Wednesday 30 April 2014
As corruption and insecurity stifle Africa’s growth
Opinion
BY Emmanuel Onwubiko
At exactly 6am on that fateful Monday morning, I was woken up by the sad breaking news of a bomb explosion in Nyanya, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory which reportedly resulted in scores of fatalities made up mostly of the struggling masses who had just woken up from their ramshackle huts in distant villages to proceed to Abuja in search of what to eat.
For the benefit of those unaware of how Abuja has become the perfect scenario of a class segregated society, I will offer the following explanation: the developed and advanced segments of the Federal Capital Territory made up mostly of the Abuja Municipal Area Council are occupied by mostly few people who can afford the crazy rents and other service charges that confront the occupants on daily basis. An average of a room self-contained apartment in a place like Maitama (the most sophisticated residential area for the rich elite) goes for as huge as N1 million and prospective tenants are compelled to pay for two years.
The same extortion goes on proportionately in places like Asokoro, Wuse two, Garki and Gwarimpa estate although the cost varies progressively. These crazy cost of accommodation has made it imperative that over 75 % of the peasants and low level civil servants including teachers who work in the government offices to migrate to far distant villages in Nasarawa and Niger States to stay in fairly affordable but poorly developed houses.
This is the category of persons that were mostly bombed out of existence in the early Monday morning [April 14th, 2014] bomb attack by suspected armed Islamic insurgents as these poor classes of persons were struggling to gain their way to the few available rickety buses provided for commercial services by the officials of the Federal Capital Development Authority.This very ugly bomb blast is a return to the very worrying dimension of targeted attacks of specific government institutions by suspected armed members of the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents some few years back.
These armed insurgents had earlier attacked the United Nations building and the Force Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force. Sadly, till date, no single conviction and/or arrest of the suspects responsible for these dastardly acts of violence has happened, even as the Police, as an institution, has continued to operate as if everything is normal.
I have said much about the ineffectiveness of the nation’s policing institutions and have also proffered workable panacea on how best to reform the decadent Police Force. Fortunately, a former Georgian President who was visiting Nigeria was quoted in our media as advancing the same sets of solution I had suggested in several articles in which I called for the overhaul and total disbandment and reorganization of the Nigerian Police.
He, however, added a new dimension to my call when he also stated that in his country, the ustoms, Immigration and Police forces were all disbanded and reorganized which have facilitated the emergence of a new Georgia.May I adopt the suggestion of this gentleman from Georgia because the ineptitude of Customs and Immigration make it possible for small arms and other assorted weapons to flood into Nigeria from the porous borders.
For now, I will proceed to tackle the menace of corruption which is another layer of the problem that has created Nigeria’s current security nightmare and will begin by commending the Federal Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke [SAN], for making bold statements and taking courageous steps to tackle these two hydra-headed monsters of corruption and terrorism even with existing legal encumbrances and challenges with never ending adjournments and slow dispensation of justice.
The office of the Federal Attorney General and minister of justice has recently disclosed that it is making use of the recently signed anti-terrorism legislation to prosecute suspected terrorists even as the son of the late military dictator, Mohammed Abacha, was dragged to court for alleged theft of several hundreds of billions of naira inpublic funds that disappeared at the time of his late father’s infamous military junta.
Talking about corruption, Nigeria and other African Ministers of Finance at the just concluded IMF/World Bank Group Meetings have urged the multilateral Institutions to help Africa put a stop to the over $50 billion that leaves the continent annually. Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Dr Okonjo-Iweala, said the Group of African Finance Ministers, requested that the Bank and the Fund should look into the issue of illicit financial outflows from the continent. Specifically, finding by a panel chaired by former South Africa President, Thambo Mbeki, revealed that about $50 billion a year is disappearing from the continent. It is almost certain that the bulk of these stolen money are stolen from Nigeria.
The World Bank and IMF will help in two ways. One is capacity building, because the need for specialised skills and manpower to be able to deal with transfer, pricing, over-invoicing, and missed pricing can never be over-emphasized.
These Briton Woods institutions will also help through information sharing. Dr. [Mrs.] Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, it could be recalled, is a product of the World Bank and so Nigerians expect that she would use her connection rightly to put into action these two recommendations.
While I strongly support the Finance ministers in their current campaign to end illicit money transfers, it is also imperative that the member nations of the African Union should individually tighten up their anti-graft legislative frameworks and resolve to punish corrupt officials with the stiffest legal sanctions including forfeiture of proceeds of crime and the death penalty.
My take in this piece is to call for the disbandment of the Nigeria Police, Nigeria Immigration Service and the Nigeria Customs Service and the reconstitution of same institutions with young Nigerians with unimpeachable crime-free records. As long as the three institutions are infested deeply with personnel who are prone to corruption, no matter what measures are adopted, insecurity and graft will continue to constitute veritable grave threats to the corporate existence of Nigeria. Let us kill the monster by cutting off its head. No half measure will work.
Onwubiko is Head, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria.
Source: The Sun News Online, Crescent University Mirror: Posted by Oguntayo Ezekiel (Editorial Department)
Re: Shameful plan to import electricity from Congo
Opinion
Roger K. Asani.
Dear Sir, I totally disagree with some parts of your mind-stirring editorial on page 10 of the Daily Sun of April 2, 2014.
Importing electricity from the DR – Congo is just a commercial act, like any other international transaction, a give and take ritual in which the financial muscle, the abundance of manpower and the quality of infrastructure in the fatherland of those involved are not necessarily flaunted. Chest drumming is usually avoided. You pay this much, you take that much.
After all, the United States of America, the European Union, PR – China, Japan, etc, buy and import, but also sell and export different things from the tiniest countries in the world, even from the less developed ones, as far as the buyers can pay. Period.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), that vast subcontinent in the very heart of Africa is not a “small and less endowed country” as the editorial put it. Unless the writer confuses it with the Republic of Congo/Brazzaville, DRC’s neighbor to the west across the River Congo, a sister smaller country in size but heavier with crude oil exported.
DR – Congo straddles the Equator, sprawling over 2,350,000km2 of territory. In Africa for the time being, by her size, DRC is second only to Algeria where 80% of the territory is desert. With more than 10,000 (ten thousand) ocean (1), lakes and rivers, among which is the majestic famous Congo River.
The Congo Basin is home to the only remaining rain forest still intact in the whole world. Hundreds of millions of hectares of good pasture fed by this abundant water carpet the country from East to West and from North to South.
