₦airaland Forum

A Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, and a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Dr Charles Umeh, speaks with LARA ADEJORO on how to deal with forgery in the country

Is there any psychological issue with forgery?

Forgery could be age falsification or certificate falsification and that is why the personality of the individual comes to play.

Some people are pathological liars, so they might not have any qualms about lying but those who have a conscience always feel bad when they lie. So occasionally, they lie and if it gets back to them, they feel it. People lie for different reasons, and we have different degrees of a lie, but to me, a lie is a lie because it boils down to your integrity, self-esteem, and your inability to own up to your actions.

There are times people will be in difficulties and they feel lying is the way out, maybe they don’t do it very often and that is when it becomes a psychological issue for them if they are eventually found out. If you are dealing with a pathological liar, lying is second nature, so you can’t even know what the truth or lie is in their everyday conversation.

What could affect such situations is people’s reactions. If there is ageneral condemnation, the person might be traumatised, especially when you look at the age factor. For instance, if everybody starts to condemn a younger person, they start to be weighed down, traumatised, and if care is not taken, some of them may not recover from it unless they seek psychological intervention. Also, when things happen, the way you handle them determines their impact on you.

In the case of Mmesoma Ejikeme, what could have influenced her decision to cheat since her original result showed that she did well?

Students don’t believe that they can pass exams with hard work. Now that people are beginning to recognise excellence, they always feel that it does not matter how they get it. Our society celebrates people who have made it without knowing how they made it.

When we were in the university, we hardly saw people driving cars, but today, undergraduates are driving big cars, and nobody is asking them what they are doing. When you ask some of the younger ones, they will say going to school is useless. So, cheating is gradually pilfering into the psyche of the young ones, and they think the only way to excellence is when you cheat.

From Mmesoma’s confession, she must have seen her result but that was not enough for her, she wanted to be celebrated for who she was not because that is what is going on in the society. People are celebrated without putting in the effort, so the answer lies in societal values. Hers is not the only case, and everybody is paying lip service to the larger problem.

Young people are saying they want to have money even if it is for a year. We need to start inculcating values in children from primary school. If you want to excel, there is no shortcut, you must work hard. Some schools and teachers are compromised, when you ask students, they will tell you what they do. So, it is a societal issue, and we need to start addressing it. Go to schools, and talk to students, you will understand what is going on.

Could it be a spiritual issue, or it is just psychological?

It is not spiritual, it is psychological. It is the society that reinforces that behavior. A son from school will drive home a big car and some mothers will start dancing around without asking what that son is doing. Others are watching how the son is being celebrated so they want to be like him.

While growing up, if you come home with any property that does not belong to you, you will not enter the house because your parents will deal with you mercilessly until you tell them where you got it from. When the society reinforces bad behavior, others will learn from it. There is nothing spiritual about it, we are products of our society.

How can those involved in this kind of act get out of it?

The family is the simplest unit for behavioural change. What is the value system of the parents that run families? What are they inculcating in their children? That is the only place you can begin to make meaningful change, so let us revisit family values.

Families must stand for what is genuine and respectable and make sure they address every bad behavior in their children. The kids that are raised by these families are the ones that go into society. If every family does what they are supposed to do, there will be sanity. The media can start doing what we call modelling.

Even in the movie industry, when you watch some of the values they portray, you cannot help but shake your head. If they start portraying good values as what everybody should look up to and would be rewarded for, people will start changing their behaviour.

The major example should come from the government. Let them begin to do what they preach, if they create an environment for everyone to follow, people will have no choice but to follow the standard. We may not have a perfect community, but we can have a reference point to guide others.

Today, we live in this country like it is no man’s land. You hear a lot of scandals happening in churches and these people are members of different families. During our days in school, we used to have corporate punishment but today, you dare not touch anyone. In fact, the teachers are afraid of the students. During our time, we were afraid of our teachers.

When you do any bad thing and they say they will report you to your teacher, you will want to change immediately but today, the teachers are reported to the students who now punish them, or their parents will come and punish the teachers. So, most of the problems begin with families and society because that is where they come from.

