From Vanguard
By Jide Ajani
Apparently embarrassed by what he saw at
Nigeria’s Police College, on last Friday,
President Goodluck Jonathan could not but
lament openly, asking why people were being
subjected to a treatment fit for chickens in the
poultry. The unscheduled visit by Jonathan was a rare
one and it afforded the nation’s number one
citizen the opportunity to see first hand, the
very sorry state of the institution built some 73
years ago. A very dependable source privy to
the visit quoted the exact words of Mr. President. An obviously miffed Jonathan could not but
ask: “Why are you treating people like poultry
chicken”? The visit, which was as a result of a promotional
documentary being aired on Channels TV and
which the president had seen, lasted less than
one hour. Sunday Vanguard learnt that when the
documentary first aired and Jonathan saw it,
“he could not believe what he was seeing”. It was gathered that the Presidency could not
understand why the television network could
be allowed to publicise the rot that had gone
on in the institution for so long. Jonathan in a Police college hostel In fact, Sunday Vanguard learnt that some
mischief was already being woven around the
documentary until it was made clear to the
president that the network was in partnership
with the police authorities. Jonathan was made to understand that the
reason for the publicity, bad as it may appear,
“is to sensitise corporate bodies to the massive
needs of the institution, such that when the
Channels’ Forum is held on Tuesday as
scheduled, there would have been enough sensitization exercise. Also, information suggests that, contrary to the
impression that some people had tried to
create, which was that the documentary was
meant to embarrass the Jonathan
administration, “it was actually meant to be a
supportive engagement”. In fact, according to the process of
engagement being instituted for the
partnership, corporate bodies would not be
expected to make financial donations. Rather, interested partners would pick a project
(either rehabilitation of the hostels or
construction of buildings) and fund it directly
for the benefit of the institution. Sunday Vanguard was told that “it was after
the president was made aware of the modus
operadi of the Channels/Police partnership that
he decided to pay the surprise visit.” Already, there are strong indications that the
Presidency would buy into the partnership. “The president would be very supportive of
any activity or sets of activities that would
ensure a worthy restoration of the institution”,
a Presidency source said yesterday. Asked about the initial feeling of
embarrassment, the Presidency source
quipped: “I do not think that is the attitude of
Mr. President. “Mind you, that institution has been there for
some 73 years. President Jonathan just got to
office some two and a half years ago; the
incumbent Inspector General of Police is just
about a year and a half in office too. Would it
be wise to blame these two individuals for something that had gone on for that long. Mr.
President is the first in recent history to visit the
place; the incumbent IG has deemed it fit to
accept to partner with the television network
and, but for that, the massive interest it has
generated may not have happened”. Sunday Vanguard learnt that while Jonathan
was airborne en route Abidjan, the Cote
D’Ivoire capital, for the ECOWAS meeting on the
Mali crisis, he was said to have caught the sight
of an obviously worried man.