Nigeria

Government at all levels have been called upon to  encourage the youth population to pursue careers in  Technical and Vocational education.

This Call was Made by Mr. Niyi Fagbemi,  Head of the Vocational Training Centre for PrintingTechnology(Young Mens Christian Association), Ibadan, Nigeria.

''Government at all levels should do more for the youth by encouraging them to pursue careers in Technical and Vocational education. It is better to prepare a curriculum and go through it, than to embark on crash programmes whether it is thrre or six months, to avoid turning out half baked graduates'', Mr. Fagbemi stated.

He also advisedc parents and guardians to encourage their children and wards to acquire skills that would make them self reliant adding, '' so that they would have something to fall back on''.

The centre, which is non denominational, trains the youth, mostly indigent, in Printing Technology

The percentage of Judges and Magisterates in Nigeria,who have the tendency to sacrifice their integrity and career on the altar of filthy lucre are increasing by the day.

Most Nigerians, have a tale or the other to tell of their experiences in the courtrooms, good or bad, with the latter case occupying the majority position.

Interim injunctions, rulings and delivered judgements from the court rooms in the country have always attracted comments,questions and debates among the people, who still view the Judiciary,as the last resort and only hope of the common man. 

But this may no longer be the case, if happenings in the various court rooms ar anything to go by. Government it is believed has annexed the independence of the Juidciary and now manipulates it to suit its motives.

However,the common man still finds it difficult to come to terms with the fact that the financial position of an individual determines what he comes out with from the court room.

In 2004, Justice Stanley Nnaji of the Enugu state Judiciary was suspended from office by the National Judicial Council(NJC), for ordering the then  Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, to remove the then Anambra state Governor, Chris Ngige from office.

Also in the same year in Enugu state, Justice Anthony Onovo,ofthe Nsukka  Judicial Division,was asked by the then Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman NJC to give reasons for delivering a controversial judgement.

Justice  Onovo’s judgement had led to the demolition of a six bedroom bungalow,Nursery and Primary school and a poultry farm at No. 29 John Nwod close, Government Reservation Area,Enugu. The property belonged to a couple-Obed Chukwunedum and Linda Menakaya.

Following a petition written by to the Chief Justice by Menakaya,which alleged perversion of justice between Menakaya and one Dr.Harry Ezim-a United States of America based legal practitioner, the Chief Justice in a letter dated May 24, 2004,with reference No. NJC/873/1/185, requested Justice Onovo to respond ”urgently” to the petition.

Before this time Justice Onovo was transferred in 2002 from the Enugu Judicial Division toNsukka Judicial Division,but for undisclosed reasons, he continued to adjudicate on some cases, he was in charge in Enugu, before his transfer to Nsukka.

Of worry, is the fact that similar instances abound in several court rooms in the country,today.

Interestingly,the then state Chief Judge, never authorized Justice Onovo to conclude pending cases in his court before his transfer. This exposed his hidden interests in those cases.

The case between Dr. Ezim and Menakaya is one of such cases.

On 3, July, 2001, Dr. Ezim had instituted a suit in the state high court,against the 78year old retired Chief Agricultural Officer,in the old Anambra state, in a bid to claim ownership of No. 29 John Nwodo close.

In the suit No. E/18301,2001, Dr. Ezim prayed the court to declare that, he legitimatley acquired the property from the siblings of a deceased, Gabriel Okiyi, a close friend of Menakaya.

Indeed, court rooms are increasingly becoming waiting rooms of injustice.

But Menakaya through his counsel,Chief Anthony Mogboh, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN) countered Dr. Ezim’s claim. Chief Mogboh stated that his client bought the land from late Okiyi, when he was Director in the Ministry of Agriculture in the defunct East Central state and thereafter, proceeded to build a six bedroom bungalow, a poultry farm and a Nursery and Primary school. He maintained that his client,had lived there since 1981.

