Featured
Wike: Garlands For Hard Work
On May 29, 2015, successful candidates in that year’s gubernatorial elections in Nigeria took their oath of office, swearing to God before the people and the entire world to provide good governance and consequently change the socio-economic life of the people for the better.
Four years down the line, some have been outrightly rejected and thrown out of office by the people who gave them the mandate they mismanaged, others got their mandate renewed but not without an experience akin to that of the proverbial Carmel passing through the eye of a needle. Yet there are some others who got their mandates revalidated by an overwhelming popular endorsement.
Notable among the last category of States’ Chief Executives is the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike whose re-election in 2019 can be described as a fait accompli following from the avalanche of endorsements that attended his stewardship in the past four years. The endorsements which came in the form of awards, prizes and public proclamations and affirmations were mostly from credible, critical, dispassionate, impeccable, well-meaning and reputable individuals and organizations from not only within his sphere of service but across the world. No doubt, the Rivers State Governor can be said to be the most decorated State Chief Executive in Nigeria between May 29, 2015 and May 29, 2019.
Within the period under reference, Gov Wike won the Apostle of Peace Award, the Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, irrespective of their party difference, christened him ‘Mr Projects’ ahead of the other 35 state governors in the country. In 2016, the Independent Newspaper named him the Man of the Year, the Authority Newspaper and the Sun Newspaper awarded him the Governor of the Year.
For the first time in the organsations history of award presentation, the Sun Newspaper found no one else worthy to receive its Governor of Year award in Nigeria in 2017 but the Rivers State helmsman.
In 2017, Governor Nyesom Wike won the award for the Most Fiscally Responsible Governor; the Global Human Settlements Outstanding Contributions Award, the Silverbird Group’s Silverbird Man of the Year; the New Telegraph’s Man of the Year; the Independent Newspaper’s Political Icon of the Year; and the Zik Prize for Good Governance among several others. And in 2018, he was awarded the Pillar of Sports in Africa by the International Sports Press Association, AIPs.
For the year 2018, Gov Wike as well won the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Prize for Outstanding Achievement In Leadership/ Infrastructure Development.
While many of these awards were delivered at organized and well-publicized functions and ceremonies several others were never celebrated.
According to Emma Okah, Lawyer and immediate past Commissioner for Information and Communication, Rivers State, ‘’ Governor Wike is seen as a man who prepared to govern and who saw big gaps in governance efforts of Rivers State. He came with solutions.’’ The former Commissioner explained that the governor ‘‘thus divided the state into sectors for the purpose of priority attention: Road Infrastructure, Rural Development, Health, Education, Housing, Economic Empowerment, Security, Administration and Justice, and Sports and recreation.’’
‘’ Observers and those who want to judge his(Wike)administration would have to base their opinions and observation on these laid down sectoral priorities,’’ he said, reiterating that ‘’ If they want to be sincere, they would agree that there have been tremendous activities in these nine sectors and His Excellency has won awards in many of these areas.’’
Speaking with The Tide in Port Harcourt, a legal practitioner based in the Rivers State Capital, Dr Chukwuma A.J. Chinwo described the awards and prize giving system generally as a means of recognition of excellence.
Dr Chinwo who is also a lecturer in the Faculty of Law of the Rivers State University, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt said even though the initiative has been abused, especially in Nigeria, it still has a valid place in the developmental efforts in society as it encourages hardwork.
‘’ Ordniarily, prizes and awards are supposed to be means of recognizing people who have excelled and ordinarily should motivate people who have been awarded to do better and for others to do more. So, awards and prizes are actually good motivators of development of society- for people who contribute their best in society,’’ he said.
He averred that there are many in Nigeria who have been undeserving recipients of awards, especially within the political class, as they usually paid for them with little or nothing substantial to justify their selection.
‘’Somebody is proclaimed the best governor, may be the best local government chairman and you go to the place where they preside and you don’t even see anything that is imaginative or transformational that this person had done and after that the man rests on his oars and says ‘‘don’t you know I was given that award?’ he lamented while called on award giving organisations to refrain from merchandizing in order to genuinely contribute to growth and development in the society.
Asked if he found any credibility in the awards given to Governor Nyesom Wike, the university don did not hesitate to say emphatically‘‘As for him, I will say yes.’’
