FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA

WRITER: OLAYINKA ALAYA

TOPIC: FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA

 

It is sad today that Nigeria, a country referred to as the giant of Africa, blessed with abundant human and natural resources is celebrating corruption as some of its so called leaders and governed are swimming in the pool of massive corruption.

Despite being blessed with abundant human and natural resources, it is devastating that majority of its citizens, especially youths and aged people are living in abject poverty, as the rate of graduate unemployment continues to increase unchecked and uncontrolled.

Many Nigerians, especially activists have been calling the attention of government to this problem, as some of the government officials are involved in serious scandals. The sad aspect of it all is that the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, does not see what everyone else is seeing. To him, things are not as bad as they are being painted about Nigeria and corruption.

Nigeria is ranked one hundred and sixty third corrupt country in the world. This is a clarion call for Nigerians and their leaders. Activities of the government officials engaging in massive corruption and escaping with it without check and effort to bring them to book to face the law signal the wrong message to Nigerians and the world at large. This is painting Nigeria in a bad colour.

The real tragedy of the whole matter is that the man that heads the helm of affairs in the country who is supposed to fight corruption says it is being blown out of proportion meaning, he does not see any need to lead the anti-corruption war. This may not be too good for the country.

Corruption is bedeviling all the sectors of the economy, while corrupt officials are pardoned for political reasons. It would be recalled that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole was involved in a massive corruption but he was cleared and pardoned by the government, Diepreye Alameseigha, the former Bayelsa state governor was also involved in a serious corruption both at home and abroad but at the end he received Presidential pardon.

The case of current and former Ministers in the present administration's government that got involved in corruption with anti-graft agencies who serves as the watchdogs doing nothing to bring justice is sad. Nigerians will not forget the Odua-Gate scandal, Diezani Maduekwe's ongoing case where she allegedly used whopping ten billion naira between 2012 and 2014 to aired jet and six hundred thousand euros for a foreign trip is uncalled for. Recently, it was discovered that another sum of twenty five billion naira is also missing in the office of the Head of Service of the Federation. The money belongs to pensioners.

There is corruption at all levels and in all forms. There is sycophancy. There is the polluted value system and today, we celebrate mediocre, frauds, exconvicts and criminals and we now wonder who is the ideal role model. In Nigeria today, politics has become a very lucrative business and people no longer go into it to serve the people. To many, it is a means of getting their share of the national cake.

The unfortunate aspect is that this corrupt practice has eaten deep into every fabric of the Nigerian society, sparing no one in its destructive trail. The quest to continually remain in power by politicians portends great danger to the polity as it forms the basis for disquiet and discontent on the part of the people which often times leads to social unrest and upheavals.

If this evil desire or quest is removed, the need to do all sorts of evil to remain in power will come to an end.

The time is rife for Nigerians to think of bringing sanctity to the system by voting patriotic, committed, visionary, focused, corrupt-free, upright, and God fearing people into power in the twenty fifteen general elections. Religious bigotry, sentiment, prejudice, favoritism and ethnicity should be avoided in the process of choosing the leaders come twenty fifteen.

Our judiciary needs to be independent and free from executive control. As the saying goes, He who pays the piper, dictates the tune. A situation whereby, the Federal Government or the Presidency has absolute power in the appointment of           Chief Justice of Nigeria and other judges, including members of the National Judicial Council is totally condemnable as it won't pave way for justice to reign. The institution should be totally independent, while the two anti-graft agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt and other Related offences Commission (ICPC) should be under the Judiciary.

               Not only a common man that steals goat should be jailed many years imprisonment, corrupt officials should also face years of imprisonment, at least fifteen years. This would serve as deterrent to others.

               Goodluck Jonathan led administration should demonstrate the will to fight corruption and clear the country in the world from being one of the most corrupted countries. Any of his ministers, special advisers, aides, heads of parastatals found engaging in corruption, must be seriously dealt with and be made to dance to the music of the law.

Youth restiveness in Nigeria

Writer: Olayinka Alaya

TOPIC: Youth restiveness in Nigeria

Youth restiveness is a phenomenon which in practice, leads to breakdown of law and order, economic misfortune due to disruption of economic activities, increasing crime rate, intra-ethnic hostilities, harassment of prospective developers and other sundry criminal tendencies.

Youth restiveness is said to be a despicable act being perpetrated by a significant proportion of youth in various communities. As the name implies, it is combination of actions, conducts or acts that constitute unwholesome socially unacceptable activities engaged in by the youth in any community.

Regrettably however, youth restiveness and social vices have apparently become a threat to the realisation of individual potentials in various communities and states. It is often said that an idle mind is the devil's workshop. True to this fact, youths who are not employed or engaged in any legal means, often resort to vices which are capable of disrupting the social order of the society.

             Recently, some youths who are said to be hoodlums took to the streets  in some areas in Ilorin metropolis, fighting, disturbing public peace and leading to the death of two people. Some youths were also allegedly said to be disturbing market men and women at some market areas in Ilorin, like, New market at Baboko, Ipata market and others. According to market women, they were exhorting money from them.

In every good society, good governance is required for the growth and development of the citizenry. Fortunately, Kwara state government  is a youth – driven government that has committed and is still committing so much resources to youth development and empowerment.

                Governor Abdulfatah  Ahmed believes that positive and meaningful development across cultural settings is usually engineered, fostered, and shaped by the generation of youths in that society. This is because the youth remain one of the greatest assets that any community or state can be proud of. Potentially, youths are the greatest investments for a society's sustainable development and future.

             It has also establish its ground that  the major ways to addressing youth restiveness, is through creation of more jobs for the teeming population of youth, provision of social basic infrastructures needed to encourage small scale business. This is with the intent to be liberated youths psychologically and economically from the control of self seeking business and political elites who often use them to cause social disorderliness in the society.

