Southern Sheriff: I Won't Lower Flag for Mandela

Because it's only for Americans, he says

By Neal Colgrass, 

             

(Newser) – A sheriff in South Carolina has shrugged off orders from President Obama and refused to fly his office's flag at half-mast to honor Nelson Mandela, the Greenville News reports. "The flag at half-staff is for Americans’ ultimate sacrifice for our country," said Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark. "We should never stray away from that." Clark did fly his flag at half-staff during the day yesterday to honor an area law enforcement officer who died at Pearl Harbor, but planned to raise the flag again overnight. WIS-TV reports that Clark made his announcement on Facebook, saying:

• "Nelson Mandela did great things for his country and was a brave man but he was not an AMERICAN!!! The flag should be lowered at our Embassy in S. Africa, but not here."

Hundreds of supporters responded with messages on Facebook, along with a few notable dissenters. "I expect for him to follow proper protocol and fly the flag at half-staff because that’s the respect I would like to give Nelson Mandela as a citizen of Pickens County," wrote the head of the local NAACP chapter. Ultimately the move is Clark's choice, because the federal flag code is a voluntary guide that "does not prescribe any penalties for non-compliance," according to the US Congress.

Newser

ASUU Strike: As FG Loses Another Opportunity to Earn Trust

By applying sack threat to try to end the university teachers’ strike, the federal government may have bungled a golden opportunity to earn public confidence, writes Vincent Obia

After his recent rash pronouncement that striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities must return to work or get the boot, Supervising Minister of Education Nyesom Wike has had a lot of rationalisation to do in the court of public opinion. He alleges that his action is prompted by the presentation of “new conditions” by the university teachers after their meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan on November 4 and resolutions adopted.

ASUU denies that charge, insisting it is only seeking an authentication of the same resolutions reached with the president, apparently, in the light of the federal government’s propensity to renege on agreements.
But neither Wike nor the Presidency has been able to mention any new demands brought up by the lecturers other than their insistence on safeguarding the promises made by the president during their negotiation.
Since September 11, when the calm, thoroughbred educationist, Professor Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, was removed as education minister, the more politics-obsessed Wike has taken the clear lead in the Jonathan administration’s seeming determination to use strong-arm tactics to end ASUU’s five-month-old strike.

On November 28, Wike gave the lecturers till December 4 to resume duty or risk dismissal from their various institutions. The ultimatum was later extended to December 9, perhaps, in view of the burial ceremonies for the late Professor Festus Iyayi, which commenced December 4. Iyayi died on November 12 in an auto accident on his way to an ASUU meeting in Kano in connection with the strike.
This ultimatum has sparked debate – and perhaps, also, confusion. While Wike struggled to justify the deadline, which he gave at a press conference in Abuja, as provoked by allegedly new conditions brought by ASUU, Jonathan tried to deny any impression that the government was actually behind the attempt to order university teachers back to work. The president tried to pass the buck to the vice-chancellors and pro-chancellors of universities.

A closer look at the so-called fresh demands by ASUU shows that they border on the question of mistrust.
Part of the resolutions at the November 4 meeting between ASUU representatives and the federal government’s delegation led by Jonathan was a commitment by the government saying, “All the provisions in the extant agreement/MoU for the revitalisation of the university system shall be fully implemented as captured in the 2012 Needs Assessment Report.”
ASUU had commenced an industrial action in July to press home its demand for the implementation of a 2009 agreement reached with the federal government on ways to revive the country’s increasingly moribund public university system. As part of efforts to implement the agreement, the federal government made a commitment on that November 4 to provide a six-year funding for the university system to the tune of N1.3 trillion, beginning this year with N200 billion and, then, N220 billion annually until 2018.
On the issue of the lecturers’ earned allowances, it was agreed that an implementation monitoring committee shall confirm the extent of disbursement from the N30 billion already released by the government for the purpose. The federal government undertook to pay the outstanding balance for the period 2009 to 2012 after the report of the verification exercise by the committee, as well as put in place a feasible strategy to normalise the payment of earned allowances in the university system. And they want the capturing of the usual non-victimisation clause in a document specifying its agreements with the government.       

ASUU simply wants these resolutions reached with the federal government to be made more authentic with the signature of a high-ranking government representative. They feel the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, as the chief law officer of the country, is in a reasonably good position to sign the agreement on behalf of the federal government.
The reason for the union’s fears is not very far-fetched. Memorandums of Understanding with ASUU had been signed in the past by permanent secretaries and other officials on behalf of the federal government, which later disowned such documents. ASUU’s request for greater validity of its agreements with the federal government was an opportunity for the government to prove its sincerity and preparedness to emerge from a history of untrustworthiness.

But the government bungled the chance to burnish its image. It cast further doubt on its commitment to the implementation of the negotiated settlement with ASUU, which border on addressing the rot in the public university system.
Jonathan told a political clan meeting in Yenagoa penultimate weekend that the lecturers were no longer engaged in an industrial action but a rebellion. His remarks suggest that the lecturers had no reason to continue their strike after meeting with “the highest authorities in the land.”
Under normal circumstances, such argument could be considered. But under the abnormal circumstances in which the federal government enters into agreements it does not intend to respect, the sentimental argument by the president simply does not hold water. The whole strike issue has been brought about by the federal government’s refusal to honour a 2009 agreement it had signed to fund the public universities.

