Chairman of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO, Aviance), Suleiman Yahya has been appointed Ambassador for IDPNetwork in Nigeria.
INSEAD is a graduate business school with campuses in Europe; Fontainebleau, France, Asia (Singapore), and the Middle East (Abu Dhabi).
INSEAD which is in the category of Havard Business School, was founded in 1957 by venture capitalist and Harvard professor Georges Doriot, along with Claude Janssen and Olivier Giscard d’Estaing.
The school offers various academic programmes, including a full-time Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme, Executive MBA (EMBA) programme, a Master in Finance programme, a PhD in management programme, and a variety of executive education programmes.
In a correspondence to Yahyah, the IDPN Committee said that the appointment as Ambassador is for an initial period of one year.
Responding to the letter of appointment, Yahyah told newsmen that this is an opportunity for him to bring INSEAD and campus to Africa, and to broaden the awareness of INSEAD in Africa.
Yahyah who bags a First Class Degree in Economics and a Master of Philosophy in Economics from Cambridge University England is also the chairman of Lafarge Ashaka Cement Plc, a leading cement producer in Nigeria. He also chairs the Abuja Business Council.
The new Ambassador is an advocate of best practice in Corporate Governance. He is the first African to be certified as a Corporate Governance Director of INSEAD. [myad]
Fellow Nigerians, let me start by saying nothing worries me more than the intractable problems of our dearly beloved country. There are times I wish I could just mind my own business but it seems I’m addicted to the issues and problems of Nigeria.
Lately, I have come up with different theories about why we are where we are. One of them is to go superstitious and believe we are jinxed and we’ve been jazzed by some fiendish demons. Or how does one explain the fact that no government has been able to find a practical and workable solution to our incredible challenges.
My second theory is that we actually hate our country but just pretend to be patriotic which is best seen in our words and not, of course, in our action.
An average Nigerian spends a large proportion of his time daily lamenting about Nigeria and regurgitating the same simple facts and seeming solutions that would ultimately lead to no grand denouement because nothing is done about them. We talk, talk and talk and that’s where it ends. If we truly love our country as much as we claim, we should have arrived at our Eldorado by now given the plethora of sometimes practical and workable solutions that we proffer.
My third theory is that we have a cultural problem that requires a cultural revolution. Our culture turns a once simple human being to an unrecognisable monstrosity in little or no time. One begins to wonder what suddenly caused the 360-degree transformation. Leaders in Nigeria at all levels live and act like emperors. Even the most enlightened ones among us behave like victims of hypnotism and accept whatever was in place before, and continue the madness.
One of them is the over-ceremonial nature of governments. Every leader over-dresses, over-militarises security, and over-spends on personal comfort and so on. I must commend the simplicity of the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo as he seems to be able to buck this trend and dress simply in Kaftan and suits as he has always done. Governor Olusegun Mimiko is another leading politician who imbibes the simple culture.
The one I find most baffling is how many times Governors have to travel to Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal character for all manner of meetings and ceremonies. States keep properties at home (including guest houses, more like abattoirs) and then replicate the same in Abuja and in Lagos.
The Federal Government has properties scattered everywhere in choice locations lying fallow most times. Our Presidential fleet is competing with that of America and they must be maintained by all means. So, how can we complain about under-development when leaders are not ready to compromise on expensive lifestyles?
My fourth theory is that a society gets the type of leaders it deserves. We are largely docile and accept our leaders’ excesses. If you complain too much, they would ask “is it only you that knows how to talk?” I watched closely as Wole Soyinka, Tai Solarin, Gani Fawehinmi, Femi Falana, Balarabe Musa, and others struggled so much for a thankless nation. They were regularly harassed by government and frequently abused by the same people they were trying to protect. Their families suffered in silence without any of us asking how they fared. And as popular as they were, none except Balarabe Musa could win major elections. Gani Fawehinmi was a Presidential candidate and he lost resoundingly. Femi Falana tried to be the Governor of Ekiti State but it was an impossible mission. Our society moves on regardless of what happens to these social and welfarist gladiators.
Where then do we go from here? There are no easy solutions to these problems. None springs out as being the most practical and necessary. My suggestion however, is that we must start from somewhere. We cannot just resign ourselves to fate and do nothing.
