The blind man showed me the way

The sight of the event kept me wandering if he was really blind, the encounter took me back to the dictionary to check if my definition of disability is actually correct. If a blind man can confidently lead a man with not one eye but two, then who is the disabled. Trust me my place of primary assignment is getting more and more interesting by the day.

By the way, it may interest you to know where I was posted for my primary assignment. It is the Enugu state special education school, now, the word special in the name of the school simply meant that it is place for the challenged students- the blind, deaf and dumb to be more specific. When I first saw it on my posting letter at the parade ground on the passing out day, I was angry but I summon courage from within to overcome every scorn from other corp member, soon, I became so proud of it that I began to shout it on the roof top- I am posted to SPECIAL SCHOOL!

However, when I got to the school, I was out rightly rejected, that sounded interesting because I already had another alternative, the police college was ready to accept me with a decent accommodation of 2 bedroom flat and full responsibilities for my health insurance but I was ready to dare the impossible, I wanted to serve indeed, I really want to know and feel what it feels never to be able to recognize colours, to know how it feels to have so much to say but limited in speech, to see people getting excited by what they hear but never understands the reason for their laughter.

Now I’m deviating from the matter, how the blind man led the way. A blind man came to our school after a long period and he was having difficulty locating the exact place where he was going. It was exactly at this time that he met me, he simply ask “ hello, can you please help me to Mrs Igbokwe’s place?” I hesitated and I answered, “ I just arrived yesterday sir, I practically don’t know anywhere here” he said he was very sure the bungalow is somewhere around where we stand, that made my work easier, there are two buildings there, the one on the right is a classroom so the one on the left must be for Mrs. Ogbokwe. While I was still ruminating over this, another blind woman appeared holding the hand of a blind man and leading him to Mrs. Igbokwe’s residence, hmm, what a coincidence!. To cut the story short the same woman offered to help my new friend and they all insisted that I follow them to know the place. Although I had my two eyes, they showed the way, even in their sightlessness.

A KING DETHRONED BY AREA BOYS

Ha! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the city of ashkeloth, except on the blog of Alofun Oluwatayo, otherwise the daughters of philistine might rejoice. How are the mighty fallen their weapon of war seized by mere hoodlums. It is with great disappointment and heart full regret that I stand here today to tell you about how our King was dethroned, not by the kingmakers with the use of empty calabash as it used to be in the days of old but with area boys. O ma se o !

Hmm!!!, wonders shall never end! can you imagine? The paramount ruler of Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State, his royal highness Effiong Mbukpa, was on Wednesday beaten and chased out of his palace by thugs allegedly sponsored by the factional kingmakers (Muris) contesting the throne.

Intelligent report has it that the factional group of the kingmakers invaded the palace with suspected area boys when Mbukpa and the Palace Secretary, Godwin Bassey, who is also the Secretary of Efut Combined Assembly, were having a meeting. The group allegedly broke into the palace, destroyed the monarch’s royal stool removed his cap, his cell phones, broke his portrait and carted away documents from the office of the palace secretary.

Well, the spokesman for the group, Maurice Eyo, however denied that they entered the palace with thugs, claiming that their position was that Mbukpa, who he described as an imposter, should not parade himself as the paramount ruler. He said, “The people that entered here first were the army, and the Department of Public Transportation, they entered here first. Nobody can say that we entered here with thugs. We should have not invited the army if we wanted to enter here with thugs.“We would not have invited the police, and the navy. We invited them because we wanted peace and sanity that is why they entered first.”

Efforts of the state Security Adviser, who told the Muris to go with him to the office of the State Commissioner of Police were rebuffed as they told him that it was a traditional matter and that government should not have any business with it.

Good point, that is the part of the story that I like, if the matter was really traditional, they should have simply employ the method of empty calabash to send the king to the celestial abode or better still, employ the gods to remove him and replace him with the right man.

Narrating his ordeal, the monarch said the thugs he alleged were sponsored by one of the claimants to the throne, Prof. Ita Hogan, came with the cover of security agents to beat him up and destroyed his property.”

