Happenings

It is a known fact that Law Enforcement Agencies now go about their primary functions with the able assistance of criminals.

This is a reflection of the sorry state of law enforcement in Nigeria, indeed most operatives hinge their functions on blackmail, frame ups and set ups of innocent citizens , to compensate for the absence of professionals.

In 2002, several rank and file of the Nigeria Police Force engaged in extra judicial killings. This prompted calls for psychiatric tests for serving and would be recruits to flush out drunks and criminals who had infiltrated the force. The situation remains the same in 2019.

Like the Russian roulette, the circle of corruption and inefficiency has continued to recur in the police force and usually making frantic moves to spin out every police officer that assume the position of Inspector General.

Insecurity is the order of the day all over Nigeria and Nigerians insist that the lack of political will by the government of the day to make the security agencies perform optimally has led to terrorism, kidnappings, killings and violence.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that workers and the security agents are not happy as a result of alck of motivation from government. Excerpts :

What do you think is the way out of the security challenges confronting Nigeria presently ?

The Nigerian Army recently submitted that the security issue most especially in the areas of where Boko Haram holds sway and others have been discovered to be sponsored by some influential people, whose identities are yet to be declared.

If the security challenges are not traced to the root, we will continue to grope in the world of darkness to achieve nothing.

Recently, also the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Immigration Service submitted that the Nigerian borders, most especially the Northern zones are very porous, making it impossible to control the movement of the areas in and outside Nigeria.

The President equally observed and admitted that the Acting Inspector General of Police is not growing fat because the security challenges are overwhelming.

In Zamfara state, government and Emirs are looking for alternatives to vigilantes for the security measures to be more effective.

The whole scenario boils down to the fact that government needs to be decisive in taking action against any form of injustice and violation of the rule of law, through the following mitigation for eradication measures :

One, There is shortage of personnel in each of the units or departments constituting our agencies, the Nigeria Army, Air Force, Navy and their likes gives us the statistics of what a dependable unit should constitute against international standards expected with regards to the ratio of the personnel/population.

Where there is deficiency , government needs to do the needful in the areas of recruitment, equipment and adequate capacity building through the modern day techniques in line with global best practices.

The issue of state police may equally be revisited to be able to stop the continued killings in almost all states of the federation, with particular emphasis on the troubled regions.

This will equally mean the need for adequate funding.

A recent revelation by Dr. Sidi Mohammed that while soldiers who are at the battle field with the Boko Haram terrorists receive N1,000 daily , the terrorists mere participation guarantees each of them $3,000 on a daily basis, although the Army did not feel good about this observation.

Generally in Nigeria, workers are not happy including the security agents because of lack motivation from government.

For Nigeria to break even in the areas of restoration of peace, there must be a downward review of the remuneration of the political class, as well as cutting down the size of the entourage and cabinet crew for the money to be diverted for the procurement of necessary equipment, prompt payment of salaries of workers, job creation and opportunities, most especially for the youth who have already become puns in the hands of politicians and as useful tools for violence and other diabolic e acts in the hands of the enemies of the state.

Once the cost of governance is reduced and merit becomes sacrosanct in the labor market, restoration of our core values based on peace, honesty and integrity will naturally return to address the issue of insecurity. This will make the concept of keeping good neighborliness become a realizable message of hope.

Once we are able to achieve attitudinal adjustment, security agents would have less to do because good citizenry would have created a conscious awareness that everybody is a stakeholder in the quest to maintain the peace.

Keeping of the justice system and equality of access for an inclusive society will accelerate the pace of development , that would be sustainable to create a conducive atmosphere for good interpersonal relationship.

The Zimbabwe Government has for the past four months withheld  the salaries of three leaders of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), who led protests against the  Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube's austerity policies in January.​

The union leaders and others who  were  arrested in Macheke and charged with criminal nuisance, appeared in court in Marondera before their case was referred to Harare.

Before they could appear in court they were again arrested in Ruwa just 40km outside the capital, however the court  ordered their release.

