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Soyinka,
Ike, Gureje Receive National Merit Awards
Soyinka
Three eminent Nigerians Professors Wole Soyinka,
Chukwuemeka Ike and Oyewusi Gureje were on Tuesday
conferred with the 2008 Nigerian National Merit Award by
President Umaru Yar'Adua in Abuja.
Soyinka, a Nobel Laureate, and Ike, a traditional ruler,
were honoured for their achievements in the humanities,
while Gureje, a neuro-psychologist, received the award
as a result of his efforts in medicine. Soyinka and Ike
are literary icons.
The three new awardees brought the total number of
recipients of the NNMA to 57.
Two of Soyinka's children received the award on his
behalf, as he was said to be away in the United States .
The NNMA is considered the highest and most prestigious
honour accorded for academic and intellectual
achievements as well as excellence in the country.
Speaking at the ceremony , Yar'Adua described the
recipients as “three worthy Nigerians who have
distinguished themselves at the highest levels of
professional and intellectual excellence.”
He said, “Since its inception 25 years ago, the NNMA has
identified and selected 54 distinguished Nigerians with
the same degree of consistency and integrity of process.
“Each of the past awardees had the distinction of
epitomising the best of the innovative, creative and
productive potential of our people.
“This has had the effect of not only imbuing the Award
with great stature, credibility and wide acceptability,
but also of serving as an abiding source of inspiration
to all Nigerians.”
The President said Soyinka, Ike and Gureje “all typify
the highest ideals of unwavering diligence, steadfast
commitment, and unmediated pursuit of excellence.”
He commended the chairman and members of the Governing
Board of the NNMA “for keeping faith with the enduring
standard of excellence and integrity which the Nigerian
National Order of Merit has come to be associated with.
“It is my hope that this national recognition will
further inspire our distinguished awardees to even
greater commitment to the national cause as they partner
with us in our committed quest for Nigeria's
transformation into a strong, stable, secure, just, and
prosperous nation,” Yar'Adua said.
The Minister of Special Duties, Mr. Godsday Orubebe,
described the NNMA as “competitive and unique.”
Chairman of the NNMA Governing Board, Prof. Olufemi
Adegoke, said the three recipients were selected after
rigorous .
Gani
Rejects National Honour
Human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), has
rejected the National honour of the Order of the Federal
Republic (OFR) conferred on him by the Federal
Government.
He said a government that “covertly and overtly
encourages corruption has no honour in its arsenal of
power to dispense honour”.
Fawehinmi, in a statement made available to THISDAY last
night, said he was rejecting the honour because of what
he called the Federal Government's lacklustre fight
against corruption and the endless persecution of the
former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
Giving another reason for rejecting the award, he stated
that there was no hope in sight on the decadent
socio-economic situation affecting the people in the
country, saying that “this is not the atmosphere for the
award of national honour”.
Gani said he was in London receiving medical treatment
for lung cancer when the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)
wrote him a letter informing him that his name would be
forwarded for national honour. But he said: “Events from
August 2008 to this date are bizarre, unbelievably
barbaric in their intensity, in terms of persecuting
those fighting corruption and the singling out of Nuhu
Ribadu for persecution, all for giving honour and
dignity to this country and for recovering our treasure,
billions of naira and other forms of wealth looted by
public officers.”
Arguing that corruption was a single, fundamental factor
that had retarded the progress of the nation and its
socio-economic development, Fawehinmi said it was
generally agreed nationally and internationally that
Ribadu did a lot to retard the inhibitive progress of
corruption.
“Today, the architect of the unprecedented
anti-corruption war, unprecedented in the annals of
Nigeria since 1914, is now literally roaming the streets
of Nigeria without official car, without official
status, without any form of security, and yet he is
still being subjected to hounding, haunting and all
forms of dehumanizing vilification by the Federal
Government.
“By the performance of his duties, Nigeria and Nigerians
gained in integrity, honour and recovery of their looted
wealth. But Nuhu Ribadu did not make any personal gain.
He only waged a war against corruption, graft, stealing,
money laundering, etc, etc, in the corridors of power.
In return, the regime of President Umaru Yar'Adua
decided to wage unrelenting war against anti-graft war.