Surprisingly, on 19 March,2004, Justice Onovo delivered judgement against Menakaya. In his judgement,Justice Onovo declared Menakaya a tresspasser on the land,while also ruling that Dr. Ezim was the rightful owner of the disputed property.

Less than an hour after  the judgement was  delivered, Dr. Ezim mobilised 15 thugs,three anti riot policemen and 14 policemen from the Police Area Command, Enugu and one Ugwu, the then Chief Bailiff of the Enugu state High court to eject Menakaya and his family.

On Monday,March 22, armed with a ”warrant of possession”,which Dr. Ezim claimed originated from Justice Onovo, and a caterpillar,the entire buildings were demolished.

Menakaya’s case is just one out of several thousands that have gone unnoticed. Indeed,it is very odd for some questionable legal practitioners to relocate their chambers to beer parlours,in residential  areas.

Their motives are  reflected in a beer parlour operator’s  words: “We always have our LLB, BL, beer parlour here for us,this is his chambers”.

Of interest,is the desperate attempts by individuals,who have  acquired illegitimate wealth to invest same in landed properties in major cities in the country, of course,this can only be possible with the seal of the court rooms,and the footsteps of  the law enforcement agents.

Are these attempts having the consent of the authorities that be ? Hopefully not !

Nigeria suffers from poverty and kleptocracy as reflected in hunger, insecurity, corruption and untimely death in the land because of injustice and inequality in an environment of impunity.

Nigerians gave their mandate, through the ballot box, to the occupiers of various political offices in this new dispensation, to rule and govern with the belief that the office holders would end the insecurity in the land.

However, Nigerians are still asking questions :

* Why are cases of kidnappings, ritual killings, rape, pedophilia, armed robbery, banditry, threat of secession and advanced fee fraud, persisting ?

*  Why is the promotion of prosperity through the enhanced provision of basic amenities for the people’s welfare, and infrastructure for industrial development difficult to achieve ?

All Nigerians are stakeholders in this respect. Only good governance, that ensures well funded education and health sectors, while also institutionalizing discipline and zero tolerance to corruption, without bias, is the antidote.

The Judiciary, Legislature and scripture compliant religious bodies need to create an enabling environment for sanity, reliability and sustainable development to be achieved.

At a point in Nigeria's history, former President, Chief(Dr.)Olusegun Obasanjo stated ''it is a matter for regret that most public servants tend to subdue their political discipline in the face of personal aggrandizement''.

When Chief(Dr.)Obasanjo was in the saddle as President, he set up the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC)  to rein in fraudsters, money launderers, corrupt government officials and several others.

Perhaps, the EFCC, was to strengthen the activities of the Nigeria Police Force, while the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission(ICPC) was established to boost the work of the Code of Conduct Bureau.

During this period high profile personalities, like former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun showcased the fight against corruption.

Sadly, happenings today, is a total and  fierce departure from when Chief(Dr.)Obasanjo called the shots.

Interestingly, in an interview in 2007, prominent lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana(SAN), who was then a member of the National Conscience Party(NCP) had stated '' you in the media, you must challenge politicians, you must ask them for their programmes for our people as opposed to celebrating criminals. If somebody says  he is a thief, you should ask him to resign''.

Unfortunately, Nigerians have continuously asked ''thieves'' to resign in this present administration without positive results.

Of worry, however,  is the fact that the youth now have the impression that corrupt practices are the only reliable path to success.

 The youth readily make reference to the present administration's choice of Ministers as a source of inspiration to them 

Nigerians express anger over the claim of  the powers that be, that they have fought corruption to a commendable extent, even when it is very glaring that several officials of the present administration have cases of corruption trailing their daily lives.

Everywhere within the borders of Nigeria, fraudsters, corrupt government officials and related category of criminals are celebrated by their people, who believe these individuals are the heroes of this time.

The EFCC is now a shadow of its old self, only barking but not biting those it ought to bite.

If only the leadership had made transparency  the guiding light  to its activities, all the negatives trailing the country at home and abroad would never be the signposts of governance. 

