06 Oct 2007 |
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Goje's Ramadan Gifts In Gombe Will the Governor of Gombe State, Mohammed Goje please step forward? Sir, we are reliably informed, through a report in The Nation of October 5, 2007, pg. 40 that your government has "stolen" N1 billion from the allocation meant for the entire state to cover the cost of Ramadan gifts. These gifts, we are told, your government has turned into a major state priority. About 20 per cent was reportedly deducted from the August 2007 allocation for the various local governments, and used by the state government to purchase 600 bags of rice, and 600 bags of sugar for each of the state's council areas. So far about N194.4 million has been spent, leaving a balance of about N800 plus million. The news is that some of the local councils are beginning to protest. They are asking for the missing balance. They want to know why and how the N1 billion deducted from local funds was distributed. Forty-eight hours after this story was brought to public attention, the Gombe state government has not offered any explanations. Should it decide to play dumb as a strategy, the Goje administration in Gombe state still needs to be reminded that its conduct is not particularly surprising, what is important is our duty to draw its attention to the responsibility of government and the relationship between state and religion. In this matter, let it be noted that Gombe state is following in the footsteps of other state governments and departments of state. Barely a month ago, the House of Representatives got into trouble for distributing Ramadan gifts. Each lawmaker was supposed to get gifts worth about N120, 000. But some of the lawmakers got angry and they protested that instead of gifts worth N120, 000, they received from the Patricia Etteh-led executive which chose to arrange the gifts, items which were worth less than N120, 000. Some of the lawmakers asked that they should be given the full amount of money and they would buy their own gifts for themselves. It was a really sordid affair, which further projected the present House of Representatives as a cesspool of corruption. It is the same thing that has now happened in Gombe state. It is reported that ",many people" are dissatisfied with the amount deducted from the local council funds when placed against the value of Ramadan gifts that have been sent to the local councils. The key point that needs to be made in this case as well as others, is that the use of state funds for the promotion of religious interests is criminal and illegal. Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution is clear and unambiguous. It says that the Government of the federation or of a state shall not adopt any religion as state religion. The obvious interpretation of this provision is that Nigeria shall be a secular state, in the sense that the responsibilities of the state and religious institutions shall be carefully and neatly separated. I once listened to the view often expressed by Dr Lateef Adegbite, Seriki of Egbaland, Secretary of the National Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, and a distinguished scholar and lawyer, that secularity means Godlessness, and that we cannot afford to have a Godless nation. This is a partisan interpretation. What many Nigerians understand Section 10 of the constitution to mean is that individuals have every right to the freedom of belief and religion but the cost for doing so shall be a private affair, not a burden on the Nigerian state, Section 10 is one of the most abused sections of the Nigerian Constitution, and those who abuse it, military administrators and their civilian successors have done so largely for selfish reasons. The soldiers used religion as a tool of division. Present-day politicians have turned it into a vote-catching mechanism. . Should the state government or any level of government at all be seen to be identifying with or sponsoring any section of the country at the expense of others? I do not think so. If anybody wants to celebrate any religious festival be it Eid-el Fitri or Christmas or Easter, or Odun Eegun, or Osun Osogbo, these should be treated as strictly private affair. Religion is about man's relationship with nature and the Cosmic Being. It is the expression of his attempt to forge harmony between the self and the Cosmos and between cosmic essences and man. The focus of the state is here and now, religion deals with here and after. Besides, religion is volatile, it is a potent catalyst for the release of old animosities and prejudices. By seeking to separate religion and state, the framers of the 1999 Constitution had sought to avoid the kind of problems that a conflation of both categories can bring and which it has since brought: religious violence, widespread suspicion and a culture of unease in the land. This has to be corrected. But the Gombe state government like the House of Representatives has chosen to violate the Constitution and turn religion into an affair of the state. What manner of men and women are these who swear to uphold the Constitution but who derive more joy from violating it? In an earlier directive the Central Bank of Nigeria had put an end to the deduction of allocations meant for the local councils by state governments, a principle that is upheld in Section 168 of the 1999 Constitution and given further expression in the concept of Federalism. But those who violate the Constitution on the grounds of religion do so on the basis of their own private interests. They place religion above the state. When they do so, they stoke the members of religious disaffection and violence. And when there is religious violence, as was the case in Kano two weeks ago, they push the blame to area boys or the uninformed poor majority, whereas it is the state itself that is responsible. In the House of Representatives, the members are already quarrelling