Article published in The Nation Newspaper
17/03/2010
Life is so serious. A young woman collapses and knocks her head on the floor and is dead by next day. Age-39 years old. No goodbye. A 21 year old girl is found to have fibroids. A young lady loses her third pregnancy. A young man has a liver cancer. But too many young people are told they are too young to represent their country politically. For your information: Please tell every woman planning to get pregnant to begin to use a Folic Acid tablet daily, from now as this helps the pregnancy and also guards against several congenital abnormalities especially of the brain and back –spina bifida.
The Breaking News bar: Following the Haitiian and Chilean earthquake it becomes more important for cable and satellite channels to be able to interrupt any station with a Breaking New Bar of national and local significance. Indeed there is no reason why every channel does not have a News Bar running permanently or at least intermittently to keep viewers abreast of the world around them, outside their sphere of interest. We have an entire world young generation brought up on Channel O, computer games, the internet, Faqcebook, and now Tweeter who have never watched or listened to the news in their lives.
The world will have to exploit new methods of communicating urgent and important information to its citizens, especially its young citizens and the Breaking News Bar is one such way that must be exploited for all TV channels. No one is above the need to have information delivered timely.
The frequent well orchestrated ‘Al Mustapha Must Go Free’ campaign encouraging or demanding the immediate release of those standing trial for attempted murder echoed again last week. The call ignores the circumstances of the case and a dreadful reign of legalised terror under Abacha. Time does not heal the wounds of the terrorisation. While ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ it applies to both the accused and the victims.
The information is that there is a scarcity fo vegetables and meat in the markets of the South due to a strike blamed variously on the tit-for-tat Jos crisis or extortion by Local Government Authority and police officials at checkpoints. Perhaps this is a time to solve all the many problems of Nigeria at once. Agriculture in Nigeria is a multibillion naira manipulated ethno centred industry in Nigeria run by cabals as a strong as that around the President today. Nigerians should get used to the old way and grow their own food and animals and eat what they grow locally. This will save billions in transport costs around the country-and help to reduce the foolish fuel subsidy claim. Nigerians should ‘cut their soup according to their local ingredients’ and stop disturbing or ‘forcing’ others to supply them meat and tomatoes and onions.
Police checkpoint corruption is not related to any necessity as even if the police are not paid ‘as and when due’ should they expect by right to ‘live off the road’? If they do, is it legal for them to set up checkpoints solely to take money from public transport and hapless private vehicles who fall into their net to substitute for a lack of adequate and regular salary. Perhaps now that the constable is to earn N21,000 as pronounced by government, the police will stop checkpoint corruption –but most Nigerians do not think it will be stopped merely by increasing salaries as they feel it is too ingrained. The LGA officials are outrightly criminal in most cases. Yes, the police are deprived of basic necessities like adequate fuel, generators in stations and food and checkpoint allowances, as well as adequate pay and transport. The sooner government, federal and NASS, addresses these lapses in its dealings with and support for the activities of the police the better for Nigeria and for Nigerians who daily are saddened by the ritual of ‘exchanging N50 notes’ in the full glare of all danfo and okada horrified passengers, young and old. Of course we see this abberation so frequently every day that it has dulled our senses to the actual horror of each and every act of checkpoint corruption.
We must help the police to retrieve their reputation and stop this practice which is a major plank of the Transparnecy International ranking of Nigeria. We must never forget the casualties suffered by police when on duty with many dying unsung in the service of their country especially from armed robbery attacks of banks and bullion vans. Many of these deaths and injuries are preventable if adequate equipment, particulary communications equipment, is made available and used by lower ranks. Indeed the cellphone should be bought for every police person. NASS should approve a ‘Police Cellphone Recharge Card Allowance’ of N5,000/month for the police especially at checkpoints. NASS or the Police Service Commission should open negociations with Zain, MTN, Glo for a ‘Police Only Group Rate’. This assumes that the police would be better if better looked after socially, economically and electronically and with a 100litres/day fuel Allowance/police station for generator and cars. We will never know unless government and the private sector delivers to the police who have provided their bodies. We promise recruits adequate equpiment but we never have delivered in spite of the Police Equipment Fund. Let us CountdowNigeria @50-183 with a better equipped no bribery police service.