THE NATION THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012
20
CARTOON & LETTERS
S
IR: Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed literarily found himself torn between two parts when it came to deciding whether to or not to go ahead with the removal of illegal structures springing up in Mpape, Kuchingoro, Chika, Aleita, Karamajiji, Pilwoyi, Gishiri and other slums that seem to be forming a notorious ring around the nation’s capital city. But illegal structures are like malignant cancer which if left to stabilize or spread could overwhelm and kill the body. There is no doubt that the wish of most Nigerians is for Abuja to rank among the well planned, organized and beautiful cities of the world. This explains why our judiciary deserves commendation for the mature manner in which it has handled the cases concerning illegal structures and demolition in Abuja recently. For instance, on
The demolition of illegal structures in Abuja Wednesday August 15, a motion for an interlocutory order restraining the Minister of FCT and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) from demolishing illegal structures in Mpape, a suburb of Abuja was rejected by an Abuja High Court presided by Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf. Justice Abubakar Kutigi at the FCT High Court sitting in Bwari had a week earlier declined to grant an injunction restraining the minister and the FCDA from removing the illegal structures in the same suburb settlement of Mpape.
In one of their submissions, the petitioners argued that the Minister should be mindful of the fact that FCT is a creation of law and therefore should act within the confines of the law. Against the backdrop of this assertion by the squatters, the question arises: What is that law that created the FCT within which confines the minister and his subordinates in the FCDA are supposed to operate? What manner of physical development did the law(s) that created the FCT stipulate for residents to follow in building their residential,
commercial or institutional houses? Did the laws provide that districts, neighbourhoods and houses should be developed according to officially approved plans and designs or in half-haphazard manners dictated by the whims and caprices of local dupes and individual builders? Again, did the planned removal of illegal structures in Mpape and other affected villages amount to a total obliteration of the entire settlements? The answers to these questions are well known to all
Nigeria’s youths and the future
IR: In every serious nation, there is a conscious process to nurture youths into responsible and competent adults who would effectively drive the wheel of development and the progress of their country. Youths who have reached heights of their career through this process and have become adults abound in numbers across the world: late Steve Jobs, Usain Bolt, Mark Zukerberg, Bill Gates, Venus and Serena Williams, Lionel Messi; the list is endless. Having been at the front-row seat of success and have seen how it is done, they knew they cannot rest until they have made impact as there are always new records to be broken and set. Everyday they toil to put behind them records of yesteryears to become the heroes of today. The truth is that there are few or no records to be broken in Nigeria, and no torch to be passed on. The only torch is that of corruption and immoralities and the younger generation would be doing themselves a whole world of good steering clear of such torch, as taking it would only land them in the mess in which their so-called leaders are enmeshed. The few records there are were set by heroes long gone like Chief
S
EDITOR’S MAIL BAG SEND TYPEWRITTEN, DOUBLE SPACED AND SIGNED CONTRIBUTIONS, LETTERS AND REJOINDERS OF NOT MORE THAN 800 WORDS TO THE EDITOR, THE NATION, 27B, FATAI ATERE ROAD, MATORI, LAGOS. E-mail: views@thenationonlineng.net
Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe and Ahmadu Bello, Adekunle Fajuyi. This is why these nationalists have, even in death, remained a point of reference years after they are no more. It is good to celebrate achievements of heroes past, but when such achievements are the only reference point in a nation because they have not been surpassed, such a nation is either sleeping or dead.
Nigerian leaders do not know anything about leadership or role modelling. They are leaders in name, but the spirit of leadership which provides a good springboard for the younger generation is not in them. Our leaders must know that those they refuse to build will pull down the house that they have built (or are building). It is already happening: kidnapping, militancy, Boko Haram. They may come up
with all the committees in the world, or over-flogged ideas like state police. They may even make all Nigerians members of their committees. If a conscious process to role-model the youths into competent and resourceful adults is not created, then all of us might just be sitting on a keg of gun-powder. • ‘Dimeji Daniels Ado Ekiti.
discerning and law-abiding residents of FCT. Definitely, there are some houses in Mpape and other affected areas that were built based on lawful land allocations, approved plans, designs or specifications. Nobody has marked such houses for demolition. It is not surprising that today the scheduled removal of illegal and unplanned structures in Mpape and other affected villages has become a huge opportunity for some people who ordinarily should know better. Thus, stunting, blackmail and mob incitement have become a vocation for some persons and groups driven by parochial instincts. The logical advice for the squatters in the affected villages is to relocate to the satellite towns and the area councils where they would find it relatively easier to build lawful houses. The FCTA has created an enabling environment for housing development in most of such places through provision of basic infrastructures like access roads, electricity, water, healthcare and schools. Since the impending demolition exercise is a necessary operation to rescue FCT and restore it to the path envisaged by its founding fathers, what is needed from all residents is understanding and not threats and litigations. •Nosike Ogbuenyi Abuja.
Rising to the humanitarian challenges in Lower Plateau
S
IR: As the impacts of global climate change manifest in different forms, flood which is one of the resultant effect has continued to wreak havoc in many communities. The situation in Nigeria is not far from the experiences elsewhere. The occurrence of flood has continued to be on the rise in both frequency and magnitude. In addition to the known high risk communities, locations hitherto thought to be less prone are also increasingly exposed to the disaster from torrential rains, overflow of river banks and blocked drainages. One of such is the lower parts of Plateau State that comprises six local government areas where about 200 communities were recently devas-
tated by floods which resulted in no less than 40 deaths, over 10, 000 displaced persons and their property destroyed including farmlands with crops. The local government areas are Mikang, Shendam, Kanam, Wase, Langtang North and Lantang South. The flood had taken the affected communities most unprepared as they were said to have never experienced such in the past 40 years or more. Although the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) had issued a warning of expected heavy rain with likely floods in some states, Plateau was not included in the high risk list. Interestingly, few months earlier, there was similar incident in Rikkos area of Jos, the state capital which caused about 38
deaths and displaced some thousands. The situation in the lower Plateau require urgent humanitarian assistance.The distribution of the relief materials in some of the areas were almost as difficult as the pains brought by the flood. Most of the bridges built across the rivers in the area were washed away in cutting off access to the people. In Shendam for instance, NEMA officials were forced to temporarily suspend the distribution and control the crowds from hanging parts of a collapsed bridge located at the heart of the town. In Mikang local government area, the distribution was delayed by the burial of a woman that had died from the flood after her home was submerged by
the water and collapsed over her. The NEMA staff had to resort to mobilizing local supports in the transport of its relief materials across the rivers where the bridges had been washed away in moving the assistance to the displaced persons cut off from the supply. Though it is practically impossible to compensate the people for their losses, relief assistance tends to offer succor and some sense of belonging. A lot more is still require to complement the quick relief of NEMA in helping those affected by the flood recover from their losses including the providing access across the rivers in the lower areas of Plateau State. • Manzo Ezekiel Maitama, Abuja