The   increase in the pump price of the Kerosene has been described as a kite flown by government officials to deny Nigerian workers a new national minimum wage.

''The AWC  concludes that government has a sinister agenda strangulate the Nigerian workers and the generality of the Nigerian people. The question we ask is that even if government will have to take the increased salaries back from the workers what about the unemployed, the retirees and all those who don't receive salaries from any source ? It means that government would visit them with unprecedented agony and pain'', the National Coordinator of the All Workers Convergence(AWC), Comrade Andrew Emelieze opined.

Nigerians express sadness that depsite the unconstitutional annexation of $1 Billion by the Federal Government for the procurment of all that is needed to checkmate the insecurity in the land, Kidanappings, killings and other violent crimes are not abetting, even though government has developed a new culture of commiseration and condolences to families who lost their loved ones to the reactionary approach by government to the unabating insecurity in the country.

Governments by popular choice all over the world abide and obey court orders made by those in the Judiciary.

These governments do not, however, manipulate the Judiciary to promote and perpetrate illegality.

In Nigeria, the former National Security Adviser, to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim Yaqoub El Zakzaky and several others have been held in detention for years, despite a number of court orders directing the Federal Government to release them.

This has to a large extent, resulted in the avoidable crises occasioned by their continued detention, which is in line with the motives of fifth columnists within government.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that President Muhammadu Buhari as a good adherent of Islam must always be guided by the voice of God through the Holy Quran, to do what is just and right to all. Excerpts :

In your views what is the way out of the imbroglio between the Federal Government and members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria ?

The Shiite Muslims in Nigeria led by Ibrahim Elzakzaky had been living with us since the emergence of the Iranian revolution in 1979.

The Shiite Muslims have a record of discrimination and persecution, since the days of Ali the fourth Caliph of Islam, the son-in-law of Prophet Mohammed in Medieval time.

Islam had been broadly segregated into the world of Shiites and Sunnis.

Muslims have always been in conflict based on the antecedents of History and ideological differences.

By acts of commission or omission, where we have the Shiite Muslims, they have always been in the minority and have always wanted to be relevant in the control of power.

However, in the case of Ibrahim El zakzaky led Shiite Muslims, they have been increasing in population, in their struggles, through the conversion of many Muslims and their children in the North, most of whom happen to belong to the majority Sunni Muslims.

It is therefore, unfortunate for the Shiite Muslims, to have run into their present predicament, which was brought about by their clash with the Nigerian Army. And worse still, the clash involved the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, this is the major reason why the Shiite Muslims suffered several casualties, which led to the mass burial of over 300 of their members.

Ever since this incident, El zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat have been in detention.

''Mr. President as a good Islamic adherent must always be guided by the voice of God through the Holy Quran, in resolving matters without been unnecessarily and humanly passionate, if this voice of the Holy Quran is anything to go by :''

Quran 5 : 8

8‘‘O ye who believe ! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo ! Allah is informed of what ye do’’.

This resulted in struggles and agitations by his followers to press home their demands for the release of their leader and his wife.

The general opinion, is that Ibrahim El zakzaky and his wife must not be allowed to die in detention, so that Nigeria would not again, run into the sad experience of the extrajudicial saga that resulted in the death of the leader of the Boko Haram Sect, Mohammed Yusuf. The consequence of this is with us till today, with causalities spreading from the North East to almost the entire space of the Northern region.

The issue now, is the controversy surrounding the release of Elzakzaky.

Elzakzaky and his wife were charged to court by the Federal Government, perhaps, to have a legal justification to deal with the movement.

The several court orders, directing the release of Elazakzaky and his wife, has not been obeyed by the Federal Government.

However, we must take note of :

1. The fact that the issue must not be made personal by the President Muhammadu Buhari led government, who people believe may have a soft spot for the Sunni Muslims, while also respecting the Government of Saudi Arabia, that may detest the Shiite Muslims’ inclination because of some of their doctrines that negates the normal Islamic tenets upon which the Sunni Muslims claim to stand on.

