I was just coming out of Masallachin Kerau after the Zuhr Prayers when I noticed one of my friends standing by the nim tree beside the mosque. I walked towards him to inquire why he was standing there and said that he noticed me in the front row in the course of the prayer and decided to wait and greet me since it has been long when we last met. I run short of words to explain to him why I was not at our Old boy’s meeting which took place during the Sallah break. I managed to concoct some flimsy excuses which I knew he would not accept but I just had to say something…
It is a very hot afternoon, he said to me, using a face towel to wipe up a clot of sweet that crawls from his forehead down to his right cheek. Indeed, it is, I replied. As we walked towards my car his phone rang grddrrhgrrddhmg, grddrrhgrrddhmg, honestly I never heard such an unpleasant ring tone, and in fact I was even frightened as I couldn’t fathom from where the noise was coming from before I realized it was my friend’s phone. It was this kind of fake nokia products or something... Don’t mind my phone it is this Chinese product he said in recognition to my disappointment. ‘Sai dai ki yi da abinda ya sauwaka’ he answered. It was after he was done with the phone he told me that it was his wife. She called on him to inquire if he was going to bring home ‘chefane’ for the evening meal.
You see Isa; this protracted strike is taking its toll on almost all the citizenry of this state. My wife is pestering me to bring something for the evening meal; meanwhile I have not even taken anything for lunch. I trekked nearly 3 to 4 kilometers today but without anything to show for it, my car is out of gas, my younger child is a sickler and has not taken his medication for the last two days and to cap it all, I don’t have a dime at home or in the bank, am frustrated, am disappointed and am confused he concluded. I felt sorry for him and for any other person who is in that position, especially, when I knew I could not be of any significant help to him. My only best to him was N5, 000 but how long would that take him? What would happen tomorrow or next? Or, would that be the case of fold your arms and wait for the Lord to remember you? I picked up courage to console him and offered him my widow’s might knowing full well that would not take him up to two days with all those myriad of problems. By the way my friend is on grade level16, a senior Director in one of the ministries.
I drove my car without having a slightest idea of where I was going, wondering in consternation. This is a very senior officer who had graduated from the university 3 decades ago, what is happening to my state? Providing the answer to myself almost immediately- Purposeful leadership.
Unfortunately the present leadership in the state is either unable or unwilling to draw up a congenial roadmap that will make our state government to accept that the paradigm shift for economic development in this 21st century has tilted towards creation of wealth from distribution. Unfortunately, the constitution has not help matters as it bestows all national resources in the hands of the President and the State Governors. This makes them so powerful and so influential that they treat their subjects as if they are a conquered people. It is like a PG show: they decide who gets what; and who does not get what. What to say and what not to say…this disconnect between the belief that national wealth in meant to be distributed anyhow and not as a source of providing economic and social enterprises is the bane of our problems and the result is what we are witnessing now: underdevelopment, poverty, crimes, suicides…in the last couple of months we have recorded about 2 or 3 suicide cases and all were civil servants.
The strike has really exposed our vulnerability, the civil servants, the market women, the whole state; every one of us, that none of us can do without the Government and equally, the Government cannot do without Federal allocations that it collects effortless from the Federation accounts. So in order for us, as a people, as a government to get out of this quagmire we need to do something urgently and we need to do it now, if only we want to be judged positively by posterity.
The government on its side has to be purposeful, sincere, open, transparent and accommodating. The present disposition of the government where its activities are run on one man show basis or a government that is run off-head is not acceptable. There has to be coordinated synergy between the government and its people, a dialogue on what it intends to do. For example, the Free Education. I think there is a lot of misgiving about the program. The program is just about the payment of school and examination fees, there has to be much more than that… You must provide conducive atmosphere for learning to take place, a situation where you have over100 students in a class is not acceptable, you must recruit quality teachers for all subjects; you must provide instructional materials and other teaching aids and more importantly, you must engage all the stake holders that have anything to do with education such as Teachers, parents, education administrators, private and students, discuss with them frankly and tell them that Government cannot shoulder the responsibility 100%. Their reaction will now give you impetuses that will enable you drive the sector to greater height. Otherwise, I see a bleak future as far as education is concerned in Katsina state.
The idea that the Government is going to embark on staff audit should be hailed and be given the necessary support; we should be ready to report anybody we feel is a ghost worker. Civil servants who do not merit to be called civil servants should be shown the way out. We can now boost of several young and enterprising graduates who are unemployed and are ready to put in their best for the progress of the state and can always fill in the vacuum left by any undesirable civil servant if only they are given the chance.
Labour on its side must be up and doing in its activities, it must be ready to accept responsibility and accept the consequence of any action. It can demand and get N52,000.00 as initially demanded by the national body as a minimum wage but as long as it is not doing what it is suppose to do, the money will just go under: easy come, easy go, they say.
Now, that labour has gotten what they demanded, we would like to see changes, changes in attitude, in approach, in the way they dress as civil servants, changes in the way they perform their duties, a total reinvention of all its activities. A situation where civil servants work less than 50% of their capacity will surely not be tolerated. You are expected to be in the office 8.00am and close by 3.30pm and anything short of that will not be tolerated, these timings should be made sacrosanct. A timer should be made available in all offices so that workers should be mandated to clock in as they come in the morning and clock out when the office closes, in this way, workers who are not serious could be easily identified.
Now, back to my friend who stir up this piece, he is about 59 and he is on the verge of retirement from work. Retirement being a phenomenon which no worker/civil servant wants but is inevitable. It has to come or happen on any employee. Just like it is going to happen to my friend in less than one year or so and my fear for him and any other person who is in the same shoes is: how would he cope up when he retires? Knowing full well that he has not saved anything, and he has no trade to fall back, the only succor is his retirement benefits.
Minimum wage is a great concern but a greater concern is the issue of Pension, which as far as am concerned is a time bomb. So long as our governments will be absolutely dependent on monthly subventions from the Federation accounts for our survival, the time for the bomb to explode is surely within a twinkle of an eye. That is why, I want to plead with the Labour and the Government in Katsina state to start the contributory pension now without any delay as the Federal Government, the FCT and some few states in the federation have already started. Kaduna, Kano, Zamfara inclusive. So that when my friend finally retires nobody will deny him his residues because some kind of Federal allocation has not come from the Federation account. That will also enable him buy a new original Nokia Phone, engage his younger child on full medication every day, have his car full to capacity with gas, and give Madam enough money for ‘Chefane’.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
REMINISCENCES
To those of us who have enjoyed the better part of Nigeria both in terms of the economy and the socio-cultural situations have a lot of stories to tell to our younger ones. Our standard of living at that time was so easy and so cheap. The purchasing power was so strong to the extent that with one shilling you could buy a lot of things. For instance, it will suffice you to spend in the company of 2 or 3 friends during a Sallah day celebration. You could buy things like sandals for your Sallah outing, chocolates, a fried chicken, a dozen of eggs, drink some couple of soft drinks, visit to cinema house and there will still be some change for you to spend the following day.
Socially, we lived in an extended family setting where everybody knew each other and we could go to each other’s house to eat or pass the night without any fuss from anybody. There was zero tolerance to any misbehavior as your neighbor could discipline you without your parents raising any eyebrow. My father who was a veteran of the 2nd world war had vast experience in dealing with different situations; he was a disciplinarian of sort who used carrots and stick when necessary. He never got tied in giving out advises to us, that we should be patient with everything and take our chance whenever it is due, render assistance whenever you are in the position. His popular maxim was that –treat people first as human beings before any consideration- We were taught some skills needed to be happy and become useful members of the community. Some of the skills were how to feed oneself, dress up, look after animals, help in the running of the home, respect other people’s property and the authority of parents and elders of the community. We did almost everything collectively, going to school, going for errands, even when taking our meals. That sense of togetherness was instilled in us right from our childhood days. I still remember how I always bring out my father’s dinner every blessed night where about 5 to 6 of our relations would also bring theirs for them to eat collectively; this practice had been going on until the demise of almost all of them.