If the government ever intended to honour the latest agreement with ASUU, signing a document to authenticate the agreement surely would have been the best way to demonstrate it to try to get the trust of the union. Earning this trust is the defining challenge of the government in its relationship with ASUU.
But the government has deliberately returned its relationship with the university teachers to a past of mistrust, a past any serious government would love to leave behind it.
Unfortunately, the problem of distrust has, again, taken centre stage in the relationship between the federal government and ASUU, and this is sure to find a wider audience among the populace, as the citizens watch the current twists and turns.
Wike must appreciate that the basic issue in the ASUU strike is not about sound bites, it is about superintending the search for a sincere and lasting solution to the decay in the public universities.

ThisDay

Jonathan surrounded by hostage-takers

At 75, he feels fulfilled having contributed immensely to the nation’s socio-economic and political development. Between 1979-1983 Chief Olorunfunmi Basorun was the Secretary to Lagos State Government during the administration of Alhaji Lateef Jakande
However, before his foray into politics, he worked for over 20 years at the nation’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where he rose to become a Deputy Director before he voluntarily retired on September 30, 1979. At a point, during his civil service years, he went into unionism and later became the President of the CBN workers union.
BY ‘TUNDE THOMAS
A fellow of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria,CIBN,  Basorun also served as Commissioner for Education in Lagos State.  He was also a member of Lagos State Delegation to the National Political Reform Conference organized by Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration is 2005.
In this interview, he speaks at length about the state of the nation, his civil service years, leadership and a host of others. Excerpt:
As a retired civil servant having worked with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for over 20 years before you ventured into politics, how would you describe your civil service years?
It was a wonderful experience. I served the Central Bank of Nigeria in various capacities before I rose to become a Deputy Director in charge of Domestic Operations Department.
I joined the apex bank as one of the foundation staff on January 5, 1959 as a clerk. I served the bank in various capacities.  I was posted to several states including Kano, Plateau, Borno and Enugu states. I was in Enugu during the civil war.
At a point, I became the president of CBN workers union, this was between 1970 and 1972. I even led workers on strike on two different occasions. I’m now a pensioner of the bank. I had a wonderful experience working with the bank.  My experience there was full of challenges. I joined the bank as a clerical officer but later rose through the ranks to become a deputy director.
After disengaging from the bank, you went into politics, what informed your decision to go into politics?
I have always been involved in issues relating to promotion of people’s welfare. I believe in serving others especially where issues involved have to do with people’s welfare. This passion to fight for others led to my involvement with the labour union at CBN. I thank God that when that decision was taken to go into politics, it was not a wrong one.  It always gives me joy whenever I remember what our government under the able leadership of Alhaji Lateef Jakande was able to achieve in Lagos State. The landmarks are still there several decades after we left office.
How was Jakande’s administration able to record such spectacular achievements especially in education and housing sectors?
When you have a leader that is focused he will be able to provide dynamic leadership. With able lieutenants that shared the same vision with him, Jakande was able to transform Lagos during his period as the state’s     Chief Executive officer. The administration was not reckless with public funds. Every form of frivolity under the guise of allowances was discouraged.  We were able to block leakages in the system and the accruing funds; the administration was able to embark on construction of schools and housing estates. We were able to run free and qualitative education programme. Unlike nowadays, when most public officials are self serving, and are only interested in personal aggrandizement, we were interested in serving the people.  There was no chance for acquisition of ill-gotten wealth.  You dared not even try it; to tamper with public funds during Jakande’s era was tantamount to playing with fire. The governor was highly disciplined. Jakande would not keep a file beyond 24 hours. So there was no delay in government business. It was the Jakande administration that first reached the N1 billion mark in terms of budget in Nigeria.
To show you the extent to which Jakande and members of his administration were transparent, he was not indicted by various tribunals set up by the Buhari/Idiagbon military regime that toppled Shagari’s government  on December, 31st 1983.
Transparency was the watchword of Jakande’s government and he had zero-tolerance for corruption.  There is a lot of difference between politics of that era and now.  The issue of corruption has become a serious matter today.  Transparency is being thrown to the dogs, and this is one of the major problems that is affecting our progress as a nation