The Iranian Government’s interest in the Shiites’ plight in Nigeria may further complicate the case of El zakzaky for the fear of possibly been sponsored, with readiness to strengthen the movement for possible reprisal attacks.

The major discussion is that El zakzaky must not be allowed to die in detention because of the fear of the fifth columnists in government, who may take advantage of the situation to kill the leader of the movement to make the environment very ungovernable for this administration.

The challenge before all Nigerians and our government, is now on the perceived sub-standard state of our health sector, the medical services in particular, whereby any sickly member of the elite is rather flown abroad for treatment, instead of receiving treatment locally.

Government should do all that is possible to address this all important aspect, to serve as a bequeath able legacy to the coming generation.

Our health care services must guarantee patients’ safety and security.

When this is the situation, then Elzakzaky’s and his wife’s release could be done in such a way that they are treated locally.

Another lesson, is that government ought to have learnt that leadership ability is better measured in times of crises.

The management of any crisis in future, including the present ones, must be through the experts in the family of conflict resolution.

This is because most problems snowballing into violence and insurgence are preventable, so therefore, Sociological, Psychological and Medical as well as spiritually religious experts in these realms of Peace and Conflict Resolution, are better challenged to proffer solutions to the problems for government’s implementation, rather than hurriedly making use of military solution which is supposed to be the last resort.

Finally, Mr. President as a good Islamic adherent must always be guided by the voice of God through the Holy Quran, in resolving matters without been unnecessarily and humanly passionate, if this voice of the Holy Quran is anything to go by :

Quran 5 : 8

8‘‘O ye who believe ! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo ! Allah is informed of what ye do’’.

The Federal Government recently disclosed that 9.9 million pupils in 56, 000 Primary schools in Nigeria have benefited from the School Feeding Program , suggesting  that this achievement, to a great extent, has impacted positively on the worrisome standard of education in the country. 

Nigerians dispute this claim, while stressing that government has done little or nothing to overhaul dilapidated school infrastructure, replace damaged desks and  chairs, recruit qualified teachers, ensure prompt payment of teachers'  salaries and  provide relevant teaching aids.

This is made more problematic with the appointment of those who are not technically fit to oversee the education sector.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Gran Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that the lack of proper monitoring mechanism of the program has made saboteurs to use it to enrich themselves. Excerpts :

Do you think the school feeding program of the Federal Government has  made a positive impact on the standard of education at the Primary school level ?

 We need to appreciate the Federal Government's efforts under President Muhammadu Buhari for venturing into the feeding of pupils in our primary schools because the government before him never heeded to the clarion call for  free mid-day meal for our children at their formative age, whereby balanced diet would ever have direct impact on their growth and their reasoning faculties.

However, as good as the policy is, the program has suffered a lot; because of  its poor implementation .

In the first, place it does not cut across board, considering the number of public schools in Nigeria.

If the figure the government claims to have attained, is to be reckoned with, we have more than 9.9 million children  in our public primary schools and the number of schools is more than 56,000.

Apart from these lapses, the Federal Government does not have any serious monitoring mechanism, giving way for saboteurs to enrich themselves through the program.

The connivance between some fraudulent education officials, some Head Teachers and the food vendors, has made it possible to shortchange the children because there  are cases of some schools where one egg is usually shared into 16 places while the  the quality of food is poor in most cases.

The major objective of the program is not only to serve the children with balanced diet, but to enable children of the poor to equally attend school as well as to increase  the number of children who attend classes; courtesy of the relief the mid-day meal must have brought about for the poor parents, whose children had earlier been denied access to basic education.

In terms of statistics, therefore, for class attendance there has not been a remarkable increase.

Worse still, the government officials and elite sponsoring this program of mid-day meals have failed totally to patronize public schools, but instead send their children and wards to either  expensive  choice private schools, ignorantly assessed to befit their status or rather send them overseas or to neighboring countries considered to be functional education friendly.