“Instead of the Federal Government to publicly
acknowledge the unprecedented good Ribadu has done to
the psyche of Nigerians by awarding him the greatest
National Honour, the government has decided to
continuously persecute this young man. It was therefore
the greatest embarrassment for me, when at the weekend,
it was announced that I was one of those 275 Nigerians
honoured with National Honours and in my case the
Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR).
“Yes, I have done my best for this country in various
fields and I still want to continue to do my best. But
we live in a situation where the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 provides in Section
15(5) that:
'The state shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse
of power' and a young man emerged to do what the
Constitution enjoins and he is being persecuted for
carrying out the provisions of the Constitution. Yet,
the President swore to observe, preserve and defend the
same Constitution. I find it extremely difficult to
accept that President Yar'Adua's government has the
honour to dispense honour.”
Insisting that government had performed woefully, he
said: “The directionless-ness of the Federal Government
has been characterised by the following, collapsed
infrastructure; total paralysis of the health sector at
all levels; constant nationwide power failure and
attendant negative effects on all sectors of the
economy; pervasive unemployment, thereby generating
increased armed robbery cutting across all ages of our
people; debilitating homelessness; retrogressive
educational programmes and policies, which have made no
Nigeria university to be ranked within the first 500
universities in the world and no effort is being made by
the regime to improve on the humiliating situation.
“Put simply, the Federal Government is a total failure,
worsened by lack of direction and leadership. Is this
the atmosphere for the award of national honour?
Certainly not. In addition to my rejection of the award
on the ground of Federal Government's conscious war
against anti-corruption war, the decadent socio-economic
situation does not engender the well-being of ordinary
people and there is no hope in sight.”
According to him, “Nobody can contest or dispute the
fact that poverty in Nigeria today is more pervasive,
humiliating, dehumanising than 40 years ago, despite our
mounting and skyrocketing billions upon billions of
dollars of revenue from oil and gas exploration. In this
respect, the nation has failed to use the resources to
abolish poverty. This is an indictment against all
governments in Nigeria, including the present government
that awarded the OFR to me.
“The present government that awarded me the OFR has been
guilty of abuses of human rights. For example, the
closure of Channels Television station in Lagos and
Abuja on September 16, 2008. The man who helped to
catapult this regime into office, General Olusegun
Obasanjo committed some of the worst abuses of human
rights as civilian leader between 1999 and 2007, namely:
he sent troops to murder 2,999 innocent Nigerians in Odi,
Bayelsa State in November 1999. He also shut African
Independent Television (AIT) on November 30, 2005.
“Without doubt, all our infrastructure are decadent and
no effort has been made by this regime to improve on the
infrastructure. Under this regime, power generation is
next to zero and everyday the country is thrown into
darkness. The manufacturers and domestic users of power
are at the mercy of generating sets.”
Yuletide: Hardship, Traffic Gridlock, High Fares Await
Travellers
Bad roads, robbers, high fares, traffic snarls, police
induced hardship await travellers this Yuletide.And road
users on Lagos-Shagamu-Benin Express Road, Kaduna,
Makurdi, Mokwa in Niger State and Lagos state should be
more careful as these areas are prone to accidents this
Yuletide.
Already 10 lives have been lost at Ogbemudia Farms end
of the Ore-Benin segment of the road.
Passengers trying to escape the roads for the airlines
may be in for a more horrendous experience. Reason: only
one or two airlines may ply the nation's air as Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) may ground some
airlines from this Monday, December 22. The result is
that the carriers will not be able to cope with the
multitude of passengers that will throng their airports.
Those that succeed should be ready to pay about N30, 000
as air fare.
Meanwhile, Saturday Vanguard can now reveal why the ex
transport minister, Mrs. Diezani Allison Madueke
chickened out of the Benin-Ore road, in spite of her
promises and tears at the ugly road last year.
However, to beat the hard times that may result, some
motor transport companies and airlines have taken
deliveries of new buses and planes respectively. Some of
them have also undertaken safety measures for their
passengers.
But travellers using the Shagamu- Ore-Benin Express Road
are already experiencing hardship as over 10 persons
have died due to accidents. Some of the passengers
Saturday Vanguard encountered had trekked endlessly
after their vehicles broke down along the road due to
the heavy traffic at Ajibandele, Ogbemudia Farms and
Ovia River, last Wednesday.