We began our Quranic studies at very tender age at Makarantar allo under the tutelage of Mallam Audu Mahardaci. For us to learn to say our five daily prayers we must have crammed some portion of the holy quran. At the age of seven, I was admitted at the Kofar Sauri Primary School which is about one and half kilometers away from my house, so I could trek to the school very early in the morning not minding the perennial heat or the severe northeast trade winds that ravaged most parts of the West African sub- region. The classes started as from 7,30am to 1.30pm. While from 2.00pm to 4pm I was always at the Makarantar allo, with the exception of thursdays and fridays and of course any Islamic holiday. Our daily activities were so regimented that we had no idle time. Immediately after the makarantar allo session, I would always go and play football with other kids from the neighborhood in front of the Emir’s palace. During one of those evenings I met a boy who was of the same age with me kicking his new pelele ball, I, without hesitation joined him and when the other boys came we had a very good match. It was after the match the boy told me his name was Geoffrey and that he always escorted his Dad to the Emir’s Palace. His father was one of the Engineers who were engaged in putting telephone cables at the palace. As we could not pronounce his name very well we resorted to call him Dan Inyamiri. We immediately became friends with him, especially when he could play very well and more importantly, I think, because, he would always bring to us new ball to play. After playing ball every evening he would follow me to my house and when it was getting dark I would escort to him up to Kofar Soro gate, this continued even after his father’s contract had expired at the palace. My father often asked what of your friend referring to him and I would answer that I have just escorted him or something.., everybody knew Geoffrey in my neighborhood. The last time I saw Geoffrey was on the eve of my journey to Zaria where I was supposed to spend the next 5 years as a student at the Government Secondary School. I think I didn’t even tell him I was travelling.
During the vacations we could go to the farms, I had two options during the vacations: I could go my grandfather’s farm house or I could decide to stay with my brothers at home so that we could visit our father’s farm almost on a daily basis. My grandfather’s farm was a large expense of land measuring several square kilometers; it stretched from the Governors house round about (GRA) runs through Daura road to the newly constructed Police Headquarters, from the right, it stretched from the GRA roundabout to WTC’s roundabout. The farm is composed of three important sites; the farm house, which is a very large edifice that used to accommodate almost every one of us, the children, the grandchildren and other house helps; the main farm where mixed cultivation of crops, the rearing of animals and keeping of birds such as chickens, ducks, turkey and guinea fowls take place, and more importantly is the farm garden which is almost one square kilometer. It has almost all the exotic fruits you can think of, ranging from guava, orange of different varieties, pawpaw, mangoes, apple, etc. The garden is watered through such a traditional lift method of ancient Egyptian origin - the Shaduf. Where by water is brought out from an open well using two pails attached to the two ends of a rope, as one of the pails is out of the well full with water the other one would be right inside the well in this way water is drawn and distributed into the garden through the channels. Our job here was always to open up the channels to allow water pass into a particular tree or block the channels when the tree has enough water. It was always a delight to watch people drawing water using the shaduf. The bulk of the fruits harvested were mostly consumed by us, very little of it was sold to some white men.
I spent my 1st two years at Government Secondary School Zaria but as fate would have it my direction was changed to Katsina Teachers’ college where I completed the next three years and passed out with a Teachers grade 11 certificate. I was immediately employed as a certified Grade 11 teacher and posted to Majen Gobir Primary School about 25 kilometers away from Katsina. I taught for almost one year but during my almost one year sojourn in Majen Gobir I never passed the night there as I was always going to the village in the morning and returning to Katsina in the afternoon. This was made possible because of the motor cycle (Kawasaki Z200 model) my father bought for me in appreciation of my stellar performance at the college. The motor cycle was almost the only type in the whole of katsina, its color (red) added up to its beauty. One in town you could possibly refer to it and indeed it was.
One day I was coming back from Majen Gobir after passing Lambar Rimi I saw a man by the road side with the bonnet of his car wide opened an indication that his car had a glitch, incidentally, he was to be the one to avail me with the opportunity to take the 1st big step in life. As I was about to run pass him, one of my father’s words crossed my mind- give a helping hand to somebody in need-I quickly returned back to where he was standing and the moment he saw me coming back he started to move towards me. After the familiar platitude, he told me he was looking for a mechanic for his car which I quickly drove back to Lambar Rimi and picked a mechanic. I decided to stay while the mechanic was doing the car; the man told me he was going to Katsina from Kano to see a friend when the car broke down and I told him that I was a teacher coming back from my working place. Within a short time he asked me if I wanted to further my education which I answered in the affirmative. He then told me to pick up the admission forms next week from a certain address he gave me which I later learnt to be the place of the same man he came to visit. I had no idea of the school until when the forms were brought to me and found it to be Bayero University, Kano. When the forms were completed I returned them to the same man as directed. After some couple of weeks, I was invited for an entrance examination which took place at the Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies and a week after, the results were pasted on the general notice board of the University for everyone to see, that was how I was admitted at the school of General studies, preparatory to a three year degree programme. After about one month or so as a student at the school of General studies, I together with some students were summoned by the academic office to sort some issues hanging on our admissions but to my surprise I was directed to Academic Secretary’ office and on entering the office I saw no one but that person I helped at Lambar Rimi, who incidentally was the Academic Secretary of the University, he called on me to find out how I was faring in my new environment. He told me if there was anything he could do to make my stay at the University worthwhile I should not hesitate to get in touch with him. I thanked him very much for his assistance and left. I never visited the office again and he never called on me.