I have received some impetus lately from my experience in Ghana. Anyone following me on social media would have noticed my romance with the old Gold Coast. The country has demonstrated that we can surmount our problems once we make up our minds to start the journey. My advice is that we should never feel too big to learn from others, even from those we feel are smaller to us. The story of Ghana should impress and not depress us.
I have had the privilege of watching President John Dramani Mahama build and transform Ghana into a modern nation state. We, therefore, don’t have to travel far to borrow examples. I know that in our usual bravado we may dismiss this innocuous call as arrant nonsense but I wish to beg our leaders, in the name of all that is good, to treat this as a clarion call. There is ample evidence that Ghana is working and there is no reason why Nigeria cannot work. Ghana has fewer resources than Nigeria but it has managed to properly harness and enhance these resources over the years. More recently, President Mahama has taken up the gauntlet and done a lot more to make Ghana a progressive, buoyant economy with significant infrastructural development.
The first reality check is to accept that no leader can do it all. No leader has the monopoly of wisdom and nobody should try to pin that on any of our leaders and seek to transform them into what they are not. Once we understand that the President is not a magician or sorcerer, we can begin to appreciate his limitations and not be overly expectant of miracles.
Nonetheless, President Muhammadu Buhari can still do much more in the under two years that he has left before he decides to seek re-election or not. His first task is to prioritise the activities of his Government having substantially dealt with his primary agenda of fighting corruption. I am sure that the President knows that the fight against corruption is just one of the foundations upon which the monument of development and progress will be based. Unfortunately, added to the traditional features of progressive development like the economy, education, health, agriculture and social welfare, Nigeria has added security and insecurity. All of these need to be given proper consideration and prioritised in order to ensure that the elusive well-being of our people is achieved.
I will never get tired of reiterating this fact; Nigeria will never make substantial progress until we upgrade our educational institutions. This is one area Ghana is doing very well. Ghana today has about 60,000 educational institutions from primary to tertiary institutions. I know that Nigeria has many more but it is in the quality and the detail that Ghana emerges superior. Enrolment in the various levels of Ghanaian institutions is about ten million out of a population of about 26 million. I am aware that Nigeria falls far short in this regard.
In 2013, close to 32 million exercise books were distributed by Government to nearly five million pupils. About two million school uniforms have gone out to pupils since 2010. In 2013, 12.5 million Maths, English and Science text books were distributed to government basic schools. An average pupil in Ghana has access to about four textbooks. Osun State has taken a welcome lead by its controversial Tablet, called Opon Imo which features several textbooks.
School feeding Programme is approaching about two million children. 60,000 laptops have been given out to Basic School pupils while about 50,000 teachers received ICT training. 10,000 locally made sandals went to underprivileged pupils. Teacher Training institutions now have well equipped science laboratories in order to improve the teaching of Science and Maths. Massive library facilities have been undertaken even in rural areas. Technical schools are thriving where artisans are trained for performance and efficiency.
Tertiary institutions are receiving special boosts. The University of Ghana has nearly completed a 617-bed teaching hospital complex for the training of medical students and nurses. Government is providing Distance Education ICT centres for all ten regions of Ghana equipped with video conferencing and lecture auditoriums. Kwame Nkrumah University of Technology in Kumasi has ultra-modern laboratories with latest gadgets such as “high capacity nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, mass spectrometers and analysers… petroleum engineering laboratories with drill simulators…” There is a new Veterinary hospital equipped to be the most advanced in West Africa. Polytechnics are being rebranded into Technical Universities. Just imagine how many billions of dollars Nigeria would save on foreign education if we can improve the quality at home drastically. Whilst it is laudable that the Nigerian Government is allowing entrepreneurs and religious organisations to invest in education, Government cannot and must not abdicate its responsibility to them. Government owes a duty to see the proper educational advancement and development of its children. It must take the lead and show the way and not wait for such private institutions to provide the foundation for our industrial development. Happily, some of these institutions like the Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin which has an Engineering Faculty that has equipment capable of producing a fire engine and race cars in the not too distant future have taken up the challenge.