There is no single square inch of desert, no whiff of harmattan throughout the year there. The population of DRC is estimated to be a solid 70 million people.
DR – Congo’s soil contains all known useful metals in large quantities. And, to the general delight of many but utter consternation of others, important deposits of oil and gas were recently discovered.
Inga project is the strongest hydroelectric plant in Africa and third in the whole world by its output. When completed, it will provide cheap, affordable and stable electricity to each hamlet in this continent and later on to Spain, France and Italy.
But DR – Congo’s financial muscle is still weak and unable to complete, all alone, that pharaonic work. That is why South Africa, being the most industrialized nation south of the Sahara and hungry for electric power, is coming in to the rescue. The Rainbow Nation intends to put $25bn on the table to refurbish Inga I, Inga II and complete Inga III satisfactorily. It is expected that the electricity from Inga dams will now allow the South Africans to finally close their old and many highly polluting coal-powered generating plants.
Awakening from decades of wars and unrest, the Democratic Republic of Congo will surely use the proceeds of the transaction with the “strong financial muscles” hurrying in from each direction to transform and develop the country of Rumba, the gentle Giant on the Equator, as promised without chest drumming the young, patriotic, dynamic and enigmatic leader, His Excellency, The President of DRC Joseph Kabila Kabange.
We believe it will be done!!
(Kasuku wa Ukweli)
Dr. Asani writes via kasukupapa@yahoo.co.uk
The Source: The Sun News Online, Crescent University Mirror Posted by Fisayo (Editorial Department)
Roger K. Asani.
Dear Sir, I totally disagree with some parts of your mind-stirring editorial on page 10 of the Daily Sun of April 2, 2014.
Importing electricity from the DR – Congo is just a commercial act, like any other international transaction, a give and take ritual in which the financial muscle, the abundance of manpower and the quality of infrastructure in the fatherland of those involved are not necessarily flaunted. Chest drumming is usually avoided. You pay this much, you take that much.
After all, the United States of America, the European Union, PR – China, Japan, etc, buy and import, but also sell and export different things from the tiniest countries in the world, even from the less developed ones, as far as the buyers can pay. Period.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), that vast subcontinent in the very heart of Africa is not a “small and less endowed country” as the editorial put it. Unless the writer confuses it with the Republic of Congo/Brazzaville, DRC’s neighbor to the west across the River Congo, a sister smaller country in size but heavier with crude oil exported.
DR – Congo straddles the Equator, sprawling over 2,350,000km2 of territory. In Africa for the time being, by her size, DRC is second only to Algeria where 80% of the territory is desert. With more than 10,000 (ten thousand) ocean (1), lakes and rivers, among which is the majestic famous Congo River.
The Congo Basin is home to the only remaining rain forest still intact in the whole world. Hundreds of millions of hectares of good pasture fed by this abundant water carpet the country from East to West and from North to South.
There is no single square inch of desert, no whiff of harmattan throughout the year there. The population of DRC is estimated to be a solid 70 million people.
DR – Congo’s soil contains all known useful metals in large quantities. And, to the general delight of many but utter consternation of others, important deposits of oil and gas were recently discovered.
Inga project is the strongest hydroelectric plant in Africa and third in the whole world by its output. When completed, it will provide cheap, affordable and stable electricity to each hamlet in this continent and later on to Spain, France and Italy.
But DR – Congo’s financial muscle is still weak and unable to complete, all alone, that pharaonic work. That is why South Africa, being the most industrialized nation south of the Sahara and hungry for electric power, is coming in to the rescue. The Rainbow Nation intends to put $25bn on the table to refurbish Inga I, Inga II and complete Inga III satisfactorily. It is expected that the electricity from Inga dams will now allow the South Africans to finally close their old and many highly polluting coal-powered generating plants.
Awakening from decades of wars and unrest, the Democratic Republic of Congo will surely use the proceeds of the transaction with the “strong financial muscles” hurrying in from each direction to transform and develop the country of Rumba, the gentle Giant on the Equator, as promised without chest drumming the young, patriotic, dynamic and enigmatic leader, His Excellency, The President of DRC Joseph Kabila Kabange.
We believe it will be done!!
(Kasuku wa Ukweli)
Dr. Asani writes via kasukupapa@yahoo.co.uk
The Source: The Sun News Online, Crescent University Mirror Posted by Fisayo (Editorial Department)
Issues in the Chibok schoolgirls abduction
Opinion
Nigeria is one of the most interesting places to be a journalist. And, I must add, one of the most exasperating and depressing places to practice the pen profession. On the positive side, there is almost always a stream of outlandish developments to put on newspaper covers, and comment on. But, on the sad side, the stories emerging from these shores are mostly negative.
If scores of corpses are not being thrown up from one river somewhere in the Eastern part of the country, “a ritualists’ den” will be discovered somewhere in the South West. When these do not happen, a bomb will likely go off in the Federal Capital City, Abuja, killing scores of people, or Boko Haram would blow up a market somewhere in the North-East geo-political zone of the country. When these do not happen, an irredentist, somewhere, is likely to be blowing off his tongue with wild allegations against President Goodluck Jonathan. The federal government, also, does not seem to help matters with its lacklustre handling of the Boko Haram disaster and many other problems in the country. These mostly negative happenings in the country, that are hardly ever satisfactorily resolved, are quite troubling and dampening to the spirit.
To cap them all, recently, a yet to be agreed on number of girls were kidnapped from a secondary school in Chibok, said to be about 14 miles from the dreaded Sambisa forest, a well known hideout of Boko Haram in Borno State. Can anyone just imagine the fate of these young girls being held in a forest in the midst of Boko Haram elements?
Beautiful little lambs in the midst of ravenous wolves! Can anyone imagine the girls said to be aged between 16 and 18 years who had likely lived well protected lives in the homes of their parents and their boarding schools now living in open tents and battling for their lives in the midst of both animal and human predators? Can you imagine the anguish of their parents and all other persons who bother to spare a thought for their sorry fate?
Beyond the sad fate of these girls are the many nibbling questions that suggest that the full truth has not really been told about this unfortunate incident. For example, against the background of the abduction of 14 girls that are yet to be found from a secondary school in Buni Yadi, earlier in the year, who authorized the bringing together of the Chibok girls to that apparently vulnerable location?