I surely had enjoyed the better part of University education albeit it was the era of manual typewriters, no computer and no internet. Our meals were about the best you could possibly find in a 5-star restaurant. Tea and coffee in the mornings and evenings were always free of charge (FOC), while fruits were free during lunch. We stayed maximum of 4 persons in a room, we had our clothes washed every week a maximum of six items per person, we had unlimited access to books, journals and other instructional materials. I had graduated in 1983 and was deployed to Ondo State for my one year compulsory youth service. My primary assignment was in one Holy Savior’s High School, Ile Oluji about 12 kilometers away from Ondo town. I had initial problem with Ile (as the town is called for short) which dampened my spirit but had to arouse myself with the fact that it was going to be my home for the next 12 months. I really enjoyed myself with all the escapades of a youth corper. Our monthly stipend was just 200 Naira but it was just enough to keep you buoyant till the following month. I travelled a lot, visiting other corpers in different states and within my state of my posting. One of my friends also a corper who was posted to Lagos State paid a visit to me at Ile, he came to show me the car that was attached to his office but instead of spending the weekend at Ile, we decided to go back to Lagos. So we left Ile very late in the evening on Friday. His driver Adewale, a typical Yoruba man with tribal marks drawn all over his face drove the car from Lagos. He looked very tired and worried but he had no choice than to obey his master. Ade as he was called by his Oga could hardly drive pass 80km per hour, he was driving as if he was going into his garage and sometimes as dead as a snail speed. I told my friend that may be the car had a problem but he told me it was a tacit way of protest by Ade. We drove passed Ore on to the express way which was under construction, it was raining and already getting dark and we were nowhere near Lagos, sometimes you have to swop into the bush before you could come back to the main road because of the construction work. As fate would have it, as we swopped into the bush to avoid passing into an uncompleted bridge we had a flat tyre. Ade screamed at the top of his voice- flat ni! flat ni! - My friend asked in annoyance why you screaming? Ade said, Oga na flat tyre. With an aura of youthful exuberance my friend commanded that Ade should park the car off the road and have the flat tyre changed, I knew that would not be easy considering the environment we found ourselves. We all moved out of the car and pushed it off the road to enable us fix the flat tyre but to our utmost surprise the car had no spare tyre in the boot, we stood there dumbfounded wondering in consternation. Ade was so frightened as you could notice that from the way he was talking. My friend and I were not really perturbed with the whole situation. My friend who was a chain smoker was annoyed as he could not locate his matches to light up his cigarette, as I was telling him to use the car’s lighter we heard a voice coming towards us as it was in a dream ‘Salamu Alaikum’ it sounded. I took up courage to answer ‘Waalaikas’ Salam, a man wrapped in a blanket stood in front of us and said in hausa that he was coming back from his farm when he heard our voices and decided to come and check. We were astounded to see somebody at that particular place and time speaking to us in hausa. After hearing our ordeal, he told us his name was Patrick and that his house was about 100meters from where we had the flat tyre. As we were moving towards his house he told us that he stayed in the north for most of his life time, after trekking some couple of meters we arrived at the house which was composed of two separate rooms and a mighty hut which I later learnt to be the store where various food stuffs are kept. He opened his room and brought a key to the other room which belonged to his nephew who had gone to the city for his daily business. While we were standing in front of the room contemplating on what to do we heard a sound of a motor cycle coming towards us. Suddenly, Patrick told us in excitement that his nephew is around. After some discussions with his uncle the young man started to welcome us in hausa, he appeared very friendly. What would you like to eat? He asked. Surely we were tired and what we wanted was food and where to lie down. He knew we had no choice of what we wanted to eat but I think he wanted to make us feel at home. He jumped into the kitchen and prepared nice jallop rice and plantain which we all enjoyed eating, I commended him for the efforts, and while thanking me for the compliments he even proposed to cook tuwan dawa and miyar kuka for us in the morning. I was so fascinated with the gesture that made me asked him where did he learn to cook hausa food, Abukur he said almost immediately, I did my primary education in Katsina, my father worked there for a long time. So you know Katsina, I asked, very well, he answered. He asked me whether I know Katsina and I told him I was from there! Which part? He asked, again. I told him from cikin gida. Where is cikin gida, he asked momentarily and in disappointment, Iam from Kofar soro! You mean the emir’s palace? You’ve been there before? I asked almost smiling. Yes! Sure, it was a very long time ago; I was always escorting my father to the palace and used to play football with some kids at the play ground in front of the palace. I said, ok! Wait, who you played with at that time. He said with, eh, eh, I think Pele, there was this kid... Pele was the name I was called. I quickly jumped the gun and said don’t tell me you are Dan Inyamiri. Yea! That was the name I was called, he said in total submission and I told him I was Pele but before I could finish what I was saying, he jumped out of the room and rushed to his uncle’s room and after a short while they came back together in total surprise. Meanwhile, my friend and his driver Adewale were busy sleeping; we spent the rest of the night narrating our various stories to each other until day break.
The following morning we had our car fixed and by afternoon my friend headed for Lagos and I had to pass another night with Geoffrey and since then my friendship with him was rekindled.
Monday, May 16, 2011
LAMENTATION ON GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION IN KATSINA STATE
We’re innocent, we’re naïve, we thought it was harmless, we did not know that it will be our waterloo as it was intended to prevent the already escalated skirmishes and pandemonium that ravaged almost all the northern states in the country. It was when the results of the gubernatorial elections were to be announced it dawned on us that the curfew imposed on the state by his Excellency Governor Shema penultimate week was nothing but a veritable strategy to rig the elections. We had earlier on complained to INEC on the need to relax the curfew in order to have a free and fair election but our concerns did not reach fruition.
It was a fine Tuesday morning we woke up to finish what we had started about two weeks ago via the Federal seats and the presidential elections. The exercise progressed calmly and without any interruptions in Katsina metropolis as all the election officials and materials were already on ground even before the arrival voters to the polling booths albeit the voters turn out was quite low when compared with the previous elections but it was just enough to have the elections won and lost.
I went to my polling unit for verification and it took me less than an hour to sort out everything, I then decided to return home and take a nap since the pooling unit is just a stone throw from my house. When I came back at about 1.00pm voting was already in progress, I joined the queue and my turn to vote came at about 1.45pm. The whole exercise came to calm close by about 4.40pm with the announcement of the result as 345 for the CPC 7 for the PDP and ACN had 2 votes.
I was astounded to hear from a friend that elections could not take place in some local government areas as election materials were not brought to the centers. I was not disturbed by the piece of news; I thought it was one of those INEC’s logistics problems that could be sorted out soon. It was much later I realized it was a deliberate action not to send election materials to some areas to give way for manipulation.
In Danmusa local government area for example, elections did not take place at all because cases of ballot box stuffing, pilferage and snatching were reported and investigation was carried out by no less than the National Commissioner who was in Katsina to monitor the elections. He caught about 30 people red handed and were immediately handed over to the police for prosecution. But that did not help matters as the result sheets for that local government were brought to INEC office and were dully announced as having conducted an election there. In other areas cases of votes soliciting and purchase during voting were rampant and all these dovetailed throughout the local government areas of the state but INEC turned a blind eye. In some cases result sheets were completed and brought to INEC office surreptitiously without necessarily conducting any election.
The results for all the 34 local government areas were brought to the state INEC office and the compilation and computation of the result sheets were concluded at about 7.00pm but for reasons best known to the Resident Electoral commissioner the announcement was deferred to 9.00pm and many of us who were within INEC premises were asked to go home as the curfew has begun, we had no option than to move to our houses. The result was announced where Shema garnered about a million plus votes and Masari got a little above five hundred thousand votes. That is the import of the curfew a friend whispered to me. It is instructive to mention that Buhari’s votes during the presidential elections in Katsina surpassed Shema’s by a little above a hundred thousand votes, what an irony. It is apparent that the result of the governorship election had already been determined even before the polls.
That singular declaration by INEC has dashed the hopes of the people of Katsina and by implication is a betrayal of confidence reposed on Prof. Jega who clearly told the whole world that every vote will count and that he would ensure credible free and fair elections this time around. Our votes did not really count as Jega prophesied and that even reminds me with nostalgia the blasphemous Obasanjo when he opined that even Jesus (AS) could not have organized a free and fair election in Nigeria. I don’t want to agree with Obasanjo but then if what INEC did in Katsina and elsewhere is anything to go by, then our quest for free and fair elections in Nigeria will still be a mirage.
We really wanted to bring about change to the good people of Katsina State who have suffered for the last 12 years in the hands of the PDP. We intended to engage all and sundry to bring about the desired change through purposeful leadership. Our attention would have been the provision of portable drinking water to the entire state which the PDP government was not able to provide. The situation unfortunately has made us and our children to become ‘Yangaruwa’ as each and every one of us has to go out every morning to fret and fetch water for domestic use. Cases of dysentery and diarrhea are so prevalent as the result of drinking contaminated water. Whereas, very little effort is required here to bring water to our teeming population as Katsina State lies within the luxurious sedimentary structures of the Sudan Savannah which has formidable aquifers that will make bore hole drilling easier and cheaper. The dams at Zobe, Sabke, Mairuwa etc are other sources to provide not only water for domestic uses but could also be used to generate employment for our youths. Unfortunately the water dam stability is carelessly allowed to be wasted through evaporation and seepage.