Meanwhile, people can change. For instance, Nigerians conform to rules when they travel abroad but when the same people get back to this country, they become something else. So, it is a combination of what the government wants, what the society wants, and what the family wants. If you want to start a new behavioural change, you need to go back to the family because if it has the right values, the children will take it to school and the burden on teachers will reduce. It is the family that builds the foundation for good behaviour.

Even in the civil service, forgery is a widespread problem, so what is the solution to this?

Forgery is an age-long thing. But how do we look at it and how do we punish it? Are the punishments enough deterrent for other people not to do it? In Nigeria, we have age limits for jobs and the jobs are not there. They want you to go to school early, but most people don’t go to schools early because they don’t have the facilities or the resources, so some have to grow up and make their money before going to school and after getting the qualification, you tell them that their age is beyond the employment age. What do you think will be the hope of such people?

My take is that we should remove age limitation as a factor in employment, and look at what people can do, their ability. If we can start with that, who will want to falsify their age? Then, we can have a retirement age and make it competitive for people to show what they can do. The government should create job opportunities and remove the age embargo so that people can go to where they can fit in and where they can function.

In every society, you must expect some people to be law-breakers no matter how hard you try and the only way to checkmate them is to have interconnectivity. If anybody submits their certificates you can reach out via networks, make calls, and cross-check, so that you can bounce them before they get into the system. If our information are put together, anywhere you put any of your certificates, it will show whether it is genuine or not, and if everyone knows that the government is serious about it, it will also act as a check.

The bottom line remains that if you are brought up properly, why will you want to forge your certificate or age?

Looking at the case of Mmesoma, what is the lesson others can learn from this?

Did you see the line of defence in Mmesoma’s case? They tribalised it, and nobody was looking at the main issue anymore. The point is that as a society, we should stand up to speak with one voice when we see something that is not going well.

The first thing would have been to investigate and come out with the facts and people would look at it objectively and condemn the act. Others are watching too, and it has come to a logical end, and everybody is saying they are sorry, the younger ones watching now will want to know what is next after this confession.

On what next, do you think sanctions or psychotherapy will address it?

Due to the tension the Mmesoma issue generated, the girl must have been traumatised because deep down in her mind, she didn’t know it would escalate this much. If care is not taken, it might destroy her except they seek psychotherapeutic intervention that could bring behavioural change so that she will know that there is no shortcut to success and then rebuild her self-esteem. Because how is she going to stand in front of her colleagues now without people making sly remarks about her?

Those are the consequences of her actions that she will bear for a while, which is why she requires intervention to cope with them. There are so many techniques that can help her, like trauma intervention, self-awareness, and mindfulness training, among others. Again, you can’t call for interventions until you do the assessment. It is when you assess her properly, you will understand the reason behind the action, and that is when an intervention could be planned. The first thing is to take her to a clinical psychologist who would be able to do the assessment and interventions.

APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu Disowns List Of Principal Officers Announced By NASS Leadership

Fresh crisis appears to be brewing in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC as the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu has disowned the list of principal officers announced by the leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly on Tuesday.

Adamu at a meeting of the party’s National Working Committee and Progressives Governors’ Forum in Abuja says the National Assembly breached protocol by announcing the principal officers without the knowledge of the party.

Hauwa Indimi -Yar’adua, daughter of a billionaire oil magnate, Mohammed Indimi, has lamented over the rising cost of foodstuff in the country.

Taking to her verified Instagram account, the cosmetologist shared a picture of a small basket of tomatoes which she stated was purchased for N8,000 in Abuja, saying she is ‘still not over it yet’.

In her Instagram stories she inscribed the picture of the basket of tomatoes with the words, “I sent my people to the market and as of Monday, this is N8k tomatoes. Still not over it,” she wrote on Monday, July 3.

Due to the high price of tomatoes, it has been gathered that some housewives in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have stopped using tomatoes for stew and other sauces over the rise in cost, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

Moreso, some residents disclosed that they have resorted to using garden eggplants and carrots to make stew. They said garden egg, called ‘ganyen gauta’ in Hausa; ‘igba’ in Yoruba; and ‘anyara’ in Igbo, could blend very well with rice in the same manner as tomatoes.

Others said they were exploring pumpkin, pawpaw or traditional soups like white soup and palm fruit soup popularly called banga in place of tomato stew.