Mbukpa alleged that the factional group took the action because Chairman of the state Traditional Council had advised the group to use force to take over the palace, adding that the police witnessed what happened.

Waoh! What is happening, I remember thatIn those days, the kings are feared, their word is authority, in fact, they are called the second in command to the gods, if a king is not dead another will never rise, however, the entrance of civilization has changed so many things, in fact if I’m not also comfortable with the reign of my king today… I know what to do. KABIYESI O

The arrest of 13 Journalists, a professional assault

Ehn!… wait o, let me guess, it must be a joke right? Of course we can’t be serious. Not one, not two, not ten, in fact, not even a dozen, 13 able bodied men, sorry, not just mere men, 13 members of the fourth estate of the realm (journalists) were publicly insulted, assaulted and eventually arrested at the Ikeja magistrate court, Kai, heaven wept!

Top profile journalists like Wale Busari, a judiciary correspondent with Silverbird Television, was grabbed by the clothes and dragged away. Ha! Everyone must hear this.

That is not all, as if that wasn’t enough, his resistance from arrest led other judiciary workers in the area to clamp down on other journalists, which included Francis Iwuchukwu of Peoples Daily, Henry Ojeluh of PM News/The News, Yejide Gbenga-Ogundare of the Nigerian Tribune, Solomon Asowata of the News Agency of Nigeria and Akinwale Akintunde of Thisday. Others were Yetunde Ayobami-Ojo of The Guardian, Nurudeen Oyewole of Daily Trust, Shola Shoyele, Channels Television; Gbenga Shoyele, Nigerian Compass; Ranti Thomas,  Moment Newspapers; Bisi Onanuga, The Nation; and Yemi Adebanjo,  News Star newspapers.

To add insult to the most painful part of the injury, the camera of the Channels Television camera man, who was recording the incident got was seized.

What really happened? how did it get to that point, that my brothers, protectors of democracy and public interested were publicly treated like criminals without any regard for the dignity of their profession of all things at least. From the report, a female prosecutor, identified as Rose had raised her voice and asked journalists who were along the court corridor to vacate the place. An argument subsequently ensued between the prosecutor and the journalists as the latter urged the prosecutor to be civil in her approach. Simple ethical request! But Magistrate A.A Oshoniyi, whose attention was drawn by the argument, made the simple request into a simply complex one by ordering the immediate arrest of the journalists.

Although, following the intervention of the Court Registrar, Mr. Ganiu Safari, and officials of the Nigeria Bar Association, Ikeja branch, Police Area Commander, Mr. Noah Adesoyin, later released them, there are a couple of dangling questions waiting impatiently for answers.

What on earth could be so bad that journalists who are supposed to be the fourth arm of the government were treated like mere everyday criminals, whatever is the situation, a simple caution and peaceful resolution will do, not an arrest?

Again, another question is, will the release of these journalists be the end of the public show of shame that the journalism was subjected to? One key thing that the journalist Unions and Associations must understand is this; that insult is not against the 13 journalists in their individual capacities, it is an institutional insult on the profession, it is a signal of total disregard for the media, it is a mess of everything we mean as custodians of truth, it is a professional assault and must be treated as such.

ORITSEJAFOR'S POLICY UPGRADE ON RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

By Pastor Ladi Thompson

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) – the umbrella body of all Christians in Nigeria – has since its inception embraced dialogue as the primary form of resolution to disruptions in general and religious crisis in particular. Historical records will show that CAN has taken its stand at the forefront of the platforms of religious dialogue to promote peaceful conflict resolution from the inception of our nation. This position was stoically maintained at great costs to the Christian community as we chose to bear the burden of being the victimized rather than stoke the fires of disaffection in Nigeria.