The provision of quality education to our students in the primary, secondary and our tertiary institutions is another area of great concern. The present situation where education is treated as a second fiddle is not accepted. To anybody who cares, or who thinks am politicking, what he needs to do is to go round any public school of his choice in the state, there is no exception and see for himself, the number of students in a classroom, the teacher/student ratio, the number of core subject teachers, the availability of facilities and instructional materials and you will be surprised at the outcome of your visit. You will also agree with me that the free education program provided by the PDP administration in the state is nothing more than the payment of school and examination fees. How much is the school fees any way? For a day student, parents pay N30.00 per term and N90.00 per annum and those in the boarding houses pay N50.00 per term and N150.00 per annum. Free education in Katsina state!!! Surely we deserve more.
Alas, all these and many more lofty intentions have come to naught as the result of the rigged election but the consolation is that the outcome of the election is now in the public domain and is for the tribunal to adjudicate and decide on those that have issues hanging on them like the one from Katsina.
Meanwhile, what remains to be seen is how the depleted and disintegrated CPC in Katsina will pick up the pieces after going to the battle field with a single bullet. The State Chairman of the CPC has lost his credibility and legitimacy for ignoring extant rules and regulations of the party with vehemence and impunity; his ouster from the party is just a matter of time.
I think the onus now lies with the Masari group and other like minds to take up the gauntlet and come together, re- strategize and forge ahead with the struggle as 2015 is by the corner and the time to start is now.
It was a fine Tuesday morning we woke up to finish what we had started about two weeks ago via the Federal seats and the presidential elections. The exercise progressed calmly and without any interruptions in Katsina metropolis as all the election officials and materials were already on ground even before the arrival voters to the polling booths albeit the voters turn out was quite low when compared with the previous elections but it was just enough to have the elections won and lost.
I went to my polling unit for verification and it took me less than an hour to sort out everything, I then decided to return home and take a nap since the pooling unit is just a stone throw from my house. When I came back at about 1.00pm voting was already in progress, I joined the queue and my turn to vote came at about 1.45pm. The whole exercise came to calm close by about 4.40pm with the announcement of the result as 345 for the CPC 7 for the PDP and ACN had 2 votes.
I was astounded to hear from a friend that elections could not take place in some local government areas as election materials were not brought to the centers. I was not disturbed by the piece of news; I thought it was one of those INEC’s logistics problems that could be sorted out soon. It was much later I realized it was a deliberate action not to send election materials to some areas to give way for manipulation.
In Danmusa local government area for example, elections did not take place at all because cases of ballot box stuffing, pilferage and snatching were reported and investigation was carried out by no less than the National Commissioner who was in Katsina to monitor the elections. He caught about 30 people red handed and were immediately handed over to the police for prosecution. But that did not help matters as the result sheets for that local government were brought to INEC office and were dully announced as having conducted an election there. In other areas cases of votes soliciting and purchase during voting were rampant and all these dovetailed throughout the local government areas of the state but INEC turned a blind eye. In some cases result sheets were completed and brought to INEC office surreptitiously without necessarily conducting any election.
The results for all the 34 local government areas were brought to the state INEC office and the compilation and computation of the result sheets were concluded at about 7.00pm but for reasons best known to the Resident Electoral commissioner the announcement was deferred to 9.00pm and many of us who were within INEC premises were asked to go home as the curfew has begun, we had no option than to move to our houses. The result was announced where Shema garnered about a million plus votes and Masari got a little above five hundred thousand votes. That is the import of the curfew a friend whispered to me. It is instructive to mention that Buhari’s votes during the presidential elections in Katsina surpassed Shema’s by a little above a hundred thousand votes, what an irony. It is apparent that the result of the governorship election had already been determined even before the polls.
That singular declaration by INEC has dashed the hopes of the people of Katsina and by implication is a betrayal of confidence reposed on Prof. Jega who clearly told the whole world that every vote will count and that he would ensure credible free and fair elections this time around. Our votes did not really count as Jega prophesied and that even reminds me with nostalgia the blasphemous Obasanjo when he opined that even Jesus (AS) could not have organized a free and fair election in Nigeria. I don’t want to agree with Obasanjo but then if what INEC did in Katsina and elsewhere is anything to go by, then our quest for free and fair elections in Nigeria will still be a mirage.
We really wanted to bring about change to the good people of Katsina State who have suffered for the last 12 years in the hands of the PDP. We intended to engage all and sundry to bring about the desired change through purposeful leadership. Our attention would have been the provision of portable drinking water to the entire state which the PDP government was not able to provide. The situation unfortunately has made us and our children to become ‘Yangaruwa’ as each and every one of us has to go out every morning to fret and fetch water for domestic use. Cases of dysentery and diarrhea are so prevalent as the result of drinking contaminated water. Whereas, very little effort is required here to bring water to our teeming population as Katsina State lies within the luxurious sedimentary structures of the Sudan Savannah which has formidable aquifers that will make bore hole drilling easier and cheaper. The dams at Zobe, Sabke, Mairuwa etc are other sources to provide not only water for domestic uses but could also be used to generate employment for our youths. Unfortunately the water dam stability is carelessly allowed to be wasted through evaporation and seepage.
The provision of quality education to our students in the primary, secondary and our tertiary institutions is another area of great concern. The present situation where education is treated as a second fiddle is not accepted. To anybody who cares, or who thinks am politicking, what he needs to do is to go round any public school of his choice in the state, there is no exception and see for himself, the number of students in a classroom, the teacher/student ratio, the number of core subject teachers, the availability of facilities and instructional materials and you will be surprised at the outcome of your visit. You will also agree with me that the free education program provided by the PDP administration in the state is nothing more than the payment of school and examination fees. How much is the school fees any way? For a day student, parents pay N30.00 per term and N90.00 per annum and those in the boarding houses pay N50.00 per term and N150.00 per annum. Free education in Katsina state!!! Surely we deserve more.
Alas, all these and many more lofty intentions have come to naught as the result of the rigged election but the consolation is that the outcome of the election is now in the public domain and is for the tribunal to adjudicate and decide on those that have issues hanging on them like the one from Katsina.
Meanwhile, what remains to be seen is how the depleted and disintegrated CPC in Katsina will pick up the pieces after going to the battle field with a single bullet. The State Chairman of the CPC has lost his credibility and legitimacy for ignoring extant rules and regulations of the party with vehemence and impunity; his ouster from the party is just a matter of time.
I think the onus now lies with the Masari group and other like minds to take up the gauntlet and come together, re- strategize and forge ahead with the struggle as 2015 is by the corner and the time to start is now.
Friday, November 19, 2010
A LETTER TO GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI
Compliment of the season your Excellency,
First, I would like to commend you for the efforts you are putting towards the emancipation of the downtrodden in the society. For that, I pray to the Almighty to give you long life, good health and the fortitude to bear with the intrigues of the Nigerian politics.
I also would like to commend you for the steps you have taken in reaching out to the masses by opening a facebook page for those us who cannot reach out to you physically to send our concerns on how to strength our party the CPC and brighten its chances towards the 2011 general elections and beyond.
The CPC is a unique political party, it is unique in terms of its composition and ideology and for that reason it should conduct its activities based on the dictates of its constitution and that of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not at the whims and caprices of any individual. It is based on the above premise I would like to offer some suggestions which I believe if taken seriously will bolster the chances of the party in the general elections and beyond.
1. VOTERS REGISTERATION
Awareness and Enlightenment should be the watchwords here. Party members should be made to understand that for anybody to participate and vote for any candidate of his choice a voter’s card is necessary. The cards can only be obtained when INEC starts to register Nigerians in the designated centers. It is therefore mandatory for anybody wishing to exercise his franchise to obtain it without which he cannot vote for the candidate of his choice. No matter your numerical strength if you don’t have the voter’s cards you are inconsequential.
Party members should be made to go into all corners of our wards, local government areas and the states at large and ensure that all members of 18 years and above got registered whenever the registration exercise begins. This is very important if we want to make any appreciable impact in the elections.
