₦airaland Forum

President Muhammdu Buhari has stated that herdsmen involved in the killing of Nigerians are non-Nigerians who came from Libya.

KissCODE:
APC has a way of producing smelling lies. They told us that PENGASSAN supported their new price regime but now these guys have said it is a lie.

In Kachikwu‘s press release he lied to Nigerians to NLC, TUC & PENGASSAN were all part of the decision to increase PMS‘s price only for us to discover it is a lie and labour & TUC will be going on strike to prove their point.

It is bad to have lairs running the affairs of a nation.

Yes... PIB should be signed into law if PMB/APC are ready to make effective and progressive change in petroluem industry.

It is about what the Nigerian leaders value. As to what they value most, it is being in power, though not all are guilty if this. But the truth is that you will spend most of your time on what you value most and only a few value the plight of the common man.

Bishop Charles Ighele is the General Superintendent of Holy Spirit Mission Church, the Happy Family Chapel, with over 60 branches, outreaches and neighborhood assemblies. Ighele, a Political Science graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, in this interview, with BOLA BADMUS, speaks on various issues of national interest.

With a few days to its one year anniversary in office, do you think the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is on the right track?

About being on track, it is a pity to say that it has not been easy to find a government being on track in Nigeria, as politicians spend most of their time fighting for power. When in office, they spend their spiritual and mental energy watching their backs and also fighting for more power. Afterwards, there is now less time used to think about the development and welfare of the people. Only a few politicians really spend their time to think about the problems of the country. One of them was Chief Obafemi Awolowo. It is unfortunate that most politicians don’t know Nigeria’s problems. So being on track is out of it.

There are insinuations that Nigeria has a long way before attaining development. What is your take on this?

Let’s ask ourselves: what is development; what makes development and what forms the concept of development? When people know what development is, they would know how to raise an underdeveloped people. As it is now, we are not even developing, we are an underdeveloped country, as you can’t use a third class brain to build a first class world, and most of our people have third class brains. So, it is not possible for this nation to develop and that is the way it has been over the years.

Don’t you think Nigeria needs to change its system of government?

You see, we are still making the mistake. Nigeria’s problem goes beyond the executive and legislature; it is about what the Nigerian leaders value. As to what they value most, it is being in power, though not all are guilty if this. But the truth is that you will spend most of your time on what you value most and only a few value the plight of the common man. I believe politics should be about lifting up the lives of the people, so it not about the system of government we are using. Both politicians in the legislature and executive arms of government are birds of a feather. They are all the same; always having clash of interests, in which they fight for everything.

What do you mean by hardly on track?

Though I am not referring to any government, when you talk about government being on track, you talk about the prosperity of the people. Are Nigerians poorer and richer than they were years ago? Is life better? Is quality of urban life better now than it was in 1961? Is education and health care better? In the village where I stayed, there was a dispenser in those days, are they still there? How can the question of being on track come up? In fact we are off track.
But the president has said we need a change of character...
I have said earlier, that hardly any Nigerian government is on track and I am not selective nor am I referring to his government.

What is your take on Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s religious bill?

You’ll find out that both Christian and Muslim leaders have come out to kick against the bill. There is something about leadership; a good general knows when to attack and when to retreat. Even when you are right, when you notice the heat generated by what you want to do, you stop to think about whether you are right or not and how can peace reign instead of winning the war. I will want Governor El-Rufai to withdraw the bill and let peace reign, even though to him, the bill is intended to bring peace to Kaduna State. The bill has been one of the hottest religious arguments since the Sharia-generated controversy in Zamfara State in 2003.

Which is Nigeria’s problem, followership or leadership?

Everything. It is the elite that determine the quality of people. It is like parents determining the quality of education the children will have, food to eat, among other decisions. So the fortune of a nation is determined by the elite; they are like those who parent the nation. When I say elite, I mean politicians, business owners and religious leaders to which materialism is key and not the people’s prosperity, although not all, but majority of them have corrupted the citizenry who behave like them. The quality of leaders that we have determines who we are.

