Damage Control And The ASUU Strike

 By Ernest Chukwusoro Igwe

Strike as a fundamental human right across all divides of human society is a form of protest against such vices as ill treatment, unjust practices, deviation from the norms and expectations, sadism, wickedness, denials, and not keeping faith with agreements. Strikes come in different forms and may include crying by little children; contrarian discussions and writings; partial or full withdrawal of services; insurrections and public protests; overthrow of governments through the ballot boxes, demonstrations, military coups, etc. Strikes as the means of addressing shortcomings and injustices do occur everywhere in the world, and Nigeria is no exception.

The nine-month-long – February to October 2022 – strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities in Nigeria (ASUU) has taken the cake in the recurring decimal of strikes in Nigerian universities. Most Nigerians, especially members of ASUU, believe that these strikes are totally avoidable and, even where started, could be nipped in the bud by government’s quick intervention.

Sadly, it has always been alleged that the selfishness and short-sightedness of bureaucrats such as Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Director-Generals, Directors and other members in the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) relish in ensuring the prolonging of such discussions due to selfish and unpatriotic reasons.

Ekwueme: The Democrat Who Gave Abacha Red Card

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

The soft, gentlemanly features of Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme belie the heart of steel inside the late first ever Vice-President of Nigeria. Back in 1998, Nigeria’s Head of State, General Sani Abacha, had perfected plans of transmuting from a military leader to a civilian president. Abacha got all the five existing political parties to adopt him as the sole presidential candidate. 

*Dr. Alex Ekwueme

Ekwueme met with his fellow politicians, 17 from the North and 17 from the South, that became G-34. As the chairman of G-34, Ekwueme took charge of forwarding a letter to General Abacha, warning him not to ever dream of turning himself into a democratic president. It was akin to giving a red card to a murderous dictator by an unarmed civilian. 

Many Nigerians waited with bated breath, believing that there was no hiding place for Ekwueme and his group of crusading politicians. Then Abacha suddenly died. And soon after, the winner of the June 12 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, whom Abacha had kept in captivity also died. General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who took over after Abacha’s death, announced a 9-month transition to civil rule programme. 

The Ekwueme-led G-34 decided to turn into a political party that became People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Alhaji Isa Kaita came forth with the suggestion that Ekwueme should be named as the presidential candidate of the party. Ekwueme said he would only accept the nomination if it came through an all-encompassing democratic process. That is the essence of Ekwueme – a democrat through and through. 

Stealing Nigeria!

 By Obi Nwakanma

All things bright and beautiful; all creations great and small; all things bright and wonderful, Nigeria ruins them all. This is a twist on the song many of us sang in the Nursery and Primary Schools of yore. But the last twist was first made to it by the late eminent historian, and one-time Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Tekena Tamuno, during his convocation address at the University of Ibadan in the late 1970s.

What he saw sitting down, many of us had not then seen standing up. But the auguries were there. Nigerians could recognize the handwritings on the wall. In the decades that I grew up and have experienced Nigeria, and I’m just rounding the first half of my fifth decade on this beautiful earth, Nigeria has always presented a challenge. 

Youth And Audacity Of Noble Rage

 By Alade Rotimi-John

Youth by nature believe they are naturally endowed to take over from the generation preceding theirs. Their impassioned attacks for change often put them on a collision course with their elders even as they tend to oppose all forms of paternalism.

Many of them visibly participate in affairs and events of the moment, applauding what they consider to be right and denouncing what they perceive as wrong. They are immensely appreciative of the pedagogical value of their alter ego teachers or instructors. They imagine that the real authority for their consciousness is located in the unyielding principles imparted to them by their bolus magista who often give them a fund of unclassified and, sometimes, unrelated knowledge for projected ideological combat.

Concerning Buhari’s National Honours 2022

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

At the beginning of August 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari constituted a nine-member National Honours Nominations Committee with a four-year tenure. It is chaired by Alhaji Sidi Muhammad Bage, the senior judge who resigned from Nigeria’s Supreme Court in 2019 to become the Emir of Lafia in Nasarawa State.

*2022 National Honour: Buhari decorates Lawan 

The Minister for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, George Akume, inaugurated the committee on September 16 with the mandate “to screen and select eminent Nigerians and friends of Nigeria, who have contributed to the development of the country.”