At 53, a lot of people have expressed the view that this is not the Nigeria of the dream of the nation’s founding fathers, do you agree with this submission?
I quite agree. Those who say so are not far from the truth. At independence in 1960, the dream of the founding fathers including Late Pa Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, and Sir Ahmadu Bello was that of seeing Nigeria gradually transforming into a great nation, a global economic power. But here we are today, can we say we have achieved the lofty ideals of the founding fathers?  No. The emerging leaders after the founding fathers have failed us.  It is not yet Uhuru. With our oil and gas wealth, what have we been able to achieve? While a minority few are living in opulence, majority of Nigerians are wallowing in abject poverty.  We need a government that is people-oriented.  A welfarist government like the type that late Chief Obafemi Awolowo ran when he was the premier of the defunct Western region. Awolowo is a household name today because of the way he was able to transform the region.  He was able to achieve a lot for the Western region.
On the issue of corruption, how best can we tackle it?
One of the best approaches to tackle it is that leaders must be ready to lead by example. The moment your aides realize that you won’t condone corruption they wouldn’t dip their hands into public treasury.  Again as a transparent leader, you must be ready to sanction any of your aides that get enmeshed in corruption.  But a situation where you have looters roaming the streets free, you are encouraging others to join the bandwagon.  Nobody should be seen to be above the law. But in Nigeria today, impunity reigns, and this is why corruption is festering
To make matters worse, it seems as if the anti-corruption agencies, both the EFCC, and ICPC, are only being used to witch-hunt political opponents. What do I mean by this, the moment you are in the good books of those in authority, you are shielded, but the moment you are out of favour with the powers- that-be, the EFCC is unleashed on you. This is not how to fight corruption.
What is your assessment of leadership in Nigeria?
As far as I’m concerned, Jonathan is not in charge. This administration claims that it is pursuing a transformation agenda but I don’t know what is being transformed. The president is surrounded by advisers who seem to have taken him hostage.  It seems these people are the ones running the show.  It is like a cabal hijacking the government. Jonathan should take charge.  It is him that Nigerians voted for and the expectation is that he should deliver dividends of democracy to the people.
But so far, I have not seen anything encouraging about this government. Jonathan should wake up.  Poverty is all over the place.  There is growing insecurity in the land.  Boko Haram insurgency is daily taking its toll on innocent Nigerians. Millions of youths are unemployed.  Power supply is still epileptic; oil theft is on the increase. There are many challenges that required urgent intervention.  Leadership is not a tea party and this is why I believe that intending political leaders should be well groomed in leadership training.
What do you think is the way out of the quagmire for Nigeria?
Dedicated and focused leadership, Again, I think the present federalism as we are practising its is seriously flawed. Too much power is concentrated at the centre.  There is a need for devolution of power.  The central government is too powerful. This is not the way federalism is being practised in the United States from where we copied the model
Nothing stops us from having state police. The federal constitution allows it.  Look at the way the Federal Government has been using the Nigeria police to deal with the opposition. Look at what has been happening in Rivers State where an elected state governor is being intimidated by the police.
This is not the way it is supposed to be. Under a true federal arrangement, states are not to be subordinate to the federal government, states are components units, and have constitutional backing to enjoy some powers and authority.
As a pensioner, what is your reaction to increasing reported cases of pensioners’ funds being stolen?
It is a sad development. It is not the best way to treat these people that had diligently served their fatherland in various capacities for many decades. After retiring, their hope is to collect this stipend called pension to sustain themselvess.  But now you wake up daily reading reports of millions and billions of naira belonging to pensioners being stolen by some officials.
Looters of pensioners’ funds should not be allowed to go scot-free. They should not be treated with kid gloves. How do you explain to the whole world the fine of a mere N720,000 imposed recently on a senior government official who pleaded guilty to stealing over N33 billion police pension fund?  People caught stealing public funds, especially pensioners’ money should not be spared. The full weight of the law should be brought upon them.
A labourer, as the saying goes, deserves his wages. Some of these anomalies bedeviling our society are as a result of the rot that has pervaded our system. We need to clean the Augean stable. Nigeria is in search of redemptive leaders.
Like I said earlier, to become a great nation capable of fulfilling her destiny we need selfless and visionary leaders. We need leaders that are ready to make sacrifices.  We need leaders that view public office as an avenue to serve rather than a platform to loot.  We need people-oriented government; government that is driven by the urge to serve but not to loot the treasury.  We need leaders that are patriotic.