The Director, Publicity and Advocacy, Northern Elders Forum, NEF, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed advises President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to rush, but thread with care and not put too much burden on the already overburdened citizenry, adding that the effect of his policy such as liberalisation of the exchange regime, the increase in the cost of power, as well as the inevitable increase in school fees as a result of the education loan will add up to the burden of already overburdened Nigerians.

In this interview with Saturday Vanguard, he also counsels that the President should not appoint anyone with any slightest hint of corruption, emphasizing that Nigeria cannot stand more years of misgovernance, indifference and incompetence of Buhari. Excerpts.

What is happening in Kano now should be a source of concern for the Northern
Elders like you, don’t you see it as pettiness laced with vengeance?

It is a source of concern. If a legitimate government, elected to respect the rule of law will allocate land and it will be questioned in terms of impropriety then we have a very serious reason to worry. Also, if another government has reason for retrieving that land, except by demolishing all the buildings, then we have double jeopardy. It is difficult to see how to get out of this.

Who does more wrong, is it the government that gave out land or the government that operates under the pretext of correcting the ills of past government, embarking on something that has a semblance of vengeance? We are worried and we have to find a way of breaking the vicious circle. Preceding governments have done so many things that are wrong and a new government will say we are going to upturn it.

That is our worry now, not so much the buildings. This is a very serious issue, a country like Nigeria cannot progress with this caliber of people that became our governors and legislators. We have to find a way of breaking the circle. We are degenerating.

Is there any internal mechanism of the Northern Elders Forum deployed to call the governors to order?

Well, the governors are new. What we want to do is to start on a very strong footing with all the Northern governors. We are trying to encourage them to adopt uniform policies for a lot of issues that are absolutely essential to reducing insecurity, and poverty as well as dealing with the weaknesses of our traditional institutions and values; dealing with the issue of poor education, girl-child education, and the Al-Majiri education.

We believe that we can encourage them to adopt a common position on all of these issues. We used to have one north, now we have 19 governors, a full-blown government with executive, legislators, and judiciary. There is no way we can progress with this style of governance. So, we will encourage them to rise above partisanship and rise above pettiness, and vengeance. Of course, we are worried about what individual governors are doing and that is why we have to caution them and offer words of advice. It is really disturbing.

It is not the action of one governor, it is the fact that we don’t appear to understand that the rule of law must be maintained. If you don’t have business allocating land, then you shouldn’t do it even if you have the power under the law. Secondly, if you have the power to demolish buildings that must have cost billions of naira, don’t do it because you have the power, because it couldn’t have been the only option. In between the two positions, we ought to find a way.

I know some of those who emerged as governors are decent and responsible people and we are exploring how we can build a good relationship.

Looking back to Buhari’s government and what we have seen in terms of policy direction, would you say we now have a semblance of a good government?


No, I won’t. Eight years ago when President Buhari came, he cleared all checkpoints, removed Service Chiefs, and ordered the military to relocate to Borno, then Boko Haram was chased and limited substantially. These were greeted by the same euphoria. There was enthusiasm that he would fight corruption, insecurity, and a bad economy.

But look at where we are now after eight years, we are worse than when he came in. Certainly, the entire country had not been in the situation before. So, forgive me if the Northern Elders Forum has a different perspective on the euphoria as a result of the tentative action or salvo being released by President Tinubu against the economy, corruption and service chiefs, and others. I will rather exercise some reservations. It is good he is starting with some policies, but he has to be very careful, he should not rush into putting in policies just because he wants to be different from Buhari. Although by all means, any worst government will be better than Buhari’s government of misrule, indifference, and incompetence.

I am sorry if I don’t share your enthusiasm (about Tinubu). I will rather advise him to be different from Buhari, and address those issues that needed to be addressed with courage and sensitivity. Buhari had lowered the bar of governance and lowered our status of existence; insecurity and poverty are more pronounced.

So, Tinubu should pay attention to two key things. One, the failures of Buhari can be repeated if not careful, he should not get carried away by the euphoria of actions and picking points. Secondly, he should be careful about policies.

For me, I will not rush but I also will not hesitate to put a distance between Tinubu’s administration and Buhari’s. Tinubu’s administration must be infinitely better because this country cannot stand another eight years of misgovernance, indifference, and incompetence.