In what would have been a record of unprecedented efficiency in the annals of such committees, a list emerged a mere fortnight later of recipients of national honours. Among the recipients, it listed the Emir of Lafia, himself the newly inaugurated chair of the National Honours Committee, for one of the highest honours – Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR).

As Furious Floods Buffet The Food Basket

 By Tunde Olusunle

Your eyes are instantly arrested by the unusual volume of the Benue River as you drive into Makurdi from the Daudu/Agan abutments of the capital of Benue State, this quiet afternoon.

You glide past the approach bridge, and glimpse to your left, the “Makurdi Golf Course,” hitherto seated by the scenic lips of the river. It is soaked, sadly now, swamped and submerged by the overabundance of liquid blessings. Ahead of you is the attention-commanding artwork of a huge basket bearing a variety of farm produce, an attestation to the pride of the place of Benue State as the epicentre of food production in the country.

The image sits strategically at the intersection which leads to the nation’s South East and South-South stretches. The scourge of the floods, you come to understand, is the reason that your host, Samuel Ioraer Ortom, Governor of the state, could barely savour the nation’s 62nd Independence Anniversary, two days later. 

He began his day that Saturday, Oct 1, 2022, by attending the interdenominational church service commemorating the national landmark. The event was held at the All Nations Evangelism Ministries in Makurdi, the state capital and Ortom had taken the first Bible reading.

Nigerians Have A Right To ‘Change Of Government’

 By Olamide Francis

On Monday, October 10, 2022, the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, Bola Tinubu, said, “If they say they want a change of government, just tell them ‘we like to be polite but shut up your mouth.’” This is another sign among the many we have already seen that Nigeria’s democracy is endangered. This is not a matter of political parties but the general political clime in Nigeria. That aside, it is more disheartening that this kind of statement is coming from the platform of a party that benefitted from the agitation of the Nigerian masses for ‘a change of government.’

*Buhari and Tinubu

A change of government is the beauty of any democracy. So, I am bewildered at the call by the APC presidential candidate for people wanting a change of government, the same mantra they sided with in 2015, to shut up. Should people not call for a change of government if the current one has disappointed them? Is that not what democracy is all about? 

Repositioning The NYSC Scheme

 By Reuben Eboh

The NYSC scheme was created in a bid to reconstruct, reconcile and rebuild the country after the Nigerian civil war. The unfortunate antecedents in our national history gave impetus to the establishment of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC by decree No. 24 of 22nd May, 1973 which stated that the NYSC is being established ‘’with a view to the proper encouragement and development of common ties amongst the youths of Nigeria and promotion of national unity’’.

As a developing country, Nigeria is further plagued by the problems attendant upon a condition of under development, namely; poverty, mass illiteracy, acute shortage of high skilled manpower (coupled with uneven distribution of the skilled manpower that are available), woefully inadequate socioeconomic infrastructural facilities, housing, etc.

Why African Countries Remain Poor

 By Olufemi Oyedele

There are two types of poverty; extreme and relative. Extreme poverty is a state or condition of lack of basic needs like food, housing, clothing, transport, education, medicals and security, and a position of hopelessness of people. It is generally experienced by those living on less than $1.99 daily. All nations are endowed with natural resources that are supposed to make them live above the poverty threshold and, in the olden days, human beings naturally settled in communities that provided them with basic needs of living—food, water, shelter, medicals and security and safety from attacks. Gross domestic product per capita is considered an important method to compare how poor or wealthy countries are in relation to each other.

The average GDP of Africa is the lowest amongst the seven continents (Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia, Asia and Europe) at $9,700 (2021). Africa has the highest number of countries on its continent with 54 countries. With natural resources, especially arable land, rain forest, adequate sun, mineral resources and human resources, no African country is supposed to be poor.

Alex Ekwueme, Five Years After

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

On February 2, 2018, the remains of Nigeria’s first democratically elected vice president, Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, were committed to mother earth in his ancestral home – Oko, Orumba North LGA, Anambra State. When he died on November 19, 2017, he was 85 years, an age many would consider old. Nonetheless, he died when the country needed him most.

*Ekwueme

As Professor Ben Nwabueze, Nigeria’s globally-acclaimed legal icon, noted in his tribute, Ekwueme’s demise “is not just the death of an individual, it is like the passing of an age – the age of patriotism, integrity, of principled approach in national affairs, of intellectualism in politics and steadfastness in political allegiance.” 