Our consistent policy of religious dialogue was based upon the fundamentals of our faith which exhorts us to “Follow peace with all men” and also, we unequivocally subscribe to Article 18 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration on Human Rights which states that, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

Over the decades the Christian Association of Nigeria had observed a definite pattern to the disruptions. Perhaps undetectable at close quarters our internal study reports spanning the existence of Nigeria clearly revealed a gradual escalation of intelligent, premeditated propagation of sustained violence against the sovereignty of Nigeria with the total annihilation of the Christian Church as one of its primary targets. What had been misdiagnosed for years as religious conflicts could then be clearly seen as an ancient strain of Islamism (not conventional Islam) that had flourished undetected for centuries. The unchanged goal of the ancient scourge being the total eradication of religious liberty, a suppression of women's rights and the imposition of a totalitarian ideology across the length and breadth of Nigeria.

As a former British prime minister said while receiving the US Congressional Gold Medal in 2003, “The spread of freedom is the best security for the free. It is our last line of defence and our first line of attack. And just as the terrorist seeks to divide humanity in hate, so we have to unify it around an idea. And that idea is liberty. We must find the strength to fight for this idea and the compassion to make it universal. Abraham Lincoln said: ‘Those that deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.’ And it is this sense of justice that makes moral the love of liberty. In some cases where our security is under direct threat, we will have recourse to arms. In others, it will be by force of reason.”

Research studies commissioned by the CAN presidency of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor also noted the increase in the sophistication and logistics of the attacks. Crude spears and machetes had given way to high velocity machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and high tech incendiaries replete with remote detonation devices are now in use. Suggestive immigration patterns were unearthed with evidence of foreign infiltration and financial backing. When these were factored with evidence of complicity in state organs designed to protect citizens rights and clear patterns of obfuscation of justice even in instances where the government backed panels and commissions of inquiry published called for the prosecution of known offenders. (the importation of bombs by unknown person under the umbrella of the Nigerian Police Force and a few other cases may be cited) The CAN presidency of Ayo Oritsejafor was left with no option but to arrive at a reasonable conclusion that Nigeria had become the target of a coalition of international terror organizations merged with the local vestiges of an ancient strain of Islamism. His fears were soon confirmed by open admission of certain Islamist groups operating within Nigerian borders. Successive governments spanning the years of military rule to the present democratic structures had been in denial for years but the spate of merciless bombings and terror mongering that has been witnessed elicited an admission from the government of Nigeria.

 Again quoting former Prime Minister Blair, “The terrorists and the states that support them don't have large armies or precision weapons; they don't need them. Their weapon is chaos.”

This is precisely the situation in Nigeria – the terrorists and their allies are getting more successful at creating chaos – religious, political, economic and social – in several parts of Nigeria. If we keep it in focus that the eradication of religious plurality is one of their primary targets we would all understand the gravity of the Christian concern in Nigeria. The current president of CAN was forced to raise an alarm when the situation worsened and it became obvious that the Nigerian government was not swift to present any acceptable or creditable plan to protect the Christians and Muslim moderates that were being targeted by the Islamist coalitions. From the systematic and sustained attacks on non-Muslims the casualty figures  would approach genocidal proportions if nothing concrete is done. There are many lessons that can be gleaned from the experience of Southern Sudan where the displacement sequence claimed three million lives before the international community paid adequate attention. The evidence of "intelligent" Islamist moles in the rank and file of our institutions was further confirmed by the insidious campaign of calumny that followed the announcements made by the CAN president that non-Muslims were permitted to defend their lives if and when threatened by terrorists. The massive and well-funded Islamist propaganda campaign tried to smear his reputation to no avail.

The threat to national security and religious freedom is great and there is the need to redefine our strategy, if we are to survive. We have observed that the religious dialogue platforms have been severely compromised and foreign funding was being employed to stage "religious pantomimes" that served to propagate the myths of religious disturbances instead of admitting the reality of Islamist terror in Nigeria. An African proverb says that the dance steps must change when the drum pattern is changed! We dare say that the Islamist vanguard in Nigeria have become ardent supporters of the "religious dialogue policy" because it helps to perfume and cover their tracks. Strategic consultations have also revealed Islamist doctrines of deception and other devices that deny a level playing field.

