they would partake of it. Akwa Ibom people have a saying that (adia nkpo ino ino ke ado) whosoever shares in the booty of a thief is a thief, period. This is hypocrisy and nothing else. If you don’t allow the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages within your state why do you share in the proceeds thereof?
The Northern Governors should call off the Niger Delta bluff and reject further oil proceed-dominated federal allocations. If they can’t do that immediately then they have acknowledged that they cannot do without the oil revenue, till further notice. This means currently the North have no alternative source of income outside oil revenue. Why did they abandon agriculture, in the first place? Does the negative impact of oil exploitation activities in the Delta affect agriculture in the North? The North going back to agriculture should not be because they have been abused of being parasites rather farming would create jobs for the millions of Almajaris that roam the streets of the North. Agriculture would help check the food crisis in the country as oil is helping to check the energy crisis in the world. If the North returns to agriculture the problem of religious violence and clashes would have been reduced as the farmers after a hard day job would be too tired and unavailable as ready tools for mischief makers masquerading as religious puritans. But Aliyu should also be reminded that most of the dams and irrigation projects in the North that would be use for his agricultural renaissance were built from proceeds from Niger Delta oil. Even the subsidies on fertilizers are funded from Niger Delta oil. So when the proceeds from the agricultural revolution are harvested, for the first 50 years, the North should be entitle to five per cent derivation while 30 per cent should be given to the Niger Delta as ecological fund. The current derivation formula must be maintained whenever agriculture becomes the mainstay of the Nigerian economy and sole foreign exchange earner.
It is a contradiction that the infrastructural development in the Niger Delta does not reflect the huge resources in the region. Many have put the blame on the doorsteps of the leaders of the region but I disagreed with this line of thinking. The neglect of the region spans more than five decades and indigenous leadership in the administration of these states is less than a decade and no one can transform an area that was neglect for so long into a paradise in short time with the encumbering federal laws like the Petroleum Acts and Land Use Act, among other oppressive federal legislations. I would always put the blame on the federal authorities, though not exonerating the indigenous leaders who were in power, no matter how short. They fail to lay the foundation as well as give focus and direction as to what should be done to turn around the situation in the delta.
No man is an island. The resources that God deposited in the Niger Delta are not meant for the people alone. That is why world powers are falling over themselves to have a share of the oil through importation of the crude, and oil exploration in the region. The Niger Delta alone cannot use all the oil and gas products from their soil internally. God gave them more than enough so that they can share with others. But in sharing these resources with other Nigerians the Niger Delta people should not be left with the crumbs and the environmental degradation resulting from oil exploration activities. Everything that represents good that can be found in any part of Nigeria should be in Niger Delta by default, that is, good roads, schools, health facilities, potable water, reliable power supply, employment, sustainable development among others. Let the Niger Delta not be like the proverbial carpenter who make doors for other but have none in his house.
There is no part of Nigeria that cannot survive on its own. God knows why he brought us together and the colonialists later lump us as one country. The Akwa Ibom people have a saying that when God created mud, he also created water for washing. I believe in Nigeria and its continued existence as one country but this oneness must be on the basis of equality of all the groups that make up the country. No part of Nigeria should feel superior in the comity of all the nationalities that constitute this great country. No part of the country should feel it is indispensable. No part should think it can go all alone. No part of the country has monopoly over any virtue or vice. I always tell people that there is nothing wrong with Nigeria. No country is like Nigeria and will never be, despite our shortcomings. Nigeria is a great country and would always remain great. But the problem of Nigeria is we, Nigerians, simply.
For national unity, peace and stability we should do good to all manner of Nigerians no matter where they come from. The North opposition to 50 per cent derivation formula, (which they enjoyed in the 60s) at the National Political conference showed that they depend on oil resources. And given 50 per cent to communities that generate federal revenue would reduce what they get. Let us maintain the standard and adopt fiscal federalism as it practice in other parts of the world. Let the derivation percentage not be shifted or manipulated to suit certain interests depending on where the resources are coming from. Let us have a common standard of measure whether it is petroleum resources, palm oil, cocoa, groundnut or cotton. Fiscal federalism would put an end to this suspicion and abuse as each state would retain 50 per cent of they generate from their state.
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