Ekwueme was a quintessential democrat who espoused politics without bitterness and demonstrated by his actions both on and off the political turf that politics is not a dirty game played only by grimy characters. He proved, remarkably, that politics and integrity can and, indeed, should be soul mates. For many years, he was a bridge-builder and stabilising political force who brought his enormous intellect to bear on the country’s politics.

Why The 2023 Elections Matter For Nigeria And Its Future

 By Chuka Onwumechili 

Nigeria is expected to be home to 380 million persons by 2050, making it the third most populated country in the world according to the United Nations. Of course, that is made of a huge youth population, given that the population was barely 55 million in 1980. Presently, 90 per cent of the 220 million population is 50 years or younger.

The dire situation is heightened by a growing poverty line where four out of 10 Nigerians live below the line, according to World Bank data. Worse still, a Nigerian online publication recently reported that Nigeria’s 2022 debt servicing is 18 per cent higher than projected revenue.

The Ayo Adebanjo Support For Peter Obi

By Luke Onyekakeyah

The Ayo Adebanjo-led Afenifere’s support for Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) has roots in the historic parley held between Ohaneze and Afenifere in Lagos in early 2017. That parley made strong national headlines as it was welcomed by political pundits from both sides as a worthwhile development.

*Adebanjo 

As an elder statesman who has no other option than to follow the path of honesty and speak the truth no matter what, Pa Adebanjo, who led Afenifere to that parley, cannot afford to backtrack from what he personally championed and endorsed. That is why he is not mincing words to say that equity, justice and fairness demand that the South-East should be given the opportunity to produce the next president in 2023, if the so-called national unity is anything to go by. Otherwise, the whole thing would be mere propaganda and deceit for sectional domination by those who think they are born to rule.

Lagos Is Far From Excellence, Not Yet Working!

 By Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour

Lagos is not working. Once promising, the state now wallows in a sickening state of mediocrity, captured by a fraudulent and mercantilist political class that has held sway for 21 years. Indeed, Roosevelt helps us understand the danger of the mercantile class when he opined thus:

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism ownership of government by an individual, or a group.” Roosevelt’s wisdom sums up most appropriately the present tragedy that is the lot of Lagosians.

To start with, the wealth of Lagos is directly tied to the productivity and sweat equity of its citizens. More than 80% of Lagos’s revenue comes from income tax, consumption tax and several other forms of taxation. Hence, while successive administrations brag about increasing internally generated revenue, they have spectacularly failed to hold up their part of the social contract. Close to N10 trillion has been spent during the period but Lagos still ranks as one of the most unliveable cities in the world. Of what use are the trillions generated in tax revenue if it doesn’t improve the life or livelihood of the average citizen?

Why The Health Of Presidential Candidates Matters

 By Dan Onwukwe

Every election has a story. So is every person who offers himself or herself to high public office such as the presidency. It’s not for nothing. The presidency is the hardest job anybody can give his brain. The enormous responsibilities placed on the shoulder of a President are so huge that the occupant of the office should have a sound mind, among other attributes. His health status should not be a matter of conjectures.

That’s why the counsel, ‘if you can’t stand the heat, don’t get close to the kitchen’, is very instructive. It is also because, to paraphrase Gerald R. Ford (38th U.S. President) the ‘presidency is not a prize to be won, but a duty to be done ‘. The office is not an entitlement, but a trust. It means using great power for great purposes for the country and its citizens. 

Can INEC Conduct Free Presidential Election?

 By Sonnie Ekwowusi

Lately, the INEC Chairman Prof Mammod Yakubu publicly promised that notwithstanding the gargantuan challenges facing the commission, it would conduct free and fair elections and deliver electoral justice in 2023.  “Only the votes cast by Nigerians will determine who wins and this is our commitment to the nation,” said Prof Yakubu.

Beyond mere verbal undertaking, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu led-INEC must truly and really conduct an impartial, free, fair and credible 2023 elections especially the Presidential election. Of all the elections the Presidential election is the crucial election which outcome will make or mar Nigeria. In fact guaranteeing peace, unity and stability in Nigeria in 2023 depends so much on the outcome of the 2023 Presidential election. Armed with their respective Permanent Voting Cards (PVCs) most young people across the geo-political zones of the country are poised to cast their votes for the Presidential candidate of their choice in the forth-coming Presidential election.

