Seyi Oduyela

The role of the media is no doubt critical in promoting good governance and curbing corruption. The role of the media is not only to raise public awareness about corruption, cause consequences and possible remedies but also to investigate and report incidences of corruption aiding other over sight bodies.

A critical element of a country’s anti-corruption programmes primarily should be an effective media; and the effectiveness of the media depends on access to information and freedom of expression, as well as a professional and ethical cadre of investigative journalists. In addition, such issues as private versus public ownership of the media, the need for improved protection of journalists who investigate corruption and media regulation are critical. The corrupting of the media mission through excessive reliance on advertisers and sponsors is one of the major problems in Nigeria, where political manipulation remains a more powerful influence, but increasing commercialisation carriers with it real.

Sometimes, too, journalists’ stories can play a significant role in reinforcing the effectiveness of public anti-corruption bodies. Simply reporting in a regular, detailed way on the work and findings of these bodies can reinforce public scrutiny of them and, hence, the independence of such bodies from vested interests within the power structure that might otherwise be tempted to interfere in their work. Even when reporting on outright corruption or other questionable behaviour by public office holders does not lead directly to indictments, prosecutions or impeachment, it can still help shape public hostility to such activities that can ultimately lead to electoral defeat for individual politicians or, indeed, for entire governments.

While greater accountability from public figures to the public is important, the media themselves have to be accountable. That is awareness by journalists that whatever they write must promote, preserve and entrench the democracy for which they have been given a definite role in the constitution.

The most effective system for guaranteeing freedom of the press is one where the press itself must be able to make careful judgments on its own. Self-discipline, self-consciousness of media workers, the code of ethics that members of the profession accept are important elements of media accountability.

The tradition must provide for the press to be tough in its scrutiny of the work of those who enjoy the public trust. The press culture, evident in many democracies today, contains a sense that is the duty of the press to afflict the comfortable, in order to comfort the afflicted. Undoubtedly, such a culture can lead to press irresponsibility at times. Complaints about invasion of privacy by the press are not new. This is an inevitable price to pay, and an independent wise judiciary and an effective Press Council may be able to assist in checking excesses.

Primarily the media themselves must shoulder the burden of ensuring a responsible, independent media. They must demonstrate their independence objectivity and professionalism each and every day in order to earn public trust and confidence.

Just as we have problem with public figures, we also have with media employers who in turn are allies of some of the public figures. In some cases some of them are owners of media or assist media owners with contracts, so they protect them and whoever tries to expose such corrupt office holder set to lose his/her job. This has turned most media houses in Nigeria to commercial enterprises with profit motive. The owners of media do not ensure payment of wages and salaries; this exposes the journalists to corruption too. Some media owners use stories submitted by their reporters to blackmail those involved making money and later sending the story to the dustbin.

I have heard several times in news rooms a case of editors regarding certain individuals in our society as “friends of the House” These “friends” are protected, nothing negative comes out against them in the papers. I recollect a case of one Airline owner in Nigeria who owed his pilot, it was a case of fraud, the Airline was able to buy journalists covering the beat but one of them refused to be bought, he insisted on reporting it, the Public Relations Officer of the company got to my friend’s office before him, that was the end of the story. As he was settling down to write the story his editor walked to him, apparently acting on orders from “above” told him to drop the idea. My friend few months later was fired.

To me the issue of the freedom of the press goes beyond attack by the state and its agencies, it is more of welfare of the journalist than state intimidation. Yes the state intimidates; this may come physically or in terms of material harassment.

The last four year showed how money can determine who has what. Surprisingly there was a transfer of allegiance on the part of the Nigerian Media from the afflicted to the comfortable. We see clearly how states governments who did not do anything buy 23 pages of magazines and newspapers for what is coined as “special reports”, “Insight”, and so many annoying terms. When in actual fact it is glaring to the whole world that these governments did not do anything to improve the lives of their subjects. The press unfortunately took side with these rogues in power to insult the sensibility of poor Nigerians and deemed the hope of those who expect the truth from the media. as a media man myself I feel ashamed of myself that we failed our people and invariably failed our society. Rather than playing the watchdog the media become an accomplice of these corrupt office holders. It is amazing that no press saw anything bad in the way Governors of the oil producing states squandered the special allocations given to them. Bayelsa in spite of what it got cannot boast of any improvement in lives of its people.

Most journalists posted to governments houses as correspondents are on monthly payrolls of the respective state governments. I know correspondents who were redeployed by their employers based on recommendations of government that feel uncomfortable with the journalist’s stories. Their employers heeded because they are also contractors of the state governments. Take for instance journalists participating in the sewage scheme in Lagos State. How do they report if the scheme is not functioning well?

During the shameful media tour embarked upon by the Smart Adeyemi led NUJ in 2000, it was discovered that in Kogi state some of the uncompleted road works were contracts given to Smart Adeyemi the President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ. No journalist on that tour reported it, same thing in Adamawa State. The tour was nothing but a conspiracy of the government with the NUJ to insult Nigerians. Most of these journalists came back from the tour buying cars, as their own “dividend of democracy.” Many of them today are forever grateful to Smart Adeyemi for including them on the tour, which in fact was responsible for his return for second term of misrule and misguided leadership of the NUJ.

That a large section of the Nigerian media has lost credibility, in the face of money politics is a factual statement. Journalists now feel at ease lobbying to become press secretaries than doing what they were trained to do. We now have journalists as press secretaries of Governors, Ministers, and Commissioners even Local Government Councilors.

Ministry of Information that should provide press secretaries for these office holders are by-passed and journalists who do not have civil service experience are brought in to do the job of civil servants.

Before 1985, civil servants from the Information Ministry are usually the Chief press Secretary to the government, but as soon as the Shehu Shagari government was sent packing by the military junta of Buhari, now a civilian presidential aspirant of All Nigeria Peoples Party, the idea of deploying Information ministry personnel to the State House as press secretary was abolished and Wada Maida was called for the US to be the first political appointee press secretary. And since 1984 no civil servant from the information ministry was appointed.

The politicians are becoming more tactical. They know that having a professional journalist as press secretary is a shield from investigation by the media. Rather than managing information and disseminating information about the activities of the government, the journalist now becomes and image launderer for the governor. His duty is to make sure that no negative story comes out in the papers against their boss. They quit their reporting and watchdog job to take up the job of fire brigade for corrupt officers to mop up negative stories on the street.

This new development is worrisome!

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Olakunle Teniola

Coventry University Student Missing After Jumping into Amazonian Lake in Brazil

By Adebayo Somuyiwa/London

FRIENDS of Olakunle Teniola are baffled by reports that the Coventry University student jumped into a Amazonian lake – because he cannot swim.

The 20-year-old, who was studying to be a youth worker, has been missing since he went into the Acajatuba Lake in Brazil on Tuesday while working as a missionary in the country.

This was the first time the city man, known to friends as Kunle, has taken his missionary work abroad after previously working with young and homeless people in Coventry.

A large-scale search operation, involving the Brazilian navy, fishermen and local villagers, has been mounted.

Loved ones have been told Kunle and others had been travelling on a boat on the lake in the Amazon jungle while on their way to a nearby village, as part of their missionary expedition.

During the trip the boat was stopped and those on board were invited to have a swim.

Leaders of the trip have told relatives that Kunle, who could not swim, joined another group member in the lake but did not come back to the surface.

Benson Akinsola has known Kunle since they both began studying at Coventry University two years ago.

He said: “When he heard about the charity’s work, there was no doubt he was going to do it.

“There’s no way he would be going into the water, he is scared of the water. He doesn’t even go swimming with us.”

Friends say Kunle, who lives with fellow students in the city centre, while his mum, brother and sister live in Tile Hill, had been working hard to raise the money needed to fund the missionary trip led by the charities Sent in the UK and Ray of Hope in Brazil.

Best friend Abigail Moronkeji was the first to hear of Kunle’s disappearance in a phone call in the early hours of Wednesday.

She said: “He went to Brazil to help the communities there and he had done a lot of fundraising to fund the trip there.

“He went there to tell people about God but also to help them physically too with food and clothes.

“He had a tough upbringing in Hackney in London, so he wanted to help other young people.

“He was a bit scared about the trip but also excited. His faith is everything to him, he loves God with all his heart.”

Abigail said she had been in touch with Kunle during his trip via Facebook and Skype.

She said: “I can’t live my life without him, he can’t be gone.

“There’s no way to explain it, it seems so unreal.

“You don’t expect something like this to happen to someone so close to you.

“It’s reassuring that so many people are now looking for him and so many people have got in touch. It shows how much he is loved.”

Meanwhile, Kunle’s aunt Yemisi Karunwi said: “The family is not happy. I am in the middle of planning his 21st birthday party.

“I am hoping he walks back home. Anything else is not an option.”

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “A British national has been reported missing in Manaus, Brazil on Tuesday July 12.

“We are providing consular assistance to the family and we are in touch with the local authorities.”

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Educational Imbalance: Its Extent, History, Dangers and Correction in Nigeria

By Professor Jubril Aminu

The problem in higher education in Nigeria today has its roots in the philosophy of deliberate underdevelopment of the Yoruba and other southern states articulated below by a leading member of the Fulani hegemony – Jubril Aminu.

Many of you will recall that Aminu was appointed the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) by the Obasanjo regime. He later became Federal Minister of Education under Babangida before he was promoted Minister of Petroleum by Babangida.

Aminu, on behalf of the Northern Islamic hegemony, recommended social restructuring that would stop millions of southern Nigerians from receiving University education in order for the North to catch up with the South and thus bridge the gap between northern and southern Nigeria with the ultimate aim of achieving Nigerian unity.

Aminu’s philosophy of social restructuring came after the loss of regional power over education under military rule with emphasis on unitary government. Aminu is a leading member of a Fulani think-tank that is fanatically opposed to political restructuring of Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION

Incalculable effort and personal sacrifice have gone towards uniting Nigeria politically. A truly united nation, however, is not achieved by political or military decisions alone. The problems of unity in this country have always had a dominant social undertone. Social restructuring is therefore necessary before a just and egalitarian society can be attained which in turn has the potential of lasting unity and stability. For a just and egalitarian society to be produced, employment opportunities must be equal. That is, no section of the country should feel or be made to feel that they are, or will become, “the hewers of wood and drawers of water”. The most important ingredient of employment opportunity is education, especially higher education.

People are now sufficiently aware in this country of the fact that political power, not backed by social development, and the full participation in all aspects of the national life and management, is shaky. The development of skilled manpower is therefore intricately bound to the future integration of any group in the society – “to know what the future holds out, see what the young people are up to or up against.”

Certain sections of this country will be highly disturbed about their future in a united Nigeria if they study the pattern of higher educational opportunities in the country. It is this kind of disturbance which promotes among the people some actions and counteractions, mutual suspicion, nepotism and loss of confidence in the concept of fair play. This leads to unhealthy group political and social instability as each identifiable section then attempts to devise ways and means of protecting its own position – hence the problems of ethnic politics, census crises and the like.

In Nigeria, the problem of disparity in higher education among the various ethnic groups has been a long standing source of friction. Efforts have been made from time to time to correct this disparity and it has always been clear that, at some stage, the issue will have to be faced squarely if it is not to have adverse and inevitable effects on nation building and social integration. If there is any Government that can bravely confront the issue, it is a military Government, especially this military administration, which has excelled in the boldness of resolving long standing contentious issues, such as the creation of more states, corruption, the issue of Federal Capital and so on.

Other nations of heterogeneous composition have faced this problem of regional education disparity. Those free countries, which managed to remain one, had to solve it. In Canada, as we found in our recent visit, the French and the English-speaking peoples were kept in the same country by complete regionalization of all levels of education. In Malaysia deliberate and seemingly unfair measures, were temporarily adopted to bring up the Malays to the level attained by the Chinese. Since Nigeria has decided to put higher education in the Exclusive Federal Legislative List, thereby rendering all Universities Federal institutions, it is even more incumbent on (and easier for!) for the Federal Government to remove this disparity in higher education.

The Evidence

The figures to be produced in this section are derived from National Universities Commission sources based upon the returns obtained from the Universities, Government records, etc. This is probably the first time that these facts are being brought out in this stark form. The reaction to their publication should therefore not be taken for granted; although at the same time they do provide the basis for the suggested solutions. It is hoped that these solutions will be applied as from the 1976/77 session in the Universities. There is still time for that to be attempted.

The data is presented as for the former 12-state structure. There is little difference between the new states carved out of any of the old ones, e.g. between Oyo, Ondo and Ogun or between Bauchi, Borno and Gongola. The figures start from the beginning of the last plan period and are presented according to academic sessions up to 1974/75. The figures for 1975/76 are still being received. Projections up to 1980 are shown where relevant. Although the National Universities Commission supplied the figures, the graphs were drawn by Professor S.D. Onabamiro.

It is not the intention to separate the figures for the Northern States from those of the Rivers and Cross River States – since there is a measure of backwardness in the two latter States. It is the unavailability of such figures that gives rise to such separation.

1. The four old states of East Central, Lagos, Midwest and West exercise an alarming monopoly of enrolment into the University system. These four states, with a combined population of about one third of the whole country, have for long had a disproportionate advantage in higher education. Even recently, in the 6 old Universities the four states had 75.6 per cent, 71.4 per cent, 72.9 percent, 68.3 per cent and 69.4 per cent of the enrolments in the academic years 1970/71, 72/72, 72/73, 73/74, 74/75, respectively .

2. The Universities are heavily tribalised, seriously questioning the concept of “Federal” universities – Ibadan, Ife and Lagos have a great preponderance of Yoruba students (even if Kwara is excluded), Benin a great preponderance of Mid-western tribes and Nsukka an even more striking proportion of Ibos. If these Universities were regional, or were set up and maintained by ethnic organisations, they could not have achieved the purposes more. Of the six, the ABU is the least affected by this malaise.