One of his major policies now is the removal of the subsidy. Yes, a lot of people agree subsidy should go, but do you think it could have been better handled by first providing palliatives to cushion the effect of the removal?

Honestly, I don’t know how better he could have handled it. Incidentally, Tinubu didn’t remove the subsidy. Buhari did by providing for it until June when he knew the new administration would be in place.

Tinubu came in and to find out the subsidy had been removed. So, he shouldn’t take credit for removing the subsidy. Yes, he would have removed the subsidy if it was in place, but Buhari removed it.

Yes, but the issue is ameliorating the effect of the removal, by first providing for the attendant hardship, pain, and rising prices of things.

Yes, I agree with you in principle. If I were speaking for Tinubu, I will say, it is not my administration that removed the subsidy. It is Buhari. If he had done that, he would have been giving credit to where it belonged and blame to where it should be laid. Then, it is only on the palliatives that Tinubu will be held responsible.

Yes, everybody agreed, it has to go, but do you just remove subsidy and cause a massive decline in our already desperate condition and circumstances under which we live where the cost of living is now ten times higher? It is a legitimate question for some relief. I also want to remind you that it is not just the only thing that is likely to add up. The liberalisation of the exchange regime is also another area that will have a multiplier effect on Nigerians. The increase in the cost of power is also another one. The increase in school fees as a result of the education loan is another one. If one is to advise the Tinubu administration, I will tell him to watch it and not to put too much burden on the already overburdened citizenry.

As good as the policies are, some need to be critically examined before you roll them out, while others need to be examined with some level of compassion and sympathy so that you are not seen to be governing a country where 90% of the populace are in desperate choices and circumstances.

So what are your hopes in this government?

I hope that Tinubu will find good and competent Nigerians. Two, they will have excellent records of achievements in their different areas of life and a high level of personal integrity. Integrity is absolutely vital here and I will place it first. He should not appoint anybody with the slightest hint of corruption. Fighting corruption must be prioritised above everything. That is very important because we need good people to help run this country.


I mean real good people, not just politicians who are being rewarded for doing one thing or the other during the electioneering period. We want the best for Nigerians. A nation of 200 million people, Nigerians are among the best brains in the world and they are willing to serve this country and pull it from the precipice where we stand.
I hope President Tinubu will find those people and he should thrust responsibility on them and also hold them responsible. I hope he will find these people because corruption has to be fought to a standstill. It is eating the heart of this country. Corruption is responsible for all the insecurity that you find around, at the bottom of it, you will find corruption. It is responsible for the recession in the economy, it is responsible for the lack of faith of the citizen in government and their leaders. It is responsible for the moral corruption we see among our youth.

It is corruption that is destroying this country and unless we prioritise the fight against corruption, you will never get anything done. Because for every Naira you put on the table, 90 kobos of it will be stolen by the people you put in charge of it. So, Tinubu appointees must be able to fight corruption and fight it well without becoming victims of corruption. They have to break the circle. Public office is not for corrupt people. We have people who have just been sworn in weeks ago. From the way they conducted their campaigns and the lots of money spent, you will know the only reason they are skimming to get into public offices. It is not to serve but to steal public funds. Those people must be stopped and the only way they can be stopped is if President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima genuinely live above board, they must not be corrupt and they must not tolerate corruption. They must be surrounded by people whose only desire to be in office is to serve.

He needs good people and good ideas. No doubt these are in abundance in the country. Let him take his time, look for them, and less attention to politics. Tinubu should emphasis competence over politics and integrity over political patronage. I am not sure Nigeria can stand another eight years of poor governance.

How did the forum galvanize support for Tinubu’s victory in the Northern region?
Well, I think some people outside the North still don’t understand the North. The North is politically sophisticated. The North gave each of the four candidates their largest votes.

The north is plural, it is both Christian and Muslim and it is politically sophisticated. The decision of the North to give Tinubu 63% of the votes he got was because it saw in Tinubu a promise and I hope he will not disappoint them.

chokekachy:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/dailypost.ng/2023/06/29/ican-reacts-as-fg-removes-professional-bodies-councils-from-budget-funding/%3famp=1

Previous Thread:
https://www.nairaland.com/7746170/fg-discontinues-funding-professional-bodies#124106337

AImiron:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-66041881.amp

The 2023 general elections did not ensure a well-run transparent, and inclusive democratic process as assured by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) has said.
[/b]The EU EOM noted that shortcomings in the law and electoral administration hindered the conduct of well-run and inclusive elections and damaged trust in INEC.