According to Dr Chniwo,’’when we assess him from where we were and where we are, he deserves awards. I can say that. I keep telling people, if there’s nowhere Wike deserves award, he deserves award on Rivers State University’s transformation; he deserves awards on my own community, Oroigwe.
‘’ As a lawyer I travel round this state driving; he deserves award on road construction and we can’t deny him that.
‘’If you look at what we have here and where we’re coming from, Wike deserves award. If I have one, I will give him an award. As Chairman of Okpo Club, we have given him an award.’’
Going forward, the law teacher urged Gov. Wike to avoid the bug of complacency and relax on his laurels but to push the frontiers of his excellent performance in the past four years as there are still new grounds to break and more lofty heights to attain in the development efforts of Rivers State.
‘’For all he has done and the awards he has won, I only pray that he does not rest on his oars. This second tenure, we expect him to do far better and to look into other areas he has not moved into.
‘‘Rivers State needs industralisation; we need development in agriculture; we need in improvement. If we attain those things, peace will come, security will come.
‘’Nobody expected him to do everything in the first four years, but in this second four years, let him touch areas he has not touched and do better in the areas he has done before,’’ he advised.
Indeed, by his performance in the execution of the social contract he signed and swore by God to deliver on May 29, 2015, Rivers people have given him a renewed mandate as an expression of their confidence in his proven ability and capacity to manage their affairs and improve their lot.
As Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike therefore, breasts the tape at the finishing line of his first term and takes off the starting block for his second and final term in service to the people, nothing should motivate him better than the awards and prizes of excellence he had won and wears as badges of honour, encouragement, appreciation and inspiration to better the high standards he has already attained. The reward of hardwork, they say, is more work and that is the making of heroes and transformational leaders who have carved a niche in the history of their people.
Opaka Dokubo
Letters
Ban On Christians Fellowship In Universities
If the story making the rounds on two Nigerian universities being sued for allegation of their ban on Christian fellowship in the campus is anything to go by, then Nigeria is in for another trouble.
According to the story, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Katsina State branch, in conjunction with an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF International), has instituted an action against two universities in Katsina State for indefinitely banning Christian groups from holding fellowship meetings and worship on campuses.
The suit was said to have been filed against the two universities for violating the right to religious freedom by “indefinitely prohibiting” Christian groups from holding fellowship meetings and worship on campus.
The Christian legal advocacy group further alleged that one of the universities enforced the ban by locking all worship and fellowship centre on university grounds, preventing Christian students and groups from accessing the facilities and banning them from meeting for worship and fellowship elsewhere on campus while their Muslim counterparts at both universities have been permitted to hold worship and fellowship meetings in university-constructed worship and meeting spaces.
Recall that in 2017, there was a news report on the outlaw of any other religious or tribal association on campus besides the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria by the authorities of the Umar Musa Yar’Adua University, Katsina, Katsina State. A circular credited to the institution’s acting Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Sulaiman Kankara, which was later disowned by the university, contained the directive.
The last time I checked, Nigeria is a democratic, circular state where every individual is free to practise any religion of her choice. Section 38 of the Nigerian constitution provides: “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”
It is therefore wrong for a public university to indulge in this discriminatory act. A university is supposed to be an intellectual environment where people should be allowed some level of freedom. There must be robust fellowship and inter-faith relationship. People must be able to relate with each other without any discrimination or stigmatisation.
Knowing how delicate issues on religion are in Nigeria, one hopes that the authorities of the institutions concerned should swiftly look into the report and retrace their steps. The court should be objective in deciding the case and give students of other religions some leverage of freedom. It must be stated that the judgment on this case should not be delayed to avoid any retaliation in other parts of the country.
We already have a lot of issues to deal with in the country. Adding a religious crisis to it could be disastrous. Any university established and funded by either the federal, state or local government, should have freedom of religion. Let there be no more trouble in the country, please.
Waheed Abiodun,
Victoria Street,
Port Harcourt Township.
The NIMC, NCC Partnership
Reports have it that the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) disclosed that they have partnered to enhance seamless linkage of National Identification Number-SIM across the federation.
Both Commissions said that in recognising the significance of this initiative in enhancing security and improving service delivery, they were committed to improving processes and enhancing efficiency.