This question is quite germane, more so since the security agencies have said they were not notified that the girls were in the place. Is it possible that whoever authorized their coming so close to Sambisa forest was unaware that they could be abducted? Or, were they brought there purposely to be abducted? It is certainly preposterous and tendentious to have kept the girls at that vulnerable location with only two security officials on ground, and without any notification to the security agencies. Meanwhile, it is these security agencies that are now bearing the brunt of the negative backlash of the girls’ abduction.
Again, what is the actual number of the abducted girls? We have moved from 100, to 129 and now to 230, or thereabouts. One of the latest reports said the principal was now being asked the number of the students, and that the figure would also likely be determined by the number of meals served to the schoolgirls in the evening before they were abducted. The question is, is it possible that a school principal and the administrative authorities of a school would not know the number of students on the premises, even if some were said to have left after their examination? What manner of school administration method is that which will make a school unable to determine the number of students on the premises?
There is also, of course, the controversy on the number of students that escaped from their abductors and the number that are still in captivity. The Nigerian military, which was initially quick to tell the nation the “story” of how it rescued the girls, with the exception of eight, in a joint operation with herdsmen, has since recanted. The principal of the school, who was said to have claimed that only eight students were yet to be rescued, denied ever saying such a thing. Some sources in the military have been reported to have alleged that the recant of the principal came after interaction with certain interests in Borno State.. By a simple stretch of the imagination, the picture that is being painted is that certain authorities may be complicit in the plan to use the girls as human shields to prevent a massive bombing of the Sambisa forest. For these interests, the higher the number of the girls believed to have been abducted, the better for their purpose.
But the real question remains: How many girls were actually kidnapped? Why is it difficult to know the number, 14 days after the incident? The school authorities should be made to give a definite number of the girls, and back it up with documents. Boarding houses are not owanbe parties where people move in and out without proper records of their movement.
The bottomline, however, is the rescue of the girls, no matter their number. What is this news going around that security agents know where the girls are but can’t bombard the place because of the safety of the girls? Why were the places not bombarded before the girls were abducted by Boko Haram? All these news paint the picture that while Boko Haram is a serious issue that has been giving Nigerians sleeplessness nights, it may just be a game to our security agencies. I do not know what else can be made of reports that the parents of the girls and security officials entered the forests and saw the Boko Haram insurgents afar off in their tents, but had to retreat on the advice of the security agents who said it would be unsafe to go further to confront the insurgents. What this suggests is that our security agencies know where these insurgents are, all along, but are either not inclined to, or capable, of tackling them frontally. If so, and if reports of the ill-preparedness of our military to confront Boko Haram is to be believed, what shall we say has been happening to the billions of naira voted for the defence sector in recent years? What shall we also say has been done to convince neighbouring countries which are said be harbouring the insurgents to desist from doing so?
The only way forward is to rescue these girls expeditiously. It is rather unfortunate that their abduction into the forest has made the battle against Boko Haram more difficult.
But, this is one battle that Nigeria must win. I share the pains of the parents of those girls, and I am of the view that Nigeria, as a nation, can never give up the abducted young ones. Find them, we must. So, let the relevant authorities get cracking. Whether by dialogue or battle, find them we must.
It is, however, good that the latest Boko Haram onslaught has brought Nigerian politicians together in the quest to end this insurgency. Even General Muhammadu Buhari, archrival of the Jonathan Presidency, has released vocal missiles against the insurgents and encouragement to President Jonathan. Let all other politicians join hands with the government to bring this Boko Haram menace to an end. Nigeria, as often said, is the only country that most of us have. All hands must, therefore, be on deck to salvage it together.
Source: Sun Online News Crescent University Mirror(Posted by Oguntayo Ezekiel, Editorial Department)
Nigeria is one of the most interesting places to be a journalist. And, I must add, one of the most exasperating and depressing places to practice the pen profession. On the positive side, there is almost always a stream of outlandish developments to put on newspaper covers, and comment on. But, on the sad side, the stories emerging from these shores are mostly negative.
If scores of corpses are not being thrown up from one river somewhere in the Eastern part of the country, “a ritualists’ den” will be discovered somewhere in the South West. When these do not happen, a bomb will likely go off in the Federal Capital City, Abuja, killing scores of people, or Boko Haram would blow up a market somewhere in the North-East geo-political zone of the country. When these do not happen, an irredentist, somewhere, is likely to be blowing off his tongue with wild allegations against President Goodluck Jonathan. The federal government, also, does not seem to help matters with its lacklustre handling of the Boko Haram disaster and many other problems in the country. These mostly negative happenings in the country, that are hardly ever satisfactorily resolved, are quite troubling and dampening to the spirit.
To cap them all, recently, a yet to be agreed on number of girls were kidnapped from a secondary school in Chibok, said to be about 14 miles from the dreaded Sambisa forest, a well known hideout of Boko Haram in Borno State. Can anyone just imagine the fate of these young girls being held in a forest in the midst of Boko Haram elements?
Beautiful little lambs in the midst of ravenous wolves! Can anyone imagine the girls said to be aged between 16 and 18 years who had likely lived well protected lives in the homes of their parents and their boarding schools now living in open tents and battling for their lives in the midst of both animal and human predators? Can you imagine the anguish of their parents and all other persons who bother to spare a thought for their sorry fate?
Beyond the sad fate of these girls are the many nibbling questions that suggest that the full truth has not really been told about this unfortunate incident. For example, against the background of the abduction of 14 girls that are yet to be found from a secondary school in Buni Yadi, earlier in the year, who authorized the bringing together of the Chibok girls to that apparently vulnerable location?
This question is quite germane, more so since the security agencies have said they were not notified that the girls were in the place. Is it possible that whoever authorized their coming so close to Sambisa forest was unaware that they could be abducted? Or, were they brought there purposely to be abducted? It is certainly preposterous and tendentious to have kept the girls at that vulnerable location with only two security officials on ground, and without any notification to the security agencies. Meanwhile, it is these security agencies that are now bearing the brunt of the negative backlash of the girls’ abduction.
Again, what is the actual number of the abducted girls? We have moved from 100, to 129 and now to 230, or thereabouts. One of the latest reports said the principal was now being asked the number of the students, and that the figure would also likely be determined by the number of meals served to the schoolgirls in the evening before they were abducted. The question is, is it possible that a school principal and the administrative authorities of a school would not know the number of students on the premises, even if some were said to have left after their examination? What manner of school administration method is that which will make a school unable to determine the number of students on the premises?