In its final report released on Tuesday in Abuja, [b]the EU EOM said public confidence and trust in INEC were severely damaged during the presidential poll and were not restored in state-level elections, leading civil society to call for an independent audit of the entire process.

“The widely welcomed Electoral Act 2022 (the 2022 Act) introduced measures aimed at building stakeholder trust. However, the Act’s first test in a general election revealed crucial gaps in terms of INEC’s accountability and transparency, proved to be insufficiently elaborated, and lacked clear provisions for timely and efficient implementation.

“Weak points include a lack of INEC independent structures and capacities to enforce sanctions for electoral offences and breaches of campaign finance rules.

“Furthermore, the presidential selection of INEC leadership at the federal and state level leaves the electoral institution vulnerable to the perception of partiality. Closer to the polls some started to doubt INEC’s administrative and operational efficiency and in-house capacity. Public confidence gradually decreased and was severely damaged on 25 February due to its operational failures and lack of transparency.

“While some corrective measures introduced before the 18 March elections were effective, overall trust was not restored,” it said.
Addressing a press briefing in Abuja, the Chief Observer, EU EOM, Barry Andrews, noted that his team carried out its work between 11 January and 11 April on the invitation of the INEC.

The EU EOM offered 23 recommendations for consideration by the Nigerian authorities that would contribute to the improvement of future elections.

Andrews said: “We are particularly concerned about the need for reform in six areas which we have identified as priority recommendations, and we believe, if implemented, could contribute to improvements for the conduct of elections.”
The six priority recommendations point to the need to; remove ambiguities in the law; establish a publicly accountable selection process for INEC members; ensure real-time publication of and access to election results; provide greater protection for media practitioners; address discrimination against women in political life, and; impunity regarding electoral offenses.

Reacting, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, who spoke to journalists after the presentation said: “We are going to harmonise all the reports by international observers that have been presented and we are going to look at the reports holistically.

“From the report presented, the EU made mention of the fact that there have been significant improvements in our electoral process and there have been so many positives to this particular election.

“One of the positives is that we registered over 93 million Nigerians during this election. Not only that if you look at the reports submitted by international observers, in terms of voters accreditation, the BVAS performed optimally.”

Okoye, however, admitted that there were challenges, promising that recommendations from international observers would be worked on and implemented.

Hundreds of protesters on Monday hit Kano streets to express their displeasure with the ongoing demolition exercises of the state government.

Daily Trust reports that the government has pulled down some structures while several others have been marked for demolition.

The government premised its action on the grounds that the land upon which the affected structures were erected were “illegally” allocated by the immediate past government.

The structures already demolished include the multi-billion Naira project at the old Daula Hotel, shopping plazas at the Polo Ground and at the Eid ground, while residential and commercial buildings have been marked for demolition at Salanta area and BUK road.

While the government has insisted there is no going back in its resolve to “restore” the Kano Urban Development Masterplan which include removing structures erected on public spaces, the protesters that hit the streets early Monday demanded that the government rescind its decision.

With posters like “Gov Yusuf, your action is sending away investors”, “Don’t bring insecurity to our state, Mr Governor”, and “Let the law takes its cause” among others, the protesters after converging at the demolished Daula Hotel, proceeded to the police headquarters to register their grievances.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Comrade Zahraddeen Sani Baba of the Coalition for Good Governance and Change Initiative, said if the incumbent governor has anything against his predecessor, “please call him to answer questions instead of punishing innocent Nigerians and destroying their investments.”

Hezzyluv:
Na the one wey dey tire me pass be that. If u from Apple junction pass 2ru Agor dey go Isolo or Cele, you go drive about 1km distance inside water and this tin na year in year out

Hezzyluv:
Lagos is stressfully stressful to live. But for the street legit hustling, u can make it quick Sha compare to other states.

#myopinion

EcoBrick:
https://leadership.ng/rmafc-denies-salary-increase-for-tinubu-govs-others/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter