₦airaland Forum

ajbabs:
Read my write -up again sir

ajbabs, I am very sorry. You were right, I misconstrued your submission.

ajbabs:
The best public assets declaration done so far in this country at the federal level of goverment, was the one declared by the duo of late president Musa Yaradua and vice president Goodluck Jonathan. For anybody to surpass that, he or she needs to improve on their template of public assets declaration.
Note: Constitutionally, public asset declaration is not known. But in a situation whereby any person has promised as such voluntarily, such person needs not to be forced before he or she should declare it. Buhari and his vice were forced by the pressing groups to declare their own despite the fact that they promised such voluntarily and more so, their declarations fell- short that of Yaradua and his vice.

I am shocked to my bone marrows that you are saying asset declaration by public office holders is not provided for in the Constitution.

Please be informed that the Constitution makes it mandatory for all public office holders to declare their asset and liabilities upon resumption of office and at the end of his/tenure, to the Code of Conduct Beareu.

Declaring it to the public is that which isn't constitution, but also not against the Constitution.

Following president Muhammadu Buhari’s renewed commitment to transparency and his subsequent declaration of his assets, Senator Shehu Sani has also declared his assets.

However, what is surprising in Sani's asset declaration is that, he listed his two wives as part of his properties (assets).

Some people have described it as a slap on womanhood while others see it as reducing the asset declaration to mockery.

What are your views?

Shehu Sani, your wives are not ‘assets’


Senator Shehu Sani is –so far – the only politician to publicly declare his assets after President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo. There are instructive things to note from this. One, Sani declared his wives (and children) as part of his assets. While it is not my place to teach anyone which adjective to use to describe proprietary claims over his own household, listing his family alongside his worldly goods borders on distaste.

Sani is obviously surfing on Buhari’s wave of “change” and he stated as much with self-awarded righteousness. Sani said, “A clean broom is needed to clean a dirty space. I chose to publicly declare and be pelted than to walk with the stain of suspicion and mistrust splashed on all public office holders by a generation of curious citizenry.” Those words seem to me like those of a man who has been in opposition long enough to know the rules of the game: preempt your critics by telling them their scorn is your cross to bear.

Sani also puts his values on the pedestal: his unabashed declaration of his polygamy is a subliminal appeal to the African values he wants us to know he embodies. In these times when “modernities” are making a fuss about what can enter the marriage institution, nothing announces your Africanness louder than a parade of your wives. As Sani decorates himself with these politico-cultural garlands, he should note he owes us a few more things.

One, the reassurance that public declaration of assets is not being confused with sincere and sustainable anti-corruption plan. Asset declaration is routine and even a public announcement of same as an anti-corruption strategy is not merely cosmetic but seriously naive. By the way, is it not curious that some of these declarations are vague? How does a public official declare that he has “several cars” or a plot of land that he cannot readily locate?

Two, that this is not another episode of Nigerian jokes. Since Buhari declared the modest sum of N30m, there is a probability that those who want to glean from his “Spartan” image will declare a lesser sum; not large to turn them into materialists but not small enough to make them look penurious (because that will be injurious to the image they are gunning for). For maximum effect they will add their wives, children and their intellectual property to the list. While this is not exactly illegal, it can turn to an insidious valorisation of poverty that, in the long run, is simply a cultivation of pseudo-cultural values founded on collective hypocrisy; a spurious appeal to modesty.

By poverty, I do not mean an absence of money. Anyone who can afford either N30m or N22m in today’s Nigeria is neither poor nor Spartan. Poverty in this context is relative – borne of weighing a leader’s material possession against those of his/her contemporaries and arriving at the dubious conclusion that the said leader did not attain more because of either his/her modesty or some talakawa ideology.

Even the said leader might believe this and use it to self-soothe, or derive phony self-satisfaction, or even to deflect a critical examination of his/her life.



For instance, Washington Post recently reported that with the sum of $150, 000 Buhari declared, he could be Africa’s least corrupt leader. I have huge problems with that line of reasoning. First, it is too early to judge Buhari’s corruptibility. He has barely spent 100 days in office and therefore cannot yet be compared to other African Presidents like President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo or Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who have stayed long enough in office to consider the national purse as an extension of their wallets. Two, the assertion about wealth and corruption is problematic because it conflates having money with corruption. Nothing can be more untrue! Lacking wealth is not necessarily synonymous with morality and having money does not make one either immoral or amoral. Sometimes people do not have money because they lack ideas or aspiration.