This is a welcome development. It has been worrisome why Nigerians should be made to go through the rigorous process of linking their National Identification Number (NIN) with their phone numbers every now and then. Some people who engage in online transactions have recorded some losses over the past few weeks as some internet providers barred their lines due to their inability to successfully do the linkage.
Two weeks ago, I went to a High Court for an official engagement and was shocked to see the number of people seeking to get court affidavits for the linkage of the NIN with the phone numbers so that their line will be unbarred.
It is therefore hoped that the NIMC, NCC partnership will remove all the bottlenecks surrounding the Nin, SIM linkage and make the process very seamless. It is also hoped that this will be the beginning of the process of proper identity management in the country and gradual collapse of all the various forms of identification – Drivers Licence, Voters Card, NIMC card. Bank cards etc into one identity card so that one would not have to be moving around with loads of identity cards.
Ebele Ubani,
Jabi, Abuja.
The Unwanted Strike
Just when the students of Nigeria public universities are rejoicing that there had been a no interruption in the universities’ academic calendar for sometiime, the news about the warning strike by the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, (SSANU), broke.
The Joint Action Committee of the two organisations had directed members to commence a seven day warning strike last week, following the federal government’s inability to pay their four months’ withheld salary.
I do not even understand why the government should allow labour unions to down tools before acting on their demands. Did President Bola Tinubu not direct that university workers that were on prolonged strike in 2022 and their salaries stopped by the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration after the invocation of “No Work, No Pay” policy, should be paid four months of the withheld salaries?
Have members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) not been paid in line with the president’s directive? Why were SSANU, NASU and unions concerned not paid? These bodies issued an ultimatum to the federal government. Why was there no effort to address their grievances within the window period?
It is said that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. So, the government, having paid ASUU, should also endeavour to settle SSANU and NASU so that there shall be no interruption in our academic calendar. We did no wrong by choosing public universities. Government, ASUU, SSANU, NASU and what have you should let us learn in peace and graduate at the record time like our colleagues in private universities, please.
IB Michael,
University of Port Harcourt,
Port Harcourt.
Letters
Obi Should Do More, Discordant Tunes On Minimum Wage, Akpabio’s Unguarded Comment
Obi Should Do More
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi, has continued to voice out his opinion on the happenings in the country. On the budget padding scandal currently rocking the upper chamber of the National Assembly, he has told the Senate to provide Nigerians with some explanations on the matter.
He said the claims and counter-claims over the alleged N3 Trillion which was alleged by Senator Abdul Ningi to have been padded into the 2024 budget, requires proper explanation as to what Nigerians must need to know regarding management of the nation’s, insisting that the suspension of Senator Ningi for three months does not address the issue.
The Labour party chieftain had also expressed his concern over the hunger in the country a few days ago. He raised the alarm that Nigerians were spending all their money on food.
It is commendable of Obi to have stood with the masses at this critical time in the nation’s history and be critical of negative happenings in the country and bad government policies. However, Obi should do more than just criticising. It is said that “a tree cannot make a forest”. Therefore, Obi should galvanise all the law makers both on the national and state levels to tow the same line with him, which should be seen as the position of the Labour Party.
In 2023, there was a revolution in the country. People of all walks of life, of various religions and tribes trouped out in support of the labour party because they believed in Mr Peter Obi. People saw the Labour Party as a needed alternative to the two most populous political parties, PDP and APC. Based on Obi’s personality and popularity, some people who ordinarily would not have won councillorship positions in their communities were elected into state and national assemblies. Many of them won the elections for free, spending no shi shi.
Painfully, after assuming the exalted positions, many of them, especially those in the national assembly seem to have forgotten the masses. It is now business as usual. Among the seven senators and 36 House of Representative members of the Labour Party in the National Assembly, which one of them has moved a strong motion about the hardship currently being faced by the masses and how to address it? How many of them stood by Senator Ningi on the budget padding revelation? What out the exotic cars distributed to them, how many of them advised that they should go for less expensive cars and the excess money channelled into developmental projects? It has become a case of one not talking while on the dining table, right?
Obi should be able to organise his party to form a formidable opposition and a party that does things differently, a party that stands with the people. If the labour party elected political office holders carry on the way they have done since they came into office, they will keep de-marketing their party, forgetting that 2027 is just around the corner.
Ngozi Omeje,
Umuahia, Abia State.
