The man returns after all
President Muhammadu Buhari returned last Friday to the country after 50 days in London where he had gone to spend his vacation. The holiday that was to last for few days was extended twice on the advice of his physicians. While there, rumours went viral that the Katsina-born president had kicked the bucket. These were followed by an avalanche of rebuttals from his handlers and some chieftains of his party who paid him a visit in London. Even when it was announced that the President would return Friday, many people doubted the possibility. What the entire episode tells us is that there is a serious problem in Nigeria. There is a total discontent in the land, so much that the man on the street is heaping curses on the ruling class for making his life hell in Nigeria. He laments over the destruction of the country and the inability of those in power to live up to the promises made during the electioneering campaigns. What transpired during Buhari’s sojourn in London is also an evidence that the country is not one and government is very secretive. Any government that thrives on lies and half-truths cannot get a better result than the speculations that made waves while the President’s vacation lasted. That it was difficult for President Buhari to speak to Nigerians, with the advancement in information and communication technology (ICT) leaves a very sour taste. I hope we would learn a lesson or two from what has happened. Welcome back home Mr. President.
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A good step
The move by the Federal Government to revamp the rail system is hugely commendable. The Goodluck Jonathan administration did a bunch in this regard and Sketches is happy that the Muhammadu Buhari administration is running with that vision. May I sincerely commend President Buhari, the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and all those who are doing everything possible to ensure that the rail system is revived in the country. Last Tuesday, the Federal Government performed a ground-breaking ceremony of the Segment 11; Lagos-Ibadan of the Kano Standard gauge rail project which it said would be ready by December 2018. The near-death status of the rail system in the country is a sad commentary to those of us who enjoyed train as a means of transportation, when it was efficient. I come from a part of the country where the rail line passed my father’s backyard. In those days, my parents used to calculate the time of the day from the schedule of movements of trains. Women who went to the farm would determine when to return home by calculating the time particular train would pass our area. And they were never wrong. In those days, farm produce in my village moved from Umuezu station to Omoba to Aba and to Port Harcourt, or from Umuezu to Nbawsi to Umuahia to Enugu. While as an undergraduate student at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), I used to board train from Umuezu to Enugu each time I was going back to school. A younger cousin of mine, Chijioke Nwosu, now a cleric, who shared a room with me in 112 B2, Alvan Ikoku Hall, used to enjoy the ride with me. While on the coach, we would be singing great hymns to the admiration of co-travellers. At every station the train stopped we would alight to buy what was unique and trending in the area. In some places, it’s sugar cane; some places, it’s nicely fried big ‘akara’ (bean cakes), and in some places, bananas. It was real fun. But all of a sudden, the system collapsed, train disappeared and was operating only like ‘Abiku’ (come today, die tomorrow). Today, the young ones in my village no longer enjoy similar experience. So, I am up for any step government may take to return us to that great experience of yesteryear. May their hands not slack in this project.
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Is Imo not in the S/East counter-terrorism plan?
A few days ago, four states out of the five in the South East geo-political zone gathered in Enugu to articulate the modalities for the implementation of National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST). It was reported Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states, excluding only Imo, signed into the arrangement. The NACTEST is a Federal Government project which some states other than S/East have also signed into. While it may be hasty to draw any conclusion as to why Imo State is missing on that all-important list, it is however, necessary to urge the political leaders in the South East to close ranks, political party differences, notwithstanding.
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OBJ Vs Fayose: The face off continues
Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president and Ayo Fayose, Ekiti State governor, have never been best of friends. During the tenure of Obasanjo as president, Fayose was sacked as governor. The experience did not go down well with Fayose, who saw the Ota farmer as an enemy. But at a point, it was said that the Ekiti State governor wrote to the former head of state pleading for forgiveness. He was also said to have begged Obasanjo to intervene in his bid to rejoin the PDP in 2012. Pardon was said to have been granted then and forgiveness obtained. But it appears that another face off is in the offing. Fayose was quoted as saying that Obasanjo should return, with interest, the N10 million donation he claimed he made to the former president’s library project in 2005. According to Fayose, the 30 governors on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at that time were allegedly compelled to donate N10million each in 2005 to the multibillion naira project, which he described as the greatest fraud ever. Observers believe that there are other secrets that need to be revealed on what transpired between Obasanjo and the governors in that era. It is said that secrets are revealed when partners in crime engage themselves in quarrel. How would a poor man in Ekiti have known that their common wealth was dashed out to a wealthy man who needed no help? Fayose, along with other governors at that time engaged in the business of “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” We believe that there are many more sinister deals that thrived in those days of the “Kings” that deserve a chronicle to be written on them. So, let the controversy rage on.
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Hmm, FG returns to Jonathan’s despised Almajiri school project
It was shocking to hear that part of the documents released last week by the Federal Government on its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) contains a plan to build 125 schools for Almajirai and nomads. It was shocking because, how could a government begin to contemplate this project just two years after the Jonathan administration made a huge effort in that direction, which was however, despised. It would be recalled that former President Jonathan, sensing his apparent rejection in the North and his receding rating over the initial handling of the case of the abducted Chibok Girls, he wanted to please the North at all cost. He built about 50 schools for the Almajirai, thinking that would help purchase him a return ticket. While he was still in the saddle, commendations greeted the projects, but as soon as he left office, even those who supported the projects began to castigate him, mocking the projects. They said the Almajiri school project exaggerated the Almajiri phenomenon in the North. They wondered if the children that would pass through such schools would be willing to boldly say they attended Almajiri school. They said it’s demeaning and ridiculous. Today, we are going back to that same “demeaning and ridiculous” projects. What is really happening?
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Is Customs grandstanding?
At least for the first time in a very long while, Nigerians saw a vibrant Senate last week defending the masses against the new customs duty policy on old vehicles. The Customs had issued a threat to Nigerians who it claimed did not pay duties on their vehicles, saying it would begin to impound the vehicles after the expiration of one month of grace. But the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria found it curious that the vehicle duty that should be collected at the border or ports where the vehicles are cleared is now being blamed on end users. The Senate believes that to send Customs officers to the streets and highways to way-lay motorists is not proper when that problem should have been sorted out at the point of entry of the vehicles. Bala Na’Allah, Senate deputy leader, took exception to the Customs’ new policy, describing it as “a serious matter.” Senator Dino Melaye saw a monkey in the new arrangement, and lashed out at the Customs. He said the agency was promoting corruption in the system. According to Melaye, “The new policy is a celebration of incompetence and exhibition of failure. And you cannot ask Nigerians to pay for your incompetence and failure.”
Melaye also reasoned that it is wrong for Customs to try to collect on the street what it ought to collect at the ports, adding that “if the Customs man the borders the way they should, we should not be talking about the new policy now.”
However, it could be that the Customs also has a good case given the huge target on its neck and the quest to meet this target may have been responsible for certain policies. The matter must be critically looked into in such a way as not to jeopardise the duties of the agency or increase the agony of Nigerians through unnecessary harassment.
