THE STATE OF NATION: NIGERIA, A COUNTRY AT CROSSROADS; A PEOPLE IN EXCRUCAITING PAINS AN ECONOMY MOVING STEEPLY INTO RECESSION

Coming to terms with the reality of the present times, it is very glaring that our country, Nigeria, is at a dangerous precipice with the present economic repression characterized by the increased sufferings and excruciating pains of the ordinary poor, working and toiling people who constitute the majority.

 

The skyrocketing increases in the cost of the very basic needs of life; from food to water, fuel to health services, dwindling income to rapidly increasing unemployment and under-employment rate etc. all stem from the progressively receding economy that stare us as a people in the face so boldly.

 

The economy of the country prior to the present steep recession had been rudderless or directionless and this is in spite of the fact that the indicators were there for the handlers of the Nigerian economy to see before it assumed the recent dimensions.

 

And because there seems to be no direction, because the economy seems to be at best on autopilot, and at worst under the spell of a powerful magician, the problems emanating from the cesspool of the past keep rearing their ugly monstrous heads, becoming ever more resilient as they expand in scope and scale.

 

Overwhelmed by the scale of the rot it inherited on assumption of power, and clearly fazed by the enormity of the task at hand, the present ‘change’ regime keeps reminding us at the slightest hint of any difficulty that the humongous maladministration and impunity of the recent past is the cause of our present problems. This worn out lazy excuse has become so monotonous and routine, that each time they speak now; they sound like broken records/audio CDs.

 

While the government have busied itself with flying excuses around; from past sharp and corrupt practices to fall in the price of international price of crude oil to the freefall of the naira against the dollar etc. the economy has moved from being directionless straight towards recession or a ‘melt-down’.

 

Let it be said that we know where we are coming from, we know where the rain started beating us, and we know when the rain became a raging storm; but isn’t that why we voted out that sorry excuse for a government? Was that not why we agreed and chorused ‘enough is enough’? Isn’t that the reason we sent that most parasitic of governments parking from power and Aso Rock? Was that not why we embraced the amorphous and ill-defined change?

As a country, it is time to move beyond excuses and expression of frustrations; the government needs to eschew lamentations and come up with pragmatic and practical ways out of the present precipitous economic recession as the situation call for extraordinary measures. Lamenting and agonizing over the past will not automatically translate into inclusive economic growth and national development, without a clearly articulated, debated and shared economic and human development plan of action.

 

THE CRISES OVER WAGES, SALARIES AND EMOLUMENTS OF WORKERS AND PENSIONERS

 

It is sad that many states in the country at the moment owe their workers several months in salaries, wages and pensions. Government at different levels has unashamedly expressed ‘inability’ or should we say lack of willingness to pay giving very untenable reasons. This is against the background of government and political office holders’ jumbo salaries and allowance packages plus their characteristic manner of wasteful spending and misplacement of priorities that put their self-aggrandizing interests over that of the workers that create the wealth of the country.

 

This situation is totally unacceptable and condemnable! From the Residents doctors’ nation-wide strike to workers’ strike in Ondo and Ekiti States, which has now infested federal health workers, from the pensioners plight in Imo state to the mass-quake in Oyo state, the whole country appear to be engulfed by the anger of the working people following the failure of government to pay for legitimately earned wages, salaries and emoluments.

 

This failure to pay is very reprehensible particularly where the states are concerned given that the Federal Government had earlier in the year given bail-out funds to some states that couldn’t pay their workers to facilitate their ability to pay. But majority of the states that benefited from the bail-out ended up diverting the funds for other purposes.

 

We condemn this insensitivity to the plight of workers by government and support the working people in every step they are taking to claim the rights and their legitimately earned wages. Presently, Imo state government owes pensioners for 70 months’ pay, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo states owe over 6 months’ salary; this is sheer wickedness! This is happening in a country where ex-governors are on life pension with reigning ones rollicking with bogus security votes to run into billions of naira!

 

We call on the Federal government to ensure that the 90 billion naira it is going to give to states as bail-out do not go the way the first one went. Fundamentally too, the self-sufficiency and self-sustainability of states must be developed as against the present order where the Federal government has to bail states out for their financial recklessness, mis-governance and maladministration.