Health they say is wealth. Nigeria would do extremely well if we can return to the days of old when our medical facilities were world class. Ghana has set up an ambitious plan to deliver 6,000 new hospital beds soon and some of the projects have advanced so much in the past two years because about two billion dollars has been invested by the Mahama government covering “two Teaching Hospital projects, three Institutional Hospitals, four Regional Hospitals, 14 District Hospitals, dozens of polyclinics and scores of health centres…” The beauty of it is that, the government is reaching out to many rural areas in the distribution of facilities. Looking through the Ghana Green Book containing the endless accounts of developmental projects garnished with crispy pictures one could see a country fully and gloriously at work for the improvement of the lives of its people.
On the international and tourist front, the small but efficient Kotoka International Airport Accra is being upgraded. The general ambience has improved with about 26 Immigration cubicles equipped with cameras and finger-printing machines. There are new conveyor belts, elevators, escalators, etc. The cargo section is heavenly. A new terminal is being added because of the economic expansion and development that is attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Ghana. All this has been achieved within a very short period. On the contrary, our airports remain horrible.
Where there is work in progress like the extensions at at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja and Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos the work has been done at snail speed. This is not good enough for the giant of Africa. Something must be done urgently to stop this disgrace. The airport is always the first point of contact with most countries for visitors and investors. For whatever reasons, our airports have remained our worst PR edifices as a nation.
President Buhari has urgent work to do. It must start now by first deciding the way forward after the corruption battle. [myad]
Unidentified gunmen, on Friday evening, launched a deadly attack on a busy shopping mall in the German city of Munich, spraying bullets as people fled in horror for safety from what police said was a terrorist attack.
Police said that six people have been killed and the attackers were still at large. They told the public to get off the streets as the city – Germany’s third biggest – went into lockdown, with transport halted and highways sealed off.
As Special Forces rushed to the scene, some people remained holed up in the Olympia shopping center.
“Many shots were fired, I can’t say how many but it’s been a lot,” said a shop worker hiding in a store room inside the mall.
The woman, who asked not to be identified, said she had seen a shooting victim on the floor who appeared to be dead or dying.
A worker at a different shop, Harun Balta, said: “We are still stuck inside the mall without any information; we’re waiting for the police to rescue us.”
It was the third major act of violence against civilians in Western Europe in eight days. Previous attacks in France and Germany were claimed by the Islamic State militant group.
No suspects had been arrested yet, she said.
Police spokesman said: “we believe there was more than one perpetrator. The first reports came at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT), the shooting apparently began at a McDonald’s in the shopping center. There are still people in the shopping center. We are trying to get the people out and take care of them.”
The mall near the southern German city’s Olympic stadium was surrounded by police after shots were fired.
“There is a major police operation under way in the shopping centre,” Munichpolice said on Twitter, urging people to avoid the area.
Emergency vehicles were seen in the streets outside, as passers-by looked on.
The shooting comes just days after a teenage asylum seeker went on rampage with an axe and a knife on a regional train in Germany, injuring five people.
Interior Minister, Thomas de Maiziere said the teenager was believed to be a “lone wolf” attacker who appeared to have been “inspired” by the Islamic State group but was not a member of the jihadist network.
It also follows a truck attack in the French Riviera city of Nice after Bastille Day fireworks last week that left 84 people dead. [myad]
President of Turkey, Recep Erdogan, has announced that no fewer than 10,410 people have so far been arrested in the country following the last week’s attempted coup even as the country now monitors its citizens travelling out.
Erdogan insists that the rapid pace of arrests is targeting the supporters of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. He had said that the suspects were behind the failed July 15 coup which has disturbed many of Turkey’s Western allies, who said they see Turkey going down.
Among the soldiers were 162 generals, almost half the generals in the second-largest army of the NATO alliance.
“Beyond the arrests, more than 37,500 civil servants and police officers have been suspended. Additionally, 21,000 teachers in private schools have lost their licences.”
That is even Ankara announced the intensification of checks on Turkish citizens leaving the country in a move to prevent people associated with the attempted coup from escaping the authorities.
“Those travelling from any of the country’s international airports will now have to provide proof of their employment.
Civil servants as well as their spouses and children will need authorisation by their employer to travel.
“Meanwhile other employees will have to prove that they work in the private sector and are therefore not civil servants,’’ sources close to the government said.