TheSun

How Boko Haram sneaked into Maiduguri

…Survivors recount horrifying tales
■ “We said our last prayers”

From TIMOTHY OLANREWAJU, Maiduguri
For two weeks, the rumor of possible attack by Boko Haram was rife in Maiduguri, Borno State capital and birthplace of the insurgent group. Many residents had forewarned that the insurgents were hitching to hit the city hard due to the uncommon and united way the people had curtailed  their  deviousness  since mid June when the youth volunteer group, Civilian JTF  berthed.
Then, a suspected Boko Haram informant on an alleged mission to spy on the metropolis was also caught by vigilant residents around the Monday Market/Bulabulin area. Residents claimed the suspect boarded a vehicle from Beneshiek, a community along Maiduguri-Kano highway that had also been visited with violence early September, to the state capital but his suspicious movement reportedly aroused the curiosity of people around the area including commercial drivers. He was subsequently apprehended and handed over to military personnel around the area after confessing his motives.
But while residents were still savoring the coolness of the harmattan season in their sleep in the wee hours of Monday morning, the insurgents sneaked into the state capital in Hilux vehicles which were mostly seized from security agencies, government officials and motorists. “They came with operational vehicles like Hilux, motorcycles and bicycles,” a security source told Sunday Sun, adding that the insurgents did not move in convoys unlike in their previous operations. “They divided themselves into groups so that nobody  suspected them and they came from the western axis of the city from the back of the airport which also borders the air force base,” the source explained. The premises of the Maiduguri airport bursts into a vast forest  leading into Mainok and Beneshiek bushes.
Some residents of Gomari and Bulumkutu, the sprawling communities opposite the air force base, claimed some of the insurgents had arrived the areas few days before the attack. “I believe some of the Boko Haram men were already within the vicinity few days before the attack because some of them moved from the Gomari and Bulumkutu end with motorcycles and bicycles to attack  military formations,” a resident who did not want his name in print said.
How the insurgents fired the first shots
Audu (other names withheld ) who resides few metres away from the air force base, at Gomari-Old Airport said the Boko Haram first assembled at a place near his house. “They were discussing first in Kanuri but unfortunately I didn’t hear what they were saying. The time was 1.30am. Few minutes later, they said their prayers and ended with fatiwa, shouting Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar. Initially, I thought some people in a nearby mosque were holding a vigil but when I started hearing movement of people, I knew there was a problem. Then, shooting started and continued for about 20 minutes. Somebody was shouting stop shooting, stop shooting in pidgin. I  thought the person was a soldier because he sounded like a commander in the military. He also gave some orders but was not clear to me. The shooting abated for about five minutes and I concluded they were military troops probably trying to scare some people but to my surprise, a loud explosion came and shooting resumed till dawn,” he disclosed. He said he knew hell was let loose as unfolding events including sporadic gun shots, explosions and arrival of a military fighter jet later indicated. “I didn’t even know what to do. He said he never believed he would live to tell the story adding  “My wife and four children joined me in my room, we later moved to the parlor and back to my room again when the shooting became fierce. We were confused and my children were crying but I told them to stop because they could attract attention of the insurgents. They were near our house no doubt, we could hear their voices and movements. They  prayed that God should save us and He did”. He also disclosed that he saw some of the insurgents walking into adjoining streets at the dawn of the day when the fighter jet had stopped assault on them, adding that those he saw were young men.
Reaction of security forces
Security sources said the attack was a surprise to military authorities in the state, adding that the army had recorded some successes in its assault on the insurgents until they struck on Monday. “At least, the army and the  Air Force had cleared the insurgents in some parts of Gwoza and Damboa, a week ago and operations were still going on their when the terrorists struck in Maiduguri on Monday. Nobody expected they could have the effrontery to enter the city but they did. It still beats the imagination of many of us,” a military officer hinted in a chat with our reporter. Also police sources said the insurgents may have been planning the attack for weeks, adding that the manner in which they executed the attacks confirmed this . “They came in some vehicles like army patrol vehicles with some painted in army colours. From reports, many of them wore army and air force uniforms. They divided themselves into groups with bombers and simultaneously hit the 333 Artillery and Air force. But what surprised me was the decoy they used in their operation. They mounted RPG and other sub-machine guns on a few Hilux vehicles, connected the triggers of these guns with generators kept inside the vehicles and the generators assisted them in powering the rod that persistently pulled the triggers to release bullets with nobody inside the vehicles. Unfortunately, they moved some meters away from these vehicles and also shooting again toward the Air Force side where counter-offensive was being launched by the army”, the police source disclosed. But as hours ticked away, the insurgents had already penetrated the 333 Artillery of the Nigerian Army and the Air Force base (79 Composite Group) along same highway, as they burnt almost all the buildings and facilities including five air craft within the premises of the two military formations.