3. There is great geographical and ethnic imbalance in University education. In relation to their population, the Northern States suffer most, followed by Rivers and Cross River States.

4. The situation is not improving. It is getting worst each year. For individual Universities and for the whole group the imbalance is increasing exponentially.

5. The imbalance is worse in respect of disciplines. In the year 1974/75 the 4 states referred to above monopolised 80% of the enrolment in Medicine and Pharmacy, 77% in Engineering and Technology, 75% in Pure Science and Agriculture and Forestry as well as 75% in Education. They monopolised 60% in Law and 56% in Public Administration. In other words, the more backward states are in fact even worse off in the really technical fields – important for development and for education. How, even in ABU, the 4 advanced states are doing relatively better in these technical subjects. The West appears to monopolise the Education enrolment which is an indication of further educational expansion.

6. According to the cost of University education as seen from N.U.C. sources alone. The two conclusions are

(i) the gross imbalance in the distribution of the wealth of the nation in this sector taking per capita expenditure on the student and applying this to enrolment,

(ii) the rising cost of higher education (this year the truncated N.U.C. budget is half of the total Federal Education budget). This progressive rise could limit the expansion of the system. States which are now backward do not have all that bright a chance of catching up by way of increase in number of University places.

8. The future of the country, as it were, lies in the hands of the Nigerian citizens hailing from the West, East Central, Lagos and Midwest states (in the form of 12-State structure), since they have enjoyed a long monopoly of highly skilled manpower development in all disciplines, and since the situation is not improving.

9. A survey of the existing situation in the Federal Public Service is revealing, not only for now, but especially for the future. In the Administrative Service state representation is supposed to be widest. The representation of the ten Northern States is as follows:-

This is in Administration where representation is said to be widest. Figures for the Rivers and Cross River States are, unfortunately, not available.

The insignificance of representation in the topmost posts compared with ominously scanty numbers lower down ought not to be lost on the policy makers. The future is determined by the development of those young Officers. In other cadres and sectors of the public Service, the representation is no better if not negligible.

CAUSES OF THE IMBALANCE

Surely, the imbalance has nothing to do with the basic intelligence of the people since this quality is found to be distributed normally in the population. The cause lies in our social-political history and is sustained by persistent attitudes and differences in Lower Level Educational Facilities

The first and foremost cause is the fact that Western Education came much earlier in the South than in the North. Even in the South, the early efforts were made by Christian Missionaries. The concomitant proselytising activities of those educationists rendered them unacceptable in the Muslim North.

But that is not the end of the story. The British colonialists understandably did more havoc here. The first Teacher Training School in the North was established in 1922. The same School was later transferred to Kaduna, then to Zaria (last as a Secondary School). Serial enrolment number in this continuous school reached the 1000 mark in 1953.

As a result of these factors the North is lagging far behind. The Rivers and Cross River States lag behind for a different reason – they were minorities in a large region before the creation of states.

At a time (1975) when the West, East Central, Midwest and Lagos States were enrolling 238,964 students, the six Northern states enrolled only 60,693; four times lower. It should also be recollected that quite a proportion of these students from the North, would be students, in fact, not indigenous to those 6 states.

Apart from differences in sheer numbers, the standards of the secondary schools also differ. While the percentage of successful candidates (Divisions 1, 11 and 111) in the advanced states is of the order of 50-60 per cent, in the four Northern States (Kano, North West, North East and North Central) it was of the order of 2O – 40 per cent.

Looking at the WASC statistics by country, it can be concluded that, while the national average for Nigeria is the highest, the backwards states, (especially those in the North) are developing at the rates obtaining in Sierra Leone, Gambia and Ghana. Attitudes in the Universities

It has already been shown in the figure how ethnic the enrolments in the Universities tend to be.

In the originally regional Universities of Ife, Nsukka, Benin and ABU the cause is understandable. These Universities were set up by Regional Governments for the purpose of training their indigenous students – they had clear ethnic and political objectives. The Universities were based in the Premier’s Offices. The Pro-Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and all Council members were appointed by the Regional Executive Council. Where the ethnic group was homogenous, as in the then Eastern, but most especially in the then Western Nigeria, the University became a clearly tribal one. But what is disturbing is why this is getting worse in spite of a Federal take-over, which, in the case of Nsukka, has been since 1973. The North was never homogenous, and the ABU itself had faculties not obtaining elsewhere in the early phases – Engineering, Fine Arts, Architecture and Physical Education. The institution therefore for these reasons always possessed the most national character since Nigerian College days.

In the case of the Federal Universities of Ibadan and Lagos disparity in secondary school facilities and stringent entry requirements may explain the imbalance – but ethnic discriminatory admission policies must play a part. The ethnic discriminatory admission policies are borne out by the poor representation of the minority states of Cross River and Rivers States even though their secondary school performances appear comparable to the other good ones. It is interesting to observe how the enrolment of South Eastern Students in Nsukka rose with the establishment of the Calabar Campus of the University and the general political rapport between the then two States. University admission is therefore partly political.

Apart from the stark ethnic element as the figures show, obtain in most of these six Universities, there has been a long standing lack of concern for the national problem of educational imbalance. These Universities will be the first to quoter their token individual efforts to encourage students from the backward areas of their own country. No doubt, Ibadan, for example, will quote the establishment of Jos Campus which was originally scheduled for elsewhere. The prolonged Senate debates that went on over this before the campus at Jos was accepted, and the real performance of the Campus in terms of bridging the gap in enrolments, however, act as cautious reminders. Why should some Nigerian Lecturers be paid N2.00 a night inducement allowance for working in Jos? What prompted a former Vice-Chancellor to rebuff the Vice-Principal of the NECAS who came to him to discuss the admission of NECAS graduates into the University of Ibadan (while these graduates were accepted by ABU through an agreement and by Lagos probably because of other connections of the NECAS council), by simply saying that Ibadan did not recognise the Examination taken at Maiduguri? It is quite clear that most of the Universities, apart from political statements at suitable moments, could not really claim to have addressed themselves earnestly to the problem of the educational imbalance in the country they were set up to serve.

WORSENING IMBALANCE

It has already been indicated that this educational imbalance in the country is getting worse, not better. The high representation of the former West in Lagos, Ife and Ibadan is stable if not rising. The preponderance of students of the East Central State origin in Nsukka and of Bendelites in Benin are increasingly exponentially.

Enrolments in the technical and professional discipline are also getting more and more in favour of the four dominant states. The others are improving their performance but nothing like to the same extent. A particular point to note is the huge preponderance of teachers (as judged by enrolments in Education) these states will have. This is an indication of further accelerated development in Education and further widening of the gap, a vicious cycle. Against the arguments of the widening educational gap will surely be quoted the Federal (and State) Government efforts in educational expansion at the lower levels. All very well, but these efforts must be placed in their proper perspective in terms of their universal nature, the likelihood of better utilisation in certain parts of the country than in others, and the length of time it is likely to take before the effects are seriously felt. It must also not be forgotten that some of these ‘plans’ are not really plans, but statements of intent or even of hope.

There can be little doubt that improved educational opportunities will be better utilised in the four privileged southern States than in the ten Northern (and the other two under-privileged Cross River and River) States. In the North especially, well-known social handicaps of poor infrastructure, persisting suspicion of Western education as a threat to cultural institutions, still militate against educational expansion and a greater motivation. In terms of erecting physical structures and equipping these, sheer distance from the ports is a serious handicap. With this in mind one can now better judge the likely effect of the Universal Primary Education Scheme and the expansion of the secondary school system, and the increase in the number of Universities, on the educational imbalance.

There is no question that the national expansion of education at all levels is a very salutary social development which we are fortunate enough to be able to plan and finance and we must get on with it. But under the prevailing circumstances, and without adequate safeguards and remedial measures, it will only worsen the educational imbalance and would contribute to the creation of more social and political problems than to national unity and stability.

By definition, the Universal Primary Education Scheme applies to the whole country and in absolute terms, will not close any gap. It could be argued that in the advanced states a much greater proportion of pupils are already going to school than in the North for example, and therefore the UPE will have some absolute effects by more greatly increasing the number going to school up-country. This is debatable from several angles. The first is that before the UPE becomes truly universal will be at least a quinquennium, if not a decade. Secondly, any one who knows the handling of the UPE programmes by the former Administrations in the Northern States will know that, unless radical measures are taken, the whole thing will be UPE only in name.

Thirdly, even with the best management up-country, infrastructural reasons render it easier to build in the areas nearer to the sea. Fourthly, enrolment does not mean success from the availability of teachers etc., the primary schools in the less developed states are likely to have more poorer standards and therefore a lower yield to the secondary schools.

The great disparity in secondary school enrolments has already been referred to above. The recent decision by the Federal Government to peg secondary school fees should be seen as potentially encouraging more secondary school enrolment by providing relief to State Governments and other sponsoring agents, in addition to the parents. In other words, more secondary schools will now be built and these areas that have more and better primary schools. Since these areas will be the four states already referred to above, it can be seen how the imbalance will be further worsened.

There is now massive expansion in the University system. Those with better secondary schools, will, all things being equal, take greater advantage of this in terms of occupying the few University places. There is not the slightest doubt, that without a radical alteration in University admission policies, these new Universities will only serve to increase the preponderance of students from the former West, East Central, Midwest and Lagos States.

In the Universities themselves, the Federal Government is now contemplating introducing free education. Whatever may be the merits of this considered step, its likely effect on University population must be mentioned. It is going to result in an even greater imbalance in enrolment, for the simple reason that at the moment, there are a fair number of highly eligible candidates for University education, mainly from the educationally advanced states, who unfortunately cannot enter University simply on financial grounds. This must be partly responsible for the annual shortfall of about 10 per cent of budgeted enrolment targets of the Universities. In addition to this, one has to consider the aspect of the new policy of student financing concerning the liberalisation of loans to students studying overseas. Every one knows that there are literally thousands of Nigerian students scattered overseas studying on their own. Most of these are from the already advanced states. Government loan scheme to these is a timely and kindly gesture but must be seen in the perspective of causing further imbalance.

A final area, which is a very serious potential source of imbalance in University education is the matter of Extenal Degree either through correspondence courses or part-time classes. One or two Universities are trying to embark upon that. The University of Lagos has stated, and the University of Ibadan would have started last October but for the upsets caused by the retirements etc. As these External Degree Programmes can effectively neutralise any measures that Government may adopt in order to correct the existing imbalance, it will be referred to later.

It must be stressed that the Federal Military Government is only performing its duty to the citizens by the bold steps of educational expansion and “boosting the educational opportunities of every Nigerian” and the FMG deserves support for that, but, surely, every silver lining has its cloud, the rain from which needs not be allowed to drench us all.

DANGERS OF EDUCATIONAL

IMBALANCE

In the last few years there have been efforts at promoting national unity – especially after the Civil War. Every one now sees his or her future in the context of one Nigeria. But what will that future be? The answer to this question will provide the basis for planning for lasting national unity and harmony. The National Youth Service Corps exchange of students and other personnel and functionaries between states, the posting of principal officers to states other than those of their origins, etc., are all gestures intended to mix peoples at functional levels. Commerce, guarantee of safety to non-indigenes of states are also intended to encourage mixing. But all these are besides the point if it is not ensured that all parts of the country have the same realisable opportunities of participating in the national life now and in the future. “Full opportunities” is meaningless if certain criteria before the opportunities become accessible, which criteria effectively discriminate against some sections. For example, every one can enter the University if he has appropriate entry qualifications. Every one has the opportunity to a good job if he has a University degree. Every one can attain these appropriate qualifications if he has passed out of a good secondary school and so on and so forth. So criteria must only be uniformly applied if they are fair and just from first principles; namely, if all started the competition from the same line.

One thought which could defuse the time bomb of geographical and ethnic educational imbalance would be what the late General Muhammed referred to as all of us “learning to live together as Nigerians”. If people from one part of the country, as individuals, will work in other parts of the country and treat these parts, in all respects, as their homes; if all Nigerians, as individuals, will treat all other Nigerians exactly as they now treat members of their one ethnic groups, then, educational imbalance would hardly, have occurred, and, even if it happened, would hardly have been noticeable. Every one knows better than to conclude that these happy days are with us yet. As it is, this existing and deteriorating educational imbalance will worsen the differential employment opportunities of the indigenes of the backward parts of the country. Even the attempts made by the Federal Government to rectify the massively anomalous geographical representation in the public sector are being frustrated by one thing or the other. For example, the decision to decentralise the Federal Civil Service was first taken about eight years ago; it was renewed last year, with very precise guidelines given, but up till now little or nothing appears to have happened.

If employment opportunities are different, standards of living, life expectancies and other parameters of existence and of well-being, will be different. In other words, in our present capitalistic vegetation, there will be many more have-nots in some parts than in others. The Distribution of the haves will be the exact reverse.

If the haves and the have-nots assume distinct geographical distribution, the wealth of the country will follow the same pattern, by definition. No one needs to be persuaded to believe that this is exactly what happened over the first phase of the indigenisation exercise.

Mutual suspicion will thereby be further entrenched and, in order to avoid outright political domination and oppression by those who can control events through their vantage position, the deprived will resort to survival tactics which will attract appropriate anticipatory counter-tactics by the affluent. In this climate there can be no national exercises, like Census and elections, that can be conducted without drawing hostility, bitter disputes and clashes which may be physical.