If their children or grand children attend these schools, government would never be at the mercy of relying on false information, regarding the fairness of the program and correctness of the impact, the program must have had on pupils, school performance and the needed improvement in class attendance.

Government needs to establish an independent body, saddled with the responsibility of monitoring the implementation of the program, with adequate transparency and accountability.

This would enable the barriers of project implementation with impunity to be broken, for government's efforts to yield the desired results.

Generally, therefore, government must equally charge the mass media, most especially the electronics, to embark on sensitization and assessment reports through the peoples' parliament for it to have accurate  and reliable data through the pulse of the nation. This would bring offenders to book and would serve as deterrence to  those who might have such intentions.

The program is laudable but implementation and the low involvement of the children of the elite, serves to weaken the expected effectiveness of the program as well as serving as threats because it is very hard for the people to feel the impact due to the various listed barriers and acts of sabotage that are yet to be addressed.

The All Workers Convergence(AWC) has declared that  the scheduled meeting between members of the National Joint Civil Service Negotiating Council and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is inimical to the interests of Nigerian workers.

The AWC made this declaration known through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

‘’Meeting at this very critical period is very dangerous for the labour movement and Nigerian workers. We are afraid, government is attempting to buy over the labour leaders and so after the meeting labour leaders would start singing another song.’’

‘’We therefore urge Nigerian workers to be ready to take personal action in their various work places, while the AWC insists that workers would never accept another table that does not reflect the interest of Nigerian workers’’.

‘’To this end, we have started mobilizing in Ibadan, to lock up the Federal Secretariat complex indefinitely on Monday 29th July, 2019 in protest against the non-implementation of the new national minimum wage and insecurity in the country, if the meeting on Wednesday between the labour leaders and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is not positive.’’

‘’The AWC calls on workers across the federation to convoke meetings and decide their fate, irrespective of the agitations by the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) and the Trade Union Congress(TUC), Comrade Emelieze stated.

The Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita recently disclosed that the workers were making unrealistic demands.

“President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to implementing the new national minimum wage and that is why the presidential committee on the consequential adjustment arising from the minimum wage has been sitting to deliberate on it.

“And in fact, it has sat with the union leadership within the public service to come out with the consequential adjustment arising from the new minimum wage. There were a few, what I will call unrealistic demands from the unions’’, Mrs. Oyo-Ita stated.

The Head of Service also disclosed that the new national minimum wage was targeted at the low income earners, and as a result the Federal Government would not allow the demands of the Senior Staff unions to affect its implementation.

Just last week Friday, Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, the 58 yer old daughter of nonagenarian, Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fashoranti was felled by the bullets of yet to be identified gunmen at the Ore junction in Ondo state, Nigeria. A cross section of Nigerians have condoled with the family of the bereaved. The Federal Government has also sent its condolences which has now become a tradition in most recent times.

However, the security situation in the country is worsening by the day.

In this interview, Founder, Spiritual Head and Gran Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that no Yoruba son or daughter, regardless of economic status, religious and political persuasions should give in, to the lure of money for any reason. Excerpts :

What is your reaction to the gruesome killing of the daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fashoranti ?

First and foremost, the general state of insecurity in the country is very disturbing and in history, I have never known any government performing to reasonable expectations, under an hostile environment of insecurity.

The age long of insecurity during the 20 years of our Democratic experience shows our reluctance to develop Nigeria and the high level of unpreparedness of all the emerging leaders till date in Nigeria ; in making us to continue to witness orgies of government commiserations in the face of non performance.

The essence, under rationality theory, of changing government through electing new leaders is to maintain or improve upon the areas of strengths and opportunities for development to appreciably emerge while the new leaders are expected to restrategize to minimize or prevent the areas of the weaknesses of the successive governments of the past and to seriously help the entire population in taming and replacing the areas of threats which fundamentally would have caused a viscose friction in the will of the progress and efforts of the past movement.

However, for Nigeria’s history, contrary has been the case.