So, the crisis between the executive and legislature has always been a stumbling block to development in the country?

You see, the issue between the legislature and executive is an ongoing issue and the media has always been used to fight this war and the people at the receiving end are so gullible that they don’t think before believing what the media publishes. I know the presidential system gulps a lot of money and if you want a parliamentary system of government, trust Nigerian politicians, they will make it costlier. Look at the local government reforms of 1978, brought about by the Obasanjo military regime. This was something that was meant to bring development to the grassroots. And at that time, as an undergraduate, I was highly interested in the policy. I was following the whole thing and noticed that it turned out to be one of the sources of draining the funds.
The present local government arrangement has turned into a system where the revenue of the country is wasted as you have a local government chairman having advisers. The presidential system of government in America is not as costly as we have it here, so it is about the quality of people we have at the helm of affairs. We are a people of low quality and that is the fact. And the funny part is when they go outside Nigeria, they behave well, but when in Nigeria, they urinate along the street. We have to know who we are and when you know your level, then development will start.

Some people are of the notion that there is something amiss about the bill as it came after the clash between the Army and the Shi’ia Muslims. What are your thoughts on this?

Governor El-Rufai is a Sunni Muslim and you have the shot backed by the Iran. So this is what the bill is seen to be. The bill is meant to address issues relating to the Shi’ites, other religious groups including the Christians, whereby he seems to be promoting the Sunni Muslim which he belongs to. That is the perception of the bill, but people may be wrong. But as it (bill) has generated a lot of controversy, I think the best thing is for him to withdraw the bill and even if passed, trust Nigerians to disobey it.

What is your take on banning of some items from being imported into the country?

Past and present governments have been doing this. We have been in this battle before, but till today, these things still find their way into the country, so it is not about banning this and that as it is not the cause if hardship faced by Nigerians. A country like ours shouldn’t be importing these things, but international trade is beyond ‘don’t import this and that,’ as it is trade and every individual has to determine what he or she wants to buy. If I want to buy toothpicks from England, you can’t stop me. But I think what we should ask ourselves why people buy those things? After addressing the why and solving the problem, people will stop buying those things. We should apply a more intelligent approach than wielding the stick. We need to think about the workforce of our nation and according to renowned writer, Adam Smith, what determines the wealth of a nation is the leaders, who must harness the resources of such nation to make them productive. And if you look at it, Nigeria as a country will never develop as long as we don’t harness our resources, including human, natural resources, among others.
I always tell people that if Bill Gates was a Nigerian, he would have been a poor man. And I tell people that any nation where people’s prosperity is hinged on who you know, progress will not take place in that nation.

Senate President Bukola Saraki’s case has generated a lot of controversy and some have claimed that he is being persecuted by his party, APC, for going against their wish. What is your view about such claims?

I see the Saraki case as an intra-class fight not a moral fight. And most importantly, most Nigerian politicians’ fights are about power and not based on morality. I would want to believe that what is appearing to be a power play is to the detriment of the Nigerian masses. With this, you will find out that Saraki, who is defending himself, is using a large part of his energy on a fight which he could use for developmental purposes and this is really sad. I appeal to our politicians to channel their energy to better the life of the common man.

Do you support the devaluation of Naira?

I think we all know a lot of dollars is sourced from the black market, and maybe only the privileged ones are giving dollars at the official rate by the commercial banks to import what is needed. So, already we have a problem. When multinational companies complain about scarcity of dollars, then we are in a problem. But I know right from IBB days, Nigeria had a strong aversion towards IMF and anything devaluation. We need to ask ourselves if things have changed. The president should arrange a Nigerian Economic Summit, where intelligent economists would sit and discuss about the country, and we must leave politics out of it.
Tribune Church