All in all, the society will be eminently poised for ethnic crisis if not strife. This is the apocalypse Nigerians have just got to avoid.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY

It is the task of the competent Government, which has the responsibility for defending the country’s integrity and constitution, to remove all sources of strife – imminent or potential. Here, it is necessary to emphasise that this must not be considered a North-South dispute. For one thing, the Rivers and the Cross River States are also affected. It must be seen positively as a question of correcting a dangerous educational imbalance in the whole country. It will be an exercise embarked upon in order to lay a sound foundation for unity and for contentment among the peoples. It is a task for which the Federal Government needs to offer no apologies, and the Committee on University Entrance needs to have no hesitations in recommending.

Serious social problems of this nature are solved by facing them, not by avoiding them, since sooner or later they will have to be faced. It is better to face them when we can do so in a measure of peace and goodwill, when we have the Government that can do so.

The Government will find it necessary to immediately prescribe a solution to the problem. Some of this prescription can be applied immediately, the rest will be long term.

There may be protests, even stormy protests, from the so-called privileged. But this is natural. These protests will simply have to be contained and the measures pursued with the political firmness they deserve, until every one comes to accept the situation; until every one realises that what was done was for the lasting peace of the nation.

SUGGESTED S0LUTIONS

Any approach to solution should be seen in the context of promoting national unity and maintaining the standard of the Nigerian University degree. It should be based on two fundamental principles. The first is to increase the real opportunities and the eligibility of the students from the under privileged areas. The second is to remove as much as possible, all traces of tribalism and sectionalism in the Universities.

There is no question at all that the eventual solution to the educational imbalance is to improve the number and standard of the primary and secondary schools in the deprived areas. There must also be a concerted campaign to improve motivation and enterprise in these areas as well aim at eradicating any entrenched social attitudes which militate against a spurt of education at lower levels. Here, the State Governments, Local Authorities and all the citizens have a tremendous role to play. They must have the funds to put into practice what they will be expected to preach.

In this context, it is doubtful, as an early measure, if the long vacations in the primary and secondary schools in the backward States can be afforded. These Schools are closed during the raining season when it is cool and when studying is very much more comfortable. The long vacation was relevant during the colonial days – these were things of the past. A study should be made into the feasibility of curtailing this unnecessary long vacation in schools.

However, improvement in primary and secondary schools, and the question effecting enabling social changes are very long term measures. In fact they are the hallowed suggestions usually made to correct the imbalance. In terms of national unity and harmony, these long term measures are as effective in defusing the situation as to remind one of George Orwell’s “they will never be conscious until they rebel, and they will never rebel until they are conscious”.

The imbalance in enrolment in the Universities was first brought to light as far back as 1952 when a delegation of the British Inter-university Council for Higher Education in the Colonies (now called for Overseas – IUC for short) paid a visit to the then University College, Ibadan. They noticed a shortage of students from the then Northern Nigeria but firmly rejected a quota system of admission on the grounds that this would lower academic standards.

Instead “they recommended the expansion of secondary schools with higher School courses and `social changes’, to tackle the problem of inadequate representation of female and northern undergraduates at U.C.I. By 1955, the situation had scarcely improved” (Tamuno and Ajayi, 1973 History of the University of Ibadan 1948 – 73). One might say that in 1975 the situation all over the country was worse in proportionate terms. How could the measures suggested by the IUC ever be expected to work, when at that time the North, as a limit of the under-privileged States, was just having its second Government secondary school split off from the checkered Katsina – Kaduna College? How could Higher School Certificate courses be introduced when people like Mr. E.L. Mort, a former Principal at the Kaduna College, broke down weeping that all his work in the North had been undone, when he heard that plans were being made to introduce HSC courses at the Kaduna College?

In September, 1971, the former Military Governors of the then Northern States, wrote on the platform of the defunct ICSA to the former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon. In their letter No. CSA/MIG/222 7 they drew attention to the fact that students from the Northern States constituted less than 2 per cent of the total student population in the then Federal Universities of Ibadan and Lagos. They suggested the expansion of the preliminary courses in these Universities and giving preference to students from those states for these courses. The then Head of State opined that the ICSA were trying to “carry up everything a little too far” but asked for Civil Service advice. In their solicited comments on this, all that the Administrative National Universities Commission could recommend at that time was “a bold programme… to increase primary school population… and… considerable financial grant to the States….’’

When the debate on the imbalance in University enrolment heated up and it appeared that the then Federal Government was going to be unyielding in its bold determination to do nothing – the underprivileged states embarked upon serious plans to build and own Universities. This included the Rivers State (the then South Eastern States entered into a fruitful political association with the then East Central State over Nsukka). The then top functionaries of the Federal Government, very interestingly blocked these efforts by working against very formidable States’ opposition to transfer Higher Education from the concurrent to the Exclusive Federal Legislative List in the Constitution in order, according to them, to stop the “tribalisation of our Universities”. This effectively rendered abortive efforts to build State Universities like the North East, Kwara and Rivers State Universities. Ironically the then FMG approved the University of Benin (by itself a good thing), in one of the already fortunate states! The enrolment pattern of the University of Benin is an indication of how successfully has that University been made national.

As a carrot, it was announced that the new Universities would mostly be located in these underprivileged states. True enough this was done, but as repeatedly stated above, this action by itself would never solve the problem of imbalance without concomitant changes in the admission policies. In fact it is an open secret, and a realistic admission of the true position of things in the country, in terms of unity and trust, that there has been open although obviously misplaced skepticism in the States towards these new Universities whose newly appointed Vice-Chancellors and Principals did not appear to be those who could automatically be “trusted” to work had in correcting the imbalance. The carrot of the location of the new Universities stands the risk of being misread as simply another theory stick unless some visible effort is made on the matter of imbalance.

INCREASE IN ELIGIBILITY

The only way to increase the eligibility of University education to students from the underprivileged areas is to remedy the effects of the fewer secondary schools they have, and the effects of the poorer standards of these secondary schools. This means that the student should be given another chance to attempt entry into University courses, under more favourable circumstances. These remedial efforts should be based in a number of educational institutions, which will be briefly indicated below:-

1. Special Remedial Centres

These are post-secondary institutions specially established as “quality centres” to remedy the effects of poor standards in secondary schools and to prepare the candidates for direct entry into first degree courses in the Universities. They could, of course, be made to prepare students for admission into preliminary courses in the Universities or into the first year of the 4-year degree programme. At whatever level the candidates enter after being remedial, the eventual results are considered likely to be the same, since these weak candidates are weak because of poor secondary schools and not because of innate lack of intelligence. However, for reasons of morale of staff, the centres are likely to be truly viable only if they undertook courses leading to the direct first degree courses of a 3-year programme or appropriate entry at the second year of the 1-year degree programme.

Centres of these types are the Schools of Basic Studies of the Ahmadu Bello University, the former North East College of Arts and Science (NECAS), and the Basic Schools of the Kwara, Port Harcourt and Calabar Colleges of Technology.

These centres, properly staffed and equipped, achieve remarkable results. In the first examination of the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (moderated by the ABU) in June 1975 these were the results of the NECAS:-

Thus, of the 186 who passed out of the NECAS, 49.5 percent entered with Div. III School Certificate – a group that would never have been touched with a 50-foot pole by our existing Universities. The results in the other Basic Schools have also been most encouraging although the 93 per cent pass scored by the NECAS was unequalled. The high score from the NECAS was related to better equipment and staff (who were however anticipating the eventual development of a University out of the institution – as finally happened).

These remedial centres should be set up urgently in everyone of the underprivileged states. For a start each of the states that do not have them should, in the first instance, convert one existing secondary school into a School of Basic Studies before the substantial College is built, and the students of that School redistributed among other secondary schools of the State and the Federal Government. The states should not dismantle their good secondary schools when selecting one. Those states that have such centres should expand them so that the annual intake comes to about 1,000 a year by 1980. In all these it is important for each State to identify the central figure in this task immediately and give him all support.

The Federal Government should be responsible for the entire financial burden of establishing these centres or in expanding them and in their recurrent expenditure. However, the centres should be under the complete control of the State Governments, including the admission policies. The Federal Government should assist in the immediate recruitment of staff into these institutions, and make special arrangements for the building and equipment.

All the ten States of the former North, as well as the Rivers and Cross Rivers States, will each need one of these new centres. In the places where the existing Basic Schools form a part of the College of Technology, etc. they should be detached.

2. FEDERAL SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCE (FSAS)

These Schools are located at Victoria Island (Lagos), Sokoto, Mubi, Ogoja, Aba, Ondo and Abuja. The last three are yet to be truly established. It has been suggested that ‘students in first 10 places in the promotion examination from Form 4 to 5 (in classes larger than thirty) in all secondary schools in the affected states should be given automatic scholarship by the Federal Government to proceed to a two-year pre-University course after taking their West African School Certificate Examination”. “The F.S.A.S. at Victoria Island may undertake the assignment of FSAS Aba, Ondo and Abuja before these are firmly established” (Dr. S.D. Onabamiro).

As an alternative, the present admission policies of these schools, designed to reflect a measure of quota-system for the underprivileged states, can be left as they are with the quota aspect strengthened as considered necessary.

3. PRE-DEGREE COURSES IN THE NEW UNIVERSITIES

Since the new Universities were set up with the ostensible political objective of correcting the educational imbalance, they should be made to do just that. After all, they were used as a substitute for State Government efforts to set up their own Universities and in the case of Maiduguri, the Federal University physically supplanted the State effort.

Regardless of whatever arguments that may be made about standards, mixing up of students from different parts of Nigeria and similar ideals, these new Universities should admit predominantly from the backward areas. Whether the new Universities is embarking on the syllabus of a preliminary course followed by a three-year degree course, a straight 5-year degree course, the admission for the 12 affected states should make up a minimum of sixty per cent of the total. The distribution among the states should be based upon population. If a state cannot fill its quota, arrangements should be made to admit from the nearest state(s) among the affected ones, provided the fact that this is an exercise to correct imbalance is never lost sight of.

4. PRE-DEGREE COURSES IN THE OLDER UNIVERSITIES

All the existing Universities run pre-degree courses – either as preliminary, or as the first year of a 4-year degree programme. The ABU has the remedial centre of the School of Basic Studies and had entered into a “Federation” of Joint Matriculation with similar centres in Zaria, Kano and Maiduguri.

Since most of the existing Universities adopted policies which tended to maintain or worsen the imbalance, they cannot remain aloof while efforts are being made to correct this. In fact, apart from the ABU, it can be said that all of our Universities participated in, or at least, stood by, while the unhealthy imbalance was being gradually exacerbated. Universities anywhere should never fail to identify those factors which are likely to do incalculable damage to their nation, and must respond promptly when these facts are pointed out to them. This attitude of non-chalance sometimes arises in the name of offering “no compromise on the question of standards” a phrase used to poorly conceal what might be correctly or mistakenly interpreted as ethnic smugness in the places where it is least expected.

The existing Universities must therefore be involved in the remedial courses and must be made to see the natural need to admit more students from the under-privileged areas. In fact, the formula is simple as far as remedial courses are concerned. Each year the particular University is given its enrolment quota for pre-degree courses. This is necessary to prevent these Universities unilaterally contracting this part of the course and therefore escaping. From this quota 50 per cent can be admitted on merit – by an entrance examination, or by whatever means. The other 50 per cent should be admitted from the 12 under-privileged states on quota basis – each state allocated places according to population. The formula should be the same as for the new Universities – any state unable to fill its quota should surrender the remaining portion to the nearby states in the twelve under-privileged.

Of the secondary school leavers admitted on quota basis, the University should either remedy them for two years so that they enter a three-year degree course directly (which is preferable) or for a year so that they can enter preliminary classes.

Universities which run a straight 4-year degree programme should also plan similarly, namely, on being remedied, the quota student can either start the first year of a four-year course or the second year if the remedial course lasts two years.

Not only should the existing Universities take part in the remedial course for reasons of justice, but also because they are the best equipped in terms of staff and facilities. These remedial students should not be isolated in a ‘colony’ but should matriculate in their respective Universities and belong to the various faculties from the word go.

In the Direct Entrants into the first year of a 3-year degree programme and the second year of a 4-year degree programme, the same formula should be used, that is 5O per cent of admissions in the older Universities and 6O per cent in the new Universities should be on quota basis using the same formula. Since in this case there is no question of a remedial course, a candidate can only be admitted, from wherever they may be, if he or she meets the minimum requirements for the University. Since these minimum entry requirements could be used to frustrate this component of the correction of imbalance exercise, they should be subject to scrutiny as a continuing exercise. The quota imposition at this higher level is necessary so as to cater for the needs of the products from the state remedial centres and the Federal Schools or Arts and Science.

PROBABLE YIELDS

The probable yields in terms of correcting the imbalance will depend upon the net enrolment achieved in the entire University system. They will also depend upon the level of performance in the WASC (or equivalent) examinations which is considered to make the candidate eligible for entry into a remedial course. Of course, the yields will depend upon how the letter and the spirit of the national exercise is approached and carried out.

The following estimates for yields are based upon the projections of the National Universities Commission (1975/80) according to Secondary School enrolments. The assumption is made that 20 per cent of the candidates for WASC pass with Divisions I and II, “the usual University material”. Of these, 60 per cent are estimated to opt for University courses. In fact based on recent performances at WASC, 20 per cent pass at Division I and II seems over-optimistic. Fifteen per cent pass seem more likely. However, since the quota students will be most likely to be made up of many who score less than Division II in WASC, the figures to be given may not represent an over-estimate.

The figures are given according to estimated enrolments in the Universities and assuming the 60:40 ratio of Science, Arts and that the new Universities will enroll the pre-degree students at 60 per cent quota basis and the older Universities 50 per cent.

TABLE A

Arts – Based Discipline 1976-80

Pre-Degree Enrolment of Quota Students

Total Arts Quota 13,502

Total Arts ‘O’ Level 23,340 Admission

Total Arts ‘A’ Level 8,375 Admission

This table also assumes that both the Universities of Ibadan and Lagos are required to commence by 1978 pre-degree courses in Arts, which they do not offer at the moment.