2. INTERNAL DEMOCRACY
To ensure that we are different from other political parties we have to allow our party to develop through strengthening our internal democracy by subjecting all contestants to the congress. In fact, this has already been echoed by INEC, that no congress no elections. In other words it is the congress that determines who represents them in any elections.
A situation whereby some senior party elders endorse candidates of their choice for certain position or decide who stands for election will not be accepted or tolerated and is not going to help our course rather candidates should be encouraged to establish their campaign machinery and solicits for votes from congress. It is sad to point out that some elders have started to plant seeds of discord within the party by either endorsing members even before it is time for the election or dissolving party officials without recourse to the party National Headquarters this is a very bad development and is surely a prelude to chaos if it is not checked.
Another area of concern is in the choice of the Deputy Governor, crisis usually erupts between the Governor and his deputy for one reason or the other. This type of problem to my mind is encountered because the Governor has always not been given the opportunity to choose who is to be his running mate without interference by the party. To prevent such crisis Governors should be allowed to choose their deputies, the party can zone the office of the deputy to an area different from where the Governor comes from. If this is done am sure it will minimize the frequency at which these crisis erupts.
Thank you
Isa.
First, I would like to commend you for the efforts you are putting towards the emancipation of the downtrodden in the society. For that, I pray to the Almighty to give you long life, good health and the fortitude to bear with the intrigues of the Nigerian politics.
I also would like to commend you for the steps you have taken in reaching out to the masses by opening a facebook page for those us who cannot reach out to you physically to send our concerns on how to strength our party the CPC and brighten its chances towards the 2011 general elections and beyond.
The CPC is a unique political party, it is unique in terms of its composition and ideology and for that reason it should conduct its activities based on the dictates of its constitution and that of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not at the whims and caprices of any individual. It is based on the above premise I would like to offer some suggestions which I believe if taken seriously will bolster the chances of the party in the general elections and beyond.
1. VOTERS REGISTERATION
Awareness and Enlightenment should be the watchwords here. Party members should be made to understand that for anybody to participate and vote for any candidate of his choice a voter’s card is necessary. The cards can only be obtained when INEC starts to register Nigerians in the designated centers. It is therefore mandatory for anybody wishing to exercise his franchise to obtain it without which he cannot vote for the candidate of his choice. No matter your numerical strength if you don’t have the voter’s cards you are inconsequential.
Party members should be made to go into all corners of our wards, local government areas and the states at large and ensure that all members of 18 years and above got registered whenever the registration exercise begins. This is very important if we want to make any appreciable impact in the elections.
2. INTERNAL DEMOCRACY
To ensure that we are different from other political parties we have to allow our party to develop through strengthening our internal democracy by subjecting all contestants to the congress. In fact, this has already been echoed by INEC, that no congress no elections. In other words it is the congress that determines who represents them in any elections.
A situation whereby some senior party elders endorse candidates of their choice for certain position or decide who stands for election will not be accepted or tolerated and is not going to help our course rather candidates should be encouraged to establish their campaign machinery and solicits for votes from congress. It is sad to point out that some elders have started to plant seeds of discord within the party by either endorsing members even before it is time for the election or dissolving party officials without recourse to the party National Headquarters this is a very bad development and is surely a prelude to chaos if it is not checked.
Another area of concern is in the choice of the Deputy Governor, crisis usually erupts between the Governor and his deputy for one reason or the other. This type of problem to my mind is encountered because the Governor has always not been given the opportunity to choose who is to be his running mate without interference by the party. To prevent such crisis Governors should be allowed to choose their deputies, the party can zone the office of the deputy to an area different from where the Governor comes from. If this is done am sure it will minimize the frequency at which these crisis erupts.
Thank you
Isa.
Friday, September 17, 2010
AN ASSESMENT OF CONTRIBUTORY PENSION IN NIGERIA
A CRITICAL LOOK AT CONTRIBUTORY PENSION IN NIGERIA
The main objective of the new pension scheme that came into operation in 2004 is to ensure that every person that work in Nigeria in either public or private sector of the economy receives his/her retirement benefits as and when due. The new scheme covers all employees in the public service of the Federation, the Federal Capital Territory and the private sector.
The characteristic of the scheme is that; it should be fully funded (contributions from both employer and employee); it should be privately managed (management by Pension Fund Administrator) and third party custody of Funds and assets (pension Fund Custodian).
The import of this paper therefore is to critically examine how far the scheme has fared 6years after its commencement. I feel 6years is enough a time to asses and evaluate its success or otherwise. In so doing I intend to look at the roles played by the major stakeholders of the scheme, i.e. The National Pension Commission (Pencom), The Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and the contributors.
My candid assessment in this regard is that the three stakeholders enumerated above have failed to leave to expectation and if things are allowed to continue the way they are now the objective of the contributory scheme will be a mirage, as some of the problems associated with the former pension plans have started to manifest in the new regime while other problems are abound.
The main functions of Pencom; is to issue licenses to the Pension Fund Administrators and Custodians, regulates their actions and generally formulates, direct and oversee the overall policy guidelines on Pension matters in Nigeria. While it can be conceded that the Supervising organ of the pension matters in the country has performed well in terms of issuance of licenses to PFA’ and Custodians but it is kilometers away from regulating their activities. The failure of the commission to provide for biometric machine to detect multiple registrations has allowed the Administrators to perpetrate this act with impunity. The consequence of this singular act is so devastating and if concerted effort is not made to remedy it will only leave the contributor in a state of confusion as to which of the numbers he would use before eventually get paid. Another area where Pencom is found wanting is in the area of enforcing full compliance on the provisions of the legislation. It is the responsibility of Pencom to do everything possible to ensure that the scheme does not suffer or run into problems and to sustain willful compliance this it can do by decentralizing its operations by establishing zonal/regional offices or at best branch offices. The excesses of the PFAs and employers can only be checked when these offices are established. I can not see how Pencom can operate from Abuja and expect to monitor the activities of the PFAs and the employers that are not ready to comply with the legislation, even those that are complying need to be checked once in a while to verify contributions deductions and remittances. Sometime ago Pencom published in the national dailies a list of employers that did not comply with the legislation apparently reported by the Pension Fund Administrators but several months after the publication nothing came out of it and am sure nothing will come out of it as long as Pencom remains indifferent to issues of enforcement. For Pencom to generate Personal Identification Numbers (PINS) takes several weeks now instead of 24hours, to process benefit claims takes about a month or even more is some instances. The issue of transfer of accounts from one PFA to the other by contributors is yet to commence 4 years after the market is supposed to have opened, this is a right of the contributor, when he is not satisfied with the services of his Administrator he can transfer his account to another as stipulated in the extant legislation. The issue is even more poignant when you consider those who contributed under the NSITF scheme as they can’t move their NSITF contributions to their PFAs largely because the transfer market has not yet opened. I think Pencom has not really appreciated the enormity of this problem until a contributor realizes that his right has been infringed by this obvious laxity and takes the matter to court.
If Pencon has had very little to cheer about in the last 6years, some Pension Fund Administrators have got nothing to cheer as they failed to clearly meet up with the expectations of their contributors as very little effort is put on Education and customer care, the resultant effect is gross disenchantment on the part of the contributors. The role of Pension Fund Administrators in this dispensation cannot be overemphasized, the success or otherwise of this pension plan can be tied up to a large extent with the Administrators. The ‘I don’t care attitude’ put up by some Pension Fund Administrators couple with the attitude of contributors towards pension, what you get in the end is a below average performance. Experience has shown us that workers generally develop apathy in deductions; they abhor deductions of their salaries for any purpose. They don’t like talking about life after retirement when they are in active service but the issue becomes relevant when they retire. To print this picture very clearly, you need to visit any public or private establishment that is complying with the New Pension regime and take a census of 5-10 staff and ask them the following questions; Have you registered with any PFA?; What is the name of your PFA?; Do you have a PIN?; When last did you receive statement of account from your PFA?; and, Are you satisfied with the services rendered to you by the PFA?. The answers to these questions and many more will give an insight as to the performance of these PFAs.