The various security summits, for example, by the Yorubas, has always been like the barking of a dog already chained to a place because even that of the State Governors was not only ceremonial, but without adequate preparation to save the Yoruba nation from the embarrassment of the day.

It is very unfortunate that Mrs. Olufunke Olakunrin, the daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fashoranti became another victim, it affects every Yoruba in particular and Nigerians in general because Pa Fashoranti has for long been at the forefront in fighting the cause of the advancement of the Yorubas in the area of unity and freedom and equity and justice in the wider Nigerian society.

No amount of commiserations from all of us can wake up the innocent victims of insecurity, including Mrs. Olakunri.

Suffice it now to say, that the Yorubas must be the first in the vanguard for the promotion of inclusive society where those who can walk the talk should be given the chance to come together to place the Yoruba agenda above other considerations.

No religion, no ethnic group, political persuasion must have a place under the goal of promoting inclusive society, but credibility, commitment to Oodua nationhood and the determination of purpose to have safe and secure Yorubaland, with right territorial integrity.

No Yoruba person, therefore rich or poor, aggrieved or otherwise, must allow him or herself to be bought over through the evil spirit of money mania which has been the root cause of our value erosion.

Internally, we have more than sufficient paraphernalia of authority to manage and defend the cause of Yoruba unity; if the heroic spirits of our fore fathers, whose heritage we must not allow anybody to destroy, is to be above every Yoruba son and daughter’s considerations.

In unity, the Yorubas can make it without any external considerations.

The All Workers Convergence has expressed disappointment over President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise to ensure the implementation of the N30,000 new national minimum wage very soon.

The AWC made its position known through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

‘’We the Nigerian workers are disappointed in Mr. President and we urge him to correct himself by ensuring that in the next seven days all the dust surrounding the payment of the new national minimum wage is settled, if actually he is serious with his promises. What we have been hearing from President Buhari is that very soon it shall become a reality. Workers are forced to ask how soon is very soon ?’’

‘’It should also be stated that how much is N30,000 that governments across the federation are expressing reluctance to pay, money that is not worth a living wage is what they are delaying. We the Nigerian workers can no longer trust Mr. President in the issue of the new minimum wage. He is playing on our collective intelligence, he is not ready to make workers smile’’, Comrade Emelieze lamented.

The Association of Water Well Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners (AWDROP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint an experienced professional to oversee the affairs of the Ministry of Water Resources as he did in his first term in office.

The AWDROP made this call through its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Richard Adeyinka.

‘’It is advisable the President looks inward, when he wants to appoint a Minister for Water Resources. He should appoint someone who has experience and is well versed in the field. Those in the Ministries of Justice and Health are core professionals, same should apply for water resources, so that Nigeria can have a smooth ride in achieving the SDG 2030 goals. The professional so appointed shall make the workload much lighter, when we talk about governance. The former Minister Engr. Admu performed to the best of his ability’’, Mr. Adeyinka concluded.

Nigerians have continued to express reservations over the unimpressive performance of a number of the Ministers, President Buhari appointed in his first term in his office.

The All Workers Convergence(AWC) has advised married couples not to allow negative happenings in the society today to disintegrate their homes.

The AWC gave this advice recently,  through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

''The AWC  advises maaried couples and families, most especially the young ones not to allow mounting negative happenings in society to erode family bond, unity and togetherness  to the extent of destroying their marriages.''

''However, even if we have to do otherwise, partners should recognize that they both have the right tom seek redress through legitimate means, not through extrajudicial means, so that the marriage would not result in self destruction because it is better to go one's way than to go through the path of destruction, when marrigaes are not working'', Comrade Emelieze concluded.

The All Workers Convergence(AWC) has declared that the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration has lost the goodwill of past leaders and Nigerians as a whole.

The AWC made this declaration through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze, in a chat with Poverty Line.

''Former Nigerian Heads of  State and Presidents no longer believe in the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration. President Buhari has lost the goodwill of past leaders and Nigerians as a whole. Nigerians no longer trust him.''