The government has vowed to “clean” the civil service from Gulen supporters.
All civil servants have been banned from going on holiday, while those currently abroad have been asked to return home.
Turkey entered into a 90-day state of emergency on Thursday, which Erdogan has said is necessary to restore order after the coup, which left 260 dead.
“Turkey is also demanding that the U.S. extradite Gulen.
Citizens have to defend themselves against the “most insidious and vile coup attempt in the history of the Turkish people,” Erdogan said.
People have indeed continued to celebrate the crushing of the coup since the weekend.
Thousands gathered overnight on the Bosporous Bridge, which was occupied by troops in tanks who fired on civilians during the coup attempt.
Yasin Aktay, spokesman of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) said: “we cannot understand the criticism we’re getting from Europe about this.
“There have been two recent incidents in France and Belgium where terrorist attacks resulted in six months of states of emergency, which were extended for six months.”
He added that Turkey had been the victim of multiple terrorist attacks during this time and refrained until now from issuing a state of emergency.
“The fact that we did it in this case should be applauded much more, out of the 10,410 people arrested, 7,423 were soldiers; 287 police; and 2,014 judges and prosecutors. Furthermore, 686 civilians had been arrested.”
In the light of events in Turkey, Germany has said it would slow down talks on the country’s accession to the EU.
Whether or not negotiations would be halted completely, however, was not immediately clear.
Germany’s government spokesman Steffen Seifert said in Berlin that “this is not a German decision after all.”
The 28-member bloc started accession negotiations with Turkey 11 years ago, though progress has been slow with only 15 out of 35 negotiation chapters having been addressed and only one completed.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said that the power supply to the Incirlik air base in Turkey, which was cut off following the coup, had been reinstated. [myad]
Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Prosecution, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, has painted a picture of how lawyers manipulate judges to either delay cases in courts or twist the cases.
“The lawyers take advantage of the fact that they are senior members of the bar and the judges are not firm on them, so they come out with all manner of excuses to get adjournment to prolong the matter. “So if the lawyers are alive to their responsibilities as ministers in the temple of justice, then they cannot do that because the law is very clear even if it would be adverse to your client’s interest.”
Obono-Obla, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja, accused counsels to defendants of being in the habit of using frivolous motions to delay trials because the judges are not firm. “If you look at the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, there is supposed to be collaborations between the Courts, the Law Enforcement Agencies and persons and authorities. “If you look at Section 1 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015, it is to ensure that there is compliance of that law. “And what is the essence of that law? The essence of that law is to protect society from crime, to protect the rights and interests of defendants, suspects and society. Obono-Obla said that the President is depending on the National Prosecution Coordinating Committee (NPCC) to improve the standard of prosecuting public officers that have looted the country’s treasury. This is even as he said that the anti-graft war should be seen as a collective fight, and that the President needed the support of the judiciary, legislature and the public to succeed. [myad]
The governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku has forgiven the sins of four out of seven traditional rulers who were suspended for aiding and harboring criminal elements, as well as conducted illegal sales of lands belonging to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to unknown persons in their domains.
Governor Ishaku Darius, who spoke through his deputy Engineer Haruna Manu, gave the names of those who have been pardoned as the district head of Taka in Mutum Biyu Chiefdom under Gasol local government (Ali Adamu), the district head of Tella in Gasol Chiefdom under Gasol local government (Bello Chiloma), district head of Sendirde in Gasol chiefdom under Gasol local government area (Ali Umaru Tafida) and ward head of Sabon Dale in Bakundi chiefdom under Bali local government.
The deputy governor who was addressing stakeholders from the affected local government areas (Bali and Gasol) who were at government house in connection to the issue the governor, who had suspended the traditional rulers, has ordered that they should be recalled.
He made it clear that the suspense who was carried out for serious security reasons, and that the administration could not sit idly and allow people who occupy sensitive positions of responsibilities to foment trouble in their various domains.
“We acted swiftly based on accurate security report to restore harmony and avoid further breach of peace in the areas affected.”
He directed the permanent secretary, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Bello Yero to issue the four traditional rulers with letter of reinstatement and warning through their respective chiefs.
He also advised the reinstated traditional rulers to live above board and avoid a repeat of what happened that attracted their earlier suspension. [myad]
A popular Yoruba movie actress/ producer, Lola Alao has said that her conversion to Islam from Christianity was not accidental.