Failure by the PFAs to be alive to the needs of the contributors is a great indication that collection of one’s entitlements after retiring as and when due will be a Herculean task. Contributors are under continuous pressure from PFAs as regards to having to submit the same records/attachments several times even after earlier submissions were receipted and these attachments are a prerequisite for the issuance of PINS and without them nothing can be done. Too much noise has been made about Information Technology as a veritable tool for easing the problems of the new Pension plan but a cursory look at the activities of the PFAs in this regard indicates a huge disappointment as you can not easily hook up with the website of your PFA and get the desired result. Of course you can not register with any PFA on line, you cannot obtain your statement of account, and neither can you process your claims. Infact, the whole situation in the Pension Industry is chaotic and it looks as if it is grinding to a halt.
Finally, it is instructive to note that pension funds are as vulnerable as any public funds in Nigeria. What happened during the stock market crisis a couple of years ago where shares worth billions of Naira belonging to Pension Funds were washed away is an eye opener. Popular concern over pension is an issue well founded it therefore behoves the operators of scheme to do whatever is necessary to prevent it from drifting into chaos and efforts should be made to do the right thing at the right moment.
The main objective of the new pension scheme that came into operation in 2004 is to ensure that every person that work in Nigeria in either public or private sector of the economy receives his/her retirement benefits as and when due. The new scheme covers all employees in the public service of the Federation, the Federal Capital Territory and the private sector.
The characteristic of the scheme is that; it should be fully funded (contributions from both employer and employee); it should be privately managed (management by Pension Fund Administrator) and third party custody of Funds and assets (pension Fund Custodian).
The import of this paper therefore is to critically examine how far the scheme has fared 6years after its commencement. I feel 6years is enough a time to asses and evaluate its success or otherwise. In so doing I intend to look at the roles played by the major stakeholders of the scheme, i.e. The National Pension Commission (Pencom), The Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and the contributors.
My candid assessment in this regard is that the three stakeholders enumerated above have failed to leave to expectation and if things are allowed to continue the way they are now the objective of the contributory scheme will be a mirage, as some of the problems associated with the former pension plans have started to manifest in the new regime while other problems are abound.
The main functions of Pencom; is to issue licenses to the Pension Fund Administrators and Custodians, regulates their actions and generally formulates, direct and oversee the overall policy guidelines on Pension matters in Nigeria. While it can be conceded that the Supervising organ of the pension matters in the country has performed well in terms of issuance of licenses to PFA’ and Custodians but it is kilometers away from regulating their activities. The failure of the commission to provide for biometric machine to detect multiple registrations has allowed the Administrators to perpetrate this act with impunity. The consequence of this singular act is so devastating and if concerted effort is not made to remedy it will only leave the contributor in a state of confusion as to which of the numbers he would use before eventually get paid. Another area where Pencom is found wanting is in the area of enforcing full compliance on the provisions of the legislation. It is the responsibility of Pencom to do everything possible to ensure that the scheme does not suffer or run into problems and to sustain willful compliance this it can do by decentralizing its operations by establishing zonal/regional offices or at best branch offices. The excesses of the PFAs and employers can only be checked when these offices are established. I can not see how Pencom can operate from Abuja and expect to monitor the activities of the PFAs and the employers that are not ready to comply with the legislation, even those that are complying need to be checked once in a while to verify contributions deductions and remittances. Sometime ago Pencom published in the national dailies a list of employers that did not comply with the legislation apparently reported by the Pension Fund Administrators but several months after the publication nothing came out of it and am sure nothing will come out of it as long as Pencom remains indifferent to issues of enforcement. For Pencom to generate Personal Identification Numbers (PINS) takes several weeks now instead of 24hours, to process benefit claims takes about a month or even more is some instances. The issue of transfer of accounts from one PFA to the other by contributors is yet to commence 4 years after the market is supposed to have opened, this is a right of the contributor, when he is not satisfied with the services of his Administrator he can transfer his account to another as stipulated in the extant legislation. The issue is even more poignant when you consider those who contributed under the NSITF scheme as they can’t move their NSITF contributions to their PFAs largely because the transfer market has not yet opened. I think Pencom has not really appreciated the enormity of this problem until a contributor realizes that his right has been infringed by this obvious laxity and takes the matter to court.
If Pencon has had very little to cheer about in the last 6years, some Pension Fund Administrators have got nothing to cheer as they failed to clearly meet up with the expectations of their contributors as very little effort is put on Education and customer care, the resultant effect is gross disenchantment on the part of the contributors. The role of Pension Fund Administrators in this dispensation cannot be overemphasized, the success or otherwise of this pension plan can be tied up to a large extent with the Administrators. The ‘I don’t care attitude’ put up by some Pension Fund Administrators couple with the attitude of contributors towards pension, what you get in the end is a below average performance. Experience has shown us that workers generally develop apathy in deductions; they abhor deductions of their salaries for any purpose. They don’t like talking about life after retirement when they are in active service but the issue becomes relevant when they retire. To print this picture very clearly, you need to visit any public or private establishment that is complying with the New Pension regime and take a census of 5-10 staff and ask them the following questions; Have you registered with any PFA?; What is the name of your PFA?; Do you have a PIN?; When last did you receive statement of account from your PFA?; and, Are you satisfied with the services rendered to you by the PFA?. The answers to these questions and many more will give an insight as to the performance of these PFAs.
Failure by the PFAs to be alive to the needs of the contributors is a great indication that collection of one’s entitlements after retiring as and when due will be a Herculean task. Contributors are under continuous pressure from PFAs as regards to having to submit the same records/attachments several times even after earlier submissions were receipted and these attachments are a prerequisite for the issuance of PINS and without them nothing can be done. Too much noise has been made about Information Technology as a veritable tool for easing the problems of the new Pension plan but a cursory look at the activities of the PFAs in this regard indicates a huge disappointment as you can not easily hook up with the website of your PFA and get the desired result. Of course you can not register with any PFA on line, you cannot obtain your statement of account, and neither can you process your claims. Infact, the whole situation in the Pension Industry is chaotic and it looks as if it is grinding to a halt.
Finally, it is instructive to note that pension funds are as vulnerable as any public funds in Nigeria. What happened during the stock market crisis a couple of years ago where shares worth billions of Naira belonging to Pension Funds were washed away is an eye opener. Popular concern over pension is an issue well founded it therefore behoves the operators of scheme to do whatever is necessary to prevent it from drifting into chaos and efforts should be made to do the right thing at the right moment.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
'OLD WAR HORSES ANDTHE REST OF US'
I had just finished my weekly meeting with the Executive members of Ashaka Cement Factory Pensioners association, a weekly meeting that had been religiously attended by all the members to discuss on issues bordering on retirement benefits of the staff of the factory when Muhammed the office assistant of Gombe branch office of the NSITF brought my cell phone with a call in waiting. It is apparent I didn’t know the caller since there was no name attached to the number but it didn’t make any difference to me as with or without the name I would still take the call, as a marketer several calls from my clients do frequent my phone and majority of them without names attached. Immediately I took the phone, a voice just emerged My Name is Useni Elama I quickly realized my Executive Director was on the line. He called to request for me to see him the following week in his office that he wanted me to discuss some issues.