It is for this reason that the CAN president has consistently demanded an upgrade of the "religious dialogue" platforms to "progressive religious dialogue" where the overall effects of the exercises are monitored both locally and internationally with the inclusion of seasoned arbitrators if need be. This shift is again in concordance with biblical injunctions that is the truth that makes free and principles upheld by the United Nations.

After the September 9, 2011, attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and also the July 7th and 21st 2005 bombings in London, the world woke up to the reality of a new kind of threat and the necessity of a new kind of response. It became clear that there had to be proactive and decisive action if Western civilization would continue unhindered. An unprecedented kind of evil had arrived on the scene and an alliance had to be built around a consensus on the necessity of containing and eliminating it. The progress the world has made since then is a result of this decisiveness on the part of Western leaders to keep the world safe for all peoples. Africa is also asking that the same yardstick needs to be applied to the same threat on our continent.

Taking a cue from recent history and also from accounts of threats to the existence of people groups all over the world, the church in Nigeria seeks to build an alliance around a similar consensus – the need to identify and isolate the individuals, groups and countries who form the Islamist coalition that threaten the continued wellbeing of Christians in Nigeria.  This is all that Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor is asking for on behalf of the tens of millions of Nigerian Christians under his care. The specter of an Islamist Nigeria is not something that this world can afford and we are prepared to work with anyone that will assist in ensuring that uniform justice is applied across the board. Compensation must be paid to those who have suffered needlessly whether they be Christians or Muslim moderates. The Nigerian government must work to prevent an Islamist hijack of its mandate. The senseless massacres must cease and religious freedom must be preserved. This is what "progressive religious dialogue" is all about and CAN will cooperate with all religious bodies, international concerns and governments that will work to find a lasting and peaceful solution to the real and present danger. We desire strategic partnerships that will work to identify, isolate and prosecute those behind the Islamist programs and are prepared to imbibe appropriate methodologies of international arbitration and diplomacy required to protect the lives and rights of our citizenry.

Church Universities: Diary of their deeds

The last time, i wrote about church Universities, today i want to take a step further by giving you the diary of the various varsities, then after reading through you can decide if they are for God or for Gold. Winners’ Chapel’s Covenant University
It is regarded as one of the best universities in the country, built on expansive land somewhere along Idi-Iroko road, Ota, inside the premises of the headquarters of the Living Faith Church Mission or Winners’ Chapel as it’s called. Though the founder and leader of the church, Bishop David Oyedepo had at different time stated that he did not collect money from the church to erect the structure, many are of the opinion that the claims of the bishop may be far from the truth as he was not known to be doing any other work apart from the one he’s doing in the church. The school which was built with the assistance of people God sent to help the ministry, as most pastors claim, was supposed to help give quality education to children of every member of the church, but the case is that the church’s school ended up being one of the most expensive schools in the country, with school fees ranging from between N300,000 and N450,000, which makes it not a school for the child of an average member of the church. 
Baptist Church’s Bowen University 
 It is one of the oldest church-owned universities in Nigeria. The university, which is in Iwo town in Osun State, was built by the Nigerian Baptist Convention headed by the Secretary-General, Reverend (Dr.) Olasupo Ayokunle. Like other church-owned universities, it was the belief that it would help educate ordinary members of the church as well as the rich. But it seems the school is now a school for the rich, as the school fees are between N400,000 and N500,000. 
Christ Apostolic Church’s Joseph Ayo Babalola University
It is one of the newest church-owned universities. Information revealed that the church, led by Pastor E H L Olusheye, collected offerings and donations from the congregation towards the building of the school, only for the school to become something that is beyond the people that contributed towards its construction. The school fees, it was revealed, go for nothing less than N300,000 per session. 
Anglican Church of Nigeria’s Ajayi Crowther University Coming from a church that has a huge number of the society’s so-called elite, many would have expected them to have done all in their power to make quality education accessible to members of the church as they were mostly products of cheap or even free, quality education. But investigation revealed that the school’s tuition fee goes for between N350,000 and N500,000 per session, thereby dashing the hope of many members of the church who felt Ajayi Crowther was a product of free education and that the institution named after him would provide affordable, quality education for them. 
 Catholic Church’s Madonna University 
It is the oldest church-owned university in Nigeria and it belongs to the oldest church in Nigeria, the Catholic Church, a church known for its philanthropy and its care for the needy. Many would have expected that the church would make education easier for the congregation but investigation revealed that the fees at the church-owned Madonna go for between N300,000 and N350,000. Apostolic Faith’s Crawford University 
This university which belongs to a church which is known for it principle on the way things should be done and with the population of most of the members tilting comfortably towards the average income earning ordinary Nigerian, people would have expected they would take into consideration their congregation while fixing the school fees but the N350,000 or more, depending the course of study, does not seem to justify this position. Redeemed Christian Church of God’s Redeemers’ University The church is one of the largest in the country. There is a saying that there is a Redeemed Church every one or two poles to another, which invariably means it is a church for the masses who cannot afford to send their children to any of the private schools in town. But it is appalling that the church has chosen not to put into consideration the majority of its congregation by competing with other schools out there. It has fixed its school fees for between N325,000 and N400,000 per session, which makes it not a school for the masses, against what the church is to the people.
Hmmm, church Universities, for God or for Gold?

