We are currently at a crossroads. We need a leader to show us the way forward. We need a prudent president, a principled president who has what it takes to lead.
As we say in Naija: “We need person who sabi road; a person we go follow make this country better.” A new Nigeria is possible. We can make it.
By Ndubuisi Nwafor
Nigeria is in the throes of rebirth; it is turning into a painful pang of labor, and politicians have strategically positioned themselves like vultures to supervise and take charge of the delivery. The PDAPC, LP, and NNPP are clearly the frontrunners in the race to parent the upcoming new nation; it is therefore critical that Nigerians choose a party on February 25th, 2023 that will take the duties and obligations of governance seriously.
Whatever way the pendulum swings, Nigeria will never be the same again, for better or for worse. A vote for the PDAPC would be a return to the status quo ante, and a complete recipe for disaster for a country whose security, economy, law, and governance have all collapsed into blazing hades of impunity and debauchery.
By Peter Awele Pieray Odor
Two weeks ago, I received via WhatsAPP a video about the meeting intended by Catholic Bishops concerning which a voice solicited for funding from the public. It was scheduled to hold from Saturday, 11th of February 2023 to Friday, 17th February, 2023, at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja. The theme of the conference is Citizens Participation in Good Governance in Nigeria. The money requested was to be sent to the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Zenith Bank, 10111533088.
It is reasoned that the solicitation for fund for a conference by Catholic bishops is corrupt, corruptive, scandalous, and confirms the pervasiveness of corruption in Nigeria because morals and faith are breached. The breach of morals is defended here.
BOOK REVIEW
By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
Even after the 2023 presidential elections scheduled for next Saturday (February 25, 2023) in which Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party has received widespread acclamation as the candidate to beat, I will advise many Nigerians to still look out for Chuks Iloegbunam’s book, The Promise Of A New Era, which was presented to the public a couple of months ago in Enugu. Younger people who might one day nurse the aspiration to occupy leadership positions in Nigeria will find this book especially rewarding.
One juicy take-away from the book is the need for young people to school themselves to start very early to keep their paths clean because they have no way of knowing the amazing opportunities that might throw themselves on their laps tomorrow. Indeed, an action undertaken today by a youth which might appear very insignificant could shoot itself up tomorrow and undermine his ability to seize a very ripe opportunity to achieve an enviable elevation. This is one vital lesson Peter Obi’s life should teach many young people. Despite being the most fact-checked candidate in the presidential contest today, Obi has emerged without a dent.
By Prince Pieray Awele Odor
The first thing that I note about Mr. Obi’s character is that his “No shishi” reflects Nigeria of the good old days. This is because in the good old days no Nigerian bribed another Nigerian because no Nigerian gave any money to another Nigerian in order to make him (the recipient) do for him what he should not do, give him what he does not have natural or legal right to have, or violate any law in order to satisfy his or her interest.
Every Nigerian carried out his or her duties and obligations to fellow Nigerians as duties and obligations and not as favours. Favour was done. Its recipient gave appreciation or gratitude sequel to it. Ekene dike na nke ome, omekwa ozo (Igbo) and Ti omode ba dupe ore ana a ri imiran gba (Yoruba) show that gratitude succeeds action. For bribery, giving precedes action.
By Dan Onwukwe
You needed to have been at the Boundary market, Ajegunle, Lagos state, last weekend. There were tears of joy when the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, went to campaign there. It was part of his open campaign in selected markets across the country. Remember he has always told us that he is trader.
It wasn’t the chant of his name, “Obi, Obi, Obi number One”… that touched the hearts of the enthusiastic crowd at the Ajegunle market. It was, indeed the crowd of excited women with their kids jostling like that woman with the issue of blood in the scriptures who desperately wanted to touch only the hem of the garment of Jesus Christ and be healed. (Matthew 9:20-21, KJV). Obi obliged them, carrying one baby after the other. It’s the audacity of hope, amid despair.
By Tony Iwuoma
Things are happening at dizzying speed. A
mere pronouncement of two men and their naira swap policy have merged the rich
and the poor into one mass of needy Nigerians.
*El-Rufai and Buhari
It’s more amusing because the minority high and mighty who were hitherto alien to the suffering of the majority seem caught unawares in the same web in which they enmeshed the people. In their confusion, they have begun tearing down their own houses with their own hands.