I waited for that encounter anxiously without having an iota of hint as regards to what was to be discussed. I picked up courage and inform Mohammed Sani the Kaduna State Branch Manager who immediately relieved me of my anxiety by telling me that Mr. Elama would want to work with you at the newly established Trustfund Pensions Plc. He told me that he had similar discussion with him, I was a bit skeptical about that but I just managed to controll my emotions and waited for the encounter which turned out to be exactly what Mohammed postulated. We were interviewed by Trustfund Staff mostly of NSITF extraction and eventually offered employment as Assistant Managers. We were employed to supervise the activities of Trustfund in the six regions.
Even if I didn’t take the Trustfund job I would still be unemployed as NSITF was moribund. So why don’t you take the job, I said to myself. I was initially posted to Benin Regional Office but for some reasons I was asked to go and head the Maiduguri Regional Office. We left for our various offices with full alacrity as we saw our appointments as a challenge. We tried our best to open as many Retirement saving accounts as possible and by extension broaden the revenue base of the company.
One of our high points was the stellar performance we put while registering Police recruits at Maiduguri police College in August 2007. We registered the 2000 recruits available. On the low side, one day when coming back from a presentation delivered by the Head of Business Development and the Company Secretary at Head of Service’s office, Bauchi I was attacked by armed robbers along Damaturu – Maiduguri road, I together with the other passengers had to pass the night in the bush. The following morning I was scheduled for another presentation at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. This is how our itinerary was as regional managers. I really didn’t have time of my own at Trustfund as you are supposed to work 24/7 and in the course of that spending all you have including your monthly salaries just to ensure the job is done. But our effort and sacrifice to increase the fortunes of the company at the Regions is not appreciated by the Head Office as promises made were reneged with vehemence and oversights committed were amplified and punished severely.
The first regional Manager to throw in the towel was Chris from P/Harcourt then followed by your sincerely in March, 2008 and recently Mrs Hassan. But the most recent retrenchment is the most surprising as the top guns, the most influential representatives ’OLD WAR HORSES’ of the NSITF were also put in the cooler. These are people who have wielded so much power and influence blended with such flair of arrogance. Nobody thought they would ever leave the company in such a circumstance and am saying this without any equivocation but – presto!!! - They are gone.
The exercise is in top gear now as the positions of the remaining Regional Managers have been advertised in the national dailies a prelude to disengaging some of them. One wonders why this situation has continued with such impunity. What is even more poignant is the way and manner many of us are chased out, it is really tragic for some of us who are not of pension age to wake up one morning and find out that they are not in the pension business for no cause of theirs. But the fact still remains – it’s our company, we initiated it, we set it up - we built it.
Some people have been insinuating that what is happening in Trustfund was a result of an administrative oversight made by the former NSITF management led by Alhaji Rufa’I by allowing Accenture to produce the pioneer staff of the newly established office. They opined that the management should have allowed us (NSITF) staff to manage the new company given our robust experience in the management of individual pension, an experience running to over four decades. They contended that having been exposed through the various aspects of Business processes Management the NSITF staff are rightly positioned and have acquired all it takes to manage the new pension outfit. I wouldn’t agree more with this opinion but then, what Rufa’i did was in good faith especially when you consider the solid foundation he set by appointing about six management staff all from NSITF. Just look at this line up:
• Mr. Oseni Elama - Managing Director/ CEO
• Ikechuwcku Chukwucha – Head of Business Development and Marketing
• P S Okodua - Head of NSITF Funds
• G. Onokwai - Audit
• Racheal CCO
• Musa Nasir- Company Secretary
• The six Regional Managers
• A host of other staff
This is one of the legacies the Rufa’I led management bequeathed to Trustfund, so for anybody to insinuate that the Management had made a mistake that person is either not being fair to Rufa’i or he is just being mischievous. However, something is definitely wrong and I think it is not unconnected with the way and manner the NSITF ‘old war horses’ handle the affairs of the company abinitio.
Oseni Elama’s departure from Trustfund was a big blow to the Regional Managers but it was celebrated with fanfare by some of the ‘Old war horses’ because they knew that some of them wouldn’t have survived in the company if he had stayed any longer. The calculation was that with him out of the way, they will take full control of the office; several attempts were made to coerce the other side into submission but proved futile. At this stage Pencom interceded by bringing Mr. Bakare to superintend over the affairs of the company as stipulated by the enabling laws. His tenure was silent albeit there were some underground maneuver by the old war horses to outwit the other side so as to enable them have an edge when Bakare’s tenure expires but has not come to fruition as the other side remained resolute.
At the end of it all, Bakare recommended that Bernand should be appointed as M/D on acting capacity until the appointment of a substantive CEO. I was told that the appointment was based on his seniority over the old war horses. Having lost the power game to the other side, they deployed a strategy of ‘survival of the fittest’. To prove your loyalty to the new order you must show disdain for the Regional Managers and anything NSITF. Caution was thrown to the dogs, the company ceased to be a formal organization - a bureaucracy - where things are done with civility. Where the name of the individual does not matter, what matters is, has he done the right thing? Stuff like that. We were totally emasculated and ridiculed, subjected to all sort of intimidating languages and sometimes uncouth. We really became accustomed to this insult, embarrassing as it was; none of us had ever demanded to know why we were so treated. But my only consolation had always been if only Mr. Elama had lived long in Trustfund and was able to implement the decisions taken at the 1st MPR that took place in Kaduna, 2007 things would have been different.
The other side spectated the drama with delight, while at the same time warming themselves into the hearts of the Board members and consolidating their positions with such a managerial brio. But for the Old war Horses they have to contend with the reality. The reality is the fact that they just succeeded in creating in themselves a Frankenstein Monster.
I was told that when their sack letters came most of them were on leave. One of them was cruising the Avensis in his village when it was demobilized, he thought it was a glitch that could be easily rectified but was astounded to hear from one of the Village mechanics that the car was turn off from the office. While the other one had his office’s locks changed an indication of ‘your services are no longer required’. This is the type of treatment you mete out to a common criminal. What a pity!!!
I waited for that encounter anxiously without having an iota of hint as regards to what was to be discussed. I picked up courage and inform Mohammed Sani the Kaduna State Branch Manager who immediately relieved me of my anxiety by telling me that Mr. Elama would want to work with you at the newly established Trustfund Pensions Plc. He told me that he had similar discussion with him, I was a bit skeptical about that but I just managed to controll my emotions and waited for the encounter which turned out to be exactly what Mohammed postulated. We were interviewed by Trustfund Staff mostly of NSITF extraction and eventually offered employment as Assistant Managers. We were employed to supervise the activities of Trustfund in the six regions.
Even if I didn’t take the Trustfund job I would still be unemployed as NSITF was moribund. So why don’t you take the job, I said to myself. I was initially posted to Benin Regional Office but for some reasons I was asked to go and head the Maiduguri Regional Office. We left for our various offices with full alacrity as we saw our appointments as a challenge. We tried our best to open as many Retirement saving accounts as possible and by extension broaden the revenue base of the company.
One of our high points was the stellar performance we put while registering Police recruits at Maiduguri police College in August 2007. We registered the 2000 recruits available. On the low side, one day when coming back from a presentation delivered by the Head of Business Development and the Company Secretary at Head of Service’s office, Bauchi I was attacked by armed robbers along Damaturu – Maiduguri road, I together with the other passengers had to pass the night in the bush. The following morning I was scheduled for another presentation at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. This is how our itinerary was as regional managers. I really didn’t have time of my own at Trustfund as you are supposed to work 24/7 and in the course of that spending all you have including your monthly salaries just to ensure the job is done. But our effort and sacrifice to increase the fortunes of the company at the Regions is not appreciated by the Head Office as promises made were reneged with vehemence and oversights committed were amplified and punished severely.
