Each successive administration in Nigeria always raises the expectations of the people that they will pivot from the previous government being shown the way out. Unfortunately they often disappoint the people by following the same path to no destination which marred the previous government being succeeded. What's up with these Nigerian governments that an impoverished State like Enugu, with more needs than most of the other states in Nigeria and with very limited resources, being not a Niger Delta oil-producing state, is planning a 200 million Naira wasteful gallivanting by its house of assembly members to the United States? Their publicly stated mission is to attend a seminar to educate themselves on how to properly legislate? Icheoku says this ain't right and smacks of a government which does not set its priorities right. What seminar is worth the peoples' 200 million Naira (about $1.2million dollars) in a State where the average Joe lives on less than $2 a day gross income?
A prudent, more goal-directed government would have scaled down on the number of attendees to save cost; better still they could have invited the seminar organizers to send in a representative to Enugu State to teach these so called legislators how to legislate! Or make the members take a compulsory class on legislating in one of the numerous institutions in Enugu State or have some consultants organize one for them. Icheoku wonders out loud, what was their business in the first place being legislators when they do not know how to legislate - their primary assignment? Or is it the Nigerian proverbial refresher course which has been proven that nothing is ever refreshed of the NIgerian attendees? Otherwise why the more of the same with successive governments? For a simple education, a legislator for Enugu State should concern him/herself with those aspects of life challenges facing the people of Enugu State particularly his/her constituency, which needs some improvements and then tailor whatever legislation to take care of those needs. Such a local legislator from Enugu State does not need to travel to America to find a solution to the basic peculiar problems facing a man at Amodu-Awkunanaw! It does not make sense and it defies every logic except that of embezzlement! Why go to Harrods for what is available at Ogbete?
political science and law departments in Nigeria to lecture or organize seminars for the legislators on the art of legislating?
Irrespective of the subterfuge being given for this wasteful jamboree, Icheoku says it is uncalled for as it is an exercise in wasteful spending! And for a state like Enugu State where some people have no jobs, no drinking water, no electricity, no good roads, no medical care, no food etc, it is atrocious to waste such enormous amount of resources for a mere junketing. Admitted that 200 million Naira ordinarily may not sound too much for a State but a more prudent government could have spent this money rather responsibly to create new jobs or fix one of the severally broken things within the infrastructure of the state. Spending it for a seminar in America does not make sense as you are wasting scarce resources that could have been more wisely applied to benefit the state. The legislators will not improve nor will they change or reform their habits as proved from past experiences so why embark on another fruitless exercise? Icheoku heretofore and unequivocally condemns this ill-advised extravaganza and suggests that it should be scrapped or at least scaled down! Two hundred (200) million Naira could be better spent improving things in Enugu State, Nigeria than on a junket in America! Now, the story titled U.S. Denies Enugu Lawmakers Visa For Seminar Abroad which many discerning minds have called irresponsible appropriation of scarce resources!
***Plan by governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State to organise a N200 million seminar for the state's House of Assembly members in far away United States of America has met with a brick wall as the U.S. embassy has denied all of them visa. The seminar which was scheduled to commence on October 28 had visa been issued to the lawmakers should have ended on November 14. Governor Chime is sponsoring the trip to U.S. in what some analysts said was a move to woo the Assemblymen to support his current administration as well as his re-election bid for a second term in office.
A prudent, more goal-directed government would have scaled down on the number of attendees to save cost; better still they could have invited the seminar organizers to send in a representative to Enugu State to teach these so called legislators how to legislate! Or make the members take a compulsory class on legislating in one of the numerous institutions in Enugu State or have some consultants organize one for them. Icheoku wonders out loud, what was their business in the first place being legislators when they do not know how to legislate - their primary assignment? Or is it the Nigerian proverbial refresher course which has been proven that nothing is ever refreshed of the NIgerian attendees? Otherwise why the more of the same with successive governments? For a simple education, a legislator for Enugu State should concern him/herself with those aspects of life challenges facing the people of Enugu State particularly his/her constituency, which needs some improvements and then tailor whatever legislation to take care of those needs. Such a local legislator from Enugu State does not need to travel to America to find a solution to the basic peculiar problems facing a man at Amodu-Awkunanaw! It does not make sense and it defies every logic except that of embezzlement! Why go to Harrods for what is available at Ogbete?
