Nigeria News
Fashola, Grey Hair And The Burden Of Governance
By Tayo Ogunbiyi
The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), is different things to different people. Professor Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, sees him as one who diagnoses the problems and goes at it like a skilled professional who wants to know what will work and what will not work he eliminates. To Mr. Jack Warner, the Trinidad and Tobago born former FIFA Vice President, Fashola is an incredible performer. With specific reference to the transformation of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Mr. Warner says: “Never in my numerous years of travelling around the world have I witnessed the speed at which Lagos completed the stadium for FIFA assessment.”
Late Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Kayode Esho while delivering a speech sometime ago at the presentation of ‘Compendium of Senior Advocates’ in Lagos advised “the governors of the states in Nigeria to take a pilgrimage to Lagos, instead of parties outside the country and see real developments by a sound SAN, ruling the state. They will appreciate they should spend tax payers’ money in developments rather than bill boards, advertising themselves and campaigning for another election.”
The opposition also has its own perception of the governor. The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Lagos Chapter, stated few months ago that “…it is a thing of joy that ever since the advent of Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande action government in Lagos State between 1979 and 1983, we have witnessed in the past three years, quality and serious democratic governance. Fashola has rekindled a service-oriented administration to the citizens of the state as evidenced by the sustainable infrastructural development that has singled-out Lagos state as a barometer of developmental index throughout Nigeria in this democratic dispensation.”
Whichever way you choose to place the man Fashola, one thing that is in no doubt is that he is a conscientious planner. As far as he is concerned, nothing happens by chance. To him, the word chance is for those who plan to fail; hence his only path to success is deliberate planning.
A man of vision, he has a clear picture of the type of Lagos he wants to bequeath to the coming generation. The late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in his autobiography, states that he gave himself to studying and researching into how the myriads of challenges confronting the nation could be tackled while some of his contemporaries were busy drinking and dancing away at night parties. Like the late sage, Fashola is a passionate reader. The compartment of his car is filled with books on various subjects ranging from governance, public finance, philosophy to social reforms which he consults regularly for fresh ideas that could help drive the developmental process of the state. Awolowo is a mentor to Fashola. When asked, sometime ago, about the things that inspire him, Fashola simply made reference to Awo’s books and legacies. Today, there is no doubt that like Awolowo, he has raised the bar of governance in the country.
The story of Lagos in recent years has been that of progressive transformation. Wherever you go in the state, you can see the administration of Babatunde Fashola at work without seeing his face on billboards. He is quietly charting a new course for the state without making any clatter about it. His work simply speaks for him. There is a general consensus across the land that government is working for the good of the people in Lagos.
However, the task of governing a complex and metropolitan mega city like Lagos is quite challenging. Six years on such a demanding job is enough to take its toll on any hardworking leader. One particular area where the burden of the ‘New Lagos’ project has become visible on the governor is his hair. Suddenly, his hairs are going grey. Many would argue that there is no scientific connection between challenging tasks and grey hair, but whenever we see young people with grey hair, we often ask them if they have been taking up a lot of challenging stuffs lately.
The relationship between work pressure and grey hair has not been clearly established. Research taken up by Tyler Cymet, concluded that those who have over-worked for two or three years had their hair turned grey sooner. When a person is faced with tough and demanding assignments, the stress hormones can distort the activity of the melanin and lead to development of grey hair.
David Fisher, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School said that “it’s the gradual depletion of stem cells or melanocytes that leads to the loss of pigment and that it is not so simple to know if stress and grey hair are closely related.” He said that “the process of greying is a multi-variable equation. Stress hormones may impact the survival and/or activity of melanocytes, but no clear link has been found between stress and grey hair.”
It is a common belief that if someone had premature grey hair, then stress and worry could be the reason. And it is weird that it is still not scientifically established. The conclusion could be that this belief is transferred to us through our parents, who probably learned it from our grand-parents. Perhaps, our culture had already established the relationship between stress and grey hair without any scientific validation.
For any progressive and visionary leader, governance is a burden. It is not a tea party. One is talking of great thinkers who spend quality time to chart innovative course that would lead to radical transformation in the lives of their people. Not ‘Owambe’ (partying freaks) leaders who traverse the globe in search contemptible fun at the expense of their hapless subjects. Take a closer look at President Obama and you would see in him ample evidence of the burden of governance.
The dilemma of every genuine reformer, from time immemorial, is always how to carry along the very people whom the reforms are meant for. Consequently, most leaders prefer to maintain the status quo rather than embark on any reform irrespective of the long term benefits of such to the people. They would rather sacrifice such benefits for temporary personal gains. Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, says that excellence does not come by accident; it is achieved by habit and conscious commitment to one’s goals and objectives. This has, indeed, been the operational philosophy of Governor Fashola ever since he assumed office on 29th May, 2007. As he often says, at every given opportunity, “there is the need to tackle old challenges with new methods”. Fashola’s viewpoint has always been that if we continue to use same approach, which has not resulted in any significant positive results, we are bound to get same results. This, of course, is the crux of the matter.
As he clocks the golden age of 50 this week, we wish this delightful son of Lagos many years of accomplished and selfless service to Lagos state and, indeed, the country at large.
•Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja
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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: PM News
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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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