President of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), secretary general Robson Chere and Mashonaland West chairperson Munyaradzi Ndawana, have however, called on workers not to be deterred by the latest action of government.

"This so-called new dispensation is using every trick in the book to curtail trade unionism in Zimbabwe, the freezing of salaries is a desperate attempt to silence our membership. We will not be cowed into submission by such cowardly acts on an anti-worker establishment, we demand salaries in US dollars or market equivalent.  Austerity measures are killing the working class and benefiting the ruling elite, we call upon the working class to rise and crush austerity.

"We are surviving on handouts from well-wishers. It's a difficult situation and cannot even afford paying school fees for our children'' they said.

While other unions seem to have adopted a different tact choosing to negotiate with government, Masaraure and his group have taken the authorities head on.

The Oyo State Fire Service has insisted that even though it has all the requirements to perform its primary functions,  it is  looking  up to the incoming administration for more assistance.

The position of the the Service was made know by its Deputy Director, Mr. Moshood Adewuyi in a chat with People.

''We are  always ready in terms of safety. Everyone grows old, so does equipment, we are looking forward to the new administration to take care of our needs. We carry out routine inspection annually. My people are at First Bank premises. The objective is to assess, recommend and implement. We also visit industrial premises, petrol stations, Media houses and several others because their compliance might be 60 per cent. We have been experiencing a reduction in fire incidents, Mr. Adewuyi noted.

He advised members of the public to always be safety conscious saying, ''Keep matches out of reach of children. Making use of handsets in petrol stations should be discourage. We are friends with the public, we are here to save lives and property. We expect  maximum cooperation whenever there are incidents, not fighting''.

The All Workers Convergence(AWC) has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a qualified person with vast experience in labour matters as Minister of Labor.

The AWC gave this advice through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

‘’What is expected from authentic leadership is to put the right persons in the right positions. People who are professionals in their particular fields, who possess not just academic qualifications but also practical experiences.’’

On Wednesday, 28 September 2011, the Federal Executive Council approved N30.066 billion for the accelerated implementation of the ‘back-end’ component of the National Identity Management System(NIMS).

The delivery date of the NIMS was December, 2013.

It should be noted that the National Identity Management Commission(NIMC) was to receive a sum of N23.074 billion, in the last quarter of 2011, for the procurement of the redesigned multi-application National Identity Card.

Before this time, the National Identity Card Scheme executed by SAGEM was a failure.

The NIMC Act №23 of 2007 mandated the NIMC to establish a reliable, secure and ‘scalable’ identity management system that makes use of advance Bio-metrics technologies to identify every individual in Nigeria in unique ways.

Despite the colossal amount government has expended on the project, most Nigerians, who have registered have only laminated papers to present where necessary.

Although choice brand of papers serve the same purpose, on a condition that negotiated payments are made to the relevant officials.

The insinuation is that the laminated papers are just open cover ups for the failed project.

The expectations of Nigerians were that , upon completion of registration, physical cards would be issued. This is not the case.

At the NIMC registration center at the University College Hospital(UCH)Ibadan, Nigerians are made to pay N100.00 for the registration form, while N500.00 is the amount for the change of name after registration and other unspecified fees for the lamination of the registration slip. There are other hidden fees.

The NIMC officials also instruct people to write their Bank Verification Numbers(BVN) on the form. Nigerians want to know the reason why this is so ?

Of worry, is the rude behavior exhibited by the NIMC officials in a sizable number of centers, which over time has discouraged several Nigerians from having faith in the project.

Indeed, NIMC proudly insists that over the years, it has issued out millions of the National Identification Numbers(NIN), even though it has continuously avoided making categorical statements on the Identity Cards.

Nigerians have the impression that the project is one among several white elephant projects of government.

The Tanzania Government is set to take over 15  privatized enterprises due to non performance.

According to the  Minister for Industry and Trade Joseph Kakunda, who made this known recently, the government would also take over 33 others this May, if they failed to submit their investment reports.

The Minister expressed worry over the distress situation of 68 enterprises, amone which some have already closed shop.