Church Universities: For God or for Gold?

The rate at which churches and other religious organisations are building universities in Nigeria in recent time really calls for concerns and inquiries. Most importantly due to the many issues surrounding the so call church varsities ranging from who are the students to other questions like whom the establishment of the schools favours, could the this be a new chapter in the short literature of patriotism in Nigeria or another page in the voluminous book of ‘cabalocracy’-an establishment of a cabal by members of the same cabal and for the cabal. For the records, it is important to note that that the early missionaries who brought Christianity to Nigeria brought also with it the western education, more worthy of note is the fact that as far back as 1864 at the CMS grammar school under the tutelage of Mr. Claudius Philips, the missionaries then started teaching the able bodied men and they were taught and fed free right under the supervision of the missionaries as a way of fostering the gospel. History also revealed that they were issued their employment letters immediately they finished their education. Such was the romance between western education and the gospel just in the fall of yesteryears before we closed our eyes, one thing led to another and we open our eyes to discover that first there is proliferation of churches in our nation and all of them are trying to help the pitiable condition of wreck that the national leadership has made education to become, unfortunately not all of them can actually help. Then comes the crises that must be resolved, with virtually all the churches trying to open one university or another, the question is could all of these moves still be for God or some are for gold. To start with, I dare to say that with the minimum wage set at N18,000, the cost of school fees in church Universities are rather high. As much as I agree that with the current situation of the economy in the nation and the cost of running the academic environment, education cannot be free. In fact, if anyone thinks education is free let him try ignorance. However, let us be sincere, how many average members of these churches can afford to send their children to the same school that was built with their offering along with the offering of other members, are there any considerations for the poor and average citizens. How many students of such varsity are on scholarships provided by the school? Even if the scholarship is not for everybody, at least for the church members whom I believe are stakeholders too. As much as believe that these Universities are not supposed to run a charity home, it is clear that their services are not for average Nigerians, if this is however confirmed, the next question will be what is the major source of funding for these University, can it be separated from church account, the answer is definitely a capital no, the next question will be of what immediate benefit are these institutions to the church members who are the major source of the funds that set up the institution, practically none! So, these church universities, are they really for God, for Gold or for both?