What are they going to learn in America about legislating in Enugu State? How not to steal elections? How to conduct an orderly elections? How to first stand for election and be elected and not merely selected into positions? How to be honorable? How to prioritize their legislative agenda and not be selfish about that? How not to be endemically corrupt? How to be more accountable and responsible? How not to directly collect their constituency allocations for their private use? It is as pitiful as it is regrettable that all these charlatans in governments throughout Nigeria and now particularly in Enugu State are doing, is to exploit every opportunity to siphon the peoples' money and sometimes use it for frivolous ends. What has anybody in government in Nigeria ever learnt from such seminars when evidence on the ground does not translate that such seminars were ever attended by anyone? The reasoning of the Enugu State House of Assembly for embarking on this frivolity, is that such overseas trip was done in the previous Chimaroke Nnamani government, so it is now their turn to enjoy similar trip; which Icheoku will observe that some of these legislators will be stepping out of the shores of Nigeria for the first time in their lives with this trip. Icheoku says, since some of the members have gone before, why couldn't such previous attendees brief the new members on how to legislate or even drop out from this one? Couldn't the administration organize locally-sourced consultants from the abundant Universities
political science and law departments in Nigeria to lecture or organize seminars for the legislators on the art of legislating?Irrespective of the subterfuge being given for this wasteful jamboree, Icheoku says it is uncalled for as it is an exercise in wasteful spending! And for a state like Enugu State where some people have no jobs, no drinking water, no electricity, no good roads, no medical care, no food etc, it is atrocious to waste such enormous amount of resources for a mere junketing. Admitted that 200 million Naira ordinarily may not sound too much for a State but a more prudent government could have spent this money rather responsibly to create new jobs or fix one of the severally broken things within the infrastructure of the state. Spending it for a seminar in America does not make sense as you are wasting scarce resources that could have been more wisely applied to benefit the state. The legislators will not improve nor will they change or reform their habits as proved from past experiences so why embark on another fruitless exercise? Icheoku heretofore and unequivocally condemns this ill-advised extravaganza and suggests that it should be scrapped or at least scaled down! Two hundred (200) million Naira could be better spent improving things in Enugu State, Nigeria than on a junket in America! Now, the story titled U.S. Denies Enugu Lawmakers Visa For Seminar Abroad which many discerning minds have called irresponsible appropriation of scarce resources!
***Plan by governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State to organise a N200 million seminar for the state's House of Assembly members in far away United States of America has met with a brick wall as the U.S. embassy has denied all of them visa. The seminar which was scheduled to commence on October 28 had visa been issued to the lawmakers should have ended on November 14. Governor Chime is sponsoring the trip to U.S. in what some analysts said was a move to woo the Assemblymen to support his current administration as well as his re-election bid for a second term in office.
Sunday Independent authoritatively gathered that the decision by the embassy not to grant the visa to the lawmakers was connected with the forthcoming U.S. Presidential Elections, slated for November 4. Informed sources said that the visa were not issued because the duration of the seminar coincided with the November 4 date for the U.S. Presidential Election. Our sources revealed that the U.S. authorities felt that the period of the election was not the best to allow visitors, especially those whose purpose of visiting the country was not so cogent, hence directed the embassy in Nigeria not to issue visa to the 31-man delegation. Those slated for the trip include the 24 House of Assembly members, Clerk of the House, Governor's Liaison Officer to the House, Chuka Utazi and Adviser to Chime on Special Projects and Diaspora Matters, Jude Akubuilo. The latter is said to be anchoring the seminar. It was gathered that the U.S. embassy had given a November 26 date for the delegation to return for interview, a decision that shocked everybody. A source confirmed to Sunday Independent that following the decision of the U.S. the members have started making alternative arrangements to travel to Britain for the seminar. When contacted by this newspaper, Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Marcel Njeze confirmed that the members are making an alternative arrangement to travel to Britain. He said that they were not denied visa by U.S. embassy. Njeze said that the members have already agreed that the trip should come up between now and early November to avoid the vagaries of the cold winter weather that would set in by mid November. "Why would United States embassy stop us from traveling during the elections? We are not going there to vote. We are not Americans. The fact is that we don't want to be caught up by the winter that is usually cold over there. The embassy gave us November 26 for interview, but we had earlier slated this trip for October and early November before winter sets in. So, we are now making another arrangement for Britain " Njeze said. Factional Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State , Chief Ray Nnaji, had earlier faulted the plans to send the members abroad when the House is not on vacation. "I don't see anything wrong with the trip as long as the financial burden on the State is not much. The last administration in Enugu State did the same. But my worry is the timing. "Now, the House is in session and I don't think that it is right to send the lawmakers out of the country for two weeks. What happens if there is an emergency situation in Enugu State? The whole thing looks questionable to me," Nnaji said. Another opposition politician who chose not to be quoted said that by the trip, "Chime has once again vindicated those who accused him of squandering public funds." The source said that it was to his knowledge that a return ticket for each of the legislators to the U.S. would gulp nothing less than N350, 000, not to talk of accommodation and feeding allowances for members of the delegation. The politician however disclosed that he was not surprised by the kind of expenses being bequeathed on the State by the Governor who according to him, "recently organised a grandiose traditional wedding for his new wife at the expense of the State." ***
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Christy 'Apena' Essien-Igbokwe , the wife of Jegede Shokoya of the New Masquerade and Nigeria's lady of songs is dead; she was 51years old. Although her family claimed that "brief Illness" killed her like so many Nigerians; Icheoku retorts that it was most likely AKwa Ibom voodoo and remote control that was used to arrest her. It is on record that she had fallen out with the governor of her native Akwa Ibiom State and have been having a relentless war for political turf with the governor? So who knows whether she was sacrificed to Ekpe cult or even Alusi-Okija as an offal; afterall African science is still very much alive and portent. May her soul rest in peace.
