Happenings

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In the middle of dwindling oil revenue, the Federal and State Governments in Nigeria have resorted to loans and bonds to promote national prosperity, efficient, dynamic, and self-reliant economy. Sadly, the details, repayment plans, terms, and conditions of the loans taken are not in the public domain, as regards accountability. The insinuation is that the government intends to trade off the assets it used to secure the loans. Of worry is the fact that the management and operation of the major sectors of the economy are in bad shape, with most states looking up to the center for their survival. In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head, and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines the Federal and State Governments should publish the terms and conditions of all loans to allay the Fear of Nigerians on the country's debt status. Excerpts :

Do you think the decision of the Federal and State Governments to resort to loans and bonds to promote national prosperity, efficient, dynamic, and self-reliant economy is in the best interest of Nigerians?

For Nigerians to be dynamically buoyant into prosperity, the structure on ground that is full of loopholes and leakages for corruption and self-enrichment may not be feasible if the crop of people in governance to date continues to be recycled.

Taking loans and bonds in and environment of indiscipline, impunity and corruption may not make the dream to be feasible. The socio-divine principle of transparency and accountability in transaction calls for public knowledge of government finances-domestic or foreign loans-and any aspect of government business activities.  If we allow this in governance, it would create an enabling environment to criticize decisions in the offing. In the process, such as the Nigeria/Cina loan conditions, questions like the following would arise to save the next generation of government from possible future embarrassment. 1) Feasibility of the payback period. 2)Payback conditions-stringent or otherwise. 3) Respect for the Nigerian content law. 4) Due process demand on follow up questions must be examined too.

The Federal Government is, therefore, required to go through the protocol of the Debt Management Office(DMO) which represents the position of the Nigerian constitution.

Section 21(1) of the Act(2003) is clear on this: That no external loans shall be approved or obtained by any Minister unless its terms and conditions shall have been laid before the National Assembly and approved by its resolution: Anything different from the above-stated process should be regarded as been fraught with hidden agenda by the organs of process operations that are not playing their roles well. It is unfortunate that Nigerians, generally, to date are facing economic hardships amidst accumulated debts, perhaps because of corruption. For example, our debt profile rose from $12.18 Trillion in 2015 to $27.40 Trillion in 2019. In the year 2020 alone, the total debt incurred as approved by the National Assembly for the President is about a total of $28 billion, but without a commensurate improvement in the quality of lives of the people of Nigeria.

We are yet to have economic liberation and political freedom if we are to go by all the lacks and no access, even of basic needs.

The country is now divided into a democratic process with two extreme dividends-kleptocracy by the few rich and poverty by the majority of the population!

  The following considerations are sacrosanct to taking the loans-1) Consider the needs of the people, seek for their consent, and carry them along on the implications of the terms and conditions attached to taking the loans. 2) Respect the local content agreement that some type of jobs that are no too technical and the aspects that do not require the transfer of technology must be handled by Nigerians to solve our unemployment challenges. The need for the Federal Government of Nigeria to publish the status and the terms and conditions of repaying outstanding loans, collected and inherited, including the China/Nigeria loan deal that is currently attracting controversial reactions with clear monitoring mechanism in place to monitor the way and manner it is to be spent on the various projects attached to the loans. Ii would be of interest to Nigerians if this template could be extended to all outstanding loans that have become the country's debts. This will allay the fears or give all Nigerians the reason to reject further borrowing by the present administration or the next, so as to have a bequeathable legacy of sustainable development rather than a game of deceit that would continue to impoverish the masses and the environment. 

The Federal Government of Nigeria and the management of universities have been called upon to render assistance to patent owners in the country’s higher institutions.

This call was made recently by Prof. V.O Adetimirin of the Department of Agronomy, the University of Ibadan at a program organized by the College of Medicine of the University.

‘’We have peculiar challenges, I think we are not doing enough. Patent owners should be assisted in the process of commercialization. Once this is done people will start running after the university’’, Prof. Adetimirin asserted.

The university don lamented that it was very difficult to obtain funding, for the purpose of commercializing patents, form the university and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund(TETFund), just as he stated that this was discouraging and saddening.

Government at all levels and educational institutions have for so long shied away from investing in patents for inexplicable reasons, even though millions of Nigerians are of the views that government ought to encourage its manpower through the funding of innovations and inventions.

Prof. Adetimirin is the inventor of the super sweet corn.

Peace and development are highly essential in achieving peaceful co-existence  among people of diverse opinions,  tribal inclinations, ethnic leanings and segregated economic classes. Social justice and regulatory policies are equally vital enabling environment for development and peaceful co-existence. Unfortunately, they hardly exist in many nations where we experience insurgence, war, agitations and violence that not only lead to value erosion  and disruption of ethical principles.  The summary of it all, is individual attitudinal challenges bothering on moral laxity of institutional indiscipline.