21 things you will need for NYSC camp

Despite the many controversies surrounding the compulsory National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) programme, the batch A set of the 2012 NYSC members are without any atom or molecule of pride getting ready and most of them cannot wait for march 6 to come. Though it is less than two weeks from now yet it seems to everyone like a thousand year including my humble self, However, proper preparation they say prevents poor performance, to this end, there are certain thing that every corper should be prepared to bring along without which the corper may be as good as stranded at the military camp, sorry I mean to say orientation camp. For the three week ritual, you are certainly going to need the following  Your Bible/Quran  4 white shorts  2 white T-shirts  1 torchlight  1 slippers  2 toilet soap  1 set of cutlery  1 food cooler  2 set of white socks  Travelling bag  A jotter  2 plain trousers  2 shirts  4 boxers  1 shoe  2 shaving sticks  Tooth brush/chewing stick  Extra white tennis  Detergent/ bar soap.  Camera (optional)  Extra cash

A National insanity

In my little years of walking through the different streets of the different states of Nigeria, I have come across mad people of different ages, sex and race and for every moment I see them I could only take pity on them and pray that God will have mercy on their soul. In all of these my walk, I have never come across a group of mad people flocking together like sheep without shephered but since the end of age is near I heard of one recently.Though not physically present, I was told that in Zambia, Prostitutes in Lusaka’s Kanyama, John Laing, Chawama and Kalingalinga compounds offered themselves free of charge to every Jim and Jack as part of their celebration after Zambia beat Ghana 1-0 at the Nations Cup. A check at nightclubs such as Kanyama’s Kanchembele and Chine Chikayeba found long queues of men waiting to have sex with a limited number of prostitutes. A single prostitute served nearly 11 men and there were more than 200 men wanting to celebrate Zambia’s first qualification to the Africa Cup final since 1994 in style. The situation was the same at John Laing’s Corogo night Club which is situated just opposite John Laing Basic School. But with a better madness in action at Corogo, a man in his mid twenties was beaten up after he took long to attain orgasm when his turn to have sex with the prostitute came.In all of these, a soccer fan, who claimed not have taken part in the ‘mass servicing’ of prostitutes, said the development was unfortunate, hearing this I was getting interested that at least, one of the people is not totally mad but the last straw that broke the Carmel’s back was when Mike Tembo suspected that many young people might have contracted the HIV virus and other STIs during the ‘sexual celebration ’and said “I think when Zambia plays the final, free condoms need to be provided so that we can protect our young men. Many of them had sex with the prostitutes without condoms,” Now I know that this is a general state of madness, and like I usually do whenever I see mad people on the road, let us keep praying that God will have mercy on them.

NYSC: SERVICE MISSION OR SUICIDE MISSION

Prior to the 2011 election, I had written an article titled ‘Serving their fatherland’, through subsequent events that graced the year many people concluded that I was more than a journalist and like the days of our lord Jesus Christ they said I must be one of the prophets although that was not the case but that is a case for another day. So, as I was saying, through the article, I had condemn the move of General Tsigha, the then director of NYSC for choosing to send 400,000 corp members on such suicide mission under the pretense of electoral services to their fatherland. They refused; they employed all the available tricks in a fireman bag of arm including an empty promise of tight security, free and fair election. So, like a dog fated to get lost who will not yield the hunters whistle, INEC along with NYSC embarked on their collaboration, while corpers were the victim.

The general election, which promised to be the most apprehensive event turned out to be a cause for joy until the results of the presidential elections were announced. This was because the announcement of the presidential election was greeted with public disturbance and violence in some states in the North. The violence involved the killing of some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who were on election duty. This however did not prevent both local and foreign observers from declaring the elections as largely free and fair. A lot of encomiums were showered on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its leadership. For the corp members who became fallen heroes, someone even said it was their destiny to die, although he came back to amend his speech but what difference does it make.

Now, another defining feature of 2011 is the intense terrorist bombings by the Boko Haram group. The first recorded of such attack by the group was in 2004 at Kannama, another major attack was on 26 July, 2009, when it launched a mass uprising with an attack on a police station in Bauchi State, starting a five-day uprising that spread to Maiduguri and elsewhere. The group however, became more daring and adopted more sophisticated weapons and tactics, including suicide bombings. The group bombed the headquarters of The Nigeria Police in Abuja on 16 June, 2011, the United Nations Building in Abuja on 26 August, 2011, and Saint Theresa’s Catholic Church at Madalla on Christmas Day. Over 25 attacks for which the group claimed responsibility were recorded in 2011. More recently the peaceful commercial city of Kano was besieged by the deadly group killing hundreds of innocent soul and still counting.