 

ON JOB CREATION

Following its reneging on its electoral campaign promise to pay 5, 000 naira per month to unemployed youths in the country, the Federal government has announced some initiatives targeted toward job creation like the 500, 000 graduates to be employed in a country where unemployment and under-employment rules the lives of almost 70% of its employable population. This will of course be a like a drop in an ocean if the scheme ever come to fruition.

 

The reality is that job creation is the outcome of your economic policies and programs. There is no such project as ‘job creation’. Job is created when the economy is growing and expanding, when opportunities are equitably distributed and can be equitably accessed; when small scale businesses can stay in business, grow, expand, become profitable and so can employ more hands; when new businesses can be set up, and the environment is enhancing of their ability to survive and grow; when labour is adequately compensated and workers welfare are enhanced making it possible for productivity to grow, for workers to save, and for workers to spend more to buy goods and services that have been produced; when the cost of doing business is not prohibitive and the ease of doing business is improved.

 

THE POWER SECTOR: TIME FOR THE MINISTER OF ‘DARKNESS’ TO BE SACKED!

Topping the list as far as we are concerned in terms of abysmal performance that requires radical change in the present Federal Cabinet is the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. It is our view that the ministry has been the main one that has most misrepresented the campaign promises of APC and the change Nigerians expected. All the actions and policies of the Ministry have compounded the sufferings of Nigerians in multi-folds; from lack of power supply to the illogical hike in electricity tariffs, from continually decaying infrastructure to death traps as roads with a Housing sector that is ‘non-existent’ or in absolute comatose.

 

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing keeps standing logic on its heads by asking the already impoverished Nigerians to bear the brunt of his failure by asking Nigerians to pay for darkness and for services not rendered even up to the effrontery of hiking the tariff of electricity against a background of a country in perpetual darkness.

 

The Minister has made history by achieving the lowest, ZERO, mega watts for more than 18 hours in history of power generation in Nigeria; he has nothing to offer than damage, we call on Mr. President to ask him to honourably resign or he should be sacked! The Minister is obviously overwhelmed as the tasks before him seem very daunting to him.

 

 

Debo Adeniran

Executive Chairman, CACOL

08037194969

dadnig@yahoo.com, www.deboadeniran.com

cacolc@yahoo.com,

June 17, 2016

 

 

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THE PRESIDENT SHOULD MAKE PUBLIC THE NAMES OF LOOTERS AND DETAILS OF THE LOOTS

The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammad Buhari while speaking at an anti-corruption summit organized by the British Prime Minister, David Cameroon, recently, promised to disclose the figure of funds that have been recovered from looters in his address to the Nation on the occasion of the first anniversary of his ascension to office.
However, the President failed to name the looters or mention the figures of funds and assets recovered so far with the vigorous anti-corruption war his government embarked upon since its inception. “This development has not gone down well with a lot of Nigerians, as it leaves so many questions on the minds of the people. Why and when will be the appropriate time?” asked the Executive Chairman of Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders [CACOL], Mr. Debo Adeniran in a reaction to the development.

Continued here…

Buhari Should Sack Fashola, Others—CACOL

fashola sleepingThe Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to change members of his cabinet who are mediocre, insensitive and inactive, especially the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.

The group gave this advice in a statement issued by its executive chairman, Debo Adeniran, which was made available to Aproko247.

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Heavy Knocks For Buhari’s Anti-Corruption War

ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta and EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde

Many Nigerians have come to the realisation that corruption is a major challenge standing between the country and a good life for the citizens, hence their support for President Muhammadu Buhari, who many have dubbed as the “new sheriff in town”.

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THE CLAMPDOWN ON STUDENTS’ UNIONISM WILL AGGRAVATE THE CRISES IN THE IVORY TOWERS