There is also, of course, the controversy on the number of students that escaped from their abductors and the number that are still in captivity. The Nigerian military, which was initially quick to tell the nation the “story” of how it rescued the girls, with the exception of eight, in a joint operation with herdsmen, has since recanted. The principal of the school, who was said to have claimed that only eight students were yet to be rescued, denied ever saying such a thing. Some sources in the military have been reported to have alleged that the recant of the principal came after interaction with certain interests in Borno State.. By a simple stretch of the imagination, the picture that is being painted is that certain authorities may be complicit in the plan to use the girls as human shields to prevent a massive bombing of the Sambisa forest. For these interests, the higher the number of the girls believed to have been abducted, the better for their purpose.
But the real question remains: How many girls were actually kidnapped? Why is it difficult to know the number, 14 days after the incident? The school authorities should be made to give a definite number of the girls, and back it up with documents. Boarding houses are not owanbe parties where people move in and out without proper records of their movement.
The bottomline, however, is the rescue of the girls, no matter their number. What is this news going around that security agents know where the girls are but can’t bombard the place because of the safety of the girls? Why were the places not bombarded before the girls were abducted by Boko Haram? All these news paint the picture that while Boko Haram is a serious issue that has been giving Nigerians sleeplessness nights, it may just be a game to our security agencies. I do not know what else can be made of reports that the parents of the girls and security officials entered the forests and saw the Boko Haram insurgents afar off in their tents, but had to retreat on the advice of the security agents who said it would be unsafe to go further to confront the insurgents. What this suggests is that our security agencies know where these insurgents are, all along, but are either not inclined to, or capable, of tackling them frontally. If so, and if reports of the ill-preparedness of our military to confront Boko Haram is to be believed, what shall we say has been happening to the billions of naira voted for the defence sector in recent years? What shall we also say has been done to convince neighbouring countries which are said be harbouring the insurgents to desist from doing so?
The only way forward is to rescue these girls expeditiously. It is rather unfortunate that their abduction into the forest has made the battle against Boko Haram more difficult.
But, this is one battle that Nigeria must win. I share the pains of the parents of those girls, and I am of the view that Nigeria, as a nation, can never give up the abducted young ones. Find them, we must. So, let the relevant authorities get cracking. Whether by dialogue or battle, find them we must.
It is, however, good that the latest Boko Haram onslaught has brought Nigerian politicians together in the quest to end this insurgency. Even General Muhammadu Buhari, archrival of the Jonathan Presidency, has released vocal missiles against the insurgents and encouragement to President Jonathan. Let all other politicians join hands with the government to bring this Boko Haram menace to an end. Nigeria, as often said, is the only country that most of us have. All hands must, therefore, be on deck to salvage it together.
Source: Sun Online News Crescent University Mirror(Posted by Oguntayo Ezekiel, Editorial Department)
Friday 25 April 2014
UNILORIN HONOURS CRESCENT VARSITY PROPRIETOR
>> As Kano donates more computers to students
NEWS GROUP.
>>
>> Crescent University Founder and Proprietor, Judge Bola Ajibola has been honoured with the 19th Edition of The Jurist, an annual publication of the Law Students' Society of University of Ilorin.
>>
>> In his welcome address, the Vice chancellor of University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdul Ganiy Ambali said it was the pleasure of the university to Honour Judge Ajibola by students of "our faculty of law", thanking him for the " ray of royal highnesses" in his entourage to the institution.
>>
>> In his address, the Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, Dr Ibrahim Yusuf related his encounter with Judge Ajibola few years back at International Islamic University, Malaysia where the Judge Ajibola's "quest for a standard model of university education revealed his patriotic concern to ensure that young Nigerians can boast of standard tertiary education at an affordable cost".
>>
>> The president of the association, Mr Mubarak Mustapha, in his speech described Judge Ajibola as an international adjudicator, an ambassador and peace negotiator, adding that he had contributed " in no small measure to the growth and development of the law, legal education and jurisprudence all around the world".
>>
>> In a related development, Kano State government has donated another batch of laptops to its scholarship students at Crescent University, Abeokuta in fulfillment of its pledge to the institution.
>>
>> The state had earlier donated 80 sets of laptops to its returning students last year and has now donated 100 to the first-year students this year.
>>
>> Presenting the HP wireless computers, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Hassan Okeleye congratulated the lucky beneficiaries, urging them to make good use of the computers.
>>
>> Prof. Okeleye said it was time for the scholarship students to appreciate their state government by getting serious with their studies, urging that they should all work hard to get first-class by the end of their programmes.
>>
>> He also told the students to explore the opportunity of different packages installed on the computers to aid different academic programmes they studied.
>>
>> The vice chancellor extended Crescent University's appreciation to Kano State governor,Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso for his bold steps at making sure that students from his state benefited from scholarship programmes in different courses.
>>
>> Also expressing appreciation to Kano State government,president of Kano State Students' Association of the institution, Muhammed Sani advised fellow students to guard their laptops ad their wives.
>>
>> (from left) VC,UNILORIN,PROF. ABDUL GANIYU AMBALI GIVING THE AWARD TO JUDGE BOLA AJIBOLA
>> As Kano donates more computers to students
NEWS GROUP.
>>
>> Crescent University Founder and Proprietor, Judge Bola Ajibola has been honoured with the 19th Edition of The Jurist, an annual publication of the Law Students' Society of University of Ilorin.
>>
>> In his welcome address, the Vice chancellor of University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdul Ganiy Ambali said it was the pleasure of the university to Honour Judge Ajibola by students of "our faculty of law", thanking him for the " ray of royal highnesses" in his entourage to the institution.
>>
>> In his address, the Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, Dr Ibrahim Yusuf related his encounter with Judge Ajibola few years back at International Islamic University, Malaysia where the Judge Ajibola's "quest for a standard model of university education revealed his patriotic concern to ensure that young Nigerians can boast of standard tertiary education at an affordable cost".
>>
>> The president of the association, Mr Mubarak Mustapha, in his speech described Judge Ajibola as an international adjudicator, an ambassador and peace negotiator, adding that he had contributed " in no small measure to the growth and development of the law, legal education and jurisprudence all around the world".
>>
>> In a related development, Kano State government has donated another batch of laptops to its scholarship students at Crescent University, Abeokuta in fulfillment of its pledge to the institution.
>>
>> The state had earlier donated 80 sets of laptops to its returning students last year and has now donated 100 to the first-year students this year.