The first regional Manager to throw in the towel was Chris from P/Harcourt then followed by your sincerely in March, 2008 and recently Mrs Hassan. But the most recent retrenchment is the most surprising as the top guns, the most influential representatives ’OLD WAR HORSES’ of the NSITF were also put in the cooler. These are people who have wielded so much power and influence blended with such flair of arrogance. Nobody thought they would ever leave the company in such a circumstance and am saying this without any equivocation but – presto!!! - They are gone.
The exercise is in top gear now as the positions of the remaining Regional Managers have been advertised in the national dailies a prelude to disengaging some of them. One wonders why this situation has continued with such impunity. What is even more poignant is the way and manner many of us are chased out, it is really tragic for some of us who are not of pension age to wake up one morning and find out that they are not in the pension business for no cause of theirs. But the fact still remains – it’s our company, we initiated it, we set it up - we built it.
Some people have been insinuating that what is happening in Trustfund was a result of an administrative oversight made by the former NSITF management led by Alhaji Rufa’I by allowing Accenture to produce the pioneer staff of the newly established office. They opined that the management should have allowed us (NSITF) staff to manage the new company given our robust experience in the management of individual pension, an experience running to over four decades. They contended that having been exposed through the various aspects of Business processes Management the NSITF staff are rightly positioned and have acquired all it takes to manage the new pension outfit. I wouldn’t agree more with this opinion but then, what Rufa’i did was in good faith especially when you consider the solid foundation he set by appointing about six management staff all from NSITF. Just look at this line up:
• Mr. Oseni Elama - Managing Director/ CEO
• Ikechuwcku Chukwucha – Head of Business Development and Marketing
• P S Okodua - Head of NSITF Funds
• G. Onokwai - Audit
• Racheal CCO
• Musa Nasir- Company Secretary
• The six Regional Managers
• A host of other staff
This is one of the legacies the Rufa’I led management bequeathed to Trustfund, so for anybody to insinuate that the Management had made a mistake that person is either not being fair to Rufa’i or he is just being mischievous. However, something is definitely wrong and I think it is not unconnected with the way and manner the NSITF ‘old war horses’ handle the affairs of the company abinitio.
Oseni Elama’s departure from Trustfund was a big blow to the Regional Managers but it was celebrated with fanfare by some of the ‘Old war horses’ because they knew that some of them wouldn’t have survived in the company if he had stayed any longer. The calculation was that with him out of the way, they will take full control of the office; several attempts were made to coerce the other side into submission but proved futile. At this stage Pencom interceded by bringing Mr. Bakare to superintend over the affairs of the company as stipulated by the enabling laws. His tenure was silent albeit there were some underground maneuver by the old war horses to outwit the other side so as to enable them have an edge when Bakare’s tenure expires but has not come to fruition as the other side remained resolute.
At the end of it all, Bakare recommended that Bernand should be appointed as M/D on acting capacity until the appointment of a substantive CEO. I was told that the appointment was based on his seniority over the old war horses. Having lost the power game to the other side, they deployed a strategy of ‘survival of the fittest’. To prove your loyalty to the new order you must show disdain for the Regional Managers and anything NSITF. Caution was thrown to the dogs, the company ceased to be a formal organization - a bureaucracy - where things are done with civility. Where the name of the individual does not matter, what matters is, has he done the right thing? Stuff like that. We were totally emasculated and ridiculed, subjected to all sort of intimidating languages and sometimes uncouth. We really became accustomed to this insult, embarrassing as it was; none of us had ever demanded to know why we were so treated. But my only consolation had always been if only Mr. Elama had lived long in Trustfund and was able to implement the decisions taken at the 1st MPR that took place in Kaduna, 2007 things would have been different.
The other side spectated the drama with delight, while at the same time warming themselves into the hearts of the Board members and consolidating their positions with such a managerial brio. But for the Old war Horses they have to contend with the reality. The reality is the fact that they just succeeded in creating in themselves a Frankenstein Monster.
I was told that when their sack letters came most of them were on leave. One of them was cruising the Avensis in his village when it was demobilized, he thought it was a glitch that could be easily rectified but was astounded to hear from one of the Village mechanics that the car was turn off from the office. While the other one had his office’s locks changed an indication of ‘your services are no longer required’. This is the type of treatment you mete out to a common criminal. What a pity!!!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Dear Mathias,
I read your piece captioned above in the daily trust newspapers dated Wednesday,July21,2010 and feel obliged to write and engage you with my views albeit the article was full of anger and somewhat abusive but has such an intellectual brio in content.
To start with am not a PDP card carrying member neither am I a member of any political party but I found the agreement entered in 1999 by the PDP to rotate offices between North and South after each eight years interesting and commendable. This is possibly the only way every part of the country would have a feel at the presidency, I feel if this is not done the coveted office might just revolve around a particular zone for ever.
To my mind all political parties in the country should emulate this noble cause and even extend the idea to go beyond the Presidency so that Governorship seats and Council chairmen seats should be rotated in both the states and Local Government areas. This has already been enshrined in our constitution in form of Federal Character and other extant policies.
I really do not know from which State you come from but for me am from Katsina, resident in Kaduna State and if you are conversant with the politics of the state I don’t know what you can do to a southern Kaduna indigene have a shot at the Government House; or if you are conversant with the politics of Kogi State what you can do to the Okun or even the Ibira man have a shot at the Government House, these examples are abound in the country. The point here is that it is democratically impracticable for a certain group of Nigerians especially the minorities to ever be elected into the coveted offices if zoning or power rotation or even constitutional balance as President Jonathan would say is not put in place.
Iam surprised you did not mention that zoning will breed incompetence as many writers oppose to it insinuate. In this time of our National development we do not need the African Union or even the United Nation for that matter to tell us who is competent to lead us to the promised land we have to do it ourselves and I tell you no ethnic group in Nigeria has the monopoly of competent people, they are so ubiquitous.
By the way, I share the sentiment of some of you that President Goodluck Jonathan is free to contest the presidency in 2011 but going by the dictates of the PDP constitution and the rotational agreement of the party he cannot but surely he can find solace elsewhere.
Thank you,
ISA AHMED
I read your piece captioned above in the daily trust newspapers dated Wednesday,July21,2010 and feel obliged to write and engage you with my views albeit the article was full of anger and somewhat abusive but has such an intellectual brio in content.
To start with am not a PDP card carrying member neither am I a member of any political party but I found the agreement entered in 1999 by the PDP to rotate offices between North and South after each eight years interesting and commendable. This is possibly the only way every part of the country would have a feel at the presidency, I feel if this is not done the coveted office might just revolve around a particular zone for ever.
To my mind all political parties in the country should emulate this noble cause and even extend the idea to go beyond the Presidency so that Governorship seats and Council chairmen seats should be rotated in both the states and Local Government areas. This has already been enshrined in our constitution in form of Federal Character and other extant policies.
I really do not know from which State you come from but for me am from Katsina, resident in Kaduna State and if you are conversant with the politics of the state I don’t know what you can do to a southern Kaduna indigene have a shot at the Government House; or if you are conversant with the politics of Kogi State what you can do to the Okun or even the Ibira man have a shot at the Government House, these examples are abound in the country. The point here is that it is democratically impracticable for a certain group of Nigerians especially the minorities to ever be elected into the coveted offices if zoning or power rotation or even constitutional balance as President Jonathan would say is not put in place.
Iam surprised you did not mention that zoning will breed incompetence as many writers oppose to it insinuate. In this time of our National development we do not need the African Union or even the United Nation for that matter to tell us who is competent to lead us to the promised land we have to do it ourselves and I tell you no ethnic group in Nigeria has the monopoly of competent people, they are so ubiquitous.
By the way, I share the sentiment of some of you that President Goodluck Jonathan is free to contest the presidency in 2011 but going by the dictates of the PDP constitution and the rotational agreement of the party he cannot but surely he can find solace elsewhere.
Thank you,
ISA AHMED
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