Reviving all agents of socialization on this to help arrest the situation and restore values is a task that must be given attention by every stakeholder, parents, religious houses and the media are inclusive. This will help us have disciplined people with high moral consciousness in all our challenging leadership positions, civil servants and government in particular, to role model organizational and professional ethics into people's psyche for the purpose of achieving and putting in place the culture of ethical practices to be able to live exemplary lifestyles. The Holy Bible, Prov. 25 : 28, emphasizes that  without moral discipline one becomes  vulnerable to acts of waywardness and frivolities just like Nigeria  with porous borders, where foreigners come in with ease to take up sensitive positions  of power, in the process looting without conscience and raping with impunity, in addition to maiming and killing defenseless Nigerians.

The Holy Prophet Mohammad from the Islamic perspective emphasizes that the bedrock of any jihad is that of moral discipline. On this submission, Jesus Christ in Matt. 5 :19 asserts  that good citizenship reflects in the ability to obey   the rules of law and live by its code of conduct; otherwise one would become anti-societal  and would be vulnerable to punishment  in the hands of the l;aw and that such a person will equally be rejected in the kingdom of God.

The implication of this, is that apart from becoming sinful, the society would perceive the individual as a criminal.

Unfortunately in Nigeria, criminals are  celebrated and they mostly preferred to occupy sensitive positions  of power, by this, we murder peace and development. 

The Holy Prophet Mohammad was admonished by Allah  in the Holy Quaran to be scripture compliant  as an exemplar and this is attested to in the various verses of the Holy Quaran. For example Quaran 6 : 162-163,''''Truly my prayer and my service, my life and my death, are all for Allah, the Cherisher of the world no partner art He : this am I commanded and I am the first of those  who submit to His will to be  qualified and regarded as a Muslim. The almighty equally commanded that the whole world must follow the foot steps of  the Holy Prophet Mohammad as an exemplar''. In Quaran 33 : 21 and 33 : 46, the almighty Allah identifys  himself with im that he is the one who made Mohammad ad one  who invites  to Allah's grace by His leave, and as  a lamb spreading light. For the above reasons the Holy Prophet Mohammad was able  to declare the following as parting gift to mankind, '' two things I am leaving behind, the Holy Quaran which a a compendium of  the word of God for human affairs  to be well regulated (Sunnatallahi). I am equally leaving behind my Toreeq or Sunnat, if you follow the two religiously, that is to the letter, you will never be misguided neither will you go astray. Al these are the challenges before I and you  as mortals, to live exemplary lifestyles without impunity but consciously based on moral discipline. We are supposed to be either true Christians or true Muslims as well as  adherents of all considered worthy religions whose doctrines or tenets are based on God and Godliness, light and good character that can present us as a race living upon the principle of love  they neighbor  as thyself. Be morally conscious.

Prof. Sabitu Olagoke

Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide,Wakajaiye, Ibadan, Nigeria

Seven young Namibian mothers have established a mask factory.

The mothers  made this possible through funding from 'DREAMS'  a United States funded project.

According to Dorin Gases  who is just  18 : “This has been a life-changing experience. We can become a little bit more independent to look after our kids.

We are young women with other dreams too, and this can help us afford further education which we couldn't before,”

DREAMS is a project which aims to prevent new HIV infections in adolescent girls and young women.
It stands for determined, resilient, empowered, AIDs-free, mentored and safe.

The other young mothers are  Imerencia Nowases (21), Monica Ipwaakena (24), Julia Elias (24), Ndapewashali Americu (20), Ester Naidila (21) and Enrica Goagoses (21).

In every human interaction, the time element is consequential. There is a moral issue surrounding the idea of time and its management. If any system is to survive to a sustainable level, the time element has to be highly respected. For example, in creation, the almighty Allah set a time frame for himself to complete the challenging task of creation.

From the perspective of the Holy Quaran 57 : 4 ‘’ He it is who created the heaven and the earth in six days. Then after he established himself on the throne…..'' The above implies, the job was highly satisfactory for the almighty Allah to set a parable of quality and standard, tested and trusted before assuming and adopting for use.

In our own reality of life the time element is trivialized in our attitude towards work and in fulfilling the covenant of timely delivery of the rendered service to the disappointment of whoever must have given us the opportunity of winning such contract, forgetting that successful productivity process is a function of the time element involved to avoid lose of goodwill for the industry or the establishment. In the same vein when we make promises or get into an oath of commitment we must not lose the sight of respecting the contracted time element otherwise associated disappointment may lead into unwarranted feud that may snowball into avenging through killing because the time element associated with the contract was not respected not to talk of been fulfilled. This is why there is the saying, respect for time is the soul of business. The nation is losing a lot of goodwill in the Ministries, Departments, Agencies and Parastatals because of our poor attitude to work, whereby six out of the eight working hours are wasted on gossiping at the expense of work output and the accompanying salaries which in most cases are fixed without any regard for the volume of work done, not to talk of the expected standard and quality. The politicians forming government do not even care about institutionalizing respect for the culture of having regard and respect for the time element as a function of good production index. Is it not a challenge for humans to submit that the lesser animals respect time in everything they do, just like the almighty Allah respect the time frame in His benevolent mystery of creation. For example in Quaran 13 : 8 ‘’ Allah doth know what every female womb doth bear, by how much the womb fall short of their time or number or do exceed. Every single thing is with him in due proportion.’’