by Tony Akowe ,
President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Francis Olabode Johnson has said unions in the oil and gas sector have not endorsed the recent N145 price of Premium Motor Spirit known as petrol.
Speaking with newsmen at the NLC secretariat in Abuja after a joint press conference of the NLC and TUC, Johnson said the two unions in the sector merely supported the deregulation of down stream sector with a proviso that government must immediately engage all stakeholders in the nation’s economy to find a way forward.
Johnson however expressed the fear that the fictionalization of the Nigeria Labour Congress may affect effective negotiation with government on the way forward, pointing out that labour must find a way of presenting a common position on all issues.
He said oil unions were also opposed to allowing the deregulation of the industry to be driven by import, pointing out that government must also find a way of ensuring that the nation’s refineries are working at optimal capacity, while the construction of new one must be made a priority.
He maintained that the government must also have the political will to drive the process of deregulation just like it did in the telecom sector, pointing out that it is unfortunate that the Petroleum Industry Bill is yet to be passed into law.

Owamudia:
Nonsense!
PMB will not and must not give in!!
Subsidy must go forever!!!

The most important issue of course is how to shield the poor from the worst effects of the policy. I will hopefully address that in another note.

malton:
Why do PDP members all behave like programmed robots?

Always silly!

doyinisaac:
Am very sure you did not read the article or you rather prefer to allow tribalism take away common sense from you...

TPAND:
That dude called lalasticlala will never move this rib-cracking piece to the front page. At least he should put me to shame for once

davodyguy:
We were buying fuel at the rae of N65 per litre in December, 2011 and by 3rd week in January, 2012 we started buying at the rate of N97 per litre. This amounts to savings of N32 on every litre. Can we ask Jonathan, Diezani and NOI what they did with our N32 per litre from Jan, 2012 to February, 2015?

Nothing to show. Even SURE-P was a fraud. We knew this and that was why we occupied Nigeria.

In 2016, we are not going to occupy any where. We would only trust buhari to give us

1) Improved economy
2) Security
3) Electricity
4) Good Roads
5) Improved infrastructures
6) Improved well being of Nigerians

If he fails us, by 2019, we would sweep him out like we swept out GEJ

bilulu:
wat do u expect dem to say? u made ur choice, u allowed ursef to b deceived so wat do u want to hear from dem

doyinisaac:
It seems you reach orgasm with the name "buhari"...

for every ten posts of yours you must mention buhari......

EMMAUGOH:
so taking pics is now an achievement

doublewisdom:
Whoa! What an achievement. Something GEJ couldn't achieve in 6 years. Sai Baba!
( Rudiments of zombism, pg 29).

doublewisdom:
Calm kill am for there! Epileptic midget! May his heart become so calm that it won't pump blood anymore.

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor
Apparently trying to prevent being taken unawares by angry Nigerians over the sudden fuel price hike, the Police Wednesday beefed up security across the Federal Capital Territory.
A Vanguard survey of the FCT showed that armed policemen drawn from the various units of the command were deployed to strategic institutions of government and locations in a bold bid to pre-empt the breakdown of law and order over the unplanned fuel price hike, which shook the nation on Wednesday.
The battle-ready police officers and men were drawn from the regular, combatant and counter terrorism units and spread across the FCT. Vanguard counted many troops decked in their battle gear in all major road junctions and entrances of major hotels and government buildings in the capital city.
Newly acquired armoured tanks fitted with modern communication gadgets, were put on display at the popular garden usually used by the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ Movement for demonstration in front of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel and Millennium Park.
A black coloured Ford Sports Utility Vehicle attack tank was also sighted at the entrance of the Transcorp while many of such vehicles manned by fierce-looking riot policemen, were used to block some other public squares.
None of the policemen on duty agreed to speak publicly on the sudden deployment of such a large number of men and equipment to the city without any threat from any known quarter.
But a senior police officer, who pleaded anonymity, said that the police did not want to be taken unawares by elements trying to protest the fuel price hike announced by the Federal Government.
“We have to take proactive measures to protect lives and property. We don’t want hoodlums to cash in on any situation to cause mayhem in the city, the officer said.

phlemzy:
Rubbish news. Does it equally meant cab drivers in other locations would not increase their fares?