Table B

Science-Based Disciplines 1976-80

Pre-Degree Enrolment of Quota students

Total Science Quota 18,720

Total ‘O’ Level Science 34,977 Admission

Total ‘A’ Level Science 14,000 Admission

In the figures shown for the pre-degree Arts and Science quota admissions were to be achieved, then beginning in September 1976, by 1980, if the projected admission of 58,300 pre-degree students in the 13 Universities institutions, at least 35,000 would have come from the 12 under-privileged states. This would have gone some way towards correcting the prevailing serious imbalance. ‘A’ Level Entrants At the rough ratio of total enrolments between the new universities and the old ones, of 1: 2 up to 1980, and with quota at 50 per cent for the older universities and 60 per cent for the new universities, the projected numbers of quota students in the ‘A’ level admissions of all the universities, beginning from September 1976 up to 1980 are:-

Arts – based Disciplines

Total projected admission 8,375

Total projected Quota 3,350 students

Science – based disciplines

Total projected admissions 14,000

Total projected Quota students – 5,000

It can be seen from the above that, if the remedial colleges and other extra-university courses of ‘A’ level students become well established, the quota admission will not be sufficient to correct the imbalance; it will certainly not be too much. This is related to the great disparity in projected enrolments between the older and the newer universities. However, this insufficiency should not matter since many of the students from these remedial centres will in fact gain university admission “on their own steam” by that time.

On the whole then, if the university system admits 81,000 from September, 1976, to September, 1980, a minimum 44,000 would have come from these educationally underprivileged areas. This would have set a course of imbalance correction. Educational imbalance would, by the nineties, then cease to be an issue which threatens national unity and understanding.

There have been realistic fears that it maybe too late to achieve much in the next academic session (76/77).

RATIONALISING THE SYSTEM OF QUOTA ADMISSION

It will be necessary to work out the method of selecting the quota students from the various areas, and also to give guidelines as to which of the various institutions they should be sent for any necessary remedial courses.

A review of the WASC results for two years presented in the form of the Grades achieved, and then in the terms of credits obtained, may help. If candidates with Division III in WASC are prepared for university education, the numbers of students from the underprivileged areas will increase substantially. Using only Division I and II as the universities tend to do now, will not redress the imbalance even if all the qualified candidates enter university. Using the GCE pass rate, the numbers benefiting will also increase substantially, but not as much as by using Divisions and taking Division III as well.

At the moment, universities consider only candidates who score 5 credits. The numbers likely to benefit in the underprivileged states will be small. Using four credits especially for remedial course is not likely to make great difference. Figures are not available for candidates who obtain three credits and two or one credits. But clearly it maybe necessary to go down to these levels.

In all categories, the problems likely to be faced are those of subject combinations, but if the institutions are seriously determined they can rectify this.

Guidelines for selection

1. All candidates from the underprivileged states who achieve 5 credits in WASC should be admitted into the university that academic year. Those of them who pass the various entrance examinations of these institutions will be treated in the same way as any other candidates. Those who do not, will be admitted on population basis into the remedial courses which these institutions will organise.

2. All candidates from these areas who obtain 4 credits should also be admitted on population basis into the remedial courses of the universities. Universities who run straight 5-year courses, as a few of the new ones seem to wish to do, should admit these straight away.

3. Students from these areas who spill over from these universities remedial courses, e.g. if the universities have taken from all of those who have 4 credits and some of those who are left, and any with three credits, should be admitted for remedial courses into the Federal Schools of Arts and Science, and those of the State Remedial Centres existing or to be established. These latter Colleges, since they belong to the States, should be allowed to go as far down as they wish in the credit ladder for enrolling candidates into their remedial causes.

4. Flexibility should be permitted on this question of credits and venue of remedial training, but no student from these under-privileged states who obtains Division III in WASC, and who wishes to enter university, should be denied the opportunity of such remedial training.

5. It is possible that a Joint Matriculation (University placement) Board Examination will be introduced. Even if this is introduced, students will still take WASC, the results of which can be used as above, for determining who obtains remedial training and where.

If the WASC will be used to effect a political objective, it must be ensured that the examination is fair and efficient. The question of a Joint Matriculation Examination (JMB) was raised because of the obvious incompetence of WAEC. There is every likelihood that the JMB will face problems similar to WAEC. This is in terms of efficiency. In terms of fair play – if certain sections of the country object violently to the quota system, then confidence in the fact that the enabling examination like WASC, but especially the JMB (which will be marked in the universities), will be seriously eroded. The only answer is to decentralize WAEC. This will be the most sensible thing to do. Let the various syndicates of WAEC mark their WASC papers using questions set and guidelines clearly laid down by WAEC, which will only have the function of certifying the results and higher policy matters (like the NUC and the universities). In London County alone, there are NINE school examination Bodies as part of the Joint Syndicate. There is no earthly reason why the whole of WEST AFRICA should take the same destructively centralized school leaving examination.

Apart from the problems of WASC, where needs be, set up some machinery for implementing the system of quota admission. A Quota Committee, of a sort, can be set up nationally. This will be like a Common Entrance Board of limited scope, this can be added to the responsibilities of any future full Common Entrance Board.

REGULARISING UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS

It was already indicated that the educational imbalance at the university level can be redressed by two complementary means, increasing the eligibility of candidates from the backward areas, and detribalizing the process of university admissions. Admission has become a national issue, and therefore a political issue. It should therefore be handled by the political organ of the university – the Governing Council. At the moment, admission is the responsibility of Senate. It is regarded as an academic exercise, and Council is sometimes not even notified of admission figures giving detailed analysis.

Senates are very conservative bodies which jealously guard what they call university autonomy and academic freedom. But neither of these can over-ride national unity and harmony. Concerning the Senates’ modest record of concern with the geographical imbalance in our universities education, the composition of these Senates (the staff of the existing universities classified by ethnicity of geographical areas will yield similar graphs to those of student enrolment) and the unexpected inability of these bodies to completely divest themselves of all ethnic sentiments, one should not allow university admissions to remain their exclusive responsibility, at least not that portion of it related to correcting imbalance. Universities admission should therefore for the time being, transferred from being the ultimate responsibility of the Senate, to being that of the Governing Council. The Councils should be given clear directives by the FMG as to what is expected of them in terms of redressing the imbalance, using set guidelines. The Councils will then arrange to take over the control of the admission apparatus. Each Council should report to FMG, within four to eight weeks of the beginning of any session an analysis of the university’s admission for the year – with details of State by State breakdown, and States by Disciplines, as well as States by Remedial Courses breakdown and clearly shown. This should be observed for a number of years with policies and mechanics appropriately adjusted according to the feedback obtained.

Apart from vesting the Councils with responsibility for admissions, some general shake-up may be needed in university administration – to reduce allegations of tribalism at the lower administrative staff level, if necessary by shuffling the staffing of certain positions. It does appear that what the Universities want is leadership. Respectable Universities do not want to live under the shadows of the politics of tribalistic admissions or the charges of ignoring national needs hanging over their heads. Our universities are no exception.

PROBLEMS OF QUOTA SYSTEM OF ADMISSION

The problems to be faced in introducing the quota system of admissions into the Universities are two types – the real ones and the obstructionistic ones.

GENUINE PROBLEMS

1. Expense

It could be quite expensive. The State Colleges of Arts and Science will cost at least 15 to 20 million naira each. The Federal schools of Arts and Science may require expansion. The universities, the older universities, will use the introduction of a remedial course as an opportunity to press for funds for capital development. To prevent lack of funds being used as an excuse to frustrate the whole exercise in so far as the universities are concerned, generous provisions will need to be made here too.

2. Logistic

To organize the quota system requires efficient coordinating machinery. As already indicated, a Quota Implementation Committee can be set up to serve as a Common Entrance Board of limited scope. The Committee will have to be fairly high powered. Of course, the problems of staffing and equipping any remedial centers to be established need no emphasis.

3. Congestion in the Universities

Introduction of remedial courses in the universities will increase congestion already existing in some of them. The staff will need to put in extra work. However, it has already been shown that these remedial courses enroll half of those who could have been enrolled into preliminary courses. The net effect tends to be less serious than imagined.

4. Problems of Injustice

This is the most emotional part of the whole undertaking, but the system proposed must be seen in the proper perspective. It is not the intention to lower entry qualification for degree courses for any group. That will not be in the interest of any one. What is proposed is to give a second chance at entering into a degree courses to those who come from weak secondary schools.

It is therefore not as if there is someone with qualifications for entry into a degree course who is turned away in favor of someone with lower ones who happens to come from a particular area.

In addition to giving a second chance to the weaker candidate, more equal opportunity for entry is also introduced by fair play, which means abolition of all traces of tribalism in the university admission process. This is the job of a briefed political body – the Governing Council. Nevertheless, there will still be problems since the quota will need to be preserved for the Colleges of Arts and Science in the backward States, and since preliminary admission will be halved in favor of remedial courses.

Questions will be asked like: The son of a farmer in Ekiti or Arondizuogu is as deprived as the son of a farmer in Eket or Argungu, so why ever discriminate? Whose fault is it that the secondary schools in the states affected are fewer and standards poorer? Since we are all committed to unity, why cannot every Nigerian be regarded as a Nigerian and given equal opportunity? These questions are quite searching, but the answers to them do exist. On the two farmers’ sons – you promote national unity; by doing justice to groups rather to individuals. This is the concept of the greatest good for the greatest number. Anyone who asks whose fault it is that there is educational imbalance in the country needs to be told that the future of the nation is more important than apportioning blames, and that historical errors are corrected by determined men fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do so. We are in the position to correct these errors which threaten our national oneness, and should not dissipate energy in laconic circumspection and recriminatory adjudication. As can be seen in the article by Dr. S.D. Onabamiro, there will inevitably have to be “temporary injustice” done to certain individuals. This is the give and take of peaceful and harmonious co-existence. The Chinese accepted it from the Malays in Malaysia. On the question of Nigerians having equal opportunity, it can be replied that the quota system is designed to promote just that!

5. Surplus Youth

If there are some highly qualified candidates for university education, who wish to, but cannot get in, there will be surplus youth. But the expansion in the university system can absorb most of such any way. Then the others can get into other post-secondary institutions like Colleges of Technology, and para-professional courses and the Armed Forces. Here too a quota system should be adopted. A fair redistribution of manpower would then result.

Employment opportunities, currently high in the country for the realistic ones in this group, will obviate any problems.

6. Non-Co-operation and Sabotage

If the introduction of a quota system generates the expected heat, then this factor will have to be reckoned with.

First of all, the university staff could theoretically refuse to teach the students any remedial courses. This is not very likely, since the university staff are responsible people and since the University authorities will be required to see to that. What is more likely is that these students could be taught grudgingly, without goodwill. If the final examination of the remedial course is made internal, a high proportion of these candidates can also theoretically be failed just to prove that they were never “university material” any way. A system of external examiners nominated (not on individual but) on institutional basis can help reduce this unlikely problem, which should however not be ruled out because of human weaknesses.

The act of non-co-operation and sabotage can also be applied to the marking of the WASC and the JMB examinations. The only answer is to take steps to increase confidence in the conduct of these examinations. The most effective way will be to decentralize them, and establish regional centers. To safeguard local cheating, a small sample of schools from other parts can be made to take the examination of each designated area and vice-versa. Another possible reaction is non-co-operation in staff recruitment and in erecting physical structures. These are most unlikely, and can be discounted. They are the sort of things which could only accompany open hostility.

7. Civil Strife

It is not expected that civil strife will result from this, but it should not be ruled out completely. More likely will be violent reactions from the students who justly (or not) feel deprived. There could also be mob taunts to remedial course students in the universities or to those coming from such course. This could lead to all sorts of things, but will be a temporary phenomenon.

8. Effect of Quota Admission on Morale of Candidates

It is possible for the quota students to develop a -complex as a result of the taunts referred to above. That would not be new and is the reason why in white America the Black Universities do not physically separate remedial course students from the others. A measure of such taunts has always existed and is no more than mere friction. Let the affected students learn to be thick-skinned. It is good for them.

9. Poor Motivation

The problem of poor motivation in the affected states, to the extent that the whole effort to introduce quota admissions becomes not worth the pitch, is a possibility. There will need to be organisation to overcome this as indicated above. The authorities may also be too slow or too busy to respond in the pursuit of the establishment of the remedial centres. All these should be expected.

10. External Degree

The External Degree programme can be effectively used to maintain or worsen the imbalance even if the quota system comes to be accepted. This will not only be in the Arts but also in Science since there are plans to bring these students in for Laboratory work during long vacations. In a way these programmes can act as a safety valve but it will be necessary to observe that they are not misused by anyone to counteract Government policy on imbalance.

OBSTRUCTIONISTIC PROBLEMS

There may be serious arguments with rancor and heat to oppose the quota system of admission. There will be figures bandied about. While cautioning on the limitations of statistical analyses, it should be pointed out that in this case the only valid correlation will be that of a population sample against the given higher educational opportunities of that sample under prevailing circumstances.

Arguments about lowering standards by adopting the quota system will be spurious since all that is intended is to remedy the effects of poor secondary schools. This is best done in the universities or similar institutions. You cannot remedy a student in the same institution where he was retarded.

There will be hue and cries of infringement of University autonomy, insult to Senates, rape of the University system etc. (coming from expatriates as well) if admissions are removed from Senate to Council in the universities. A few show piece resignations from certain Government bodies can be anticipated. This will all be part of the expected trials of a problem which is at least being tackled.

Of course shortage of funds, staff and facilities will be put in the fore front. Elaborate details will be obtained of the already deplorable state of the universities. The short answer is to improve the facilities, but, more important, to make better use of the existing ones in the national interest.

It will be stated that students do not wish to leave their areas to study elsewhere, and citations made of individual unsuccessful heroic efforts to enroll students from deprived areas. The latter may well be true, but this wide imbalance gap requires more than “token” or “showpiece” efforts of well disposed individuals however sincere.

It may be argued that quota admission will engender complex in the students concerned and give them a bad start in life. A remedial course leading to a degree surely engenders fewer complexes than lack of university education. All these arguments should therefore be expected, but must be seen for what they really are: obstructionist.

THE HOPES

It will hardly be fair to accuse everyone in certain parts of Nigeria of bigotry, ethnicity or of burying their heads in the sands of educationally privileged smugness. It would be quite unfair. Both inside and outside the university system there are genuine, decent people, capable of seeing far, of grasping the necessary recipes for future national unity and stability. As already indicated, as far back as 1952, two Nigerians from the South, the late Mr. E.E. Esua and Chief Kola Balogun urged for quota admissions into the University College, Ibadan. This was dropped, when a British Director of Education, Mr. A.A. Shillingford, who claimed to know his Northern protegees asserted that his wards did not want this (Ajayi and Tamuno 1973).

In December, 1973, Dr. Azikiwe called for a quota system of admission into the universities as a means of “restructuring the society”.

Dr. Sanya D. Onabamiro had been campaigning in favour of the quota system for a long time.

What is more, the opponents of quota admission into the universities must be expecting it any way. The system is working in the King’s College, Lagos, the Federal Government Colleges and schools of Arts and Science, the Armed Forces and the Police etc. etc. There is nothing to exempt the Universities.

I believe, as indicated above, that both staff and students will come to accept and live with a well conceived and expected quota system of admission into the universities, no matter the initial storms. They will prefer to have it and be done with it, so that the universities will free themselves to look at new frontiers.

With recent interactions through increased mobility, communications, creation of states, the National Youth Services Corps etc. Nigerians are much more tolerant of each other than before. It is time to remove this last; very grave threat to complete integration and understanding among the people.

SUMMARY

In summary, the Federal Military Government will need to make a bold attempt to correct the unsavory educational imbalance in the country, by taking the following steps in the university system.

1. Establishment of remedial centers in each of the 12 States affected (the 10 Northern, Cross River and Rivers States), for the purpose of increasing the eligibility of the students from these areas for entry into the universities.

2. Retention of the present admission formula for the Federal School of Arts and Science.

3. A sixty per cent quota admission for the twelve states, on population basis into the new universities.

4. A fifty per cent quota admission for the twelve states, on population basis, into the existing universities.

5. Removal of responsibility for admissions from university Senates to the Councils.

6. Other efforts to depoliticize admissions into the universities.

7. Decentralization of West African Examination Council.

8. Establishment of Quota Implementation Committee.

9. Efforts to improve primary school and secondary school numbers and facilities in the affected areas.

10. Campaign to increase response to educational opportunities in areas.

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Seyi Oduyela/Washington, DC

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year (FY) 2011.  USCIS is notifying the public that yesterday, Jan. 26, 2011, is the final receipt date for new H-1B specialty occupation petitions requesting an employment start date in FY2011.

The final receipt date is the date on which USCIS determines that it has received enough cap-subject petitions to reach the limit of 65,000.  Properly filed cases will be considered received on the date that USCIS physically receives the petition; not the date that the petition was postmarked.  USCIS will reject cap-subject petitions for new H-1B specialty occupation workers seeking an employment start date in FY2011 that arrive after Jan. 26, 2011.

USCIS will apply a computer-generated random selection process to all petitions that are subject to the cap and were received on Jan. 26, 2011. USCIS will use this process to select petitions needed to meet the cap.  USCIS will reject all remaining cap-subject petitions not randomly selected and will return the accompanying fee.

On Dec. 22, 2010, USCIS had also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the ‘advanced degree’ exemption. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap.  Pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act, petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap will not be counted towards the congressionally-mandated FY2011 H-1B cap.  Accordingly, USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:

• extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the U.S.;
• change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
• allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
• allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields such as scientists, engineers, or computer programmers.

For more information on USCIS and its programs, visit www.uscis.gov.

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Engineer Akin Oni

 

“Bristow Nigeria Operations has the largest number of Nigerians at the management level,” Engineer Akin Oni

Engineer Akin Oni sat down with Tayo Adelaja and Shamsydeen Badmus in Lagos to discuss Bristow Group’s efforts in Nigeria and its plan towards Nigerianization in 2015; excerpts:

Q: Recently, the company signed a $1.5m agreement with NCAT, Zaria to provide technical support for the school, what informed this decision?

A: We have been in discussion with NCAT over the years. We were looking at assisting the school to build capacity and capability. There is no helicopter Engineering School in Nigeria at the moment. Personnel are mostly being trained in the UK, Canada, USA, and India. It takes a lot to bring in expatriates. Supporting NCAT makes it easier to support our operations in Nigeria. In NCAT, engineers spent 3years and come out with basic license. Meanwhile, it takes about 7years to build an engineer.  We felt challenged with the above scenario and the dearth of trained and skilled personnel in our organisation. When we started an intensive process to increase the number of engineers in our organization, we went to NCAT with our engineers, out of the discussions we had with the school came several ideas by which we can add values to the school. We are going to assist the school by providing laboratories for them, and we intend to also bring in highly experienced personnel to assist the school from schools and organizations in the United States. The classrooms shall be refurbished to meet the required world standard. We are looking at making the school conducive for learning, while increasing the number of trained personnel in Nigeria.

Q: What is the company policy on Indigenous recruitment and training?

A: Bristow Nigeria Operations has the largest number of Nigerians at the management level in line with the company policy of developing a large indigenous workforce and management to maximize local representation, while positively encouraging the communities the company has representation around the world. We are in the process of recruiting engineers. This is the Bristow’s 27th year of training programme that is Helicopter training. When the company placed an advertisement for recruitment of engineers, over 3000 applied from all over the country. Of the lots, 240 have been selected for final interview. The selection criteria are based solely on merit. We want to have people who are capable of handling helicopters, thus we have a rainbow coalition, that is if you are a Nigerian you are capable you get selected.

The selected candidates will undergo rigorous test, which includes aptitude and detailed medical test. A lot of candidates were dropped after failing this detailed medical test. The last phase of the interview is mentally tasking, as the candidates are given task and the interviewer will see how they can fix it. That test which is a problem solving exercise test the ability to focus, leadership and the reasoning power because we are in a safety related business.

After the interview, parents signed a bond with Bristow because of the cost of the training. The training takes place at the largest helicopter training in the world- Florida in USA and it belongs to us. It cost us about $210,000 to train our candidates that are successful in the interview. Actually, I am one of the lucky ones who got selected through same process and I am still here today and proud to be with the group.  The training in Bristow Academy often last for a year or more depending on the weather. At the end of the course, they were awarded a certificate that makes them a commercial pilot officer.

Q: After the training and with the number of people Bristow is training how do you integrate them into the system?

A: It is important to note that we introduce them gradually into the system. Towards the end of the course, say two to three months a decision is made in Lagos as to the type of helicopters they will be flying. There is a system of reports whereby they are monitored and reports are sent in on monthly basis. We have conversion training whereby they go for further training before they would be fully integrated into the system. This takes a month or longer. There are three layers of training before they can now fly the commercial aircraft. 

Q: How many of your trainees can you keep in the system?

A: It is a challenge. We are facing it squarely too. We won’t take more than we can accommodate. We have a lot of pressure to Nigerianise. The limit of what the system can take is the limit. We have a target of 2015 to be fully Nigerianise. Presently, Bristow has been the major source of providing the highly needed skilled personnel to this sector and evidence abound within the oil and gas sector. We had that responsibility of retaining those we spent so much on in our system. We have 51 operational aircraft in Nigeria today. However, a lot of this is helicopters. In the business, we have a market share of about 55 percent.  

Q: How threatened are you by competition?

A: No, no, no we are not afraid of competition, particularly when it is healthy. We are not taking competition for granted, but there are a lot of opportunities in the country. Bristow Helicopters is the largest aviation company in Nigeria, with 51 aircraft consisting mainly helicopters. Since 1958, Bristow has been actively operating in the country. Beginning with crop spraying in the Owerri oil plantations, it later refocused on the oil and gas industry in the 1960s. Today, Nigeria is Bristow’s second largest operation, second only to the European Business Unit, which includes Scotland, Norway and the Netherlands. However, if classified by country, Nigeria is Bristow’s largest market.

In May, 2006, Bristow Group had a contract with Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (Shell Nigeria) for an additional twenty-four months. Under this contract, the company provided and operated two AS332 Super Puma helicopter and two Sikorsky S76 helicopters, the contract estimated at $53m. We are going through a period where there are not many activities because many oil companies are concerned about the petroleum industry. We just hope that with increased activities, things will pick up. It is a very competitive environment.

Q: What are the major challenges of Bristow operations in the country?

A: Inadequate personnel and the huge age gap has been a major challenge not only to us but the industry in general. Also, we do not receive and we do not take, that is becoming a big problem. Really, it’s a huge problem if we have to get things done, we plan 6 months ahead. What that means is that we have to carry inventories and huge amount. We have our code of ethics, and some of our competitors with the same business ethic codes will face same issues. 

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Umar Yar'Adua

 By Oluwaseyi Oduyela

In December 2006, Olusegun Obasanjo fulfilled his promise of returning power back to the north, when he arm-twisted some southern candidates from his party (People’s Democratic Party) to step down for his candidate Umar Yar’Adua. It is obvious that Yar’Adua was not the northern choice but Obasanjo made sure he handed over to a northern candidate of his choosing. It is reported that he feared the likes of El Rufai who as president would be too independent minded and intelligent to be remote-controlled from Otta. Indeed the out-going president’s phobia was a successor who might eclipse his performance in office as the workaholic Rufai would have.

Peter Odili, and many other southern governors who had wanted to be President were forced to fall in line for Yar’Adua. Days before the PDP presidential primaries, EFCC swooped on Hilton hotel Abuja cancelling rooms for delegates loyal to presidential hopeful Peter Odili.

Babangida, the man who made Obasanjo President in 1998 was forced by Obasanjo to withdraw and he did. IBB had asked a favor of Obasanjo that there be no screening of candidates for the presidency so he would face no hurdles to the presidency. IBB even dispatched Mariam Babangida and a retired US ambassador acting as his consultant to launder his image in the US pursuant to a presidential run. But the bigger hurdle was when Obasanjo declined an automatic ticket for the man who came to Otta to hand pick him for the presidency shortly his release from jail.

As soon as Yar’Adua got to office it became clear that though he had been a chief executive of a state for 8 years, he had no experience governing. While Alhaji Bola Tinubu remained a stalwart of Action Congress (AC), he put all his resources behind Yar’Adua. He did this in collaboration with James Ibori through Ooando Oil laundering money from British Virgin Island to support Yar’Adua’s election against Abubakar Atiku, AC’s presidential Candidate. The reason for Tinubu’s action is for another time.

From day one in office, Yar’Adua’s health was not actually the reason why he has not been able to perform; the reason had been his lack of leadership quality. According to a credible source within Yar’Adua’s cabinet, the famous faceless Kaduna Mafia imposed political appointees on him.  “Out of many candidate presented to Yar’Adua, Baba Gana Kingibe was the only face close to what he can pick for the Secretary to the Federal Government position,” my source said. The source said that Baba Gana Kingibe would not have made Yar’Adua’s cabinet if he (Yar’Adua) had had the free choice to pick his Secretary to the Federal Government. While Yar’Adua was battling with the Mafia, Obasanjo , his predecessor expected him to retain half of his Ministers- Femi Fani Kayode, Borisade, El Rufai and others were supposed to remain in their positions but Yar’Adua turned that down.  However, he invited Ojo Maduekwe to be his Foreign Affairs Minister per Obasanjo’s request even though all the senators from Abia opposed him initially. Segun Adeniyi, his Media Adviser is said to have recommended Maduekwe but chipped in that though Maduekwe is not corrupt, “he can do anything for anything.”

Yar’Adua relied so much on his aides that he got so confused on who to believe and rely upon. When the Attorney General approached him on the need to transfer the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to the Ministry of Justice, Yar’Adua believed his Justice Minister and had already asked Segun Adeniyi to issue a Press Release to that effect. While this was waiting to be out on Monday, Major-Gen Mohammed Abdullah (Chief of Staff) and the State House Counsel presented another memo to Yar’Adua that countered the AGF’s memo. Yar’Adua was angry when he read that the EFCC had been moved to Justice Ministry, as reported by Punch Newspaper. The report made Yar’Adua to ask Adeniyi to issue a press release and announce the transfer of EFCC to Justice Ministry; but the brief from the Aso Rock Counsel stopped the Press Release.

Though Goodluck Jonathan has had luck running his way since he was Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, but it did not work for him as Vice President. Initially, Yar’Adua appointed him as the head of the Niger-Delta Reconciliation Commission, but an e-mail from Ledum Mitee changed that destiny. Ledum Mitee had sent an e-mail to Segun Adeniyi complaining that with Jonathan at the head of the Reconciliation Commission, Ogoni people cannot get fairness because Jonathan himself is a party to it being an Ijaw. Segun took the e-mail to his boss and Yar’Adua said, “oh I didn’t realize that;” he then removed Jonathan as Chairman.

This was the first of many blunders the president was to make. When he was hospitalized in Saudi Arabia the first time, his first action on return was to fire SGF Babagana Kingibe – a notoriously ambitious man who had run for president before but who had had the temerity to discuss a succession plan for the government in case Yar’adua did not make it back alive.

To be continued…..

In the next series:

Ojo Maduekwe’s Area Boy Diplomacy

The absence of Ambassador to US and many more.

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President’s Absence Leaves Nigerians Seeking Leadership After Christmas Day Attack

It has been 42 days since Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua was rushed to Saudi Arabia with heart problems for medical treatment.  In the wake of the attempted Christmas day bombing of an American airliner near the city of Detroit by a 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, voices are being raised by critics and by the general public about Mr. Yar’Adua’s long absence. 

From Washington, Nigerian-born human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe explains that the apprehension surpasses the expected opportunism of political opponents.

   
“Even when you have a president in place in Nigeria, he has to work 24/7 to contain the infighting and intrigues that are around.  When you have no president in place, the problem is just compounded.   So there’s no doubt about it, that Nigeria is under virtual no-management at this point,” he said.

Attorney Ogebe says the anxieties of the past week following the attempted bombing stem more from Nigerians’ quest for reassurance and leadership following an uncharacteristic encounter with international terrorism.

“Whatever scenario planning analysis has been done about Nigeria, no one foresaw that we would actually be responsible for the first near-terrorist attempt in the United States after 9/11.  Of course, all the intelligence and the signs have been there for the last decade or so that domestic terrorism and religious killings have been going on.  But this is a new law for the nation to be responsible for jeopardizing the first African-American president’s tenure.  I know this is not typical of Nigerians,” he observed.

Nigerians have widely criticized the repugnant behavior of Abdulmutallab, who comes from a prominent family and whose father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, is immediate past chairman of the First Bank of Nigeria. Many recognized the father’s courageous efforts to thwart terrorism by alerting U.S. officials about his son’s radical ties to Yemen.  But many interviewed following the attack also appeared eager to underscore the point that Nigerians should not be viewed as terrorists.  Emmanuel Ogebe says the public seems desperately in need of a spokesperson to repudiate the terrorist stigma.

“While Nigerians generally do not condone this sort of thing and will not participate in this type of thing, the President of Nigeria himself was a fundamentalist who implemented Sharia (Islamic law) in his state.  So it is this type of extreme positioning that the politicians have done, whether for political reasons or elections or whatever, that has created the climate where some people will go to the fringe extreme,” he noted.

Mr. Ogebe says that in President Yar’Adua’s absence, Nigerian officials need to make a higher priority of finding a credible leader to address the public’s concerns about Abdulmutallab and the aspersions he has caused for Nigeria’s international image.
    
“We have in the United States Janet Napalitano, the Homeland Security Secretary, speaking.  In the Netherlands, we have the Dutch Minister of the Interior, also a lady, speaking. In Nigeria, we have Professor Dora Akunyili, Minister for Information. And she is saying, ‘he only had 30 minutes in Nigeria,’ which doesn’t make sense, because for any international flight, you need to check in two hours before.  So clearly, the information she is giving is not logical for anyone who travels internationally.  And the Ghanaians seem to have it right.  We really need to have a top intelligence official or someone from the presidency speaking on these issues,” said Ogebe.

He warns that the latest elevation of airline security alerts because of the Northwest Airlines bombing attempt are bound to have a ripple effect on Nigerians seeking visas to travel abroad and could stir international misgivings against Nigerians, who have rarely been identified with violence outside their country.

“Unfortunately, the nature of the world in which we are is that there will be a backlash against scores of well-meaning Nigerian businessmen and students and decent people, and this is something that hopefully we can overcome.  But there’s no real leadership coming from the Nigerian side of the divide that is addressing this issue head-on,” said Ogebe.

Culled from Voice of America

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 DESMOND UTOMWEN/Abuja

 Until Saturday 5 December, 2009, the parents of six students that were killed by police in Ekpoma had high hope. This was fired largely by the expectation that their children, student of the Ambrose Ali University in Ekpoma, Edo State were displaying promising signs. With the graduation of the children from the institution fast approaching, the parents were optimistic that the feat of their children would further bring glory to their various families. But this was not to be. Shortly after their exams on that Saturday, the students, who were said to be basking in the euphoria of the successful completion of their exams were relishing the moment as neighbours in the premise of their rented apartment when they was shot dead. Some plain cloth gun trotting men barged into the premise. They attempted to take some of the neighbours away who resisted the move. This attracted interventions from the students other neighbours and bystanders. But the gun carrying men, who were later discovered to be police officers from the Police station in Ekpoma would rather not want to be “stampeded”. Sources said that the shot sporadically killing six students. The corpses, later branded as deadly armed robbers were immediately shipped in a van and taken to unknown location. The students killed are Churchill Haruna, Joseph aka Amani and three others.

TheNEWS however, gathered that contrary to the claims of the police that the students were robbers, the raid was actually prompted by a report made by another student, Valentine Erhua of the Engineering Department in a bid to get back at a member of a splinter group in the Buccaneer Confraternity existing in the school. Valentine, a sit tight leader of the cult group, it was gathered had attempted to use his network in the police to bring the factional group leader to the station and consequently have the police help him subdue him from leading others to resist his sit tight agenda as the Capone of the cult group. When the police turned the move into a killing spree, Valentine, it was gathered handed himself back to the police demanding that they should kill him as well. His regret is that what was intended to be a strategic move to peaceful settlement was turned into a massacre by the police who unfortunately now claim that the victims were armed robbers.

But the pains of the bereaved parents do not seem to be ending with the cold blood murder of their children. Last Monday, 14 December, the families were again subjected to another round of psychological trauma. About nine of the relatives of the deceased among whom were Emike, Margaret and Sadik who, in search of the where about of the corpses of their brothers killed by the police were brutalised, arrested and detained for over 24 hours before they were granted bail after series of interventions. Their offence according to the police was that they sought to retrieve the corpses of “robbers”. This magazine gathered from eyewitnesses that after receiving so much torture in Ekpoma, the concerned relatives were tied up, bundled into a van and taken the State Criminal Investigation Department in Benin, the Edo state capital.

Indiscriminate killings and brutality by police has become a common thing lately. It is actually rising in geometric progression. The act recently attracted the condemnation of the Amnesty International group. In the report recently released by the group in Abuja, AI said Police in Nigeria carry out hundreds of extra-judicial killings every year and only those who can afford to pay bribes can guarantee their safety from execution or torture. The report say Nigeria’s police force is poorly paid and trained, and short of essential tools including bulletproof vests, fuel, even paper and pens, Amnesty said. But there appears to be no shortage of the bullets its officers use to kill people they are supposed to protect, the report said.

The report is based on evidence given in interviews with relatives of people who were executed by the police or disappeared in police custody. Amnesty which also interviewed lawyers, judges, justice and health officials and local rights organisations during its investigation in 2007 and 2008 concluded that unlawful killings and enforced disappearances in Nigeria “are not random”. Maintaining that “In a country where bribes guarantee safety, those who cannot afford to pay are at risk of being shot or tortured to death”. Nigeria ranks low on the international corruption perception index and it is notorious for its high crime rate, especially armed robbery. “The police exploit public anger at the high crime rates in the country to justify their actions… They do not only shoot people, Amnesty International has recorded cases of suspects who were tortured to death while in detention,” it said. Police officials often claim that victims of extrajudicial executions were armed robbers killed in gun battles with the police or when they attempted to escape custody. The application of an order that allows a policeman to use lethal force in the face of threat to life has “resulted in numerous unlawful killings and facilitated extrajudicial executions…using it as a justification as well as cover-up,” the report said adding that “in practice, it lets the police get away with murder.”

Amnesty said that disregard for human rights is “prevalent” in the police and enforced disappearances in Nigeria are “rife”. Many of those who go missing have been extra judicially executed. Victims disappear before being brought to court.”

The report titled Nigeria Police “kill at will,” exposed the level of alleged extra-judicial killings by the police in the country. Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme, claimed that “the Nigerian Police are responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings every year.” According to him, “Police don’t only kill people by shooting them; they also torture them to death, often while they are in detention,” adding, that the police get away with these killings because “the majority of the cases go un-investigated and the police officers responsible go unpunished. The families of the victims usually get no justice or redress. Most never even find out what happened to their loved ones.” The report also stated that the Police frequently claim that the victims of shootings were “armed robbers” killed in “shoot-outs” with the police or while trying to escape from custody. “These claims are often highly implausible,” the organisation stated.

Lucy Freeman, Amnesty International’s Campaigner on Nigeria, was quoted as saying that “research into the report ran for a period of two years and state’s authorities such as the Nigeria Police Commission, the Ministry of Police Affairs and both the federal and states police command were involved.” On a definite figure for the casualties of extra-judicial killings Ms Freeman told NEXT that there was no definite figure available due to the lack of data in the country but she added that “official statistics of the police revealed that 857 people were shot in 2008 as armed robbers and only 57 were injured.” However, police figures which Amnesty described as “inaccurate and incomplete” a total of 3,014 “armed robbers” were killed in Nigeria between 2003 and 2008 while only 574 others were wounded within the same period. “With the alarming figure stated, it clearly shows that the police are shooting to kill, rather than apprehending criminals to face the law,” she added.

The AI report opined that the dastardly acts of the police is regrettably given a semblance of legal backing by some draconian provisions in the country’s law book. For example some police officers hide under the provision of Order 237, which allows police officers to shoot suspects and detainees who attempt to escape or avoid arrest-whether or not they pose a threat to life to justify the extra-judicial killing of “armed robbers”. “Force Order 237 is so impermissibly broad. It simply gives police officers permission to shoot people. It is against international standards, and is being abused by police officers to commit, justify and cover up illegal killings,” said Mr. van der Borght, while advising that “the government must repeal Force Order 237 and publicly announce that the use of lethal force is only allowed when strictly unavoidable to protect life,” the body demanded, suggesting that “this could make a big difference to the number of unlawful police killings we are seeing in Nigeria.”

As noted by Amnesty, the indifference posture of the government and its failure to prosecute offensive police officers leaves people with the impressing that they condone extrajudicial killings. “They are not doing enough to stop them and bring the police perpetrators to justice. It also stated that “over the past four years, the Nigerian government has set up two committees to review the Nigeria Police Force and present recommendations for reform but their recommendations have never been implemented.” Mr. Van der Borght, who proffers a recipe for the containment of the scourge, said that “ending unlawful killings and enforced disappearances by the police will require serious legal reform and commitment and support. The Nigerian Police Force must introduce a new code of conduct throughout its chain of command – from the very top to the bottom. If not, the cycle of violence will simply continue.” He however noted that “Policing in Nigeria is a dangerous work” acknowledging that the Nigerian Police Force is confronted by a myriad of snags ranging from “severe shortage of funds and officers lack basic equipments, with the police sometimes, asking crime victims to pay for the petrol, pens and paper needed to conduct an investigation.” It concluded that the police “has limited capacity for intelligence and scientific investigations” noting that lack of independence and impartiality by police investigators and weak oversight mechanism by the police high command is clog to the attainment of civilized policing.

The national police however rejected the findings. The Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu argued that “it is quite obvious that the mission is to kill the Nigerian police, wipe out our record, and bury our aspirations. Amnesty International has an unholy penchant to denigrate police organisations in most parts of the world.” Ojukwu further stated that police had already begun investigation into the allegations in the report. “Let the public be assured that the Nigerian police force does not consort with murderers in uniform. Any officer found to have violated the rules guiding use of firearms, treatment of persons in custody, torture, bail etc will be appropriately sanctioned in accordance with the law. There is no immunity for those who operate with impunity,” he said.

The Amnesty International report is coming on the heels of a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which claimed that the force had dumped the corpses of killed suspects at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, thus overwhelming the morgue. As reported by the BBC, The Chief Medical Director at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital in Enugu says his staffs are being forced to carry out mass burials of between 70 and 80 bodies some weeks ago. He says that another mass burial is planned to take place soon.

The BBC which visited the morgue described the images as disturbing. “They show piles of young men, lying on top of one another and strewn about on tables and floors. In places the corpses are stacked four or five deep. The report of the broadcasting corporation stated that records available to it showed that 75 corpses were delivered to the morgue by police between June and 26 November this year. The BBC has established that at least seven of those in the morgue were arrested and last seen alive in police custody, accused of kidnapping in early September. But their names appear in the morgue register – on 15 and 16 of September. Police Commissioner Mohammed Zarewa feigned ignorant of the number of young men lying dead in the morgue.

Indeed, cases of extra-judicial killings and brutality carried out with impunity by the police abound.. Findings in the AI report was illustrated with 29 cases of victims of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions who had never appeared before a judge,” said the report.

It cited the case of a 15 years old Emmanuel Egbo, killed by a police officer in Enugu in September 2008. Quoting eyewitnesses, AI said the boy was playing with other children in front of his uncle’s house when three police officers came up to them. One officer pulled out a gun and shot the boy, claiming he was an armed robber. He was unarmed. In August 2009, his family discovered his body had disappeared from mortuary. As of November 2009, the body is still missing.” The report said.

Lawyer Vincent E. Obetta said he witnessed one of several police killings detailed in the report by the London-based rights group. Obetta told the AP that he was on his way to the city of Enugu on May 15 when he reached a police roadblock, where he saw three heavily armed policemen talking to a motorcyclist. “Next thing, one police inspector pulled his pistol and fired a shot directly into the cyclist,” he said. Obetta then watched as the policeman pressed his gun against the man’s bloody chest. “That’s when it dawned on me that the policeman was trying to build a defense as to why the cyclist was killed,” he said. While the victim lay bleeding, Obetta argued with the officer to move his gun. The officers threatened to shoot him if he did not stop causing trouble. Eventually, the officer moved his gun and they drove the victim, 39-year-old Aneke Okorie, to a nearby hospital. He died en route. At the local police post, an angry crowd gathered as police tried to explain that the motorcyclist was with two other men who accosted the inspector and tried to snatch his gun.