Survivors recount ordeal
Survivors said they had a close shave with death. A septuagenarian woman, Madam Hannatu Musa recounted how her entire family gathered in their parlor and said their last prayers. “My husband is very old and couldn’t walk properly but when the shelling was becoming intense he managed to leave his apartment and came to my flat. He held my hand and embraced other relatives living with me. We started praying. We started hearing footsteps as if they surrounded our house. Baba said the end had come and that we should say our last prayers. I have never seen this kind of attack in my life. I have travelled to places with my husband as civil servant but I have never seen civilians carrying arms to fight soldiers the way they did  here on Monday. Could it be that there are saboteurs among the military men, she asked.
Also another resident of Gomari, Umara, a federal civil servant said he had given up when shooting persisted till day break. “I had given up the possibility of surviving the situation. I was the only one in my compound because I had moved my family to Kaduna. My neighbor also travelled to Bauchi for a wedding and he hasn’t returned on that Monday. When the shooting started, I  thought it would soon subside  but it persisted. I did a quick search of my life and my way with God and then told myself the end had come,” he stated. Residents of the neighboring 777 Housing Estate along same road said the hovering of the fighter jet and the over 30 minutes of cross-fire with the insurgents frightened them, adding that the roofs of their houses  shook persistently as the fighter jet deployed from Yola, Adawama State pursued the insurgents. There were several shells of bullets on the highway around the area on Monday afternoon.
Other casualties
Unconfirmed reports said some security personnel  died in the dawn attack. Residents also said some women of easy virtue who had passed the night at the 333 Artillery after their weekend’s usual outing at the mess were also caught in the violence. As at the time of  our  visit on Monday afternoon, some women who lost their relations were seen crying and being condoled by friends outside the barracks gates. A middle aged man and lorry driver opposite the Air Force base and his brother were among the victims. Family of the deceased told Gov Kashim Shettima during his visit on Monday that five insurgents had stormed the house and demanded  the key of a pick up van parked in the premises. Bags of beans which the driver had planned to take to the market hours later were loaded in the pick-up but his wife declined to surrender the key, a development which angered the insurgents as they shot him dead few minutes after killing his brother in a  medicine shop in front of the house. The corpses of the two brothers were being prepared for burial as at the time of  our  visit. Also a retired military officer  who recently moved into his house around Njimtilo was shot in the ensuing confusion after attempting to flee the area following heavy bombardment. “He felt he was not safe, that the insurgents could enter his house because many of them passed our area while they were fleeing at about 6.30am on Monday. So he was afraid and he fled the house, leaving his wife and children but he was killed in the process”, a neighbor of the deceased said. Hospital sources said more than 24 corpses were brought to the morgue even as officials declined to confirm this. Spokesman of the 7 Division, Col Muhammad Dole also declined to give casualty figures. “I cannot speak or give any details on the attack for now, because I am not authorized to do so,” he told journalists on Tuesday. The defense headquarters in a statement on Monday in Abuja had said 24 BokoHaram were killed but residents maintained the figure could be higher.
Unanswered questions
Residents said there are many unanswered questions for the military. Those who spoke to Sunday Sun asked whether the military was unaware of the plot to attack Maiduguri going by the rumour of impeding attacks by the insurgents. How did many of the insurgents disappear  from the city without a trace till now? What is the efficacy of the state of emergency in the state and neighboring Yobe where similar attack had been carried out last month? What’s the level of commitment of the nation’s security chiefs in  tackling the problem? What’s the role of intelligence gathering especially in  last Monday’s attack? How did the Boko Haram move into the city in vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles with arms without anybody knowing despite the presence of security troops around the metropolis? Was the military caught napping and are those in power profiting from the crisis?
“I think there is nothing wrong now if the Army Chief moves his office temporarily to Maiduguri to personally supervise the operations against Boko Haram so as to get this problem off our neck once and for all, because the insurgency is a setback to this nation, not only to Borno or the northeast. It is high time we tackled it headlong especially before the 2015 elections,” a university don said.

