30 July, 2013

45 killed by Boko Haram

45 killed in Kano on Monday night Boko Haram should try and come to the negotiation table. This bloodletting must stop now.This their holy month should be used to pursue peace.They may not negotiate out of fear but should never fear to negotiate.

27 July, 2013

Naija FRSC AND YOU

The Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC) was created in February 1988 through Decree No.45 and amended by Decree No. 35 of 1992.This was after Nigeria came second after Ethiopia as the most Road Traffic Accident prone(RTA) nations in the world.It was saddled with the responsibility of preventing or minimising accidents on the highways,clearing obstructions on the highways,determining and enforcing speed limits,conducting researches into causes of motor accidents and methods of preventing them and putting into use the result of such researches etc etc. If the Commission is preforming these statutory responsibilities to satisfactorily is a moot point. I believe the raison detre for setting up the outfit which is mainly to stem the tide of needless carnage occasioned by road accidents on our highways has been derailed. Alas, the outfit seems to have lost track of this core objective instead focussing on the ridiculous and the downright mundane. It has now become the proverbial herbalist leaving the leprous part to treat the common ringworm.Pray, how can one explain the concentration of personnel within the metropolis just to apprehend drivers that do not use seatbelts while lives are being lost on the inter state roads. I believe if the Commission has a research department statistics would show that the number of people dying within our city limits is negligible compared with those travelling on journeys.How many people have been thrown out of their vehicles because they did not use their seatbelts within our cities. The commission should come up with the numbers if they have the statistics.The constant go-slow in our cities would not make for such speed as to throw a driver pit of his windscreen.I make bold to say using seatbelts within the town or city is cosmetic to say the least. It smacks of laziness see FRSC Officers manning roadblocks right in front of their office premises.One would think the highway would be a netter place to deploy limited personnel. The FRSC also operates like the customs, Federal Inland Revenue Service etc by making money for the government(and themselves in the process).You pay N2000 for failure to put on your seatbelt for example. The various fines should be reviewed downwards they are exorbitant and punitive. This is not the commission's brief. Its brief is to stop the carnage and deaths on our roads.Punishment should not be monetised.I have never seen the commission personnel use a speed gun. I sincerely doubt if most even know what a speed gun is not to talk of how to operate one. It is also painful to experience the pains one goes through in order to acquire or renew a drivers' license. The process is supposed to be online and seamless but the reality is anything but that. What should cost N6350 will cost you the positive side of N8500 quasi officially after much stress. Getting your image captured is a lesson in patience as the capture machine is always on perpetual recess.For the past 2 months I have been on the waiting list to be captured.Capturing one's image is a herculean task for the capturing machine it seems. The whole process of the FRSC needs to be overhauled. The personnel need to be reorientated as to the core objectives of the corps. All efforts should be geared towards minimising the deaths on our roads due to road accidents. On a final note the FRSC would do well to return to its core objectives as it was in its days of yore when the masses rose up to resist the proposed merger with the Nigeria Police Force during the Abacha regime.

24 July, 2013

On Your Own in Naija

I just Sat Down a Little While ago To Ponder On The so Called Social Contract Of The Nigeria State with Its Citizens. My Conclusion Is That The Contract Is Non Existent. Taking A Critical Look At Daily Life And The Social Circumstance One Would Come To The Conclusion That there Is A Woeful Lack Of government Positive Intervention In The Everyday Life Of The Average Nigerian Citizen. To Put The Point Across Let Us consider This Scenario. You wake up one Bright Morning without Electricity as usual. In Order To Prepare Your Children For School You Had To Put On The Generator. A Sizeable Part Of Your Monthly Income Is Devoted To Servicing The monster and buying fuel,Oil etc. On Your Way To The your Way out Of Your Street Or Estate You Go Through The Road Your Community Repaired The Previous Weekend. The members of the residents association filled In The Gaping Potholes The last Environmental Day After Repeated Appeals To The Government Met With Stony Silence. You Dropped off Your Children In Their Private School. In Order To Prevent Your Children Staying At Home Due To The Incessant strikes Embarked upon by The schools Labour Union You Had To Make the Financial Sacrifice To Educate Them In Private Schools. At The close Of Work you Come Home To Be let Into Your Street By The Private Security guards The Residents are Paying To Guarantee Security During The Day And Night. The Police Force Is Not Dependable.You call Them During Emergencies Only To Be Told Their Police Van Is Broken Down Or Without Petrol. On Entering Your house You go Straight To The Kitchen to Wash Your Hands. Except the Tap Is Dry. No Water Comes Out Of The Faucet. You Remember That You Have Not Pumped Water From Your Well Or borehole To The Overhead Tank. The Public Water Supply Is Non Existent As the Corporation Exists Only On Paper. In The first Place No water Pipe Is Laid Into Your Area By The Water Agency so How Earth Can you Ever Get Water Supply Into Your Home. You Have To Put On Your Generator In order To Pump Water Into Your Overhead Tank. Now Tell Me What The Government Is Supposed To Do For You. We Are Our Own Government. "Think Not What Your Country Can Do For You But What You Can Do For Your Country" Is A Saying Credited To The Former American President John F.Kennedy. I believe He Was Not Referring To A Situation The Country Sits On Her Hands And Watch The Citizen Do Every Thing For Themselves Without Positive Government Intervention.