When it looked like the mob was going to attack, a police officer not involved in the incident asked Obetta to try to calm them down. But as he rose to address the crowd, the police fired two teargas canisters at him. Obetta, convinced they were trying to kill him too, rolled into a gutter, abandoned his car and cell phone and walked to Enugu. There, he told his story to a police commissioner, whom he praised for being instrumental in ensuring justice was done. The inspector who shot Okorie was brought before a martial court and dismissed from his job after he was convicted of setting up an illegal roadblock and illegally using his service weapon to kill a civilian. He is in jail awaiting a civilian trial for murder. Obetta has devoted himself to changing the system, and has done studies that showed most killings are committed by lower-ranking officers who are poorly trained and have low living standards. Drug and alcohol abuse are a problem, Obetta said. “They need advocacy training to understand that human rights are sacrosanct and that people should be treated like human beings,” Obetta said. “The problem we have in Nigeria is we just blame, blame, blame, with no solution. My major job now is to see how I can help to reform the police.”

In June 2009, the organization said it visited the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) detention centre in Abuja, which is located in a disused abattoir outside the city. Suspects are held in a vast warehouse previously used for slaughtering cattle. Chains are still hanging from the ceiling. When Amnesty International delegates visited the building, about 15 people were held in cells. Amnesty International delegates counted at least 30 empty bullet cases scattered on the ground. Unofficially, a policeman told Amnesty International that many “armed robbers” are taken there and shot.

On 1 October, three young men, Friday Uti, Ibrahim Olojede and Rotimi Philips were shot by trigger happy policemen in Yaba, Lagos. The deceased were shot while in a car by a police officer on Olonode Street, Alagomeji, Yaba. Although the police is foot dragging in giving the name of the officer who pulled the trigger that killed the three men but the residents of Alagomeji have however identified the officer as Corporal Abu Bolaji from the Yaba police station. While Mr. Olojede died at the scene of the shooting and Mr. Philips died two days later after surgery at Ikeja General Hospital. Friday Uti also managed to make to the Hospital eventually died on Sunday, 18 October, following a surgery at the Ikeja General Hospital to remove a bullet that was lodged in his spinal cord. Frank Mba, Police spokesperson, said the police are investigating the case. “The officer who pulled the trigger against these people has been dismissed and he is facing multiple charges of murder,” he said.

In many instances, the police have to blatantly lie to either cover up their evil deeds or deliberately misinform the public to claim innocent of the horrendous crime. In one of such cases, which resulted from the killing of the late Senior Manager, Relationship Team Leader, National Corporate Banking Directorate of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Mr. Modebayo Awosika, the police claimed that the banker died in an accident on 1 October, 2008, while on his way home.

Contrary to this claim however, a corona inquest conducted under the new Lagos State Coroner Systems Law 2007 held the Nigerian Police responsible for the brutal killing of a Nigerian, Mr. Modebayo Awosika. The court presided over by Chief Magistrate Philips Ojo sitting at Tapa Magistracy, while concluding an inquest to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased, held that the shooting of Awosika showed a callous, unprovoked and unjustifiable shooting of a defenceless Nigerian by a police officer. Ojo held that the late Awosika was shot by one Inspector Benjamin Oyigie, adding that it was a clear case of homicide. He said the fact that the deceased rammed into a police vehicle and failed to stop does not justify the killing. He urged the Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command to place advertisement declaring, Benjamin Oyigie, the deceased killer, wanted as well as reopen investigations into the matter.  ”The evidence before me clearly established that the lives of the policemen on duty on the morning of October 2, 2008 were not in danger. Evidence before me shows a callous, unprovoked and unjustifiable shooting of defenceless Nigerian by a Nigerian police officer. I agree with conclusion by the pathologist and also from the totality of evidence before me hold that the deceased, Modebayo Awosika died of cerebral disruption with hemorrhage arising from gunshot injury,” he said.

In his testimony, Prof. Fafunwa who conducted the inquest revealed to a coroner that the banker died of gunshot wounds. The inquest was ordered by the Lagos state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Olasupo Shasore, SAN, following outcry by the family of the deceased that the police did not tell the truth about the death of their son. Shasore had, in a letter dated 30 December, 2008, said Awosika’s death had occurred in violent, suspicious and controversial circumstances.

The deceased was alleged to have been returning home on the night of 30 September, 2008, in a Kia Optima car registered GG 529 AAA, when he was killed. He was said to have been stopped by armed policemen at Lekki roundabout in Lagos, and was found dead the following day, 1 October. Testifying as the first witness in the matter, Fafunwa told the court that on examination of Awosika’s corpse, there was a slight distortion of the shape of Awosika’s skull with a wound around his forehead. ”Internal examination of the skull showed that something had passed through it.” There was also a wound behind the left ear, which gave an appearance of an exit wound, an indication that the missile would have come out of there. ”In addition, I observed several fractures in the skull and bleeding beneath the brain, as well as bleeding into the substance of the brain,’’ he said, adding that the report he got as to what led to the death of Awosika did not correspond with what he found out in the autopsy he carried out.” The report by the police was that the deceased died as a result of an accident while trying to escape from the police at Lekki roundabout. That his car somersaulted several times and went into flames,” he added.

The late Awosika’s elder brother, Abiodun, had raised suspicion about his brother’s gruesome death, arguing that the police lied by saying that he died in an accident. According to Abiodun, it was mind boggling to see his late brother’s car parked about 300 metres away from the scene of the alleged accident. “The police alleged that he ran onto their van and somersaulted at the Lekki first junction, but there was no evidence that such a thing happened, as my brother’s car couldn’t have run into them and somersaulted across such a wide roundabout to stand as a neatly parked car, 300 metres from the alleged scene of the accident, before exploding into flames,” On examination of the corpse of his brother, Abiodun said there was no indication that the deceased was involved in an accident, as there was no scratch or bruise on his body, save the bullet holes in his head. It was as if he was the victim of a hideous attack. Everyone who saw the body agreed so. His shirt was torn and taken off his body, likewise his pants, shoes, and other articles of clothing” he added.

In April, last year a similar coroner court sitting in Ikeja equally held the police responsible for the death of a herbalist, Mr. Samson Adekoya. It indicted one Inspector John Sawyer of the State Police Command for death of Adekoya and therefore ordered his arrest and prosecution for his failure to notify the authorities of the death of the deceased.

Few days after Adekoya was arrested and taken into custody over alleged conspiracy to commit armed robbery, he was reported dead. On inquiry by his family as to the cause of his death and the location of his corpse, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), Sergeant Yakubu Adeniyi, informed the family that the deceased was rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja over an ailment that could neither be named nor described. He further advised the family not to bother searching for his corpse as their efforts will be a futile exercise. When the search for the deceased’s corpse at the LASUTH Emergency Ward and morgue by the family and a civil society organisation (CSO), Access to Justice proved futile as predicted by the IPO, Access to Justice instituted coroner inquest proceedings under the new Coroners System Law of Lagos State, 2007, before the Ikeja District Coroner, Mrs. Ipaye-Nwachukwu at Magistrate Court 23, Ikeja. At the inquest, the SARS Police officers changed their story. They abandoned their earlier account where they had claimed that the deceased took ill in custody and died at the LASUTH, and was later kept in preservative custody at the LASUTH morgue. During the inquest, they claimed that the deceased developed sudden epileptic feat while they (the police) were taking him to Ikorodu for further investigation. They claim he died at the premises of the Ikorodu General Hospital for lack of timely medical attention.

But contrary to their claims, the Deputy Medical Director of Ikorodu General Hospital, Dr. Mobolaji Olukoya, confirmed that the deceased was brought into the hospital dead at about 3.25 am on February 12, 2008. Olukoya tendered the “Extract from Police Crime Diary” dated February 11, 2008 (prepared by Inspector Sawyer) which remarkably indicated that the deceased died some seven hours before he was taken to Ikorodu General Hospital as corpse. Adekoya, the inquest established, died in police custody few days after he was arrested over alleged conspiracy to commit armed robbery as well as premeditated attempt to conceal his death. The inquest concluded that the police have a case to answer and noted that the testimony of the police and that of Dr. Olukoya did not tally. Yet, there are many more. In most cases, victims of police brutality and extra-judicial killings were randomly arrested on flimsy excuses. While some are arrested and detained indefinitely for “wandering” in their own neighbourhood many others innocent people are reportedly shot and killed for refusing to give them bribe as little as N20 or N50.

Extra judicial killing by police are carried out in different style and manner. ThisDay recorded that there are also chilling stories of “midnight-interrogations” by the police, where they illegally terminate the lives of persons detained in their custodial facilities. Reports from ex-inmates of SARS (Monitoring Unit) Cell, narrated the practice of calling out specific inmates at about midnight for interrogation. Investigation revealed that many of those called-out for interrogation never returned to the cell. In 2005, TheNEWS Magazine reported one of such cases. On 22 December 2005, Anthony Arinze Ozoezi, 38 was brutally murdered by Police. His alleged offence was walling in the cell, pleading that he should be freed to go and see his pregnant wife. But Ozoezi’s wails attracted no pity from his arresters at the People’s club police Station. Ozoezi was dragged out of the cell and never returned. “Because of his insistence, some policemen came and dragged him out and he never returned,” said an eyewitness, Alex obi. A few minutes after, gunshots rang out and a policeman was heard saying: “ya kare” (it is finished). After the incident, all the detainees in the cell were released. As it was gathered, Ozoezi was arrested, the same day he was shot, by some policemen while returning from a wedding ceremony. On arrest, he made a phone call to a relation, explaining that he was being taken to the Peoples Club Police Station for refusing to give them a bribe.

Four years ago, on 8 June, Nigerians woke up to the news of the killing of five young men and a woman by policemen in the Apo District of Abuja. The police in Abuja led by DCP Danjuma Ibrahim, in what is now referred to as “Apo Six,” branded five Igbo traders and their female friend as armed robbers and killed then extra-judicially in a most brutal manner. A Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Goodluck Olasumbo which later looked into the case found the force establishment and officers led by culpable for the tragic incident. The victims include Anthony Nwokike, Chinedu meniru, Ifeanyi Ozo and Isaac Ekene. Paul Ogbonna was said to have died later from wounds secured from the super cop’s assault on the spare part dealers while their female companion. Tina Arebun, Was finished off by another policeman, Ezekiel in an apparent bid to cover up their deed without a trace of evidence. Yet, Former senate president and vice presidential candidate in the April 19, 2003, election, Chuba Okadigbo, would go down as the most prominent victim of Ibrahim. Okadigbo along with other leaders of the All Nigeria Peoples party, ANPP, including the presidential candidate of the party, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, had organized a rally in Kano to protest the massive rigging that characterized the presidential election. The police detachment despatched to stop the rally was headed by Ibrahim. Poisonous tear gas was allegedly used by Ibrahim’s men on politicians. Okadigbo never lived to recount his experience as he died three days later from complications believed to have resulted from the poisonous teargas he inhaled.

On 1 October this year, Chief Michael Atuora the Ogazi I of Nise in Awka South L.G.A of Anambra State and the Managing Director of Barrywhite Furniture Limited and sergeant Harrison Ajayi Aigbobo were brutally murdered by police inspector Tahiru ali, attached to Abuja municipal area council, inspector Habila Maikefi said to be attached to the office of the inspector general of police, and constable Solomon Maikefi, attached to 44 PMF force headquarters Abuja at “Spotless Bar” located at Nyanya, Abuja. The offence of the deceased was that their cars were wrongly parked.

The list of victims of this hideous crime by the Police seems inexhaustible. There are the cases of Otenkwa Dele Udoh, a Nigerian star athlete preparing for international competition was shot death by a mobile policeman at Ojuelegba, a stone thro from the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Ijeoma Udebiuwa, an undergraduate of the University of Nigeria, UNN, Nsukka, whose father was a Permanent Secretary in the Federal Civil Service was murdered right before her friend at night in Nsukka. Colonel Rindam of the Nigeria Army was shot in Lagos just like Dr. Nwogu Okere, a media consultant. In the same vein, in May 1998, Samuel Chiagozie Obasi, was murdered at Opebi, Lagos on his thirtieth birthday as he was seeing off his sibling and cousins who had come to celebrate with him. Venue of the get together was his cousin Chris Nwosu’s (Later Managing Director of the defunct Universe & Trust Bank, UTB, residence on Salvation road, Opebi Ikeja-Lagos. His offence was that the celebrant pleaded ‘with stop and search policemen who were barking at his guests to take it easy. Ken Niweigha, a militant leader was killed within twenty-four hours in controversial circumstances. He was the alleged mastermind of the killings of twelve policemen, which eventually led to the Odi invasion in 1999. The police paraded him before journalists. He was also accused of trying to kill the Bayelsa state commissioner of Police, Mr. Onuoha Udeka and a team of policemen, coming back from Odi.

There are other records of thousands of unresolved cases of extra judicial killings by men and officers of the Nigeria Police and the most worrisome part of it is that the perpetrators are allegedly protected to continue in their heinousness. There is also the case involving one Osondu Obiajulu and his seven-month old son, Chukwudi. The pathetic and harrowing experience of Obiajulu and his infant son occurred at No ’52 Makoko Road, Yaba, Lagos when a team of mobile policemen who were on the trail of prostitutes in the area, opened fire indiscriminately within the precincts of the Obiajulu’s residence. After the random explosions from their rifles, Obiajulu’s wife, Juliana who was dressing up after a bath in their one room apartment slumped on the bed, bleeding profusely from a bullet wound which tore through her jaw to her brain. Following alarm raised by Osondu and his neighbours, the culprit police officers took to their heels. In the aftermath of inquiries and apprehension of the culprit, (one Sergeant Matthew Morontonu), events following his arraignment under a criminal charge at the Yaba Magistrate Court proved to be a mockery of Nigeria’s criminal justice system. In what appeared like a deliberate frustration of the case by police authorities, both the suspect (Sgt Morontonu) and the IPO were transferred out of Lagos State. While the police prosecution at the court tardily allowed the case file to slip out of the court’s dockets. Obiajulu haplessly backed-off from the matter after three years of fruitless attempts at securing the prosecution of his late wife’s killer. Yusuf Mohammed, the leader of the Boko Haram uprising in July was also controversially killed after he was initially subdued and arrested during the fracas.