Buhari was kicked out of office in 1985 at the age of 42 when his energy was still at its peak. He could have dissipated those energies on enterprise, be rich and yet retain his values. Only Buhari knows why he is not richer; why he did not turn his passions into an enterprise; why he has 270 cows but his farm is not an innovative enterprise with at least dairy section and/or meat packing division. Only he can explain why he did not turn his hobby of animal husbandry into a business. Trying to explain it away within the frame of corruption is rather simpleminded.

Three, while Sani has thrown the gauntlet to his fellow public office holders, there is a more important question, “And so what?” What problem does a public declaration of your worldly goods solve in a decadent polity? For Sani, there is a more sincere battle waiting and if he is sincere about becoming an apostle of political virtue, here it is: his earnings as a lawmaker. Sani once swore that when he gets to office, he would be battling fellow lawmakers over their humongous salaries and allowances.

Lately, his “body language” suggests he disremembers his earlier promise. He has gone from a man with those elevated ideals to occupy levels as base as what Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, personifies – exchanging meaningful governance for placatory measures like “stomach infrastructure.” During the last Ramadan festival, Sani turned into Robin Hood, distributing camels and cows to his constituents. He even waxed philosophical about it, stating that camels symbolised endurance, resilience and courage; virtues that Nigerians needed. His defence of this philanthropy indicated that a reduction in National Assembly budget was no longer a priority cause.

In a recent interview, he in fact argued said that federal lawmakers’ earnings was not the issue. What needs be attacked is the system that makes it possible for people to cut such avaricious portions of the national cake. Sani’s argument is decent if one examined it only on the surface. When people who are implicated in social dysfunction encourage their critics to attack the system, they may simply be redirecting attention from their personal (ir)responsibility. William Blake once said, “He who would do good must do it in minute particulars. General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite and flatterer.”

So this is what Senator Sani can do to walk the talk: he should lay bare his salaries, allowances and the amount of running costs the office he occupies gulps.


In 2009, his fellow lawmaker Senator Sola Adeyeye granted an interview where he detailed how lawmakers were robbing Nigerians. That interview titled, “How the National Assembly robs Nigerians,” Adeyeye pointed out that the money lawmakers collect to run their office – from travelling funds to stationery costs – was a state-sanctioned license to rob Nigeria. Now that Sani himself is a senator – and hopefully still retains his activist/aluta spirit, can he do himself the favour of keeping that promise about National Assembly budget? That is one open declaration that concerns Nigerians, one capable of –hopefully – jumpstarting a national conversation, not the number of wives in his harem.

http://www.punchng.com/opinion/viewpoint/shehu-sani-your-wives-are-not-assets/

armadeo:
Many have good ideas but no money to back themselves. When they finally get sponsors they get kicked to the curb and see someone else reap of thief brain work.

I know a few examples.



That being said our youths of today have no inkling of hard work and most of all perseverance. If you must work for free. Get a Han of the job and your cv is growing instead of sitting idle at home.

But how many people have the luxury.? Many are already being depended on.


Let's think and grow rich. For example I was involved in a business some years ago and dropped out due to irofit issues and finance. Believe me we who were involved are regretting now as that same issue is making millions for someone else.

I have learnt my lesson. I may have to wait 20years to reap the reward but I will wait.

Reminds me of a man who came to my church and spoke of how he quit a well paying job over 30years ago. Everyone told him he was mad but he stuck to his guns now thosenpeple he left behind are coming to him begging for jobs in jus own company.

Perseverance one day your name would ring.

After reading your submission, I must confess that you are one of the few ambitious and creative people this generation is blessed to have.

While I sincerely share your frustrations and the nail-biting experience of watching someone reap the benefits of your ideas while you are relegated to the background, I must not fail to tell you that, it is not enough to have great ideas.

You must also know how to manage your ideas and strategies. You don't expose everthing you know just because you need empowerment from a bank or a certain rich man.

You can't sell your ideas to someone else and expect to still be relevant when the ideas was the only thing you have got------it's a common principle in business and a law of power.