TheSun

Jonathan’s many wars

By Dapo Thomas

Fortune has played its part in the life of Goodluck Jonathan by investing him as the President of the most populous country in Africa. Overwhelmed by his dramatic emergence as one of the most powerful individuals in the world, Jonathan, a once-shoeless little boy from the village of Otuoke in Bayelsa State, is flummoxed by the enormous power at his disposal. Of all the reasonable and positive things one can do with power, Jonathan’s convenient choice was to wield power with benevolent violations, camouflaged despotism, hypocritical simplicity and stuck-up humility.
Jonathan’s lust and desperation for power, ossified by a siege mentality that is induced by background complex, is responsible for his unseemingly approach to political orthodoxies. The Jonathan Presidency is fast losing its moral direction because of its many contentious engagements with disparate entities of the polity.  The only one the Presidency is not fighting is itself.
With the audacious and brazen looting going on in Jonathan’s administration, why should the citizenry who are the victims of the misery created by the extraordinary corruption in government, not protest or be at war with Jonathan and his team? Sampler of corruption catechisms of the administration is reproduced for emotive reflections.
The House of Representatives is already probing the NNPC for improper remittances. For instance, it was alleged that the value for crude oil sales from January to August 2013 stood at $20.7bn but the NNPC only remitted $7billion to the federation account. Now, the Jonathan ‘rats’ had swallowed $13.9bn that could be utilized for the good of the people and the country. Don’t even bother to do the naira conversion, it could be outrageous.
Speaking at the 18th Nigerian Economic Summit last year December, the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that some oil marketers fraudulently collected N232b from the Federal Government as fuel subsidy. Since last year, there has been no single conviction. Those who paid fraudulently and those who collected fraudulently are walking freely around town mocking the rest of us for our unprofitable piety.
The Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum, Rotimi Amaechi, threw another bombshell when he declared at the second annual retreat of the state chief executives that took place in Sokoto on November 16, this year that the EFCC should investigate how $5b got missing from the Excess Crude Account.  According to him, the ECA stood at $9 billion last January only to shrink to $4 billion by November 2013.
The Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah was accused of spending N255 million on just two cars. Her case has been moving from one panel to the other yet no action has been taken against her. She still goes to her office as if nothing had happened.
For the greater part of his administration’s tenure to date, Jonathan has been engaged in serious battle with the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi. Though the President has not been involved in any direct physical confrontation with Amaechi, there is no doubt that he is doing so by proxy. The Inspector General of Police, the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, the State Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu and the Minister of Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, who are the field soldiers in the Jonathan-Amaechi conflict, have been doing so at Jonathan’s behest.
Before Jonathan kicked out Timipre Sylva and invested Seriake Dickson as the governor of Bayelsa State, there was cordial relationship and peace in that part of the Niger Delta, and particularly between Bayelsa and Rivers State. But one morning, after Dickson “mounted the throne”, the people of Rivers State woke up to discover that Soku, a territory that belonged to the Kalabari Kingdom in Rivers State, had been ceded to Bayelsa by the National Boundary Commission.  Soku is the place where the Rivers people have some of their oil wells. By that cession, the oil wells of Rivers now belong to Bayelsa. When the Rivers people protested, the Federal government promised to look into it. The agreement was to keep the money accruing from the wells in an escrow account while waiting for the resolution of the territorial dispute. But astonishingly, the federal government, through some of its agencies, released Rivers State’s N17 billion in the escrow account to Bayelsa. State. Besides, for the month of October, 2013, Rivers State’s N19 billion monthly allocation from the Federation account was slashed by N5 billion. The President did all these and nobody is questioning him and challenging his arbitrariness.
Having tinkered with the harmony between the Bayelsa and Rivers people, the President took the war to his own party – PDP. Consequent upon the unacceptable actions and attitude of the Chairman of the Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, a faction tagged New Peoples Democratic Party, (nPDP) emerged within the party with the G7 boosting its membership. The faction, headed by Alhaji Kawu Baraje, comprised the governors of Rivers (Amaechi), Kwara (Abdulfatah Ahmed), Kano (Kwankwaso), Sokoto (Wamakko), Adamawa (Nyako),Niger (Aliyu) and Jigawa (Lamido).
Exhibiting its political immaturity and intolerance, the Jonathan administration’s immediate reaction was to  seal off the faction’s office, to issue demolition notices to the houses of its supporters, to revoke contracts already given to some of its members, to remove all the ministers loyal to members of the faction and to threaten the members of the faction with expulsion from the party. The President met with the G7 on two or three occasions but because there was no sincerity and commitment to the reconciliation, the meetings ended in stalemate until the faction and five of the G7 merged with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to strengthen the opposition against Jonathan’s administration.  Now to ASUU. University lecturers had been on strike since July 1, 2013. Series of meetings had been held and it looked as if the dispute was about to be resolved when the President met with ASUU national officers for almost 13 hours. But unexpectedly, ASUU came back with 3 conditions that the Federal Government must meet. Arrogantly, the government rejected the conditions and the Federal Government, through the Minister of Education Nyesom Wike, issued an ultimatum to all striking lecturers.  Amplifying Wike’s position, the President expressed his disappointment  and short of asking ASUU to prepare for war, vowed not to shift grounds except on the deadline which clashed with the burial ceremonies of Prof. Festus Iyayi of the University of Benin. Here again, the President fumbled. It is all about strategy, wisdom and approach.
Before ASUU, there was the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF). The governors’ forum was a platform for all the state governors to exchange ideas, discuss issues of mutual interest, relate together as one irrespective of party and political differences, strategize on how to approach the federal government on issues of common interest and explore the possibilities of socio-political interaction among themselves as different from integration. The President was not comfortable with Amaechi’s leadership of the NGF. Therefore, when their plan to remove Amaechi failed, Jonathan and Jang decided to paralyse the activities and operations of the NGF.
The state governors too have their own problems with the President. Their monthly revenue allocations are now regularly tampered with without explanations. Some of them lose as much as N3 billion, N4 billion, N5 billion every month and this has been affecting their capital projects and even their recurrent expenditure. Some of them cannot even meet their financial commitments to banks and contractors. Is it that the President does not understand the meaning of federalism or it is a ploy by him to force the governors to kowtow?
The Jonathan Presidency is encumbered by so many red herrings and fictional adversaries scripted by corridor parasites to exploit their principal’s obsession with maximum power. A government haunted by obstacle-siege is susceptible to political opportunism and manipulative tendencies. This is why Jonathan sees war where there is none. Every opposition is fantazied as a dangerous enemy that should be paralyzed and neutralized.
The understanding we have of leadership in Africa is purblind and shallow. Our leaders attach importance to how long they stay in office thinking that this is all that matters in history. Yet, we have seen leaders like Mahatma Ghandi, George Washington and Nelson Mandela whose sojourn in power was very short but have been treated well by history because of the quality leadership they exemplified. Some leaders never even had any encounter with political power yet they emerged favourites of history because of the ideas they propagated, the ideology they promoted and the principle they stood for. Martin Luther King (Jnr.) falls into this category. But people like Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Idi Amin of Uganda and Muamar Ghadaffi of Libya, ruled for decades only for history to record them as symbols   of evil.  Of what value to Jonathan is long tenure in power that history will justly present as a template for reprobate governance?
The Jonathan Presidency is a precedent for all that is abominable in leadership.