Nigerians are only hoping and praying for God's intervention, while the socially conscious ones have concluded that the problem with the country is President Buhari and the ruling class'', Comrade Emelieze noted

​Adamawa state Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri has assured  that his administration shall involve women in governance.

Governor  Fintiri gave this assurance on Wednesday while playing host to  the state chapter of the  National Council of Women Affairs, National Association of Women Traders and other interest groups, who paid him Sallah visit at the Government House in Yola.

For the ladies, you won’t just have a place with the other room and the kitchen,not at all like what acquired in the prompt past government which endowed the ladies issues service to a man. “We are here and will be here for you. We have begun, and we will keep on doing our best for the general great of the state. We have guaranteed you an 11-point motivation, and that is the thing that we will represent toward the finish of our four years, the Governor stated.

A former Governor of Oyo state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja has declared that his expectation is that the state Governor will ensure good governance by making a positive impact in all sectors of the state economy.

Senator Ladoja, who  is also the Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland, made this declaration on Tuesday,  in an interaction with journalists at his Ondo street residence in Bodija, Ibadan, Nigeria.

''Good government. Anything that is good government is what I expect from  the present government in Oyo state. Whether you belong to party A or party B, you are the Governor of everybody. Your focus must be on the people. You can play tricks before the election, but once you become the Governor it is your duty to protect everybody''.

''I expect him to do  better in all sectors, especially in education. Health, he should put emphasis on primary health care delivery. Agriculture, he must create more jobs through Agriculture. He should strive for self sufficiency'', Senator Ladoja  advised.

The Ibadan High Chief also assured that he would be ready to offer useful advice that would move the state forward if the the state Governor so requested.

''Has the Governor asked us any question that we did not answer ? There was cooperation between me and Ajimobi, but he became intolerant. We have to grow along with our problems and show unerstanding. I am sure that there is no past Governor that will not want to cooperate with the state Governor. He might want to create a forum of past Governors for this purpose'',  the former Governor stated.

  School children in Nigeria are looking up to the powers that be for a bright future.

Nigerians are not happy about the poor state of electricity supply all over the country.

They lament that lack of regular electricity supply has crippled their businesses and affected various economic activities.

The challenges confronting the power sector cuts across transmission, distribution and generation.

Nigerians buy their own transformers, cables and other relevant inputs to enjoy electricity supply, only to be told by the distribution companies to sign off same to the companies.

South Africa with a population of 56.7 million people, generates 51,000 megawatts, Nigeria with a population of about 200 million people generates below 7,000 megawatts. 

Interestingly, the distribution companies make Pre paid meters unavailable to promote their profit driven agenda.

The agitation by Nigerians presently, is for the Federal Government to take over the functions of the power distribution companies because the distribution companies have not performed up to expectation. In this interview with Federationews2day, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that the problems of the power sector are too technical for the Minister in charge, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who is a Lawyer of note, to understand and fix. Excerpts :

What do you think is the solution to the persistent lack of electricity supply in Nigeria ?

The major problem we have in Nigeria is that the common man , our leaders and decision makers do not buy and sell in the same market, otherwise a direct pulse of the nation would have informed them of the true economic situation and the very poor living conditions of a large percentage of the Nigerian population who constitute the masses and the middle economic class.

The issue of power in any nation is central and pivotal to the development in the home, community and the nation at large.

Where there is no regular supply of electricity, preservation of food for a reasonable period of time becomes impossible.

Apart from some other forms of discomfort that could make life to be unbearable, where there is a generating plant for the supply of electricity, it is usually run at a cost that would be unbearable even for the middle economic class.

What of the accompanying noise pollution that is responsible as the major causes of partial deafness for most people ?

But for the ruling class-elite and political class- most of these things are got free of charge without realizing that they are scarce commodities for the greatest population of people in the low economic class. At the community service level, development would rather be very slow in the area of road construction, transportation of people and farm produce from villages to the urban centers, resulting into another poor living condition.