I once read the story of a coach who taught his trainee "all" the powerful techniques to outwit any opponent. The now powerful trainee, thinking that he has learnt everything, challenged his coach to a contest in his quest to become the master of ALL.

On the day of the contest, the master simply used the only trick he reserved to defeat his trainee.

Politicians are never in lack of words.

Maybe she should confront her dad first.

The Osun state government has said that before arrears of salaries will be paid to any of its civil servants, they must first present their first school leaving Certificates.

The workers who are in the process of applying for the arrears of their salary were yesterday September 8th given a form with specific instruction to attach photocopies of their primary school certificates to the forms. Sources within the state state government says this new position was adopted to check the activities of ghost workers in the civil service.

http://lindaikeji..com.ng/2015/09/present-your-primary-school.html?m=1

You have just made the right decision. Most people erroneously think that, money is their constraints, but it's actually IDEAS.

This is absolutely on point.

I hope they will scale through? Because Nigerians will beam serious searchlight on those nominees.

FBLJ:
Most you said. and that is the truth, but there many that are better than some Universities.

Please can you read this to yourself? Please try to correct yourself so that you won't be helping FGN to justify the discrimination.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/okowas-running-mate-clark-tompolo-produced-otuaro/


this is for those contesting that Otuaro is not an ijaw man

quote author=fejikudz post=37837812] Wetin sef.. una too like bad news
Nobody died oo.. i work within the area the incident happened

btw.. the dep governor is not an ijaw man[/quote]And who told you Otuaro is not an Ijaw man? He is a lawyer from Ijaw and he was handpicked by Tompolo.

you can make use of Google.

Your instructor's command of English language is legendary.

Obviously, he can't perform magic and it doesn't mean that all the players are bad.

The players just needed to understand themselves and play like a team.

He should stick with these players, except Haruna and Emenike, then include Ighalo and Onazi after his suspension. We have capable replacement for Okocha if we look the direction of NPFL

Then, build the team instead of unending experimentation like Keshi did.

More so, Oliseh should work with Siasia to incorporate some of the under 23 guys to super eagles gradually.

Please who knows if it will be shown on any TV station?

This is disheartening.

tekel:
you are such a kid!!!
Mikel was born and raised up in Jos. he speaks hausa and igbo fluently!!

Mikel even speak Hausa fluently more than Igbo. He has never lived in Igboland or any other part of Nigeria except Jos since he was born.

Exercise and dieting. There is no point exercising and eating as usual, believing that you will miraculously lose weight.

The words "TIE DOWN" got me thinking.

Please, we need to be careful with how we disseminate unconfirmed reports in order to attract traffic..

Op, first we need to be grateful to God that your dad wasn't hurt, because he took a big risk. If he was sighted, we may not have heard this story. Secondly, it is common knowledge that some security agents who are supposed to protect us, are the ones behind the mask.

There are bad eggs amongst NPF and that is why successive IGP have always promised to sanitize the system.

Please advice your dad to avoid night journey because its disadvantages are far more than the advantages.

Anybody believing that the chibok girls are kept somewhere together is just deceiving his/herself.

It is possible

Nigerians are very creative.

Nice info.

Adding the source of your information gives it credibility.

Thanks for the info.

Express your feelings and desires to her. Even if she turns you down, you have taken a bold step.

Please never feel inferior to any human being.

You never can tell, the feelings may be mutual. If she likes you, she can do anything to help you get a better job.

dearpreye:
You are the change you want to see.

Who occupies the front position of leadership should b of very critical concern to you, for their decisions have very direct impact on the quality of life we have. Be concerned....

Most of the agitations for who occupies which position in this country, are purely based on ethno-religious bias.

I still maintain that God should place this country in the hands of those that can bring about the desired change.

There is no gain having "MY" person there while everyone else suffers.

dearpreye:
We've praying for this nation for decades. It's time to add real hard work to that prayer. Prayers alone haven't tarred even a kilometer of road.

It's time to do our part of the job. God didn't Japan and the other developed nations. It's our duty.

Yes you are very correct. By prayers, I mean God raising and empowering the courageous and focused change agents that will enforce radical changes where necessary.

This is the reason I am not interested who occupies which position, provided the desired change is achieved.