Recently, the Police Affairs Minister, Alhaji Ibrahim Lame while speaking at a seminar entitled “Behavioural Changes: The Police and the Emerging Nigerian Society,” in Ilorin, Kwara State, said in order to stem the tide of fatal incidents resulting from accidental discharge of firearms by police officers in the course of their duties, anyone seeking to join the force will henceforth undergo psychiatric test before being recruited.

Yet the Amnesty report is not the first damning report on the barbaric acts by the police in the country. In 2005, the Human Right Watch also released its findings on the inhuman acts of police against innocent and helpless citizens in the country. In its 76 pages report titled: “Rest in Pieces”, the HRW stated that despite reforms, the police routinely practice torture leaving numerous deaths in their custody. The report opined that

Since the end of military rule in 1999, the government has moved to take an increasingly influential position in Africa. Heralded on the international stage for his efforts to broker peace in regional conflicts, the government has taken some important steps to combat corruption and introduce economic reforms in Nigeria. The organisation further stated that the Government has not shown the same commitment to addressing human rights abuses, in particular widespread and persistent violations perpetrated by the security forces, most notably the police, military and other law enforcement agencies against persons they detain.. It stated that despite national and international law prohibiting the use of torture, a Human Rights Watch investigation in Nigeria in March 2005 found the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by the Nigerian Police Force to be widespread and routine. The organization stated that its investigation revealed that “the violations were perpetrated by and with the knowledge of senior police officers, including inspectors, divisional police officers, a deputy superintendent of police and a chief superintendent of police. So routine is the practice, that some of these senior officers are known within the police stations by the nickname “Officer in Charge Torture.”

The abuse that Human Rights Watch documented is carried out in local and state police stations, often in interrogation rooms which witnesses and victims said appeared to be especially equipped for the purpose. Victims and witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the forms of torture and other ill-treatment committed by the Nigerian police included the tying of arms and legs tightly behind the body, suspension by hands and legs from the ceiling or a pole, repeated and severe beatings with metal or wooden objects (including planks of wood, iron bars, and cable wire), resting of concrete blocks on the arms and back while suspended, spraying of tear gas in the face and eyes, rape of and other sexual violence against female detainees, use of pliers or electric shocks on the penis, shooting in the foot or leg, stoning, death threats, slapping and kicking with hands and boots and denial of food and water. The Right group stated that in the context of the research, it came across many other allegations of serious violations by the police, including extortion, arbitrary arrest, excessive periods of pre-trial detention, and extra-judicial executions, illustrating the deep-rooted problems that exist within the police and judicial system in the country.

It added that for decades, the police have betrayed their responsibility to protect Nigerian citizens and have instead preyed on them for economic gain. Indeed, the relationship between citizens and the police is very often characterized by brutality, confrontation and exploitation. Research conducted in 2000 by the Centre for Law Enforcement and Education (CLEEN), a Lagos based NGO, found that the use of violence by the police against citizens in Nigeria was widespread. Of 637 respondents to a survey carried out in fourteen states, 14.8 percent said they had been beaten by the police, 22.5 percent said police had threatened to shoot them in the past, and 73.2 percent said they had witnessed the police beating another person. A sample of 197 prison inmates, revealed higher figures of police abuse; 81 percent of respondents said they had been beaten or slapped and 39 percent burnt with hot objects.

The organisation noted that Patterns of police killings and excessive use of force include circumstances in which police obliged motorists stop at checkpoints and then shot those who refuse to pay bribes of as little as twenty naira (US$ 0.15).  For the average Nigerian, encounters with the police are negative and public confidence in the force is extremely low.

The Nigerian Constitution guarantees the right to life and the right to respect for dignity of the person including the right not to be subjected to torture. International conventions ratified by Nigeria, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations (U.N.) Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, also prohibit the use of torture. As defined in the U.N. Convention, Torture involves a number of key elements. It is an act by which severe mental or physical pain or suffering is intentionally inflicted against an individual, at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official. The purpose of which is to obtain information, or a confession, or punishment for an act the individual has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidation, coercion, or discrimination of any kind. A person may be tortured as punishment for an act committed, or suspected of being committed, by a third person. Despite these commitments and obligations by the Government of Nigeria, Human Rights Watch’s research shows a clear pattern of widespread torture of suspects in police custody, sometimes resulting in the victim’s death.

The problem is further made worse by the twin problem of the criminal justice system in the country and the high level of docility among the people. “The criminal justice system in Nigeria is in a state of paralysis, effectively unable to dispense justice in a fair and speedy manner. Every aspect of the system, from law enforcement to the judiciary, through to the prisons is characterized by a combination of inefficiency, corruption and lack of resources. Impunity is one of the biggest single obstacles to the reduction or eradication of torture and other serious abuses by police in Nigeria. The fact that in all but a handful of largely symbolic cases there has been no effort to ensure accountability for violations committed emboldens the perpetrators and has perpetuated the culture of violence in the Nigerian Police Force.” The organisation added that “one of the most challenging obstacles to the eradication of torture is the deeply engrained societal attitude to violence and the powers of the police. For many Nigerians, who have experienced years of oppression and brutality by military rulers, the use of violence by the institutions of the state is accepted, even seen as normal. Even where they know the police action was wrong and illegal, they appear to feel powerless to register a complaint or seek redress.” Human Right Watch said.

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Seyi Oduyela/Washington, DC

Akinyemi Bamisaiye, a/k/a Yemi Olufemi Bamisaiye, age 41, of Clarksville, Maryland and Sajjad Nazar Mahar, age 49, of Kearneysville, West Virginia, each to 52 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, in connection with a scheme to steal funds from their former employer, a country club in Silver Spring, Maryland, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Bamisaiye and Mahar pleaded guilty to mail fraud and money laundering; Mahar also pleaded guilty to wire fraud. The defendants were taken into custody today to begin serving their sentence.

Bamisaiye and his partner-in-crime were sentenced in October 20,  2009

Judge Titus also issued an order of forfeiture of $1,346,883.98 against the defendants, the amount stolen from the country club, and in partial satisfaction of the money judgment, ordered the forfeiture of Bamisaiye’s vehicle.

According to Bamisaiye’s plea agreement and court documents, Bamisaiye was the controller, and Mahar was the general manager, of the country club. Bamisaiye’s duties included serving as the country club’s accountant and financial manager. Beginning in 2001, Bamisaiye and Mahar created fictitious employees, kept former employees on the payroll and placed individuals on the payroll that provided personal services to them (the “ghost employees”). Bamisaiye and Mahar caused electronic payments to be made from the country club to the ghost employees. Bamisaiye and Mahar then deposited many of the payroll checks into their personal accounts. In addition, the defendants took money from an operating and a capital account controlled by the country club.

Bamisaiye used the stolen money for his own benefit, including toward the purchase of a home, and the purchase of a vehicle. Mahar also wrote checks drawn on the country club accounts to pay his personal expenses, and to lease and purchase vehicles for his personal use. Mahar also wrote checks made payable directly to Mahar Farms, a business which he owned.

Mr. Bamisaiye is presently serving his jail term at the Federal Correctional Institution in McCrae, Georgia.

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Desmond Utomwen, Senior Correspondent, TheNews, Abuja

How I was Brutalized by the Police and Guaranty Trust Bank Employees -

Journalist

Few days after the amnesty report indicted the Nigeria Police of extra judicial killings and brutality, a journalist with The NEWS Magazine; DESMOND UTOMWEN is assaulted to stupor by a combined team of staff of Guaranty Trust Bank, GTB and Policemen. In this interview, Utomwen, who is a senior correspondent in the Abuja Bureau office, narrates his ordeal to….. Excerpts:

Could you recount your experience with the police and how you got brutalised?

On Friday, 11^th, December 2009 at about 11a.m, I came across a peaceful protest around the premises of the Area III, Garki Branch of Guaranty Trust Bank, GTB, in Abuja.  As a journalist, it was instinctual for me to stop and find out what was happening, which I did.  On getting there, I realised that the people were protesting some fraudulent withdrawals from the account of one of the customers of the bank amounting to about N490, 000.  Controversially, this fraudulent withdrawal was done in one night with an ATM card, which is in contrast with N60, 000 daily withdrawal limit of the Bank.  The protesters opined that there must have been insider collusion to aide such colossal withdrawal in one night..  As required of a journalist, taking some photograph of the protesters alongside their comments, I made effort to balance the report by attempting to speak with the Bank Manager or whoever was competent enough to speak on the issue, but I was denied access to the bank. At this point, I decided to leave for my office.  I was on my way back to my car when a combined team of some of the bank official and policemen on patrol came after me.  They asked me to stop and I did.  The bank official who got to me first requested that I give them my camera, which I refused. I told them that I did not know them and it was not proper for me to just give them my camera as it is my working tool. The attempted to forcefully take it and I resisted. It was at this point the police swooped on me and started rough handling me, panel beating my face.  They seriously assaulted me massively, and inflicted bodily injuries on me until I fell down and became unconscious.  They later bundled me into their van and took me to their station in Garki village. While the beating was going on, they held the gun against me and threatened to shoot to kill me if I uttered any word and nobody will do anything about it. At that point they confiscated my phones and they denied me the opportunity to make or receive calls from my boss, colleagues and relatives.  It was at the station they later gave me the phones.

When they came for you, did you resist arrest or act rudely to provoke their anger?

No. I wish I was even given the opportunity to resist arrest. One, they did not invite me to go with them to the station let alone refusing them. They didn’t even ask me who I was or what I was doing at the scene. The only question I got from them was: “where is the camera, who did you give the camera to?” They came with the wrong assumption planted inside of them by the GTBank officials that I may have given my camera to somebody else whereas the camera was with me at that time. And before I could say a word, they started punching me as if I was wrongly matched in a boxing bout against the Klitschko Brothers until I became unconscious and fell down. Even at that, they didn’t stop. They bundled me into their car and ferried me to their station. They eventually forcefully took the camera from me after so much beating.  They also took my digital recording device and I could not find my official working ID. Card and some of the money I had in my pockets before the beating. As a matter of fact I had no reason to resist arrest. Apart from the feeling of innocence, I am also an accredited police and crime correspondent with police accreditation tag issued from the Force Headquarters. If they had asked for my identity, I would have given them.

Why didn’t you release the camera to them?

I couldn’t have just release my camera to anybody in that chaotic atmosphere. Besides, I have some private photographs and some shots from other assignments which I haven’t downloaded into my laptop. Some of these photographs are definitely not for their consumption. Perhaps, if the police officers have used their authority not power to invite me to the station, I would have quietly followed them to the station and give them utmost co-operation. But they didn’t. They opted for brute force.

With your experience, what is your perception of the Nigerian police?

While one may not want to dispute the fact that there are still some refine gentleman officers at the top hierarchy of the force, the experience without mincing words again calls to mind the widely held opinion that the Police force is crowded and infested with a bunch of callous, inhuman personnel with animalistic and murderous instinct among the rank and file and the earlier the government takes steps to sieve these bad eggs from the force, the better it would be for everybody especially at a time like this when the country claims to be rebranding. Otherwise, how do you explain a situation whereby police are called to troubled scene and without asking questions and properly identifying offenders, they just descended on innocent and defenceless citizens and beat him to stupor? Even if you have to confiscate the camera of a bona fide journalist, you don’t have to assault and brutalise him and reduce him to the state of a common criminal. Just imagine the scenario, when the patrol team came, they descended on innocent journalists who were only doing their job and rightly or wrongly they did not even do anything about the protesters themselves just because the GTBank officials asked them to come after us. For God sake we are not living in the jungle and this is not the era of Mongo Park. Even in a war situation, there are rules for engagement.

But why would the bank officials ask the police to come after you and not the protesters?

Like I said earlier, they were after my camera and to them my crime was that I innocently took photographs of the demonstrations. I think they were not comfortable with the inscriptions that were on the placards the protesters were carrying and felt that publishing that would affect their image negatively. So their major aim was to confiscate the camera and ensure the photographs taken never get to the eyes of the public, especially their customers. To them, the only option opened to them was to forcefully and callously take the camera away from me. While the Police may have the statutory responsibility to intervene in crises situation, I simply do not think they have any right to forcefully and criminally take away the private property of a harmless individual like they did.. That was barbaric to say the least.

The Police claimed you had no right to take photographs of the Bank premises. What is your take?

I don’t know where they got that notion from. I don’t know if it is a written or unwritten law or code. And if it is, then it is myopic. Their reasons as I was made to understand is that the Banks are keenly protected and that such protest could provide a cover for hoodlums to carry out some nefarious activities. Let assume the situation had actually deteriorated to that level, shouldn’t the police also think that the photographs of the protest and the entire crises taken by the journalist would have eventually offered a good support for their investigation by first providing a basis for identifying the supposed culprits. And to clarify it, I didn’t just go taking photographs of the Bank premises. I took that of the protesters. So the focus was not on the Bank.

What about the protesting woman, do you know her?

Not until that day. I met them protesting and I decided to do my job as a journalist driven by the instinct of work. I understand the police later decided to arrest and detain them after the incident.

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