For humans the gestation period is for 9 months, for the hen, the incubation period is 21 days. The respect for time frame is a manifestation of the fact that the person is highly disciplined when he makes a promise or take to an oath he would never disappoint and when such people are given an opportunity to serve they would go about it through arousing conscience which is sacrosanct to service delivery to the satisfactory end without default.

The Holy Bible makes us to realize that there is a right time for everything and everything on earth would happen at the right time. Eccl. 3 :1–8 proffers that we manage our lives through minimax theory of managing time of events. When they are good we maximize to sustain and when they are bad we regulate and control to minimize or eradicate through timely intervention because of the elements of bearing, planting , healing, building, laughing, dancing out of joy, peace, achievements and love are good elements of life that would ever nurture the nature of man into buoyant and glorious success of development.

However, the elements of death, destruction , crime, sadness, war and hate are equally elements of life associated with disappointment which may brew darkness into the life of any mortal for untimely death. When time is therefore respected in going about activities by the Muslims ‘ respect for the observance of solat or prayer or our general ability to participate in rescuing other people’s life from ruin through timely intervention based upon the concept of philanthropy, caring and sharing, one is easily thrown into an ecstasy of getting fulfilled with the attendant joy and happiness radiating love on our faces. Let us be timely in doing our jobs for us to be Godly in our religious exercises as disciplined and morally conscious persons.

Two things are very germane in the functionality of the religious sector for it to serve the expected responsibility of promoting the culture of institutional discipline, moral uprightness and consistence arousal in ensuring that due process of the fear of God is followed in discharging individual or collective duties of whatever capacity of operation we may find ourselves . They are the adherents of every religion and their places of worship. For the adherents, a high level of piety based on the factors of reliability and dependability which equally are functions of the individual’s integrity which equally anchors on the soul purification essence from all evil thoughts and body preservation from sins and crimes for them to be eligible to enter their houses of God.

The Holy Quaran 4 : 17–18 refers ‘’ Allah accept the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and repent, soon afterwards will Allah turn in mercy : for Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom. 

However, of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil, until death faces one of them and he says ‘’now have I repent indeed’’, nor of those who die rejecting faith : for them have we prepared a chastisement most grievous.’’

On the statues of every house of God, the state of sacredness is equally germane, if we need to go by the demand of God on this, through Quaran 9 : 17–18 ‘’It is not for such as join gods and goddesses or associating partners with Allah, to maintain the mosques(house of God)of Allah while they witness against their own souls to infidelity.

The works of such bear no fruit : in fire shall they dwell.

Therefore, the mosque of Allah or the house of God, shall be visited and maintained by such as believe in Allah. It is they who are expected to be on true guidance.

A general view in the situation of many houses of God and the adherents show a negative compliance with affronts, effrontery and defiant impunity, making a good God/man relation to be elusive in the land and making the inhabitants or humanity generally, to be vulnerable or susceptible to various unwarranted attacks-visible and invisible.

The Holy Bible, 1 Cor. 13–13 makes this particular submission that there is faith in the name of religion and hope through just worship only in realizing the dividends of religious practice.

However, the only condition under which this design of God can be sustainably beneficial is an environment of love, unfortunately, humanity is daily faced with challenges of hostilities making us to be people of blurred visions with ignorant politics of deceit that is usually consuming people, making all efforts to be thrown into the dustbin of waste.

There is a dire need therefore, for all clerics to go back to the drawing board to revisit their curricula of the scriptures and restrategize to teach the adherents and the society objectively without bias of any sort in order that we are able to reawaken all agents of socialization to be alive to their God given responsibilities. No religion teaches evil, no scripture does mislead.

 For sanity to reign let us all fear God to be able to put up exemplary lifestyles.

Prof. Sabitu Olagoke

Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide,Wakajaiye, Ibadan, Nigeria

The Federal and State Governments have been called upon  to emulate  the Akwa Ibom state Government by giving tax waivers to Nigerians.

This call was made by the All Workers Convergence(AWC),through its National Coordinator,Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

''The AWC calls on the Federal Government to emulate the Akwa Ibom state Government by giving tax holiday to workers and all those in businesses badly affected  by the coronavirus pandemic. Government should for once  show signs of commitment to the people and reduce hardships, suffering and exploitation of the people knowing fully well that government never supported tax payers during the lock down as was the case in other countries,'' Comrade Emelieze noted.