14
T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ ÍŻÍśËœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍś
COMMENT
Editor, Editorial Page PETER ISHAKA Email peter.ishaka@thisdaylive.com
BEFORE MARRIAGE TURNS MORBID
Monday Philips Ekpe argues that people should not surrender their security to others
T
he story is sordid. Even though it is still legally within the realm of allegations, as the court is yet to pronounce its veracity, the graphic details of the horrible murder of Barrister Otike Odibi earlier this month in Lagos are heart-wrenching. His wife, Udeme Odibi, according to reports, killed her husband, tore open his bowel, severed his genitals from his groin and forced them into his palm. Thereafter, probably when the gravity of her actions dawned on her, she attempted to commit suicide. Their neighbours then promptly intervened to save her life and possibly enhance the chances of justice delivery. At the moment, the country and followers of this tragic, gory drama around the world are in shock, bewildered by yet another tale of a spouse snuffing life out of the partner. Apart from birth, there is no other existential phenomenon as certain as death. Yet, the kind of passage witnessed in the Odibi family is unique mainly for its paradox. The home is meant to be a safety zone for its members, a place of refuge from the stress outside. For couples to truly actualise their marital expectations, they should be open to each other in many ways. For them also, the pledge, “to have and to hold�, is a requirement for emotional, social and intellectual bliss. That means a reasonable level of vulnerability becomes unavoidable. However, marriage, like the thought processes and actions of the persons in it, is not always straightforward. While shared or discovered information about bank statements, landed properties, contents of handsets and relationships draw some spouses closer, it can also tear others apart, sometimes fatally. No research is needed to prove that domestic murders and deliberate injuries are gender-blind, so, no war of the sexes makes sense. It’s humanity that’s on trial here. Why should two human beings who promise to protect and love each other become mortal foes? Does the degeneration happen gradually or suddenly? Again, no two marriages are the same. It therefore means that for whatever purpose, even when some basic facts cut across matrimonial unions, each case should be viewed and handled differently. This often poses some challenges to marriage counselors, many of whom are usually armed only with lectures on forgiveness. As widely acceptable and indispensible as this virtue, its recommendation for and application to especially by partners who might already be irretrievably wounded in their souls could be tricky. There are numerous examples of couples who pronounce pardon publicly but still strike like a cobra soon afterwards. No doubt, both spiritual and terrestrial spheres of life can be enhanced by understanding the kind of plea for forbearance made by Reverend John Adeyemo at Odibi’s funeral. As he put it, “We may be thinking of the circumstances that led to his death, but please leave everything to God. He
TIME HAS COME FOR INDIVIDUALS TO REEXAMINE THE ISSUE OF ‘TILL DEATH DO US PART.’ MARRIAGE IS A NOBLE INSTITUTION BUT IN THE HIERARCHY OF LIVING, LIFE ITSELF TAKES PRIORITY
is the owner of every individual. He takes any soul that he pleases. I want everyone here to know that death is inevitable. We thank God that our brother died in Christ. Therefore, I want to believe that it is only God that can take a soul. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, we’ all sing and shout the victory... Otike-Odibi’s family, I have just but one message: forgiveness! Our Lord Jesus taught us to forgive. He laid the heavy burden of forgiving others upon us with such a clause when he says, ‘for if you do not forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father won’t forgive your sins.’â€? That admonition does not negate the lessons that should be learnt by the living. Odibi has left the scene in a gruesome manner. Going by most of the eulogies from his daughter, relatives, friends, colleagues and clients, he was an easy going man who could sacrifice anything to bring happiness to those around him, at his own personal discomfort many times. Unfortunately, his wife and suspected killer saw him otherwise. To her, he was a womaniser, someone who had no regard for his marital vow of chastity. Perhaps, the fate that befell the man’s manhood was a product of his assailant’s wild imagination about his perceived sexual recklessness. Now, he is gone. What made him stay put till he met his needless, bitter end? The very night he was slaughtered, he called his mother, sister and neighbour and informed them about the woman’s threat and apparently did nothing to shield himself from harm. He seemed to put his trust in third parties who were clearly not in a position to grasp the weight of his present danger. Was he naĂŻve or unguarded like many others? I hope the late Odibi was not one of those people who over-estimate the opinions of others in taking critical, personal decisions. The earlier one realises the folly in always thinking of what people would say, the better. Human views are often characterised by selfishness, diversity, inconsistency, uninformed premises and sentimental conclusions. The way to go is to seek counsel, listen to and carefully consider advice but know that your security rests principally with you. Time has come for individuals to reexamine the issue of “till death do us part.â€? Marriage is a noble institution but in the hierarchy of living, life itself takes priority. Divorce or separation should not be glamourised under any circumstance but the idea held by some people that the worst thing that can occur in matrimony is being rubbished regularly. While it is true that the Bible says that God hates it, there is nothing that indicates he prefers bloodshed. Nobody should consciously or carelessly walk into the grave for whatever reason.