To this end, on 25^th January, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members also storm the Headquarters office in Abuja for redeployment. They were the Batch “B” 2011 members that were posted to Kano and some other northern states insisting on redeployment to other region. More importantly, they urged the NYSC management to stop further posting to Adamawa, Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi and Niger, in particular. The management of the NYSC urged the corps members seeking redeployment to return to their states of origin after filling the redeployment form. The Special Adviser to the NYSC Director-General, Alhaji Musa Abubakar said: “The NYSC does not have any right to deprive any corps member of his or her right.

Well said by the NYSC director, the NYSC does not have right to deny any citizen their rights to life including my humble self, I suddenly remember that I am also a prospective corp member and that my life is also at stake if I’m posted to the Northern part of Nigeria. What the NYSC administrator and the federal government must understand are many.

First, the corp members are a vulnerable set of people, they can be easily recognized and they are assumed to be government children, for people who are angry with the government, killing corpers is a way of dealing with the government. Again, the safety of the corp members is not just about avoiding crises labeled states of the north, it is about the northern states of Nigeria militating against non-northern citizen, in my opinion therefore, corp members should not be allowed to go to any northern state for now-whether peaceful like the old Kano or violent like Maiduguri, otherwise, this noble service mission may again turn into a suicide mission.

POWER MUST CHANGE VOICE

Praise the Lord? Halleluyah, i say praise, praise, praise the Lord, Hallelujah, people of God i am here today to testify to the goodness of God, Amen? Amen! some few days ago i was just a chairman of editorial booard of our newspaper- CONSCIENCE NURTURED IN TRUTH, but today the lord has promoted me to the post of Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity.

Well, some jealous people are beginning to say all sort of things, some said i am strongly in support of the removal of fuel subsidy today as opposed to those days when i was just a chairman of editorial board, well, before i explained what happened let me read to your a copy of my opposition article of those days;

 

It must be a joke, right? The proposed plan by the Federal Government to fully deregulate the downstream sector and remove the remaining subsidy on petroleum products. When the news first broke during the week, Nigerians were told that a committee had been set up to be led by the Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, with a mandate to work out an action-plan and a time-table for implementation and consult with stakeholders.

The mischief and dishonesty are obvious: why set up a committee to seek the input of stakeholders when a final decision has already been taken? ... The Global Recession Committee should take another look at its proposal, it should pay close attention to public responses. No matter how attractive the removal of subsidy in the downstream sector may be, this is not the time to do it. And this is not how to go about it. Now again we pay the price for poor leadership. What is being planned is provocative. It is an invitation to chaos

—Reuben Abati

 

Well, people of God, if you must know, nothing is wrong with me, the inconsistency in my opinion is simply because of my change of status, when you are in Rome you must act like Romans, perhaps after my tenure as the president’s spokesperson I may resume my contradictory views but what you must understand right now is that power has changed hands just like the name of our ministry. Amen?.... Amen!!!

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SANUSI

Good morning class! Good morning sir!!, thank you, I am pastor SANUSI LAMIDO SANUSI, I am your new economics lecturer, unlike my predecessor, Prof SOLUDO who was an academic I will like to use the preaching method, in this class nobody knows anything except me, you must not ask any question about whatever I tell you because I can never be wrong. You can ask the HOD, Deaconess ALLISON MADUKWE or the Dean of this faculty prophetess OKONJO IWEALA or even the Vice chancellor, his holiness, Arch Bishop GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN,  they can all bear witness to my risk management skill. Today our topic is FUEL SUBSIDY what did I call it? So listen up;
The nationwide strike against government's removal of fuel subsidy is costing the economy about N100 billion ($617million) daily. I  expect inflation to rise to about 14 to15 per cent by the middle of this year, up from its current position of 10.5 percent, due to the impact of subsidy removal.“ Clearly inflation was always going to go up with the removal of subsidy. I think what we've seen is the immediate shock impact of a sudden removal and things will settle down.  It took us  one and half to two years from 2009 to come down to single-digit from 15.6 percent. I think a realistic target if we actually hit 15 percent, I think we will be looking at end of 2013 before we come back to single-digits, i think it's time to make a deal, any kind of compromise should have a final deadline for removal of subsidy ,I also want to suggest the option of keeping fuel price at N100 per litre and phasing out subsidies. But I insist that the details should be left to the government and labour to decide.