>>
>> Presenting the HP wireless computers, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Hassan Okeleye congratulated the lucky beneficiaries, urging them to make good use of the computers.
>>
>> Prof. Okeleye said it was time for the scholarship students to appreciate their state government by getting serious with their studies, urging that they should all work hard to get first-class by the end of their programmes.
>>
>> He also told the students to explore the opportunity of different packages installed on the computers to aid different academic programmes they studied.
>>
>> The vice chancellor extended Crescent University's appreciation to Kano State governor,Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso for his bold steps at making sure that students from his state benefited from scholarship programmes in different courses.
>>
>> Also expressing appreciation to Kano State government,president of Kano State Students' Association of the institution, Muhammed Sani advised fellow students to guard their laptops ad their wives.
>>
>> (from left) VC,UNILORIN,PROF. ABDUL GANIYU AMBALI GIVING THE AWARD TO JUDGE BOLA AJIBOLA
>> FOUR SCORES FOR JUDGE BOLA AJIBOLA
>> NEWS GROUP.
>>
>> Scientists attribute a number of factors to longevity or life expectancy : genetics, healthy lifestyle, culture, exercise, positive thinking, apt diet and maintaining good health care. To the longest serving Nigerian Attorney-general and Minister of Justice in Nigeria, Judge Bola Abdul Jabbar Ajibola, it comes with the grace of God. Having now attained 960 months, that is 4,174 weeks or 29, 219 days which are the equivalent of 42, 075,901 minutes on the surface of the earth globe, the former Judge of the World Court in The Hague is worth celebrating. This time- and as usual- not with drums and all paraphernalia of musicals but with chronicles of his positive contributions to humanity and history.
>>
>> We are informed in the Creationist Theory that in the estimation of our Creator's time, a period of humans' one thousand years is only a day of His reckoning. Therefore, a period of 80 years of any human's existence is only comparable to a flash or a blink, talking about period with God. Looking back, to the octogenarian, eighty years is just like yesterday or a day's recording and playback of events!
>>
>> Words of elders are words of wisdom. What a young boy cannot see climbing a tree, an old man will see sitting down. This comes from experience and knowledge of the aged because they have gone through thick and thin in life. They have witnessed the proverbial downpours and showers of life. Elders are teachers, philosophers and seers because they have witnessed many pasts. They have seen green and dry vegetation. However, there are elders of substance and those of straw. The former are elders who have been grossly favoured in their existence. They have risen to the pinnacle of their trade and profession.They are recognized by destiny. But elders of straw are those who do not make it in life however hard they might have striven. Judge Ajibola is an elder of substance who has been recognized by God and humanity.
>>
>> Early in life, he was unconsciously learning, in the palace, the art of law, arbitration and justice under the tutelage of his father,HRM Oba Abdul Salam Gbadela, the Olowu of Owu Kingdom who reigned between 1949 and 1972. It was more of a rote learning of the blue-blooded young Adesumbo Ajibola than the formal classroom knowledge of the law. And consciously, at a point, his father encouraged him to tow the line of arbitration and law when he noticed his son's preference for farming and acting.
>>
>> The road to The Hague is narrow. Only the destined would thread it. By a dint of hardwork and providence combined, Judge Ajibola was destined for the most prestigious legal assignment in the world court. He had steadily threaded the road behind Late Judge Elias whom he had understudied as a guide. He had applied the golden nights rule of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "the heights that great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, when their companions were slept, kept toiling on through the night", to proactively trace his steps to The Hague. He was forced to memorise this quotation in elementary standard 5 and that was the beginning of his "golden nights" rule. It is on record that he used to write not less than 80 pages of judgement per night as a world court judge. Within three months, he was able to read a boxful of books meant to tutor him, by late Justice Elias, for the daunting job of the International Cout of Justice.
>>
>> As a writer, Judge Ajibola is dexterous with the use of words. He is a maverick of idioms and proverbs. He had used the Yoruba traditional proverbs to solve problems among his colleagues at ICJ. His firm belief according to Yoruba tradition, that when words are lost only proverbs are used to locate them, afforded him the wherewithal to solve problems at the ICJ.
>>
>> Oftentimes, his dissenting opinions/judgements were backed by proverbs and it so happened at a time all the judges had to vote on a contending issue. His was the only dissenting voice backed by the rich Yoruba proverbs. There was a recess and afterwards, all other judges gave their consensus to Ajibola's dissent, having realized the richness in his forefathers' proverbs. Just as Chinua Achebe succinctly captures in Things Fall Apart that "proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten". Judge Ajibola was a good cook of words with proverb recipe for other judges to relish!
>>
>> Ajibola as a speaker carries his audience along. You cannot be bored with his delivery as he garnishes issues at stake with humour and rib-cracking jokes. His reading speed, although with good pace and pitch that blend well with the delivery, is amazing. Even with age, he reads a typewritten page of A4 paper within three minutes and he will not exceed the time given by any moderator or play to the gallery.
>>
>> He traverses history, blended with philosophy, science and logic. He treats issues frankly and fairly. When impressed, he falls in love with the word "effective" or "efficient"; when planning he adores adjectives such as "pro-active" and "proficient"; when irked, he employs a phrase like "patent anomalies" or " incongruous situation". When surprised, he first and foremost whistles like a singing bird and then applies the contextual, gargantuan vocabulary.
>>
>> Judge Ajibola's most cherished legacy is Crescent University, Abeokuta, a private university he founded in 2005 through a parent body, Islamic Mission for Africa, to impact not just knowledge but good moral conduct on our youths. When he retired from the ICJ, there were about 17 private universities majorly owned by Christians. Then he asked himself "where is our own?". Since, according to him, a bird does not fly with one wing he though there should also be universities founded and owned by Muslims.
APC APPOINT LOCAL
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
All progressive congress (APC)
political party in Ogun state went to poll to appoint local government
officials who will paddle the affairs of the party for state and national
primaries around the corner. The congress was peaceful and orderly. The
governor eulogized the party members’ peaceful conduct. Adeleke Caleb
PDP BLAME APC OVER
ABUJA BOMB BLAST
The Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) has blamed the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) for the bombs
that rocked Abuja on Monday in which over 71 people were killed and 124
injured. In a statement by its National publicity secretary, chief Olisa Metuh,
the PDP condemned the incident as barbaric, monstrous and extremely, the blasts
which occurred at Nyanya on the outskirts of the federal capital territory. The
party said the blasts could not be justified under any guise, maintaining that
they are politically motivated and can be traced to the utterances and comments
of desperate persons who seek to undermine and discredit the present
administration and make the nation ungovernable for the president Goodluck
Jonathan by instituting a reign of terror against the people.