By Achike Chude
There is a man in Finland. He is perhaps one of those economic migrant Nigerians who fled the country in search of greener pastures. No one knew about him, and no one really cared. Well, perhaps not everyone. He once won a 100-meter silver medal for Nigeria at the African Junior Athletic Championship in Cameroon in 2003.
But things have changed for him. He is now a lawyer. He is a member of the National Coalition Party of Finland and was a candidate in the 2022 Finnish county elections. Get this! He ran for election to become a government official to serve the interest of the Finnish people. In Nigeria, he says that elections must not hold in the South East.
By Emma Nwosu
Olusegun Adegoke, in his opinion published at page 13 of The Guardian of January 26, 2023, titled “Who, Between Atiku and Tinubu fits CEO of Nigeria”, raised a few of the germane criteria but gave the answers, wrongly, in favour of Atiku Abubakar – even giving him credit for what is due to the most distinguished President Nigeria has ever had, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, under whom Atiku was only a Vice President.
You have to define the issues to get the job description from which to determine the job specification or profile of the person to be hired – based, primarily, on the person’s character and verifiable track record, from previous employment and referees, evidencing capacity and competence for higher responsibility.
By Okey Ndiribe
A recent attack on President Muhammadu Buhari’s convoy in Kano is a clear sign of rejection by the youths of the ancient city. Coming shortly after a similar incident in his home state of Katsina, it sends a signal of regional resentment against a leader who enjoyed a massive personality cult-following at the beginning of his tenure eight years ago.
These seeming acts of rebellion on the part of a once docile populace -which gave him over 12 million votes during the 2015 presidential election-appear to be a direct response to the President’s recent self-award of a pass mark to his administration. Buhari’s remark which was made in Bauchi had elicited a huge controversy among Nigerians. One had thought that was the end of the matter.
By Emeka Alex Duru
Growing up, we were treated to a certain ghastly form of wrestling, referred to as cage fight, in which the competitors were herded into a chained ring and made to attack one another until a winner emerged. Watching the contest could be gory and not for the faint-hearted. Each wrestler was free to adopt any strategy, no matter how unconventional, to dismantle his opponent. It was usually catastrophic. Not even the eventual winner got out of the ring intact. Everyone lost in one way or another.
This summarizes the tortuous route the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken Nigeria through in the last eight years as the ruling party. Like ardent con artists, chieftains of the party have driven the country down the slope in a manner of a car without brakes to the point of crashing it beyond repair.
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
President Muhammadu Buhari has stated for the umpteenth time that he desires to bequeath the country a legacy of credible elections. That seems to be the only low hanging fruit waiting for him to pluck as his disastrous presidency comes to an insalubrious end on May 29. He has made the promise not only to Nigerians but also the international community.
While commissioning a wide range of operational assets acquired by his administration to strategically improve the capabilities of the police, particularly in crowd control and anti-riot operations, on February 13, the president harped on the need for them to be professional while policing the elections.
By Elvis Eromosele
The amount of queueing Nigerians have been subjected to in the last couple of weeks is unprecedented. It is equally unbecoming. It’s almost like the country had gone back four decades.
Fights have broken out in queues at bank facilities, filling stations and INEC and LGAs offices across the country. There are trending videos of people stripping naked in protest inside banking halls, others hitting each other with queue dividers and one person has been confirmed dead inside a banking hall, somewhere in Asaba. Nigerians born in the 2000s, GenZs, should be forgiven for thinking the end of the world is here.
By Tony Afejuku
Let me urgently make this open confession: the current condition of this land – this land, your land, my land, our land – has consigned me to nothing short of a pretty long time to dilemmas upon dilemmas – seriously speaking indeed. It would be unjust of me not to make this open confession to you my chief reader today (and readers) in order to escape an almost inevitable calamity.’
As my today’s reader-in-chief and priestess-in-chief to boot you should help me, after hearing this confession, to wean me from anything untoward that would impair my judgment and essential character and value of my thought relating to our Emefielenic monetary stamp of bewildering proportions that would be of selfish benefits to his fellow politicians, no, polifoolicians, and cabalistic cabals than to our nation.
By Chidi Odinkalu
“It was as if the football club wanted to regain through football what the Igbo ‘lost’ during the war.” – Segun Odegbami, MON
By Lincoln Ogunewe
Security is the foundation for the existence of life that God has given to mankind. Nothing thrives in the absence of security and nothing grows. It is a big irony of life that security and its importance is only noticed in its absence. The situation in Imo State today and Ala Igbo in general gives credence to my assertion. Which way forward? Can the situation be reversed? The answer is Yes.