HOS AND FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS The present administration is committed to changing the manner government business is conducted, writes Ofem Uket
T
he new civil service structure under the headship of Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita had sought effective partnership within and outside the country to tighten loose ends in the Federal Civil Service and the entire public service sector, as she had cautioned strictly permanent secretaries and heads of agencies to develop cordiality in relating with their political heads.
The overall intent is to achieve the blueprint of President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s 2017-2020 Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan as major reform process of the public service in Nigeria, aimed at enthroning a new civil service regime. Structural defects in the past which had brought down the efficiency and productivity level in the public service have been undergoing complete overhaul with strategic inputs from major stakeholders, including research papers which are being translated into action. Some major players on the foreign scene in the struggle are the Department for International Development (DFID), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Before 1945 the colonial government undertook no serious comprehensive planning to reform the public service, as its earliest plan came between 1946-55 Ten-Year Plan of Development (with plan revisions in between 1951-55) and the 1955-60 plan (later extended to 1962), were framed by colonial administrators. As the authors of the First National
Development Plan, 1962-68 had a series of projects which had not been coordinated or related to any overall economic target.� After 1960, however, development planning had a broad scope, encompassing government policies to achieve national economic objectives, such as accelerated growth and higher levels of average material welfare. This planning affected the policies of such agencies as the central bank, state-owned enterprises, the Ministry of Education, marketing boards, state-level departments, and extension services. Nigerian plans included economic forecasts, policies toward the private sector, and a list of proposed public expenditures. Although Nigerian political leaders made decisions about general objectives and priorities for the first plan, foreign economists were the main authors of the actual document. Its authors favoured decentralised decision making by private units and high economic payoffs from directly productive investments as opposed to indirect returns from social overheads. They discouraged increased taxes on the wealthy out of fear of dampening private incentive, and advocated a conservative monetary and fiscal policy emphasising a relatively small plan, openness to foreign trade and investment, and reliance on overseas assistance. Foreign aid was set at one half of public sector investment. Nobel economist W. Arthur Lewis has suggested that the main weaknesses of the 1962-68 plan was incomplete feasibility studies and inadequate evaluation of projects, accompanied by meagre public participation, followed by excessive political intervention in economic decisions. Moreover, insufficient attention was paid to the small indigenous
sector, and the machinery for implementing developments in the public sector was unsatisfactory. The analogy of colonial reforms of the public service is to give insight to the relevance of the ongoing strategic reform process to reposition the Federal Civil Service, making it more effective, efficient, and productive and capacity building oriented in all departments. Talking about capacity building and trainings, the development partners on this initiative have commenced effective synergy with the Project Management Teams in the reform agenda. However, the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HOS), Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, had robust engagements and consultation with multilateral and development agencies to aid the Project Management Teams (PMTs) towards implementing the 2017-2020 Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implantation Plan (FCSSIP). She has maintained this position in all interfaces with stakeholders at all strata. The conversation is that the present administration is desirous and working so hard to change the methodology and the manner government business is conducted. Only a few days back, high level teams of development partners had engagements with the Head of Service in Abuja, to review the levels of collaboration, the impact so far and the way to go in providing a modest content of the reforms, looking at 2020 dateline, barely two years away. There are eight PMTs that were constituted after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) ratified the public service reform process strategy plan last year. The HOS said PMTs and development partners
are to set up discussions on the various plans towards the successful implementation of the eight priority initiatives of the strategy. An estimated 25,000 civil servants will be trained through revamped core modules and 200 future leaders cultivated through the Leadership Enhancement and Development Programme (LEAD-P), among others. Oyo-Ita expressed optimism that the present reform will be successful because of its features which include high impact prioritisation on initiatives; specificity with actionable and detailed implementation plan, clear governance to drive reforms, partnership for resources to support implementation and change management as well as communication plan. Apparently, there is a clear-cut stance on the reform process, contrary to previous attempts made so far beginning from the colonial administration, which in its various approaches could not make its desired impact in changing and improving on the national economic plan of government. It is therefore assuring to see the number of development partners participating in the reform process which is targeted at addressing every misadventure of the civil service in the past. The headship of the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation has taken dogged steps to unify the working relationship between the civil servants and politicians for the interest of a progressive and economically viable state Nigeria. Conferences and retreats were held in the past to rub minds with federal permanent secretaries on how to relate with political heads in their various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).