Political Group
STOP ATTACKING
GOVERNMENT, PDP TELLS NYAKO
Stop attacking government, PDP tells Nyako. By Henry Umoru.
Abuja National leadership of the people’s Democratic Party. PDP yesterday took
a swipe at Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa states, describing his letter to the
governors of the 19 northen states as shocking especially as it comes from an
elected person just as it warned the governor against what he described as his
unguarded utterances and emulate other governors and leaders who have started
guiding their negative comments. The PDP in a statement by its National
publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh also warned politician and stakeholders
against comments that were capable of instigating violence and insurgence and
urged President Goodluck Jonathan and the 36 states of the federation to come
up with a resolution of curtailing what it described as ugly trend. Culled from
Vanguard Newspaper. April 23rd, 2014
Malomo Olanrewaju
Let’s postpone 2015 presidential poll
Opinion
By Nnamdi Nwigwe
Our beloved country, Nigeria, would be a more peaceful place if statesmen among us would bestir themselves now to do something tangible to forestall the political paroxysms that await our nation in the year 2015.
The forebodings are getting truly worrisome. The Presidential election that is scheduled to take place next year seems like an election to end all elections.
A study of the vituperations of many unthinking political actors would reveal a people tumbling down a bottomless precipice and hell-bent to take everybody along.
The soothing and stabilising voices of our statesmen are deafeningly silent on the din and cacophony of the so-called politicians across the country.
The more responsible sections of the media are also being sucked into the centrifuge of irresponsible rantings by fellow compatriots whose only concern is to be heard or to be seen as vocal or radical elements in the polity.
Let’s go into specifics: Our President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, would have done six years on the job by the end of his current tenure in 2015.
He got into office in 2007 as Vice President to Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua who died midway into their tenure.
Jonathan served out the remaining two years with Arc. Namadi Sambo who came from his gubernatorial office in Kaduna to take up the job of Vice President.
As another Presidential election approaches in 2015, the polity is agog with high tension horse trading as to who runs for the office from the ruling People’s Democratic Party, (PDP).Some people say Jonathan should go ahead and vie for the office and thus do a second four-year term as he is constitutionally entitled. It probably doesn’t occur to such advocates that Jonathan would have done a total of 10 years as President when the law says eight years maximum.
Those within PDP who demand the withdrawal of Jonathan from the contest say he would be flying against the party’s unwritten agreement that it is now the turn of the “North” to rule since Jonathan, a “Southerner,” virtually appropriated “their” entitlement after the death of Yar’Adua, and again in 2011. From both sides of the advocacy have come threats that Nigeria would cease to exist if they do not have their way.
Indeed, the media has reported some deranged views to the effect that Jonathan must return to Aso Villa after the 2015 polls or else Nigeria will be Nigeria no more.
Such a threat came even when Jonathan has not signified interest in continuing in office after his current tenure.
As a counter, those who say Jonathan will only rule over their dead bodies, come 2015, are alleged to be stoking the fires that have begun raging across the country, apparently to try the resolve of the President to maintain security in the country.
Providentially, there have been some statesman-like suggestions to steer the ship of the nation away from the impregnable rock against which she is speeding to crash.
Most prominent is the proposal that President and Governors should begin to serve for only one tenure beginning from when the last Governor completed a second term of four years.
As for President Jonathan, the nature of his ascendency would suggest that he does eight years until 2017 when he quits for another presidential election to usher-in a President who would now serve for one tenure of either five years or six, depending on what Nigerians prescribe in an amended Constitution.
This sounds both innovative and commonsensical. Can we give it a try? There are so many advantages to this proposition if we can avert our mind to it.
To begin with, the war chest already being assembled by aspirants for the Presidential battle in 2015 would have been rendered redundant. Secondly, it would be better utilized to set up honest enterprises to employ jobless youths. Thirdly, the idea of an incumbent running for a return and using public funds against fellow contestants would not be there.
The suggestion for one term tenure was actually mooted by President Jonathan himself some time last year. So strident was the vocal opposition to it that Mr. President had to confess that the idea was actually not his but that of the Council of State at their last meeting.
“Tenure elongation” is a phrase many Nigerians don’t want to hear because of their nasty experience of pre-2007 Presidential poll with former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
But Jonathan’s or Council of State’s suggestion is very far from tenure elongation. The brilliant brainwave of letting Jonathan remain in office till 2017 satisfies those who insist on his doing eight years as well as those who say he shouldn’t contest in 2015.In 2017, the stage would be clear for all those who want to occupy Aso Villa, to throw their hats into the ring. And as they emerge, their states of origin would not matter. The President surely has to come from somewhere in Nigeria. We are 14 years into 21st century.
Source: The Sun Newspaper, posted by Crescent University Mirror (Editorial Team )
Thursday 24 April 2014
Nigeria: Alarming descent into anarchy
Editorial
For some months now, the story of Nigeria has been that of a state that is fast descending into anarchy. Hardly any day passes without reports of horrendous monstrosities claiming tens, and sometimes, hundreds of lives in the country.
Even though some parts of the country continue to maintain a façade of normalcy, other areas, especially in northern Nigeria, appear to have since become bound to violence, as rampaging terrorists rile against the government and security agencies, maiming and killing innocent people at will. Overall, the picture of Nigeria that is fast emerging is that of a country that is dangerously and irretrievably adrift, with its ship of state rapidly approaching a precipice.
If there had been any doubt at all that the nation’s authorities had lost grip of their most critical responsibility, which is the security and welfare of the people, the recent brazen bombing at the Nyanya Bus Terminal close to the seat of power in the country, and the abduction of over 100 girls from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State, should clear it.
The dastardly bombing incident elicited the characteristic pathetic whimper that has followed all other such incidents in the past, and which Nigerians have become all too familiar with. President Goodluck Jonathan told a mourning nation that the Boko Haram issue was a temporary problem that we will soon overcome. But how? What is on ground to make Nigerians believe this? It is this questionable optimism that appears not to be backed by reality that has been brought to bear on all the nation’s problems, including the Boko Haram imbroglio, in the past few years.
