Columns: Towards a Peaceful Gubernatorial Election in Anambra.

Published October 9, 2017

Thousands of registered voters in Anambra State will pour out to their respective polling units to cast their votes for their preferred gubernatorial candidates come Nov 18th. The state is the home to Nri, the ancestral homeland of Ndigbo.

Everyone looks out to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a free, fair and peaceful election in Anambra that would inspire hope to other future elections in the federation.

Anambra is home to many prominent men and women who have and are still playing great roles in the growth and development of Nigeria. It is the home of late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first president; Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu of the Biafran fame; Chike Obi, the great mathematician; the late Chinua Achebe, the award winning writer; the late Dora Akunyili, the fearless anti-drug czar and former boss of NAFDAC; Charles Chukwuma Soludo, a former governor of the central bank; Innocent Chukwuma of renowned automobile manufacturer Innoson motors, to mention a few.

Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of INEC has assured the people that the forthcoming election will be free and fair. He also said that the commission will deploy 6,200 card readers to the various polling units in the state and continue with the use of e-tracking.

So far, with 37 political parties, the people of Anambra have a variety of qualified men and women to choose from the array of brilliant and competent candidates for the position of the governor of the State.

Among the 37 candidates, there are a few that are more prominent than the others. They include the incumbent Governor Willie Obiano, bearing the flag for the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), the ruling party in the state. Another candidate is Chief Obaze Oseloka, who is contesting under the umbrella of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Tony Okechukwu Nwoye, the flag bearer for All Progressives Congress (APC). All these men and others have impressive credentials and manifestoes that could potentially get them the governorship seat in Anambra State. It is important that the electorate should by know be abreast with the profiles and manifestoes towards exercising their franchise in choosing the rightful candidate.

Meanwhile from all indications, the major frontrunner for the election is the current governor, Chief Obiano of APGA who is from Aguleri in Anambra East LGA. He is a professional banker with over three decades of working experience.

Similarly, the candidate of PDP, Chief Obaze Oseloka from Ogidi in Idemili North LGA is another major contender. A retired United Nations diplomat with interest in various sectors of the economy, he is a renowned advocate for good governance and press freedom.

The flag bearer for the ruling party APC, Tony Okechukwu Nwoye from Offianta Nsugbe in Anambra East LGA is a medical doctor and member of the Federal House of Representatives representing the people of Anambra East/West constituency of Anambra State.

Among the popular candidates is also the former minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka, the flag bearer for United Progressive Party (UPP). He is from Obosi, in idemili north LGA. He is a public policy advocate and a crusader on safety management.

Among female contenders is Hon. Oby Okafor, a flag bearer for Advanced Congress Of Democrats (ACD). A Nollywood actress-turned-politician, she believes in promoting women’s representation in the political sector.

The battle for the Anambra State governorship seat is on and quite intense going by the array of aspirants already gearing up for the position across party lines. All the candidates have special and unique propositions that can attract voters to their candidacy. It is therefore necessary to call on the people of Anambra to conduct themselves in a most respectable way and shun any act of violence or lawlessness on that day. The women and youth, as the most vulnerable segments of society should also be calm and cooperate with the law enforcement agencies and electoral officials during the election.

We should conduct ourselves in an orderly and peaceful manners devoid of violence and bloodshed.

Let the games begin and may the right man or woman win.

Opinion: Economic Problems Affecting Nigeria Development- Where we are and where we are going

Published October 5, 2017

The economic problems affecting Nigeria development has always been a subject of discuss in the Schools, social platforms and National assembly but the truth is, the canker worm which have derail the economic development in Nigeria is known by all and sundry but getting out of it is as difficult as the main problems. This is simply because our leaders and citizens have always failed to make things right in both rule of law and governance. If Nigeria continue this way, we will have nothing but perpetuity of Economic and political mess. People are asking, Why is Nigeria like this? Fifty-seven years on and we’re still stuck in the mud.

Look around. We cannot boast of decent roads devoid of potholes and craters. Public schools are a study in degeneration. Our hospitals are like an incurable disease. Our international airports are a journey into morass. Civil service is a cesspool of decay, the epitome of inefficiency and extortion.

We wear corruption like an ornament and flaunt loot like a medal. You can hardly get anything done in the private or public sector without partaking in corruption. We are swarmed by ethnic and religious conflicts, still neck-deep in tribal wars that were the hallmark of primitive societies in centuries past. From OPC, Egbesu, MASSOB and Bakassi Boys to MEND and Boko Haram, we lie hopelessly in the grip of terror, unsure of when the next bomb will go off or when the next machete will be swung wildly and fatally. The Economic Problems Affecting Nigeria Development are numerous to mention but the  5 core problems are mentioned below.