She recently took to her Instagram page to make an announcement to confirm the speculations that she had converted to Islam, saying that she was originally a Muslim from an Islamic family. Lola said: “Salaam alykun to all my wonderful friends and fans. May almighty Allah grant u all your heart desires. I just want everyone to know that I was born into a Muslim home. My late father’s name is Lasisi Alao, so I reverted back to my root through Alhaji Yusuf Adepoju (Acadip). May almighty Allah bless him and all my wonderful friends and fans…. Thanks love you all.. Rohdiat Omolola Alao Ajibola.” [myad]
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Adamawa state in the 2015 general elections, Nuhu Ribadu, has returned to the All Progressives Congress (APC). He left the party for the Peoples Democratic Party in 2014.
Nuhu Ribadu, who was the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), during the regime of Olusegun Obasanjo, had contested the Presidential election under the then Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) in 2011.
In a statement posted on his Facebook wall on Friday, Ribadu said he rejoined the in his Bako Ward in Yola South Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
Ribadu explained that his return to the APC was triggered by his belief that all politics were local and that almost everyone around him who started politics with him believed the time had come for them to make sacrifices and concession.
“My decision to return to the APC was triggered by my belief that all politics are local. Almost everyone around me, and with whom we started my political journey believed the time had come for us to make sacrifices and make concessions. That is in addition to the unbelievable love that my friends in the APC have showered on me in the past months.
“They demonstrated in words and action that they wanted me back home. The intractable crises in the PDP also made it impossible for one to contribute to the necessary task of building a viable opposition platform for our country. “I also did a deep and long reassessment of the circumstances that warranted my exit from the APC in the first place. I left the APC in 2014 owing to fundamental disagreements with the ways the chapter of the party in my state was run after it fell into some hands.”
Below is Ribadu’s statement announcing his return to the APC
Today I heeded the calls on me to return to the All Progressives Congress (APC), a party of which I was a founding member.
I re-registered as a member of the APC last night through the party’s online portal. After that, the leadership of the party in my Bako ward of Yola South Local Government Area visited me in my Yola residence to welcome me back to their fold.
This afternoon, I visited the Yola South secretariat of the party to present myself and submit to the leadership as a loyal party man.
My decision to return to the APC was triggered by my belief that all politics are local. Almost everyone around me, and with whom we started my political journey believed the time had come for us to make sacrifices and make concessions. That is in addition to the unbelievable love that my friends in the APC have showered on me in the past months.
They demonstrated in words and action that they wanted me back home. The intractable crises in the PDP also made it impossible for one to contribute to the necessary task of building a viable opposition platform for our country.
I also did a deep and long reassessment of the circumstances that warranted my exit from the APC in the first place. I left the APC in 2014 owing to fundamental disagreements with the ways the chapter of the party in my state was run after it fell into some hands.
Some colleagues and I tried hard to reposition the fold and save the then APC administration from an orchestrated impeachment plot. We didn’t succeed.
Events in the last 15 months have addressed many of the issues and healed some of the wounds. More so, with the genuine and sincere invitations I received since last year to retrace my steps into the party, I decided to return after consulting family and political associates at all levels.
I would like to appreciate all those members of the party who privately and publicly prodded me to return to the party. My appreciation also goes to the leadership of our party, from my ward in Bako to the national leadership, for the enthusiasm they showed in having me back.
The former EFCC boss is one of the founding leaders of the party, but defected to the PDP in 2014, a few months to the 2015 general elections. He left the APC after the impeachment of former Governor Murtala Nyako by the State House of Assembly in 2014.
He was reportedly disappointed that the APC leadership could not save Mr. Nyako from impeachment. [myad]
An Indian military plane with more than 20 people on board has gone missing over the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Air Force (AIF) has confirmed.
The Antonov-32 transporter aircraft took off from Chennai (Madras) in southern India at 8.30 am (local time) for Port Blair in the eastern archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar.
It was scheduled to land at 11.30am. A search operation has been launched.
The IAF operates more than 100 Antonov-32 aircraft.