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL strongly lends it voice in support of the ongoing struggle of Nigerian students against the clampdown on independent unionism in Nigeria’s Ivory Towers. We view the clampdown as illogical and unnecessary; from University of Lagos to University of Port Harcourt, from Yaba Polytechnic to University of Ibadan to Obafemi Awolowo University etc. the stories are indeed confounding, worrisome and must be handled in a manner that is serious and reasonable.
In its apparent failure to learn from the history of its clampdown on legitimate agitations of students organized in their Unions and the attendant negative outcome, the Nigerian state and school managements appear to be returning to the draconian era of banning student unionism in the Ivory Towers.
Mr. Debo Adeniran, Executive Chairman of CACOL went back in history in his reaction to recent developments said that “since the late seventies, the disdain of the State and Management of the institutions have always reflected in their responses to legitimate agitations of students for better learning and teaching environment; from the famous ‘Ali Mungo’ story to the ban imposed on National Union of Nigerian Students which led to the birth of National Association of Nigerian Students.”
“The assaults on student unionism have been consistent on all our campuses; massacres, victimizations, dehumanization, undeserved rustications and expulsions etc. characterize the story of how the state and management of our institutions have responded to legitimate agitation of students.” He added.
“This is why the returning scenario as being witnessed in the University of Lagos presently and other tertiary institutions becomes worrisome. It is this kind of attitude on the part of government and school managements that led to the birth of cultism on our campuses. When the avenue of expressing legitimate dissent to the perpetual insensibility to situation of students by most regimes and school managements was blocked, the students’ agitation of course found expression other means and sadly for us as a Nation, cultism was and is still one of the other means.” CACOL’s Chairman noted.
The rigors, financially and psychologically that parents and wards incur to get access to education; from the unnecessary pains of obtaining admission even when over-qualified to different amorphous examination processes under different names and a host of abuses that Nigerian students that pass through in recent times are better imagined than experienced. There is a clear and present, danger which must be addressed decisively! 
It is against the foregoing that CACOL stands in solidarity with the present raging struggle to call the State and Managements of University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, University of Port Harcourt, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife,  and others to reasoning on the assaults on the inalienable rights to independent unionism and fundamental rights to associate and assemble.
We insist that the remote cause/s of students’ agitation/s should consistently be interrogated and handled from such perspective in resolving conflicts or clash of interests whenever they arise. This is what is expected of school managements that are supposed to be academic in approach and government that is supposed to democratic in culture.
We are saying a resounding NO to repression, it is corruption!
Wale Salami
Media Coordinator, CACOL
080141121208
May 4, 2016.
 
 

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CACOL COMMENDS THE PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ANTI-CORRUPTION, PCAC, SAYS THE TIME TO ESTABLISH SPECIAL COURTS FOR CASES OF CORRUPTION IS NOW!

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL commends the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-corruption, PCAC on its initiatives and the proactive steps being taken to achieve the establishment of Special Courts for cases of corruption in Nigeria as the country continues the war against corruption.

“CACOL have consistently advocated for reforms in the judicial system including the creation of Special courts for corruption cases to facilitate the enabling environment for the successful prosecution of the anti-corruption war. Several cogent reasons abound for the inevitable need for Special courts for corruption cases and some reforms in our laws.” said Mr. Debo Adeniran, the Executive Chairman while reiterating the stance the Coalition on the expediency of establishing Special courts for cases of corruption.

“Since the kitchen became hotter for corruption criminals based on the ongoing war against corruption, corrupt elements are fighting back using every means available including lapses in our laws to evade justice. The plethora of corruption cases that the ongoing anti-corruption has thrown up calls for reforms in the existing judicial system to ensure that the anti-corruption drive bears fruits.” Mr. Adeniran continued.

Explaining CACOL’s position further, he said that “this is why we also back the two bills sent to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari seeking for stiffer penalties for culprits of money laundering and to make provisions that would enable Nigeria to seek international assistance in recovering looted funds in January 2016. We once again call on the National Assembly not to further delay processes that will translate the Bills into Acts of Law if they are really sincere and on the same page with majority of Nigerians on the need to expunge corruption from our system holistically.”

As corruption fights back viciously, the logical response is to; lawfully remove all the encumbrances on the path of the anti-corruption drive which corruption criminals cleverly use to wriggle through the labyrinths of the existing judicial system to escape justice, amend our laws and the creation the Special courts for corruption cases.

“We therefore welcome and commend the PCAC on its initiatives and the proactive steps being taken to achieve the establishment of Special Courts, just as we call on all the Arms of the Federal Government to work in unison to fight corruption, a scourge that have encroached our country for too long and threatening to obliterate it.” Mr. Adeniran concluded.

Wale Salami

Media Coordinator, CACOL

080141121208

wale@thehumanitycentre.org

cacolc@yahoo.com,cacol@thehumanitycentre.org

May 6, 2016.

 

For more press releases and statements, please visit our website at

www.corruptionwatchng.com, www.cwatch.thehumanitycentre.org