O
ur dire circumstances are worsened by the apparent inability of our leaders to appreciate the seriousness of the nation’s problems and the proper attitude that is required of them at this time.
While the nation was still mourning and trying to determine the number of the dead in Nyanya, the president went to a rally of the Peoples Democratic Party in Kano, smiling, dancing and accusing the state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, of squandering campaign and local government funds. He was politicking while others, including foreign diplomats, were busy donating blood for the treatment of the wounded.
Apart from the insecurity in the North and other parts of the country, the all important power supply is at its lowest ebb, despite privatisation and the billions of naira sunk into the sector over the last 10 years. The unemployment situation is scary. Road and basic infrastructure are collapsing, in spite of the determined efforts of many state governors. Public education and healthcare are on life support. The economy, which we are told is on a growth trajectory, is not reflecting on the populace. The growth and benefits therefrom have continued to circulate within the small group of the rich and those who have access to government. Petroleum products have remained forever scarce in a country touted as the sixth largest exporter of crude oil. Much of the revenue that accrues from its sale has vanished into private pockets. Otherwise subsidized kerosene, used by most poor homes, remains scarce and even more expensive than petrol. Even at that, the voodoo accounting system in our oil industry insists that no money is missing. Corruption and graft are walking on all fours. Poverty and hunger are ravaging the land, with over 70% of us living below poverty line. Our rich country has some of the poorest people on earth. While we were rebasing our economy and declaring ourselves the strongest economy in Africa (which, by the way, is not untrue), the World Bank President, Jim Kim, was declaring that Nigeria is one of the five countries in the world with the worst form of poverty. Rich country, poor people!
It is, however, on account of insecurity that dark clouds are now gathering in the country. The very raison d’être of government, which is to ensure the security of lives and property of the citizens, no longer holds. If it is not daredevil kidnappers today, then it’s daylight armed robbery and barefaced gunrunning in the south of the country. In the north, when insurgents get tired of bombing mosques, churches, police stations, army barracks, markets, schools and motor parks, they resort to outright sacking and annihilation of entire communities, and abduction of girls.
Of course, it will be unfair to suggest that all these started with the present administration, but our current leaders appear particularly clueless when it matters most. Like Emperor Nero, our leaders, most often, fiddle while Rome burns. That bombings are taking place in any part of the country at all is bad enough, but that this is happening so close to the seat of Nigeria’s federal power is unacceptable and gives cause for serious concern. If this massive attack could take place in Abuja, where our security should be on the highest alert, we are then not surprised that Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, and other states of the North West and North Central have been hit on a daily basis with relative ease.
Much as we appreciate the fact that the current Boko Haram insurgency is akin to a guerrilla war and, therefore, attacks can spring from anywhere; much as we are aware that several other planned attacks have been aborted by security intelligence, we find this latest bombing close to the seat of power, uncomfortable.
But, it would appear that our leaders are not on the same page with other Nigerians on this reality. For instance, we find the attribution of the bombing to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) by Barrister Olisa Metuh, National Publicity Secretary of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), out of place. That the PDP could make this public statement, even before the security operatives commenced serious investigations, is unreasonable. It underscores the political mindset that has, so far, made it impossible for us to think outside the box and properly address the Boko Haram insurgency. The result is that Boko Haram has continued to hold our country at the jugular while we are busy playing politics.
We, however, feel that the time has come for us to change the narrative and take the battle against Boko Haram more seriously. The time has come to put whatever we want to do in 2015 on the back burner and focus every effort at rescuing our country, feeding our people, restoring sanity in the land and giving our people a fresh sense of belief in the oneness and continued survival of our country.
If the approach we have used up to this time on the Boko Haram problem is not working, can we not try something different? Can we dry up the pool of illiterate, hungry and angry Nigerians from which Boko Haram get its footsoldiers? If the carrot-and-stick approach has not worked, can we now try more of stick than carrot, or vice versa? If we say many of the insurgents, and their supply of arms and ammunition, come from neighbouring countries, how much co-operation have we extracted from such countries in this fight? And if they are not forthcoming, have we considered severing relations with them? Have we considered shutting our borders with them? Have we considered better policing the porous borders? Or, getting foreign assistance? Is it not time we reviewed the unbridled influx of undocumented foreigners?
But, most of all, isn’t it also time we buried our selfish political, religious and regional differences and resolve to tackle this insurgency as a matter of urgent national importance? Isn’t it about time President Jonathan, governors and political leaders in the affected areas summoned the political will to confront this Boko Haram menace frontally?
Now is the time for a change in approach. This might be our last chance to fix this problem and this nation for good. Nobody should think that Somalia cannot happen here. It can. The poverty, hunger, anger, impunity, greed and corruption in the land today provide all the ingredients of a state about to fail. We charge the authorities not to allow this to happen.
Source: The Sun Newspaper
posted by Crescent University Mirror (Editorial Team)
The INEC/Fresh Party tangle
Editorial
For some weeks now, the matter of the refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reverse its deregistration of the Fresh Democratic Party (FDP), despite a court ruling to that effect, has been generating ripples in political and legal circles in the country.
The FDP, formed by musician turned cleric, Pastor Chris Okotie, had approached the Federal High Court 5 in Abuja to challenge its deregistration by the electoral agency in December 2012. The court, presided over by Justice Gabriel Kolawole, upturned the deregistration in a landmark verdict on July 29, 2013, giving FDP the right to participate in subsequent elections.
INEC, probably relying on the fact that other deregistered political parties which earlier took it to court lost the battle to make the court overturn their deregistration, ignored the ruling on FDP. Instead of vacating its delisting of FDP, it merely sounded notice of its plan to appeal the Abuja High Court judgement, but failed to follow it through.
Since that time, contradictory statements have been emanating from INEC on the registration status of FDP, even as other registered parties prepare to hold primaries. The recent cloudy pronouncement by INEC’s South- West national commissioner, Prof. Lai Olurode, that all deregistered parties should seek re-registration to be able to participate in the 2015 elections is also not helping matters. There is no reason why a party like FDP which has a subsisting court order that mandates INEC to restore it to its former status as a registered political party should have to undergo another registration process. And, INEC should be clear on the status of the party on this matter.
The strange silence of INEC on this matter has since become resounding, and it has become necessary to hold INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to account, on this apparent flagrant disregard of the court order on FDP. The situation, which is being interpreted in some quarters as a sign of his disdain for the deregistered parties, is unhealthy for our democracy. If INEC has anything against the court order to have FDP continue as a registered party in the country, it must go to a higher court to vacate it,. The present rigmarole on this matter is not in the best interest of justice and fair play in the country.