TheSun

ASUU: This damage is much

EMMA  OKAH

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Nigeria, founded in 1978, took over from the defunct Nigerian Association of University Teachers, which was founded in 1965. Ordinarily, ASUU, with a background of a recurring history of militancy since its formation, would have been irrelevant in Nigeria today if successive governments at both the Federal and State levels did enough to promote, fund and sustain high quality tertiary education in Nigeria.
From inception, ASUU has been in one battle or the other, traversing various regimes, military and civilian, and culminating in the present one, which like a few others before it, has hit a dangerous mark.
In all these, whenever ASUU went on strike, the nation suffered loss. Parents and students were adversely affected and disorganized. For a growing nation like Nigeria to suffer an aggregate loss of over two and a half years to avoidable strikes that completely disrupted academic activities in our campuses since 1999 till date is scandalous. For the records, the following chronology of ASUU strikes in Nigeria is worrisome.  1999 – 5 months; 2001 – 3 months; 2002 – 2 weeks; 2003/2004 – 6 months; 2005 – 3 days; 2006 – 1 week; 2007 – 3 months; 2008 – 1 week; 2009 – 4 months; 2010 – 5 months and 1 week; 2011/2012 – 3 months; and 2013 – July 3, 2013 to ???.
The truth today is that a systematic debasement of tertiary education in Nigeria over the years has taken a great toll on the economy of the nation. There is a devastating erosion of confidence in the education system and all countries of the world know this.  It has affected the political and economic image of Nigeria in a very negative light and this sad situation cannot be allowed to stay any more.
It is difficult to exonerate the ASUU or the FGN and the States in this decay that has become part of Nigeria’s malaise. How has the ASUU and indeed university lecturers protected the integrity of education? This is a national embarrassment and shame. This is a national calamity and we must tell ourselves the only truth and save the school system from irrecoverable fall. Sentiments do not come in here. Politics or party interest should have no business here. Abusing the President or the Minister of Education or ASUU President doesn’t solve the problem. It is not about President Goodluck Jonathan or his Ministers and it is not about the ASUU President Dr. Nasir Fagge. I am concerned about the deep injury the Nigerian education system is suffering. It is truly deep.
We must begin to solve our critical national problems with one heart and purpose. We must draw a line when sectional interest or political sentiments come in. We cannot toy with the future of these children because they are the backbone of the future Nigeria. No military commander can go to war with limping soldiers and win major wars. So Nigerians together must see the fall of tertiary institutions in Nigeria as a collective concern and not a political tool or a matter for ego voyage. We must address the problems and honestly face the issues so that Nigerian universities can even begin to compete with other universities in Africa.
Nigeria is a rich nation and her assets in human capital top the list but what have we done with our strength? We are rapidly inflicting loses on the economy of the nation. Many Nigerian students litter foreign universities in search of uninterrupted quality education. While the students migrate to other countries in search of better education, some tentacles of the national economy also go with them. Foreign fees are paid in foreign currencies and the nation bleeds. Statistics in 2012 show that there were 71,000 Nigerian students studying in neighbouring Ghana spending close to N160 billion. This is in addition to an earlier report in 2010 that Nigeria supports the UK education sector to the tune of N246 billion.
The case of America and Canada is not different. For two academic sessions alone Nigerians spent a whooping N137 billion for tuition and living expenses in British and American universities. While state governments fall over one another to grab foreign university education openings in other countries including the eastern bloc to the detriment of the nation, official statistics show that the FGN spent N900 million to sponsor 150 students in 2011 alone. The story is the same in several other countries where Nigerians are migrating to seek better university education and despite the huge capital flight, schooling abroad has in addition, become a status symbol for many people.
Giving the belligerence of ASUU in the present face off, many would think that only the FG share the blame in failing standards over the years and even long before President Jonathan became a Deputy Governor in Bayelsa State. While Federal universities are the responsibilities of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the same cannot be said of state owned universities who have merely joined the current strike in solidarity. It is totally immoral in a federal system of government to have state universities shut down for months in sympathy with Federal universities and we join well meaning Nigerians to condemn this reckless loss inflicted on the nation by this practice.
Many blame successive governments for these recurring failures. However, the university community especially the lecturers who populate the ASUU and hold the academic key in the universities deserve some knocks. The falling standards in education cannot only be found in the failure of infrastructure alone. Some of the lecturers have become merchants, selling handouts and using that as a condition for examination favours. Sexual harassment has become the order of the day and many complaints against lecturers are poorly investigated or no action is taking at all because of victimization from other ASUU members. Can this happen in any part of the world without sanctions?
Besides that, some of the lecturers have become typical truants and barely have time to read, prepare and impact adequate knowledge on the helpless students and all these adversely affect standards beyond the current impasse. Examination malpractices in the ivory towers have assumed alarming dimension and this could not have been possible without the active connivance of some ASUU members. The cumulative effect of these anomalies goes to the root of the quality of education that our unemployable graduates receive in the hands of some ASUU members.
This is a serious problem in our education sector and unless all the stakeholders genuinely address it beyond political considerations and the present grandstanding of ASUU, foreign education will continue to suck Nigerians to fund their local university education. This is clearly a huge loss to our economy and a great damage to our psyche.