Every society respects the sanctity of life. Ala Igbo is not an exception. Life is such a sacred thing that religions and traditions abhor the taking of the life of anyone what more by violence. The Igbo culture ostracizes and banishes anyone that takes the life of his brother or sister. Today, Ala Igbo drips with the blood of her sons and daughters and all we do is stand and look helplessly. What has befallen Ala Igbo? What has befallen Ndi Igbo.
By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu
Quietude sits well with Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, and calmness is the word for her, but the music was so compelling that she had to stand up and dance. The mellifluous music issuing forth from Gerald Eze and his Ichoku Ensemble put a smooth smile on the face of Prof Akachi and soft dexterity to her dancing steps.
Prof Akachi-Ezeigbo’s sister, Prof Chinyere Stella Okunna, who had been sitting beside the celebrant was held in rapt awe by the phenomenon.
The date, Saturday, February 11, 2023, stays unforgettable because of the birthday party observed for prolific award-winning author, Prof Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, at a comfy venue called Awka Window on America at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State. The personable Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Charles Okechukwu Esimone, was on hand to conduct the rousing opening ceremony to the event sponsored by Abibiman Publishing UK, James Currey Society and intervolving the creative literary giants of Nnamdi Azikiwe University.
By Levi Obijiofor
When you hear about economic hardships battering the citizens of a country, you need go no further to search, locate and understand what the experiences might look like. We have the exact situation on the ground in Nigeria. The current cash crunch across the country, impishly engineered by the Central Bank and aided by commercial banks, has paralysed human and business activities in Nigeria and pulverised the welfare of ordinary citizens. This is an unsolicited experience no one in Nigeria would like to relive.
There are visibly many players in the current
game of infamy playing out in the country. At the head of the mischief-makers
is Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, closely followed by chief executives
of commercial banks, and supported by point of sale (POS) or point of purchase
(POP) vendors. They constitute the merchants of evil. They have made life
unbearable for ordinary people. More important, the CBN and commercial bank
officials must take full responsibility for the current economic instability.
Their reputation has been sullied but they do not care about reputation.
If you were a
bank customer in Nigeria and were asked to rank the following people and
professionals, in terms of unethical conduct and dishonesty, which of them
would top your list?
Would you pick the dishonest and unfeeling bank
manager, the corrupt police officer, the strong-willed army/naval/air force
officer, the dubious Customs officer, the morally despicable pastor or priest,
the heartless lawyer, the unlicensed and unqualified medical doctor, the junk
journalist, the crooked construction engineer, the callous nurse/midwife, the
licentious and lecherous university teacher, the devious trader or market
woman, the mechanistic carpenter, the unprincipled chef, the headline-chasing
newspaper editor and publisher, the fraudulent accountant, the histrionic
advertising or public relations manager, the coldblooded pickpocket, the
penny-pinching and amoral prostitute, or the duplicitous commercial vehicle
operator?
The persons
listed above are not exhaustive, but chances are that you might select the
pickpocket or prostitute as the vilest, most unethical, most dreadful and most
dishonest person. Your choice would have been made based on how these people
are perceived in public. Regardless of what happens, the point to keep in mind is
that person perception is often far from reality.
When a
similar study was conducted in Australia in 1996, the outcome was a rude shock
to everyone. The study requested respondents to rank various professions in
terms of how they were perceived for ethics, trust and honesty. Surprisingly,
newspaper journalists were ranked second from the bottom. That study revealed
for the first time a terrible image problem for Australian journalists, despite
the essential role they play in their society. In that poll, newspaper
journalists were ranked very low – they managed to beat used-car
salespersons.
Follow-up
studies have been conducted since that time but the image of Australian
journalists has not improved significantly. A study of Australia’s most trusted
professions conducted in 2021 showed that doctors were the most trusted,
followed by nurses, paramedics, firefighters, scientists, police officers,
teachers, pharmacists, pilots and veterinarians. The same study placed
journalists second to last (number 29), just one place ahead of politicians who
were ranked last at number 30.
In
the perception of the Australian public, journalists are still seen as
untrustworthy, dishonest and unethical. The underlying message is that
Australian journalists are not regarded highly by the public.
Each
society places a different value on its institutions. Consider the following.