For us, the controversy on FDP is needless. Justice Kolawole, in his ruling, was unequivocal that INEC had no power to deregister any political party. He proclaimed that the idea of deregistration of a political party is “strange” and “alien” to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He averred further that “when section 78(7) (ii) of the Electoral Act 2011 is considered alongside Section 222 of the Constitution, which sets out the qualifications for the registration of political parties “it would appear that the legislative decision of the National Assembly to limit political parties to only those that won state and national elections is nothing but an arbitrary rule of the thumb.” Although INEC had said the 28 parties were axed from the register of political parties for failing to meet certain registration requirements, it apparently failed to convince the court that FDP failed to meet the specifications required to exist as a political party in Nigeria, which are listed in Section 222 of the Constitution, thereby necessitating its deregistration
Our view is that it is wrong to delist any political party which has not been proven to have failed the criteria for registration of political parties in the constitution. It is also wrong to deregister parties because they did not win any elective position, since this is not demanded as a condition for their continuing existence as parties in the constitution. Moreover, a party that does not win any elective office now can win even the presidency in future elections, if it gets its acts right.
On the FDP affair, it is common knowledge that any pronouncement of a court on a matter is law, unless it is appealed against and set aside by a higher court, or a stay of execution is obtained. In the present instance, INEC is neither known to have appealed the court ruling on FDP, obtained a stay of execution nor implemented the court verdict. This is a decidedly untidy situation that does not portray the electoral agency as a respecter of the rule of law. Certainly, INEC cannot be above the law. Even if the ruling of the Abuja court in the FDP suit was delivered in error, it is only a superior court that can vacate it.
Our submission on this matter is that it is only a court of law that can interpret Section 222 of the constitution and deregister a party when necessary, if it is approached by INEC to do so. The electoral agency has no authority to do that.
All agencies of government should be subordinate to the constitution and the courts. Whatever are INEC’s grievances with the deregistered parties, especially FDP that has a court ruling against its deregistration, let it go to a higher court to vacate Justice Kolawole’s ruling. An agency that is charged with the conduct of elections in the country should not be seen to be operating with impunity.
Source: The Sun Newspaper
posted by Crescent University Mirrow (Editorial Team)
Emerging media phobia at national confab
With delegates to the ongoing National Conference having spent almost a whole month discussing the speech delivered by President Goodluck Jonathan on their inauguration, it is now very clear that they must speed up their deliberations if they are to make a success of their brief within the stipulated three-month time frame. However, rather than focus all their efforts on the job at hand, it would appear certain delegates are more interested in gagging the media and keeping journalists out of whatever is going on there.
About a fortnight ago, former Minister of Justice and a one-time member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Musa Elayo, urged the confab to adopt the Executive Session approach of the legislature, at which issues are discussed in secrecy and away from the prying eyes of the media.
Soon after, there was also a fresh demand to amend Order 14 Rule 7 of the conference to empower the confab to revoke the accreditation given media houses to cover its proceedings. This was targeted at media houses adjudged to have published “unfair and offensive” stories about the confab. Although this aspect of the order was eventually expunged and amended to restrict the confab to accrediting journalists to cover its proceedings, the proponents of the press gag move have yet to give up.
Many of them were particularly piqued by the embarrassing photographs, published by some newspapers, of delegates who were sleeping during the plenary sessions at the National Judicial Institute. Others expressed reservations over the way the press was reporting just about everything happening at the conference – including delegates’ bickering over food, toiletries, sundry allowances and other issues of personal welfare.
The confab leadership finally succumbed. It ruled that some of the issues would henceforth be discussed in secrecy, away from the prying eyes of the media and the public. Last Tuesday, journalists were barred from the sittings of ten committees at the National Judicial Institute.
The resolution on secret sessions raises serious questions of transparency and the real motive of some of the 492 delegates. In a country where there had been widespread complaints about the absence of transparency in the conduct of government business and the need to let the people know what their representatives are doing, it is almost unthinkable that those whom we have chosen to straighten things out and help open up the process are the ones now canvassing secrecy.
The questions to ask are: were those photographs of sleeping delegates manufactured by the media? Was a delegate not playing Scrabble on a laptop while the session was on? Most of all, has any media report been found to be false? Why would delegates come into the public space to do what they do not want the public to know about? As some of the confab delegates have said, the antidote to being reported sleeping is not to sleep. Also, those who feel sleepy have been admonished to leave the chambers so as not to cast the confab in bad light.
Certainly, barring the media from some sessions will not do the confab any good. It smacks of a hidden agenda and will only leave journalists with no other choice than to rely on insider sources for news of what happens in those sessions.
With 492 delegates at the conference, it is unlikely that reporters covering the confab and their editors would not cultivate one or two sources that would always update them with exclusive stories of what goes on behind closed doors at the secret sessions. The danger in this approach is that some delegates could genuinely be misrepresented in the media, as stories might be embellished – a situation that would not have arisen if the sessions were open to the media.
It is also by going into secrecy, like secret cults, that the confab would begin to face the same media/image problem that the legislature is currently facing, with allegations of corruption, jumbo pay, padding up of the national budget for selfish reasons, among others, regularly leveled against lawmakers.
Of course, what some of these anti-media delegates are calling for runs in the face of Section 22 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), which guarantees the right of the press to report the government to the governed.
Apart from the point of law, the press is like the oxygen which the confab needs to fully actualise its mandate and the sooner the delegates begin to see the media as partners, the better for the country. We have already wasted one month trying to get started.
The time for the conference is running out. It will amount to a colossal waste of time, and of the N7 billion taxpayers’ money voted for the confab, if some delegates are only interested in reining in the press.
This confab is one in which Nigerians of all shades of opinion represented at the discourse should open up – warts and all, and tell one another the bitter truth. It is for this reason that the country is paying almost N4 million to each delegate. If possible, everything that they have to say should be said in public, to everybody’s hearing. There is no need for some delegates to try to hide anything. Whoever is not comfortable with that should do the honourable thing and leave the conference.
What Nigerians want is a robust, no-holds-barred discussion of their many problems, with a view to the adoption of new ideas that will be proposed to resolve them. The confab should, therefore, not gag the press.
Source: The Sun Newspaper; posted by Oguntayo Ezekiel
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