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I have never being one of those fooled to believe that anything positive will come out of a new face in Nigerian politics. Granted, politics is corrupt, but it's height of corruption is in Nigeria. No matter how educated a Nigerian politician is he/she never fails to fall into the same political "jungle business" of Nigerian politicians. If they go back to Nigeria with some positive insight on how to run Nigeria better, then it would be money well spent. But we all know the truth. Chime is no different from Nnamani and all the corrupt selfish Nigerian politicians.
ReplyDeleteAlso, a US based internet news website, www. Icheoku.com, describes the trip as a ‘wasteful gallivanting’ of the legislators to the United States. A news commentary posted on its website on Saturday October 25, 2008, entitled: ENUGU STATE: THIS IS CRAZY! stated: “Icheoku says this ain't right and smacks of a government which does not set its priorities right. What seminar is worth the peoples' 200 million Naira (about $1.2million dollars) in a State where the average Joe lives on less than $2 a day gross income?”
ReplyDeleteThe commentary went further: “It is as pitiful as it is regrettable that all these charlatans in governments throughout Nigeria and now particularly in Enugu state are doing, is to exploit every opportunity to siphon the peoples' money and sometimes use it for frivolous ends… Irrespective of the subterfuge being given for this wasteful jamboree, Icheoku says it is uncalled for as it is an exercise in wasteful spending! And for a state like Enugu State where some people have no jobs, no drinking water, no electricity, no good roads, no medical care, no food etc, it is atrocious to waste such enormous amount of resources for a mere junketing. Admitted that 200 million Naira ordinarily may not sound too much for a state but a more prudent government could have spent this money rather responsibly to create new jobs or fix one of the severally broken things within the infrastructure of the state”.
The foregoing, no doubt, seem to be the thinking of not a few people in the state, a situation that has, ostensibly, attracted an avalanche of criticisms against the project.
Until the controversies trailing the seminar trip of members of the state Assembly and the Chevrolet car revolution subside, the impeachment scares in the state may continue.
E-mail: editor@klinreports.com
N200m London trip of controversy
ReplyDeleteBy Adelani Adepegba
Published: Sunday, 23 Nov 2008
Members of the Enugu State House of Assembly are presently in London for a seminar on lawmaking ostensibly to sharpen their legislative abilities and further enhance their individual skills for the benefit of the state. But the cost of the trip, put at about N200m, has been generating controversy within and outside the state from those who consider it a waste of public fund.
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Governor Sullivan Chime
The 31–member delegation which includes the 24 members of the assembly, the Clerk of the House, two assistants and other aides to the governor, would spend two weeks in the Queen’s land where they would have academic sessions with British parliamentarians and experts on lawmaking as well as a guided tour of the city.
The lawmakers initially planned to visit the United States, but had to settle for the UK due to their inability to obtain visa to the US. The trip was said to be organized by the Special Adviser to the governor on Special Projects and Diaspora Matters, Jude Akubuilo.
Each member of the delegation would get $5,200 (about N.7 million) as estacode at $400 daily for 13 days, besides air ticket, hotel accommodation and feeding allowances and transportation within London city. The charges of the resource persons and the consultants could not be ascertained, but it was expected to run into thousands of pounds.
Many members of the public who felt the money being expended could have been deployed for infrastructure development, described the trip as sheer profligacy and argued that if such amount was spent on the provision of potable water, it would greatly ease the pains of residence who suffer to get the essential commodity.
Some Nigerians in the Diaspora took the issue seriously and made blistering comments against the lawmakers and the state government. An internet news website Icheoku.com lampooned the government, alleging that the trip was a ploy by the governor to buy the loyalty of the legislators
It described the trip as ‘wasteful gallivanting’. A news commentary posted on its website on Saturday October 25, 2008, titled: Enugu State: This Is Crazy! stated: “Icheoku says this ain’t right and smacks of a government which does not set its priorities right. What seminar is worth the peoples’ N200m (about $1.2million dollars) in a state where the average Joe lives on less than $2 a day gross income?”