Thinking About Bola Tinubu’s Presidential Bid

 By Tony Eluemunor 

You have to make one remarkable concession to Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu; he has “guts”.

And by guts, I mean something akin to resilience or determination. Yes, “grit” could be more like it. Grit actually refers to a hard coarse-grained siliceous sandstone, so it should do justice in describing a politician who is chummy with the “agberos” of Lagos state, yes, those crazy devils may care street goons of Oshodi bus stop and such other mean sites of the mean Lagos state. In fact, from what I have read about Tinubu, he may be the chummiest politician to those goons.

*Tinubu

Yet, the chumminess and the goonness of certain politicians and groups are not what this column set out to interrogate today. It just happens that even goonness should have a limit. So, too, personal interest.

That is why you could describe Tinubu with words such as willpower, resolve, purposefulness and the like and you would be 100 percent right, but if you bring in a word such as courage, you would become a liar.

Flood Menace In Nigeria

 By Paul Nwosu

Our country’s annual tragedy of rampaging flooding is at its worst this year. It is estimated that more than 300 persons have been killed by the floods that are somewhat beyond control. Out of Nigeria's 36 states, 27 are battling with the floods. Even Abuja is under threat of the flood sweeping from Kogi State capital, Lokoja. Large number families have been affected, and displaced persons keep increasing. Thousands of hectares of farmland have been destroyed. Hunger is a clear and present danger as the agriculture chain has been grossly disrupted.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is at its wits end while the State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA) can hardly cope with the onslaught of water. Nigeria is indeed facing a beyond-the-pale disaster. The spokesperson of NEMA, Manzo Ezekiel, has stressed that “this is the highest we ever had since 2012”.

It has now become a recurrent factor that Nigeria records flooding every year.

ASUU Strike: Lecturers As Endangered Species

 By Esther Shaibu 

It is no longer news that the almost year-long strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has had devastating consequences on the plan of students and parents, and also dragged the image of the federal government to an all-time low. All the stakeholders involved in the face-off have had their ‘breakfast’ fully served, as it is said in street parlance.  But the key stakeholders whose plight has been ignored for obvious reasons are the lecturers themselves.

This may sound ironic since many people see the lecturers as the oppressors who are using their own agitation to frustrate the future of innocent boys and girls. This is because ASUU has been on strike since February 14 2022, following the failure of the government to meet its demands, including the payment of earned allowances, revitalisation funds to universities, lecturers’ conditions of service, University Transparency Accountability Solution(UTAS) and other matters.

Between The Spirit Of Slavery And ASUU

 By Ezekiel Ayoola 

It is well-known history in the continent of Africa that there was an evil practice called the slave trade. This involved the moving of African slaves to other countries. It has been estimated that about 500 million Africans were taken away as slaves. And our forefathers did it.

Sometimes purely out of envy and as they were capturing and torturing these slaves, taking them away, the slaves were issuing curses on those who did it. The curses were on the heads of the whites buying them and those Africans selling them together with their children’s children.

*ASUU and FG at the negotiating table 

Slaves were not allowed to wear clothes, they were humiliated, with stocks on their necks joined to each other. The sick ones were thrown into the sea and when they got to the plantations they padlocked their mouths. This evil befell fellow human beings only because somebody has sold them in exchange for a necklace, alcohol or a mirror.

Peter Obi Is Coming!

 By Chuks Ucheagu

Before the electioneering season, Peter Obi had been underestimated in the presidential race and called a loser. The establishment, made up of ruthless political class who do not want their boat of milking Nigeria and its future dry to be rocked by Peter the Rock, taunted him.

*Peter Obi and his wife, Margaret 

They jeered that he had no structure. The old and tired politicians averred he would come distant third. Then they and their minions mocked that he would only win on social media and end up a mere social media president.

The legacy politicians and their cronies were still living in denial when the gale of ObiDatti Movement started sweeping through the land, stirring a tsunami – ably led by the youths whose popular reality show, BBNaija, for the first time did not distract or deter. They are shocked to their bone marrows at the phenomenal accept- ability of Obi’s candidacy and the demand for his presidency by Nigerians across board. Be- cause no political movement had been this massive, spontaneous, organic and revolutionary in our recorded political experience.