They said they were stuck for over six hours before they
were able to pass through the different traffic
congestions along the Benin-Ore Express road.
But the Federal Controller of Works in Edo state, Engr
John Ibe, who was on site at the Ore-Benin Road
explained his ministry's effort to see that the road
lasts, adding that from December 22, the road will be
free.
“We are requesting that the contractor should work until
the 22nd December. As soon as they leave the site on the
22nd, the road will be free. Why you are experiencing
the hold up is that they are working on one lane and
only one lane is being used. And if you check, you will
discover that the two lanes are being worked on.
If it is not the reconstruction, it is the patch work,
and because of that naturally, you will expect hold up.
And our drivers are not helping matters. Either you see
the drivers wanting to enter at one time, or nobody
wants to wait for the other so that their will be
discipline. they want to cause some chaotic situation.
And another thing I also want to say is that we have a
lot of check points. The police stop vehicles causing
traffic jams and before you know it, it has started
building. So the police also add to the hold up.
But I believe that by the time the contractor stops
work, at least one section, you will see that the road
is free. And naturally, every one wants to drive in the
smooth side, and that is why you are having this chaotic
situation. They want to leave the bad section for the
good one,” he said.
At Ogbemudia Farms, Saturday Vanguard learnt that over
10 persons have lost their lives in the last two months
due to the reconstruction work on the road. The
reconstruction work has forced motorists to ply on one
lane only.
The same problem was also observed between Ogbemudia
Farms and Okada. Several vehicles, particularly trailers
and other heavy duty vehicles, packed up along the road,
worsening the traffic situation.
Accusing the government of insincerity in finding
lasting solution to the problem, the passengers urged
the government to urgently find solution to the gridlock
being experienced on the road so as to ease the stress
of people traveling for this Christmas.
However, just one or two domestic airlines may fly the
nation's air this Yuletide. The two may not be grounded
by FAAN, as they are the only ones not owing the
regulatory agency.
Airport authorities have threatened to ground the
operations of all airlines, foreign and domestic, who
have refused to pay parking and landing charges
resulting from the new Airport Operations Management
System (AOMS) recently installed by the Maevis Company
of Nigeria in collaboration with its overseas' partner,
U.S.-based Unysis Company and FAAN, which took off in
August this year to improve FAAN's revenue profile.
Besides, the airlines have also failed to remit to FAAN
passengers' service charges (PSCs) collected on its
behalf by airlines from tickets purchased by passengers.
In fact, there are plans by FAAN to ground the
operations of offending airlines from Monday, December
22, 2008.
Should this happen, virtually all the domestic airlines
would be affected and what this means is that there will
be no air travels for the multitude of passengers that
would throng the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos for
flights to different parts of the country.
According to the External Relations Manager of Maevis
Company, Mr. Remi Olumuyiwa, the action will be total.
Overseas' passengers will not be spared, especially as
thousands of Nigerians in different parts of the world
have been arriving Lagos to their various destinations
across Nigeria, he said.
But Ibe said government is doing all it can to alleviate
the pains of travelers this festive period. Blaming the
heavy traffic being witnessed in the road on the
impatience of drivers, Ibe explained the efforts made to
fix the road and expressed optimism that before the rain
comes, a lot would have been done to avoid the ugly
situation of last year.
It was also gathered however that after the
ex-minister's visit, she made a proposal to President
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua but her proposal was allegedly
dumped after some persons in the Presidency were said to
have remarked that so much money was being expended in
the South South.
Saturday Vanguard was reliably informed that the action
of the President towards the proposal shocked the
Minister and it weakened her zeal to commence total
reconstruction and construction of the road.
Ibe also blamed the late passage of the budget for the
poor state of the roads. “They are talking about the
budget. We do not know when this budget will be passed.
If the budget is passed on time, you will still have
some dry weather to work.
But take for instance last year, the budget was passed
about the time the rain started you will not expect so
much in such situation. If we follow due process and we
process these thing fast, get contractors on site during
the dry weather, we will have our roads. “
The works controllers went on to say that the first
phase of the reconstruction work was about to be to
finish.
“The second phase is coming and I believe that very
soon, subsequent stages will come. It is gradual, if you
want to do a meaningful work. We want to do something
that we stand the test of time and not patching,” he
explained.
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