A navy spokesman told the Reuters news agency that surveillance planes and ships were looking for the missing aircraft, which was carrying service personnel to strategic islands near the Malacca Straits, where India has a military base. [myad]
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How To Move Nigeria Forward, By Dele Momodu
Lately, I have come up with different theories about why we are where we are. One of them is to go superstitious and believe we are jinxed and we’ve been jazzed by some fiendish demons. Or how does one explain the fact that no government has been able to find a practical and workable solution to our incredible challenges.
My second theory is that we actually hate our country but just pretend to be patriotic which is best seen in our words and not, of course, in our action.
An average Nigerian spends a large proportion of his time daily lamenting about Nigeria and regurgitating the same simple facts and seeming solutions that would ultimately lead to no grand denouement because nothing is done about them. We talk, talk and talk and that’s where it ends. If we truly love our country as much as we claim, we should have arrived at our Eldorado by now given the plethora of sometimes practical and workable solutions that we proffer.
My third theory is that we have a cultural problem that requires a cultural revolution. Our culture turns a once simple human being to an unrecognisable monstrosity in little or no time. One begins to wonder what suddenly caused the 360-degree transformation. Leaders in Nigeria at all levels live and act like emperors. Even the most enlightened ones among us behave like victims of hypnotism and accept whatever was in place before, and continue the madness.
One of them is the over-ceremonial nature of governments. Every leader over-dresses, over-militarises security, and over-spends on personal comfort and so on. I must commend the simplicity of the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo as he seems to be able to buck this trend and dress simply in Kaftan and suits as he has always done. Governor Olusegun Mimiko is another leading politician who imbibes the simple culture.
The one I find most baffling is how many times Governors have to travel to Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal character for all manner of meetings and ceremonies. States keep properties at home (including guest houses, more like abattoirs) and then replicate the same in Abuja and in Lagos.
The Federal Government has properties scattered everywhere in choice locations lying fallow most times. Our Presidential fleet is competing with that of America and they must be maintained by all means. So, how can we complain about under-development when leaders are not ready to compromise on expensive lifestyles?
My fourth theory is that a society gets the type of leaders it deserves. We are largely docile and accept our leaders’ excesses. If you complain too much, they would ask “is it only you that knows how to talk?” I watched closely as Wole Soyinka, Tai Solarin, Gani Fawehinmi, Femi Falana, Balarabe Musa, and others struggled so much for a thankless nation. They were regularly harassed by government and frequently abused by the same people they were trying to protect. Their families suffered in silence without any of us asking how they fared. And as popular as they were, none except Balarabe Musa could win major elections. Gani Fawehinmi was a Presidential candidate and he lost resoundingly. Femi Falana tried to be the Governor of Ekiti State but it was an impossible mission. Our society moves on regardless of what happens to these social and welfarist gladiators.
Where then do we go from here? There are no easy solutions to these problems. None springs out as being the most practical and necessary. My suggestion however, is that we must start from somewhere. We cannot just resign ourselves to fate and do nothing.
I have received some impetus lately from my experience in Ghana. Anyone following me on social media would have noticed my romance with the old Gold Coast. The country has demonstrated that we can surmount our problems once we make up our minds to start the journey. My advice is that we should never feel too big to learn from others, even from those we feel are smaller to us. The story of Ghana should impress and not depress us.
I have had the privilege of watching President John Dramani Mahama build and transform Ghana into a modern nation state. We, therefore, don’t have to travel far to borrow examples. I know that in our usual bravado we may dismiss this innocuous call as arrant nonsense but I wish to beg our leaders, in the name of all that is good, to treat this as a clarion call. There is ample evidence that Ghana is working and there is no reason why Nigeria cannot work. Ghana has fewer resources than Nigeria but it has managed to properly harness and enhance these resources over the years. More recently, President Mahama has taken up the gauntlet and done a lot more to make Ghana a progressive, buoyant economy with significant infrastructural development.
The first reality check is to accept that no leader can do it all. No leader has the monopoly of wisdom and nobody should try to pin that on any of our leaders and seek to transform them into what they are not. Once we understand that the President is not a magician or sorcerer, we can begin to appreciate his limitations and not be overly expectant of miracles.