At the national level economic growth is stunted, industrialization becomes a mirage, mass exodus of experts in various field of human endeavor depletes the strength of the nation.

Company relocation from Nigeria to other countries like Ghana and South Africa as had been experienced in the year 2007 to 2009, when more than 849 companies collapsed here only to resurface elsewhere, leading to Oedipus complex of unemployment.

It is unfortunate that year in year out, we churn out graduates from our higher institutions into a threatening world of unemployment due to epileptic power supply that has crippled the industrial sector.

The major problem confronting the power sector is about the people’s sincerity of purpose as a necessary condition to power our industrial sector.

Corruption of the highest order, starting at the point of contract award, riddled with insincere quotation, poor job financing due to poor quality of materials that depleted the funding package are all highlights of the present situation.

When a nation is confronted with these kind of problems and challenges, governance demands for periodical reviews to expose the weak areas and the areas of threats that are responsible for the failure of this all important sector with a view to correcting the anomalies and with the determination of purpose, re-pursue the projects to activate it from comatose state to a sustainable service level that would in effect resuscitate all dead areas of development.

Various allegations relating to the cost of N16 billion on the power project during the administration of Chief(Dr.) Olusegun Obasanjo ought to be Nigeria’s primary concern.

Furthermore, the improvement assessment of the performance level of when the power sector was functioning as a flow line and that of when it was unbundled into generating, transmission and distribution units, need to be compared.

So also, the added advantage level of when government was running it before it was privatized needs to be reviewed.

The outcome of all the results would help us to take the right decision.

However, it is my opinion that the power sector couldn’t have performed better under the present arrangement, whereby the Minister in charge is a Lawyer although of very high status and a one time Governor with records of dynamism, even though technically he is unfit to fix the power sector, most especially while working with people of doubtful character.

Equally, of importance is that he is saddled with more than what a non-professional in this specific field-Power, Works and Housing-could chew, even an angel and a professional will never be able to cope in an environment of working with people of doubtful character, who are not also patriotic.

We all know the right thing to do in sanitizing this sensitive sector of our lives, but sentiments and over politicization of the issue will never help us to resolve the mysteries around the eternal record of epileptic supply of electricity.

Government itself has never encouraged us to build our generating sets despite the number of technically biased schools or Ivory towers that could have encouraged production of generating sets here in Nigeria.

The cost of running a generating set both at the home front and, Municipal and Industrial sector, is always on the high side compared to the craziest estimated billing.

Why is government then so slow in bringing offenders thwarting the cause of Nigeria having stable supply of electricity ?

Politicians are supposed to be skill based and under inclusive government, merit is supposed to override parochial sentiments of nepotism in employment and contract awards.

There is nothing wrong in searching and looking for experts in the various fields as may be relevant to any particular political party.

In the new dispensation of the emerging transition, one expects to have new hands on the deck that must be ready to correct the anomalies of the past, so that all Ministers are accountable and should be instantly removable when records of performance are not impressive.

Unbundling the Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN) flow line is the wisest thing to have been done, contracting power generation level through privatization is to ensure that the wrong hands of inefficiency, laziness and low productivity are avoided, for the people to be well served.

We need to remember that the search outcome of vision 20–20–20 continue to lay fallow in our higher institutions as well as research institutions, with no successive government bothering to look in this direction again.

We waste energy and materials as we sacrifice them for mere political sentiments.

How do we then move to develop, when we fail to generate the minimum of 6,000 megawatts of electricity and a minimum of $900 billion as Gross Domestic Product(GDP) for Nigeria to be able to break even into an economically stable nation to be one of the first 20 nations that could be classified s environmentally stable, economically viable to accommodate project feasibility.

The new government must wake up in the areas of effective corruption control and prevention of institutional indiscipline for all ideas, initiatives to transform the fortunes of the nation into serving all Nigerians, starting from resolving the issue of Pre-Paid Meters and the bringing of offenders that sabotage the glory of dignity of labor to book without fear or favor as of when due.