               As the 2015 general elections draw nearer, politicians are advised to emulate this good example to reform from using youth as political thugs, while the youth should also not make themselves available as agents of destruction. Above all, more awareness need to be created for the youth to change their orientation towards positive contribution to the development of the society.

             A situation whereby some youths allegedly disturb market women and men is uncalled for, therefore, government and security agents, should as a matter of urgency look into the situation and ensure that bad eegs are removed  from the society to ensure that the society is peaceful.

                As the future of our country, the youth should lay a good foundation for tomorrow.

Ensuring stable power supply in Nigeria

Writer: Olayinka Alaya

Topic Ensuring stable power supply in Nigeria

The desire of every government is to provide infrastructural facilities and basic needs of the people, such as, good road network, electricity, development of agriculture sector, provision of qualitative education at all levels, water, transportation, healthcare facilities, among others.

These basic needs and infrastructure are what Nigerians have been clamouring for, as majority of them are suffering for lack of  these facilities as some Governments are fond of making promises without result.

The Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, told the House of Representatives Committee on Power that the attainment of ten thousand mega watts of electricity before the end of this year would be possible if more money is made available to the ministry to carry out its statutory functions.

The Minister also told the committee that the Ministry and six other agencies under the ministry had proposed ninety two billion naira budget for this year.

The question that will come to the minds of Nigerians is why the ministry needs such huge amount when the Power Holding Company of Nigeria had been sold to Independent private bodies. Also, where is the money realized from the sales of the Company and why is the Federal Government still funding the Company.

 It is devastating that government continues to spend huge money on Power without yielding positive result. The mega watts have been fluctuating, dropping from four thousand mega watts to two thousand, a situation that subjects Nigerians to total blackout.

Many Nigerians have turned to the use of generating sets, which according to environmental and health experts, is harmful to the environment and health of the people and causing hazard. According to them, the fumes originating from the generating sets, have led to widespread and outbreak of diseases.

It is significant to note that, a situation whereby Nigerians are spending millions to import generating sets and fueling them is uncalled for.

According to an expert, the increasing rate of pipeline vandalism is another impediment in the projected national stable power supply situation in Nigeria.

Nigerian government needs to brace up and alleviate the sufferings of the people by re invigorating our refineries and ensuring that crude oil is refining in the country, why efforts should be geared up to put an end to vandalism. This will also help to stop the lingering scarcity of fuel in the country.

Therefore, it is pertinent to state, that the Federal government should be more serious with the power sector. Stable power supply will attract both local and foreign investors to the country, it will increase the wellbeing of the people.

          All hands must be on deck to ensure that Nigeria’s lost glory is revived. Nigerians must be more committed to the development of the country and work towards making it a better place for all that we would be proud of and other countries can emulate.

The Consequences of media praise singing

Topic: Consequences of media praise singing

Writer: Olayinka Alaya

            A broadcasting profession is embodied in what the psychologist calls 'avoidance conflict'. In other words, a journalist is standing in between the devil and the deep blue sea, staying where he is, is dangerous and moving elsewhere is as bad. Armed with the knowledge of the ethics of his profession,  he braves up writing things that could be offensive to the powers that be.

            He does this because the public has the right to know and the media professionals have not only the right to make known, but also a social responsibility that compels them to provide the public with the much-needed information.  All over the world, the role of the fourth estate of the realm is acknowledged.  Autocracy needs the mass media as much as government and politics.

            However, as a human institution, the mass media are subject to human frailties. Praise singing is an unethical issue in journalism. It goes beyond praising or commending somebody who deserves such to a propagandistic exaggeration of the person's achievement or actions. Often, praise singing isn't meant to inform,

educate, entertain or mobilize but to deceive by painting a wrong picture of a

situation.

            The slogan which was used by both national and state broadcasting stations in the dying months of military dispensation, ' who the cap fits, let him wear it', was repeatedly aired to sponsor Abacha as the right person as the prospective Head of State, media people were intimidated and induced to toe this line.

            As the 2015 general elections is nearer, federal and state governments had been mobilizing the media, particularly the broadcast to sing their praises again not minding the fulfillment of their electioneering campaign promises.

            Journalists are hedged in a field of sociological and environmental factors. These forces refer to such factors as societal norms, social group beliefs, socio-political climate, social order, material well being, law and order, all of which

also determine the nature of the news or programmes transmitted. While the broadcast professionals must take care of these varying interests clamouring for their attention, they still have to be socially responsible to their audience which needs nothing short of factual information.

            Praise singing which cuts across is more pronounced in the government-owned stations. This is because everything about affairs, whether administrative or editorial, is basically political. This evokes the over-abused relationship of the payer-of-the-piper and the dictator of the tune.

            Certain journalistic trends, beliefs or ethics have been altered and this

underscores the need for journalists to be more socially responsible than to indulge

in mere sycophancy. Therefore, it is advisable for government to allow both federal and state-owned media to operate independently, because the public needs undiluted information not diluted ones.

            A journalist needs initiatives to function within the ethical parameters so that he can blow the pipe without a discordant note. Professional journalists must not be compelled to praise sing and should not vested interest in the subject of praise singing.

            Praise singing must be condemned at all levels, government should stop using media to deceive the masses, whereas media should be used to disseminate factual information that would benefit the public. Democracy gives broadcast people room to operate and perform their obligations towards the public and expose the ills of individual, public or private, in the interest of the common good.

            Providing crucial information about the government is extremely important because it would enable the government know the opinions of the masses about its policies and activities and in return, relay the feedback to the government.

            The people's right to know of events of public importance particularly political matters constitutes the major task of the broadcast media. Therefore, media practitioners should desist from praise singing rather show the true picture of an individual or event.