Some time in March, the Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Constantine Kanyasu ,  warned that  the government would take over  some privatized hotels and lodges over alleged mismanagement and poor handling of tourists and visitors.

"The ownership of the hotels will be shifted to other investors who are ready to manage them in the interest of promoting tourism,"  Kanyasu stated.

20 years ago, the government privatized 176 public firms under the World Bank-funded Presidential Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC).

The signing into law of the N30,000 new national minimum wage by President Muhammadu Buhari was received with joy by all Nigerians, especially workers and their dependents. Even though workers are not too comfortable with the consensus method of picking leaders of their unions.

The leaders who emerged via consensus and the 36 state Governors would in the coming weeks,to a great extent, determine how long this joy will last.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that Nigerian workers think of only themselves at the detriment of retirees and other Nigerians. Excerpts :

Do you think workers in the states of the federation have any cause to rejoice over the signing into law of the N30,000 new national minimum wage by President Buhari ?

Generally workers are expected to celebrate the so called N30,000 new national minimum wage in the preciseness of unsustainable economy with poor growth rate, that has no impact on the general lives of the people.

Workers are expected to be holistic, fighting for the cause of the welfare of the people and the structural effects of our democracy, that is yet to be achieved.

Injustice and inequality, marginalization and equity challenges are supposed to be in place before Nigeria and its states can have peace and development that may be sustainable and beneficial to all.

I would have expected that the workers’ unions fight the cause of the retirees and the issue of unpaid salary arrears, before vigorously embarking the satiation for the increase in the minimum wage.

This is because fighting for an holistic cause is expected to be step wise and developmental, which implies that we expect that no state government should be able to stay in power without been confronted every week with the workers’ agitation on these issues; to force them to reason that it was only through the peoples’ mandate in democracy that they had been able to get into the juicy positions of power.

Unfortunately, Nigerian workers became selfish, limiting themselves to the cause of those people in service only, at least ensuring that all states comply rationally with the old minimum wage would have made a good level playing ground to fight for the increase.

State Governors under our democratic dispensation have only succeeded in impoverishing the people, most especially their children-graduates-majority of whom are made to roam the streets aimlessly thereby becoming nuisances.

Most state Governments in Nigeria have over the years failed to ensure that the environment is habitable .

Even though the state governments introduced task forces to enforce environmental regulations and expended large sums of money on sanitation, the environment in most states still remain dirty.

Interestingly, Waste Management Boards in the states have done little or nothing to improve the worrisome situation.

However, the boards have been up beat in seemingly generating revenue for government, despite the poor state of the environment.

Of worry, is the recycling of quack ideas, which has resulted in the conversion of the multi-billion Naira Ogunpa River Channelization scheme in Ibadan, Oyo state to a major refuse dump.

No doubt the negative habits of the people have for long been a major factor that has contributed to the poor state of the environment, just as government seeks solace in its feeble efforts to reverse the ugly trend.

Heaps of refuse at every available space constitute a major feature in most cities.

Indeed, the irregular payment of salaries by state Governments, has further encouraged public servants to compromise environmental laws for monetary gains.

Sadly, environmental mismanagement in all its ramification has resulted in unreported cases of bad health conditions, with origins from identified environmental nuisances.

It should be noted that most state governments have displayed the lack of political will to decisively enforce policies on the environment.

Political considerations have, not surprisingly, overwhelmed the governance abilities of a sizable number of political office holders, to the extent that the absurd is now the order of the day.

For instance, in the Olorunsogo, Molete area of Ibadan a landlady of a two storey building, Mrs. Ajayi and her tenants of №5 Kehinde Aderibigbe street, have for several years converted the building beside theirs(№3) to a refuse dump, where they also deposit excreta.

Even though the Environmental Health Officers in charge of the community are aware of the ugly development, monetary considerations have beclouded their quest for professionalism.

Without doubt, governance cannot go on smoothly in a dirty environment, especially when lawlessness and criminality are the trend. This is the situation in most states of the federation.