In December 2000, the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, regarded as the
world’s largest selling newspaper, asked 2,000 people to list the institution they
trusted most. The prime minister was ranked last. That said a lot about the
extent of confidence the Japanese people placed on their politicians. Imagine
the kind of ranking President Muhammadu Buhari and his ministers would receive
if that kind of poll was conducted in Nigeria.
Still in December 2000, a Gallup Opinion Poll conducted in the United States about the most trusted institutions showed that the military were ranked top and television was ranked 14th.
I do not
believe that a similar poll to that conducted in Australia would produce a
similar result in Nigeria in terms of the image of newspaper journalists. In
Nigeria, the public image of journalists is yet to be tested officially through
a public opinion survey. But for bank officials and particularly university
lecturers who engage in frequent rounds of sexual harassment of female
students, a practice that has become widespread, we do not need such a test
because there is unassailable evidence that shows that the battered image of
university lecturers and bank officials is a direct outcome of their unethical
and dishonest conduct in their professional roles.
I am reminded
of what a recent female graduate of the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri,
said on video while thanking God for her success that was also attributed to
the magnetic power of her sexual organ.
For a very
long time, we associated bank managers in Nigeria with honest and ethical
conduct. Whenever you wanted to complete an official form (such as public
examination form or visa/passport renewal form), you were directed to approach
a bank manager or a police officer or a pastor to initial that application
form. That requirement was based on the norms that existed and still exist in
civilized societies where the bank manager or pastor or police officer
represented in real terms an emblem of honesty, faith and good character.
In Nigeria,
the public no longer perceives the bank official as emblematic of honesty,
integrity, principles or values. In fact, the bank manager and other bank
officials are held in low esteem. They are demonised, derided, and portrayed as
the ultimate agents of corruption and everything loathsome in the society.
These perceptions are legitimate considering current experiences in which
citizens are denied access to the new naira notes that are hoarded by banks,
while members of the privileged class are given excess new notes.
It is evident that bank managers are key players
in illegal hoarding or stockpiling of the new naira notes. Investigations by
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), along with spot checks
conducted by CBN officials have exposed the collusion by banks to deny citizens
their right to access their money in the custody of banks.
Similarly, I
do not think university lecturers in Nigeria would stand the test of morality.
Some of them see their female students as a kind of collateral or reward they
should receive on earth.
Corruption
has eaten deeply into the souls of bank managers in Nigeria. The damage is
beyond repair. Nobody can fix the problem. Training and character building
based on ethical reorientation will not resuscitate the damaged character
profile of despicable bank managers and officials.
We cannot
fight unethical and dishonest practices by bank managers and officials of other
financial institutions. They are so deeply soaked in the ocean of corruption.
Corruption is widespread in Nigeria, a dysfunctional society in which there is
no law and order, a society in which people do things any way they like. In
that environment, no one is accountable to anybody. No one is responsible to
anyone. It is a country of “anything goes” in which the culture places a higher
value on wealth and property acquisition. That is the pull or inducement that
attracts bank managers and officials to continue to engage in corrupt
practices.
*Dr. Obijiofor is a commentator on public issues
By Kenechukwu Obiezu
If Nigerian politics had a single currency, language, sign language, or definition, it would be money. But very close to it would be the concepts of betrayal and opportunism.
To preclude political opportunism and fry the chances of its elite practitioners in Nigeria, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria makes salubrious provisions to arrest the vice of cross-carpeting. However, with many of the politicians who have engaged in it over the years getting away with it, it appears that judicial interpretation and enforcement have failed to stop the scourge.
By Ugo Onuoha
On Thursday, February 9, South Africa’s embattled President, Cyril Ramaphosa, went to the country’s Parliament, braced heckling by the militant opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party to declare that the country was in a ‘“national state of disaster.” So, what was the problem with that Southern African country? They have been grappling with energy, particularly electricity, supply crisis for about two years. Yes, two years.
The country has been experiencing
load-shedding, read, power outages, where some consumers experience blackouts
for up to 12 hours in a day. A mere 12 hours.
Last year, the country’s economic growth fell to 2.5%. This year, the projection is that it would shrink to 0.3%, the declines essentially boil down to South Africa’s electricity crisis. In parliament, Ramaphosa told South Africans: “We are, therefore, declaring a national state of disaster to respond to the electricity crisis and its effects.”