Nonetheless, President Muhammadu Buhari can still do much more in the under two years that he has left before he decides to seek re-election or not. His first task is to prioritise the activities of his Government having substantially dealt with his primary agenda of fighting corruption. I am sure that the President knows that the fight against corruption is just one of the foundations upon which the monument of development and progress will be based. Unfortunately, added to the traditional features of progressive development like the economy, education, health, agriculture and social welfare, Nigeria has added security and insecurity. All of these need to be given proper consideration and prioritised in order to ensure that the elusive well-being of our people is achieved.
I will never get tired of reiterating this fact; Nigeria will never make substantial progress until we upgrade our educational institutions. This is one area Ghana is doing very well. Ghana today has about 60,000 educational institutions from primary to tertiary institutions. I know that Nigeria has many more but it is in the quality and the detail that Ghana emerges superior. Enrolment in the various levels of Ghanaian institutions is about ten million out of a population of about 26 million. I am aware that Nigeria falls far short in this regard.
In 2013, close to 32 million exercise books were distributed by Government to nearly five million pupils. About two million school uniforms have gone out to pupils since 2010. In 2013, 12.5 million Maths, English and Science text books were distributed to government basic schools. An average pupil in Ghana has access to about four textbooks. Osun State has taken a welcome lead by its controversial Tablet, called Opon Imo which features several textbooks.
School feeding Programme is approaching about two million children. 60,000 laptops have been given out to Basic School pupils while about 50,000 teachers received ICT training. 10,000 locally made sandals went to underprivileged pupils. Teacher Training institutions now have well equipped science laboratories in order to improve the teaching of Science and Maths. Massive library facilities have been undertaken even in rural areas. Technical schools are thriving where artisans are trained for performance and efficiency.
Tertiary institutions are receiving special boosts. The University of Ghana has nearly completed a 617-bed teaching hospital complex for the training of medical students and nurses. Government is providing Distance Education ICT centres for all ten regions of Ghana equipped with video conferencing and lecture auditoriums. Kwame Nkrumah University of Technology in Kumasi has ultra-modern laboratories with latest gadgets such as “high capacity nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, mass spectrometers and analysers… petroleum engineering laboratories with drill simulators…” There is a new Veterinary hospital equipped to be the most advanced in West Africa. Polytechnics are being rebranded into Technical Universities. Just imagine how many billions of dollars Nigeria would save on foreign education if we can improve the quality at home drastically. Whilst it is laudable that the Nigerian Government is allowing entrepreneurs and religious organisations to invest in education, Government cannot and must not abdicate its responsibility to them. Government owes a duty to see the proper educational advancement and development of its children. It must take the lead and show the way and not wait for such private institutions to provide the foundation for our industrial development. Happily, some of these institutions like the Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin which has an Engineering Faculty that has equipment capable of producing a fire engine and race cars in the not too distant future have taken up the challenge.
Health they say is wealth. Nigeria would do extremely well if we can return to the days of old when our medical facilities were world class. Ghana has set up an ambitious plan to deliver 6,000 new hospital beds soon and some of the projects have advanced so much in the past two years because about two billion dollars has been invested by the Mahama government covering “two Teaching Hospital projects, three Institutional Hospitals, four Regional Hospitals, 14 District Hospitals, dozens of polyclinics and scores of health centres…” The beauty of it is that, the government is reaching out to many rural areas in the distribution of facilities. Looking through the Ghana Green Book containing the endless accounts of developmental projects garnished with crispy pictures one could see a country fully and gloriously at work for the improvement of the lives of its people.
On the international and tourist front, the small but efficient Kotoka International Airport Accra is being upgraded. The general ambience has improved with about 26 Immigration cubicles equipped with cameras and finger-printing machines. There are new conveyor belts, elevators, escalators, etc. The cargo section is heavenly. A new terminal is being added because of the economic expansion and development that is attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Ghana. All this has been achieved within a very short period. On the contrary, our airports remain horrible.
Where there is work in progress like the extensions at at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja and Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos the work has been done at snail speed. This is not good enough for the giant of Africa. Something must be done urgently to stop this disgrace. The airport is always the first point of contact with most countries for visitors and investors. For whatever reasons, our airports have remained our worst PR edifices as a nation.
President Buhari has urgent work to do. It must start now by first deciding the way forward after the corruption battle. [myad]