23 July, 2013

Heads Do not roll in Naija

It is alarming The Rate At Which Fraud Of Mind Boggling Proportions Are Daily Being uncovered In official Circles. Today, The latest News Is That The Federal Government Has Uncovered And Recovered N34b From Illegal MDAs Accounts. We Are Talking Here Of A Billion Naira In thirty-four Places.This Sum Is Humongous To Say The Least.This Amount Has The Capacity To Turn Cities In The Nation Into Mini Heavens. Gone Were The Days When We Used To Hear Of Thousands And Millions Being Embezzled By those In Government. The In Thing Now is Billions. The thinking Is That Millions Are No Longer Worth The Effort. What With The Payment Of Senior Advocates Of Nigeria(SANs)for their Legal Fees To fight Your Battle In Court.Also Factor In the Greasing Of Palms Of court Officials And The like. The bill May run Into hundreds Of Million Naira By The Time The Court Proceedings Are Settled.If You Want To Have Something Tangible Left After All These It Will Do You a Lot Of Good To Steal As Much As Possible. At Least That Is The Theory. A Yoruba proverb says If the child Has The lips to Cover its buck Tooth It May Go Ahead And Grow One.Transposing That Proverb Into The Nigeria corruption Milieu, The lips Is Equivalent To A Corrupt Person Going scot-Free.The Stubborn Child is the Corrupt Public Officer. The Onus Is On The Government Not To Provide The Lips(Read The Environment Of Impunity) which The Child(Corrupt Officer) Will Use To Cover their Wrongdoing. Whither The Case Of Iyabo Obasanjo And Co,Bankole, Farouk Lawan, Babangida's S12b etc. There Is No Gainsaying The Fact That James Onanefe Ibori would Have Been Freed Had He Been Tried In Nigeria. Civil Servants Have Since perfected The Art Of Making Money Disappear From Their Politrician (Sic) Comrade Don't Forget The Pension Thief was also Freed By The Nigeria Court with Nothing But A Slap On The Wrist(or Was it A touch to The Wrist.The Great Ambivalence, Prevarication and lip Service been Paid to The Vexing Issue Of Corruption Must Stop Henceforth. Nigeria Is Currently The 35th Most Corrupt Nation In The World According To Transparency International, TI. Countries Like Benin Republic,Mali,Niger,Togo ranked Higher. Corruption, According To TI "Destroy Lives And Communities And Undermines Countries and Institutions. It Generates popular Anger That Threatens To Further destabilises Societies and Exacerbate Violent conflicts". Corruption "Leads To Failure In The delivery Of basic Services Like education Or healthcare. It Derails the Building Of Essential Infrastructure as Corrupt Leaders skim Funds" To Stop Or At Best Slow Down The Brisk March Of Corruption In Nigeria Corrupt people Must not only Be Made examples Of But Must Be Seen To Have Been Made Examples Of. The Era Of Impunity Must Stop Forthwith. We Are Tired Of Being Regaled Daily With one jaw Dropping Tales Of Corruption Or The Other. Late Pini Jason Postulated A Theory In The Eighties. He Said the Noise Of A Nigeria Is Directly Proportional To His Distance From the Opportunity to Steal Public funds. The Nearer He Gets To The opportunity The Less the Noise he makes.Was He Right? Is Corruption In The Average Nigerian Blood? I Dare To Say No!