Meanwhile, Sanusi while I’m advocating for an agreement between the Federal Government and labour which would bring about gradual removal of the subsidy, said: “Look, the Federal Government can continue paying subsidy at N65 per litre for a while. I am not saying that it is not economically possible for that to be done, but speaking as a Nigerian, I will like to see a win-win situation.”, “I will like to see a situation in which the government shifts a little and breaks this policy into one or two instalment and I will also like a situation in which Nigerians also shift a little and understand that we cannot continue to have a Father Christmas kind of situation. If we continue doing this today, our children are going to pay for it. End of sermon!!!
Preach on pastor, we are enjoying the sermon, in all sincerity, who am I to speak when the only learned person has spoken but I only need to point the attention of the CBN guru to a couple of things.
First, the Nigerian war is not just against subsidy, it is against an extravagant and inconsiderate government. The presidency is talking about subsidy and sacrifice and yet budgeting N1.8b to maintain ‘existing furniture, office and residential quarters’, N1.7b for travel (N724m domestic, N951m international), a ministry has budgeted N2.5b for ‘citizens call centers’ whilst the ministry of agriculture has budgeted N1.2b to incorporate commodity marketing companies. Stationery, refreshments and snacks in the presidency will consume about N2b, miscellaneous spending by the presidential villa alone totals about N1.7b for food, honorarium and something called welfare packages. The SGF and head of service will also receive over N2.5b for miscellaneous expenses including about N300m for welfare and N270m for security votes. These are nothing but misplaced spending priorities! If we say Nigeria needs money because we are broke, the question is how did we get to that point? Simple- the reckless spending of our leaders, then why are we being forced to pay for it? Yet they are going about it in such an arrogant way as if it is time for us to pay for our sins. If the government of Jonathan under the advisory of Sanusi has chosen to help us, it is our fundamental human right to either accept the help or not.
Again the federal government is losing billions of naira to the NLC strike, the federal government in five days has lost an amount that is more than the total subsidy for one year and yet does not care to stop the strike by listening to the voice of the people, there can only be two things involved, it is either the government have a hidden agenda that is beyond this subsidy or that it is another chapter of the government’s prodigal expenditure. If we are actually as broke as the government claimed that we are, how does the same government hope to make up for the financially loss that we have made during this strike?
Finally, to say that if subsidy is not removed our great grandchildren will never be free from paying debts is a terminological inexactitude, what on earth is wrong with subsidy? With subsidy, in Venezuela, the fuel price is N3.61 and the minimum wage is N95,639, in Kuwait, the fuel price is N34.54 and the minimum wage is N161, 461; in Saudi Arabia the fuel price is N25.12 while the minimum wage is N99,237; in Qatar it is N34.54 and their wage is N101,250. Even in Libya, the price is N26.69 and the minimum wage is N23,813 but in Nigeria, not all the 36 states have enforced the N18,000 minimum wage and we are set to move the price of fuel from N65 to N140-N200. Why is our own case just so different? If you say it is corruption but I have heard us say it times without number that Nigeria is not the only corrupt country and that corruption is everywhere in the world, so how have these people being able to manage their own.

My one word advice for pastor Lamido is to look beyond figures and face the political reality of the Nigerian state, if he can combine the Knowledge of that political reality with his economic facts we will sure move forward otherwise we would only have succeded in turning Nigeria into an ECONOMICS 101 class where Sanusi is the lecturer, Okonjo Iweala is the Dean of faculty and his holiness bishop Jonathan as the Vice chancellor.