TheSun

Two hours with PRESIDENT JOYCE BANDA of Malawi

By Funke Egbemode

She doesn’t look as tough as nails but she is. In fact, she looks good, all supple and soft as the next African woman, with the right curve in the right place. Fair, clear skin that leaves you wondering about her age bracket but that she puts paid to when she introduced her three children, all very grown up. Asked how she would describe herself, she put it quite simply, smiling: I’m an African woman. That she is, in more ways than one. Just that she is not your everyday African woman. Her name is Joyce Banda, yes the same one, Dr Joyce Banda, President of the Republic of Malawi, the second of the only two female presidents we have in Africa.
Clad in red and black boubou with a shawl sitting pat on her right shoulder (back in Malawi, that shawl is called Joyce Banda) and one simple string of pearls around her neck, you could actually mistake her for the woman next door. Until you look closely at her eyes. Even when her smile brightens her face, the eyes remain determined, like they are a different entity. Her eyes definitely are a window to her soul. Deep in them are etched her journey to the State House of Malawi. And the road was rough, bumpy, complete with attempts on her life. But she stood her ground, eyes focussed on her goal.
She introduced her husband, Justice Richard Banda. ‘He has been Minister of Justice in Swaziland and Malawi but I can tell you being First Gentleman of Malawi is his favourite job.’ Her husband smiled, shook his head at the jab.
A few jokes more and she went straight to the point.
‘African women don’t cry unless they have been watching Oprah.’ That sent us all laughing. ‘We do not cry and we cannot start now. That was what I told my daughter when she started sniffing and dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief because we did not pay her school fees on time. She was schooling in America and in that university if you failed to pay your school fees when it was due, your name went up on the notice board for all to see. She couldn’t imagine that happening to her with a Foreign Minister mum and Chief Justice dad. I asked her if she had been watching Oprah because an African woman has to do so much she has no time to cry. The challenges of an African woman are right there on her doorsteps when she wakes up. She meets them there.
‘The African woman has to deal with effects of climate change, much as a lot of people think it is an urban topic. She wants her children to have quality education. She wants her family to have access to good health care. She has to farm and take care of everybody.’
True, she has no time to be a drama queen or feel sorry for herself because after all the tears, her challenges would still be sitting pretty on her doorstep. Madam President had to live with hers until, dry-eyed, she found a solution to it.
For two years as a minister, she was not invited to Cabinet meetings. As far as her boss and former President  Bingu wa Mutharika was concerned, Banda was in the dog house. She was in political Siberia, excommunicated in a government she was supposed to be part of.
‘I was ostracized for two years and not invited to Cabinet because I objected to the former President’s decision to promote his brother. My  official vehicles were withdrawn but I  stood my ground.’
She remembers the day after her official cars were withdrawn, with a grimace.
‘Of all the pains I have had to endure as a female politician, it is the newspaper cartoons that still get to me all the time. I have failed miserably to get used to it. My husband tells me all the time to see the humour in it but I can’t. The day after my official cars were ordered withdrawn, one of the newspapers had a cartoon with me in a push-bike with the ‘village rat’ asking the ‘town rat’ what I was doing in a push-bike and the town rat replied that the push-bike was my new official means of transport. I didn’t find it funny.’
Well, the system wasn’t done with her. Since Mrs Banda refused to read the handwriting on the wall even with two years in political dog house and a ‘push-bike’ official car, an attempt was made on her life. She neither cried nor quit. Finally, realizing that there was no killing this beetle, Joyce Banda was expelled from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). And unlike most female politicians in recent or ancient  African history, Banda formed a new party. No, she did not join the opposition or retire from politics. She simply dusted herself and formed the Peoples Party (PP). Then nature stepped in. Mr Mutharika died and in accordance with the laws of Malawi, Banda was sworn in as President of  Malawi.
She promptly rolled up her sleeves, determined to make a difference. First, she sold the Presidential jet, wowing everybody within and outside Malawi. That she followed with an uncommon fight against corruption.
In her words: ‘ I am determined to ensure that Malawi does not become another example of a failed democracy. A failed democracy is where political office holders get into office and forget the people. I am determined to wean Malawi from donor dependency. I devalued the Malawian currency by 49 per cent and I am running a government that is fighting corruption on all fronts because someone has to do it. I know when you fight corruption, it fights back but that is not reason enough to fold my arms and do nothing.’
And she certainly is doing something in spite of threat to life and limbs.
‘I gave the ministers four months to tighten Malawian finances. So far, we have arrested 68 persons. We have frozen 33 accounts and repossessed houses their owners couldn’t explain.’
After unleashing different strains of blackmail on Banda, the league of corrupt men started moving their loot. They moved their monies from the bank to the houses and when Banda started searching the houses, they moved their bags of loot to their offices and then to the trunks of their cars when the offices became too hot.
‘We simply followed the money. Now I hear they are burying their loot.’ She said with the smug smile of a General sure of victory. With less than six months to election, she is still fighting the monster knowing full well she runs a risk of not getting re-elected because of her anti-corruption battle.
Her final words tell you this is one woman not spun from the regular African political wool.
‘Some African leaders have told me I’m out of my mind but even if I do not get re-elected, Malawians now know that corruption can be fought and corrupt people can go to jail.’
That is all the reward she cares for.
President Joyce Banda was the keynote speaker at the 14th session of Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe lecture series which took place last week in Lagos.

TheSun