Discordant Tunes On Minimum Wage
I have followed the discussion on the proposed new minimum wage with keen interest and I just hope the leadership of the organised labour will be firm enough to represent the workers and refuse to fall prey to the ploy to disunite them.
It is disheartening seeing workers come up with different amounts as the proposed minimum wage. While the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, demanded that South-West states should pay N794,000 the Trade Union Congress, TUC, asked for N447,000. Similarly, workers in the Federal Capital Territory demanded N709,000, while their counterparts in the North-West clamoured for N485,000.
This idea of singing in discordant tunes is not good for strong unionism. I recall my days as a civil servant in Ibadan, Oyo state. That was during the time of Adams Oshiomhole as the National President of the NLC. The labour union was a force to be reckoned with and whenever the workers barked, the government caught cold. The increase in workers’ wages was fought for as body. There was nothing like federal workers going to the left and the state workers going to the right. Of course then, in 2000, the TUC did not exist as a separate body. The entire workers spoke in unison.
Yes, the states did reserve the right to say whether they can pay the national minimum wage or not but the national body of the NLC was carried along in the negotiation. Please, the NLC and TUC should come together and present a common front in the new minimum wage quest and ensure that workers in the states also get a fair deal. If not, some of the greedy governors will continue to subject the workers to hardship.
Pa Micheal Adeniran,
Rumuogba Housing Estate, Port Harcourt.
Akpabio’s Unguarded Comment
“Today, he’s responding to a remark by the Governor that has nothing to do with him. The opposition is urging the Senate president to be mindful of his utterances. How can he turn the burial of late Access Bank CEO, Herbert Wigwe, wife and first son, such a sad moment, to a political attack?. It’s disappointing. That’s political recklessness taken too far. We, the opposition parties, won’t tolerate such utterances anymore if it continues.”
Above was the response of a member of the House of Representatives and Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, to the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, unguarded remark on Gov. Siminalayi Fubara’s comment during the burial of the late Access Holdings Plc GCEO, Herbert Wigwe, wife and first son last weekend.
It is hoped that Akpabio will heed to the advice and learn how to talk in public. Tracing his character as a public servant and political office holder in various capacities over the years, one would notice that the senate president lacks the act of public speaking and carriage.
Was it not recently that he announced that the clerk of the house had sent money to each of the senators’ personal account for their holiday enjoyment only to be called to other and he changed it to ”In order to allow you to enjoy your holiday, the senate president has sent prayers to your mailboxes to assist you to go on a safe journey and return.” What about the “honourable minister off your mic” shameful display.
Whoever wants to die seeking public/political office should go ahead but leave our dear governor alone.
Loveth Opusunju
Minima, Opobo, Rivers State.
Featured
Fubara Promises Rivers Support For Wigwe Varsity …Cautions Political Class On Power Tussle
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has promised the state government’s commitment to supporting Wigwe University.
Fubara disclosed this on Saturday after the funeral service of the late Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc, Herbert Wigwe, in Isiokpo, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Wigwe, alongside his wife, Doreen, and son, Chizzy, died in a helicopter crash in California near the Nevada border, United States of America.
Also involved in the crash was the Chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, Abimbola Ogunbanjo.
The governor said, “I want to say our brother has finished his work, though short. We, as a government, will do everything with the Wigwe Foundation to immortalise one thing.
“It is not the bank, the bank might have a new identity, a new boss to run it, other ventures will also have their names; but one thing that has his name is Wigwe University.
“We will do everything within our power to make sure the dream will continue to live just as he has planned it.”
Fubara questioned the mourners as to why they kept chasing worldly desires, stressing the significance of impacting lives rather than struggling for power.
“This one has to do with the political class, what is all these struggle all about? You want to kill, you want to bury, what is it all about?
“This is a man who was not a politician, he made his money through our investments, he had the world in his palm financially, he controlled even the political classes; but today, with all the power financially couldn’t control life. Is it not enough to ask ourselves why are we struggling? Why are we not making an impact on the lives of our people?” he queried.
Dignitaries present at the funeral service include the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; Chairman, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria , Sanusi Lamido; Governors Alex Otti (Abia) Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), and Babajide Sawwo-Olu (Lagos).
Other dignitaries are former governors Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Peter Obi (Anambra), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Bukola Saraki (Kwarra), and James Ibori (Delta), among others.
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