20 July, 2013

Show of Shame in Senate

A Show Of Shame Recently Played Out In The Nigeria Senate.The Drama Had to do with the age at which a Female is deemed to be biologically and psychologically matured. The Nigeria Constitution alludes to 18 Years. However On The Floor Of the Senate On 16 July 2013 During The Constitutional Amendment Vote Some Northern Senators Led by Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima nearly Marred The Exercise.The Kennel Of Their Grouse Is 18 Years Should Not Be The Age Of Maturity For A Female In Nigeria. It Is Instructive To Note That It Is This Self same Senator That Was Accused Of Marrying A Thirteen (13)year Old Egyptian Child Way Back In 2009. As It Stands eighteen(18) Years Is The Age Of Maturity For A Female In Nigeria. The Gospel According To Senator Ahmed Rufai Sani Yerima And His Co Travellers is That Once A Female Is Married She Is Of Age. That Is To Say If She Married At Twelve, For Example,then She Is Matured. Yerima,Representing Zamfara West, Is An Unrepentant Advocate Of Child Marriage Basing His Argument On Islamic Teachings And Practice. Born 22 July 1960, The Senator And His Ilk Should Be More Circumspect And Proactive In Dealing With Today's Challenges. Paedophilia Has No Place In Today's Reality. Marrying A Child IS Raping The Child.In a Region That Has A Very High Rate Of VesicoViginaFistula one Would Have expected The Distinguished Senator To Toe The Path Of moral Rectitude . According to USAID more Than 200,000 Nigerian Women Suffer From The Scourge Of VVF. This Figure Represents About 40% Of World Cases Of the Scourge. With 12,000 Women Developing VVF Each Year In Nigeria One Would Have Expected The senator And His Cohorts To Be More Socially Responsible. A Child is A Child Either Married Or Not.Lowering The Age Of Maturity For A Female Will Only exacerbate The The High Incidence Of Diseases,Mental Illness,female school Drop out Rate.Marrying A Child Is No More Than Marrying A Domestic Plaything to Be Used To Pander To The Sexual Fantasies Of Some one Usually Old Enough To Be Her Grandfather. We Are Not Living In A Troglodytic Society Anymore. Lets Call A Spade A Spade.A Child Is A Child Whichever Way You May Want To Look At It.

19 July, 2013

The four Horsemen

The Visit Of the Four Northern Governors To Rivers State Has Come And Gone But The Controversies It Engendered Still Lingers. The Visit Has been Interpreted In diverse ways according To The Where One Stands In The Political divide. Some Say It Was A Visit By BH to PH. Others that Amaechi Is In Need Of Friends In High Places especially now hat he is embattled politically. It Is however curious that these Governors had never deemed it fit to pay solidarity visit to any Southern State for the routine killing Of Their Kith And Kins Up North. By The Boko Haramites. This Is More So Given The Fact That No One Single soul Has Been Lost In Rivers State As A Result Of The Political Logjam Currently Playing Out In The state. On the Face Value The Visit Would Have Been In Order But For The Fact That A Worse Scenario Is Been Played Out In Their Very Backyard. One Of The August Visitor Even Have A State Of Emergency currently splapped On His State Due to the Murderous Activities Of the Boko Haram In His State. I Believe This Is Akin To A Situation Where One Is Busy Removing A speck From Another's Eye While A Log Is Right There In One's Very Eyes. Physician Heal Thyself. These Northern Four Horsemen Have More Than Enough On Their Plates Per The Boko Haram Insurgency Or maybe they think not. Their visit To River State is Anything but Altruistic. It Is about 2015.No More No Less. The Jostling Has Begun In full Force. They See In Amaechi a Checkmate To President Goodluck Perceived Intention To Run for Presidency Come 2015. Amaechi Is The Cat's Paw. Amaechi will Do well To Watch His Back. He Should Beware Of Fair Weather Friends Playing Out Their Secret Political agenda And Permutations.

17 July, 2013

Naija Justice

The High Court sentenced him to death, the Appeal Court freed him of all charges. I believe something is wrong with Justice in al-Mustapha's case. The two verdicts are both extremes.One thought his 'sins' were too much as to warran tdeath while the other believe Mustapha is spick and span and without blemish. It would have been laughable were it not a serious issue of life and death. So had it been there was no appeal he would've been killed for what the Appeal Court counted as no wrongdoing. Methink the Judiciary should pause & ponder the case as it sends a wrong signal to the public. Anyway, It Has Been Said Been Found Not Guilty Does Not Equal To Been Found Innocent. It May Have To Do With The Law Of Evidence And How The Prosecution Went About Proving Its Case. Or The Prosecution May Deliberately Bungle The Case Due To Reasons That Are Not Farfetched.

Intro

Hi My Peeps. Welcome to my World. This Blog Is Primarily My thoughts On Happenings In Naija. However,the Whole World Will Be My Catchment Area. I do hope you gain something from my blog even as you catch fun. Feel free to Give me Feedback As Often As Possible. Have a great Day. Ciao!