The commentary went further: “It is as pitiful as it is regrettable that all these charlatans in governments throughout Nigeria and now particularly in Enugu State are doing, is to exploit every opportunity to siphon the peoples’ money and sometimes use it for frivolous ends… Irrespective of the subterfuge being given for this wasteful jamboree, Icheoku says it is uncalled for as it is an exercise in wasteful spending! And for a state like Enugu State where some people have no jobs, no drinking water, no electricity, no good roads, no medical care, no food etc, it is atrocious to waste such enormous amount of resources for mere junketing. Admitted that N200m ordinarily may not sound too much for a state, but a more prudent government could have spent this money rather responsibly to create new jobs or fix one of the severally broken things within the infrastructure of the state.”
The scathing criticism on the issue compelled the government to issue a statement denouncing the report as ‘a smear campaign against the government.’ In the statement last week, the government through Akubuilo denied that the lawmakers had applied for US visa, and insisted that they were not traveling to London, stressing that the government was transparent and open in its business and was more concerned with using its resources to develop the state.
Also in an interview with Sunday Punch, the governor’s aide said he was not the organizer of the trip, insisting that by virtue of his position in the government, he could not process visa for the lawmakers. He also denied making arrangements for the UK resource persons, adding that the entire arrangement was made by the lawmakers themselves. He said be that he had no hands in the traveling plans.
Akubuilo said, “I can tell you that I don’t know anything about the trip. I am not involved in the processing of the visa; if I want to travel myself, there are protocol officials who would handle the visa process. It is not in my place to go to the embassy for that. With my position as a holder of a Ph.D in law and a principal partner of a law firm in Beverly Hills I can’t be an errand boy to the assembly. As for the N200m being quoted by the media as the cost of the trip, the amount to be spent is not up to that; the figure is from the opposition who wants to embarrass the government.”
Many citizens of the state, who spoke to our correspondent nonetheless queried the rationale behind the trip, wondering why the governor who was labouring to be seen as an apostle of transparency and good governance would dole out a huge amount for what they called mere ‘legislative sight-seeing’. “I can’t really see what Enugu lawmakers are going to London to learn; the excursion to London is just a waste of scarce resources. And when you consider the fact that our state is poor without much in terms of development and social amenities, then you would know that the Chime administration is no different from its predecessor. Apart from reconstructing a few roads, nothing has been done on youth unemployment and economic backwardness of the state,” an indigene, Chukwudi Johnson averred.
Chief Ray Nnaji, who is the factional chairman of the state branch of the Peoples Democratic Party, observed that the trip would deal a deadly blow on the already battered economy of the state. The spokesman of the Ebeano political family, the platform with which former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani installed Chime as governor of the state, suspects the motive behind the trip for the legislators at this point in time.
“There is certainly an ulterior motive. Chime is scared of an impeachment move by the House. So, he wants to placate them to be sure that they are not feeling bad so that people will not infiltrate them to remove him from office. In as much as the other aspect that is injurious to Chime’s stay in office has been whittled down through the judicial process, the legislature is the other organ that he will be afraid of. The legislative arm of the government has the powers to question what he is doing and can remove him from office. So, he doesn’t want to joke with them,” Nnaji opined.
A US–based Nigerian and professor of political and economic developments, Bedford Nwabueze Umez, agreed with Chukwudi in his submissions when he said that the state urgently needed both growth and development, and to achieve them, it should modify or discard some major leadership/institutional behavior patterns forthwith. In a paper titled, “The Economic Development of Enugu State: The Leadership/Institutional Equation” Umez lamented the lack of social development of the state, noting the neglect of basic infrastructures in the state, especially in the rural areas. “As a matter of fact, during rainy season, such towns as Amankwo, Akpugoeze, etc, are simply shut off from the entire world. Similarly, those towns have never had electricity since the history of man. They have never had pipe-born water. In fact, they are left to live the life of early man in this day and age.”
The professor, who is of the Department of Government, Lee College, Baytown, explained that Enugu was irrelevant to foreign countries, wondering why its leaders nay African leaders lack the good sense to invest their own money in their own land. He said, “Most of us know some Enugu State leaders who not only have so much money in say American, Canadian, Japanese, German, Swiss or French banks, but are very proud to have such bank accounts. Similarly, most of us know quite well that no leader, say in America, Canada, Japan, German, Switzerland, France has any Kobo in Enugu State banks. To the foreign leaders, not only that Enugu State is irrelevant, but the entire Africa is not as important as other regions. In spite of the degradation, the insult and caricature of our people; and in spite of the obvious fact that our own leaders know more than anyone else that foreign leaders do not have one kobo in our banks, most of them [our leaders] still see great pride in robbing us only to enrich foreign countries.”
In the next few days, the lawmakers would be back to earth from the euphoria of seeing the natural and man–made wonders of London. They would do well to prove the critics wrong by putting the new knowledge and experience to work. This would perhaps justify the huge hole the trip had ripped in the lean purse of the state.