over the distribution of Ramadan gifts. In Gombe state, two state councils - Gwoza and Bama are alleging that they have been cheated by the state government. It is an avoidable situation and one that should be condemned by all Nigerians. The Federal Government has already served notice that, with effect from next year, it does not intend to sponsor religious pilgrimages to Mecca and Jerusalem, or Oke Itase or whatever other holy shrines that Nigerians visit. We must advise the federal government to stand by this and not change its mind. In Gombe state, a proper audit of the 2007 Ramadan gifts should be carried out. If local council chairmen or loyalists of the ruling party in the state want special gifts for Eid el Fitri, let them spend their own money... It is not the duty of the state to buy gifts for persons to mark religious festivals. Those who may have collected Ramadan gifts in Gombe state, the House of Representatives and elsewhere should be made to pay for them. There are so many religious holidays in Nigeria: Eid el Fitri, Eid el Kabir, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Yam Festival, Osun Osogbo, Odun Ifa etc. If state governments and local councils have to spend so much, let's say one billion per state, on every festival, the cost would be so high, and this is obviously a disservice to the Nigerian people who are not looking for Greek gifts but quality governance. Local councils, the legislature and the state governments have been elected to address issues of governance and bring joy to the people. Reports that they are more concerned about perks of office are disappointing. Did anybody in Gombe or the House of Representatives reject the Ramadan gifts in spite of the controversy? No. This is a comment on the quality of persons now in high places in Nigeria. It is sad. The problem is that government has become the biggest source of wealth in Nigeria: you only need to show up as a public official, and you can begin to create your own access to a share of the public treasury. Sadly, the fortune hunters are in the majority. There are serious challenges in Gombe state (health, transportation education etc.). Tagged the "jewel in the Savannah," the state is far from being a jewel of anything. Mohammed Goje should be more concerned about this.
The New Murtala Muhammed Airport II The newly re-built local wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos is a beauty to behold, Built by Wale Babalakin's company Bi-Courtney, it is one airport even in its uncompleted stage that meets international standards. A four-star hotel and a conference centre are under construction across the road. When fully completed, Nigerians will enjoy the benefit of an integrated, multi-purpose airport. It should bring joy to any local traveller who is in a position to compare what we now have as local airports with what exists elsewhere in the world. But welcome, for now, to the new airport where two airlines, Aero Contractors and Chachangi are already attending to customers. Yours sincerely travelled through that airport the other week. It is clean, and brand new, with customer-friendly facilities: a multi-storeyed car park that takes you off the road, and you can move from the parking lot to the main building without any stress, clean seating areas, shopping malls and a generally organized environment. It is modelled after the Miami International Airport in Florida, United States. Usually in a local airport in Nigeria, you have to run across the tarmac to catch a flight as if you are catching a bus on the run. Here, you go into the aircraft as if you are actually, in Nigerian understanding, going on an international trip. In a typical local airport, you would be accosted by touts who would proposition you to buy items ranging from foreign currency to energy-boosting vitamins to herbs or tickets. Here, so far, there are no touts. No dirt. No long queues. Nigerians who are living abroad would love this airport! They will be tempted to say that the fire that gutted the old airport is in retrospect a blessing in disguise. The new airport was built with about N30 billion on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, The concession was awarded in 2003; the old airport was gutted overnight, by fire, in 2001. Unfortunately, Nigerians have a way of destroying everything that is beautiful and nice, We do not have a maintenance culture and so every beautiful thing that shows up in our land eventually collapses and we sing the same old song of regret and despair. The National Theatre in Lagos used to be beautiful. Now, it is a rat island: desolate, taken over by rats, a shadow of its former self. The road linking Lagos and Ikorodu used to be so useful, now it is impassable because nobody in government paid enough attention to it. The Lagos Bar Beach used to be a recreational centre, it has since been deserted. The old local airport was gutted by fire because no one cared for it. The local airport in Port Harcourt is now an abandoned project because some government officials failed to do their work. But it is not enough to build beautiful airports. The Nigerian government needs to reinvent the local aviation sector. The industry is under-capitalized, the existing facilities are unreliable. Most of the aircraft in Nigerian skies are no better than coffins. There is a functional airport in Lagos and another one in Abuja, but generally, other airports in the country are better avoided. Foreign companies and institutions in Nigeria have had to tell their staff to travel by road only. Even the roads are not safe. The country faces a transportation crisis that the beauty of a new airport cannot address. What Nigeria needs is a responsible transport policy that places the right emphasis on human welfare. I have been told that the brand new local airport in Lagos will make some difference. Well, we hope so.
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