Economic Problems Affecting Nigeria Development
1. Government challenges Affecting Nigeria Development: Related to leadership problem is bad governance has among others, been defined as a system of values polices and institution by which a society manages its economics social and political affairs through interaction within the state civil society and private sector (Shabbir Cheema, April, 2004, UNDP, 1997, UNDP, 2000). Thus governance comprises the mechanisms and processes for citizens and group to articulate their interest, to work together and mediate their deference and exercise the legal right and obligation with rules institutions and practice that set limits and provide incentives for individuals organization and firms good governance refer to the question of how low a society can organize itself to ensure quality of opportunity and equities (social and economic justice ) for all citizens. It also promotes people centered development

2. Corruption Challenges Affecting Nigeria Development: Although corruption is a global scourge, Nigeria appears to suffer the most form it because the leaders are pathologically corruption every one appears to believe that the nation has a culture of corruption (smith 2008). Over the years, Nigeria has earned huge sum of money from crude oil, which has gone down the sinkhole created by corruption in an articles, oil giant that runs on grease of politics, Nigeria was described a rich nation floating on oil wealth but almost none of it flows to the people (san Francesco chronicle, march 1 2007) top public servants are very rich because they harbor the mendacity that public money belong to no one. National dailies area wash with news of how public officials are acquiring million dollar homes (within and outside Nigerian ) and stock piling stolen public money in financial institution abroad.

3. Macro economic challenges Affecting Nigeria Development: policy in consistency and greed are among the causes of the hemorrhage in the economy(Eichenggen, 2004). Every administration that comes on board take on a new policy initiative instead building on the previous ones. As a result, Nigeria has toyed with a series of ineffective and poorly implemented polices.
For instance, as chief economic adviser to Obasanjo, Charles Soludo instituted the national economics employment, reducing poverty and guide values reorientation. But the needs failed to achieve its objective because of the reason already elaborated in the preceding sections. The late Umaru Musa Yarardua administration (inherited by Jonathan) dumped the NEEDS and adopted the vision of the administration to transform Nigeria into one of the first 20 largest global economics by the years 2020 . These program that now appear dead gulped huge sum of money, which could have been sued to resolve some of the social economic and political challenges facing the nation.

4. Human development challenges Affecting Nigeria Development: Human resources play an immense role in the success of failure of any organization or nation in terms of capability and strength of character of the workers or leaders in Nigeria , most of the problems facing the economy are reflection of the poor quality of human development and the economic health, of the nation has been neglected for decades one has to understand the problems facing the educational institution to really appreciate the magnitude of problem facing the Nigerian economy.

5. Market challenge Affecting Nigeria Development: lack of genuine competition in the system is among the challenges facing the economy. Real capitalistic economics are controlled by market forces or what Adam Smith brands the invisible hand of the market. The self-regulating nature of the market determines where one live and work, how much one earns, and what one can buy. Although every economy (developed, developing or undeveloped) needs some form of government intervention, Nigeria leaders are yet to need the advice of Adam Smith in 1776 that the state should not unnecessarily interferer in the economy. In Nigerian, the federal government has virtual monopoly of setting the price of petroleum products and other goods and services.

Editorials : Writing should be promoted in Nigeria.

Published October 3, 2017

Recently, there have been heightened concerns on the poor reading habit on Nigerian Students. This is especially prevalent among the younger generation. Of course, a poor reader cannot make a good writer. While promotions of music, sports and others take up the front pages of newspapers and magazines, notices on writing competitions and workshops etc, are  hidden in the darkest pages of newspapers with prizes as ridiculous as a book written by a famous author.

It is also sad that establishments and corporate organizations would prefer areas like music, sports to venture into just to make 'social returns'. Whereas in reading nations, newspapers, magazines and publishing companies are major facilitators and champions of writing. In Nigeria, we hardly have any category for writers in our annual awards. The result is that the promotion of writing skills is left solely to the few established writers mostly confined to schools. Sadly the few competitions organized only see the winners rewarded with funny prizes.

I am yet to see our print media publish any winning work with the intention to campaign for the author's support and advancement. Instead, they shamelessly publish with slight authors who have been awarded abroad. Why won't our best brains migrate abroad where they would be better appreciated? Our media houses will rather collaborate in promoting contents from fashion to beauty in complete disregard for what they represent.

Why won't there be loss of interest in reading? Because the motivation is not forthcoming.

Writing and writers should be seriously campaigned for and encouraged. Publishing houses and the media generally, academic institutions, oil and gas companies, the government, professional bodies, telecommunication companies, writers themselves, in fact everybody should join hands in giving writing (which comes with reading) its pride of place in Nigeria because a nation that hates reading is simply dancing its way to the very destructive part of illiteracy.