Literature
- The Price Of Words
The choice of words is important to everyone as much as it is to the writer. Written or spoken, words are like eggs, delicate and vulnerable. It is not just about saying what one means or meaning what one says. It is more about being careful about...
- Umaisha Unleashes His Hoodlums On The Public
Hoodlums, a collection of short stories by Sumaila Isah Umaisha, an Associate Editor with the New Nigerian Newspapers, and Chairman of the Kaduna State Chapter of Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, was presented to the public in Abuja,...
- Bumpy Ride To True Democratic Governance
Today marks another milestone in Nigeria?s bumpy democratic journey as Goodluck Jonathan is being inaugurated at the Eagle Square, Abuja, as the country?s president for the next four years. The occasion is one of the grandest celebrations in recent times...
- Maku As A Sign Of Hope
Mr. Labaran Maku?s appointment as the Minister of State for Information and Communication could be seen as a result of his eloquent past achievements and a sign of better days ahead for him and the Nigerian youth in general. For, he is an embodiment...
- Honouring Jp Clark Is Celebrating Delta?s Achievements
Mr. Godini Gabriel Darah, campaign director of Governor Emmanuel Uduguaghan?s re-election project, represented the governor at the recent colloquium organised by the Association of Nigerian Authors to celebrate the 50 years of JP Clark?s writings, in...
Literature
Is this the Goodluck we need?
After the headline-grabbing moves that culminated in empowering Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, the dust is now settling. And as it settles, Nigerians are silently watching to see if the Goodluck they clamoured for is the Goodluck they got, or is indeed a good luck. Will he be able to weather the storm of rejection by remnants of the opposition against him who are still conspicuously lurking around and even threatening court action? He was hitherto known to Nigerians as a loyal, humble and quiet vice president ? a lucky chap who rose from being a deputy governor to being a governor, then a vice president and now an acting president with all the powers of the President. Will a man with such an image of a happy-go-lucky person have the mettle to tackle the numerous problems that have become the lot of this country?
As regards the first question, one could say he is already confronting the opposition head-on. The tactical ?sacking? of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, barely 24 hours after assuming the position of acting president is enough signal to others who regard him as incapable of acting on behalf of President Yar?Adua. As Aondoakaa now licks his wounds in his new office at the obscure Ministry of Special Duties, his fellow collaborators must be having a rethink. But this does not mean that the Acting President should now relax. He should watch his back all the time because this is Nigeria, the land of evil geniuses!
While being on his guard, however, he should at the same time urgently address himself to the second question, which is the task of dealing with the copious challenges that the administration?s seven-point agenda was designed to tackle. As he pointed out last week when the Eminent Elders Group, led by the former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, paid him a solidarity visit, time is short. ?As a government, we are time bound. We are looking at just a little over a year or so to round off this administration,? he had said. So, he has to within the limited time quickly deliver on some of the administration?s promises, especially in critical areas like power and security.
It is clear that industrial development cannot take place without electricity. In fact, with the current level of power generation in the country, the vision of becoming one of the world?s leading economies by 2020 can only be attained in our daydreams. The Acting President should, therefore, pay more attention to the infrastructural reforms in this sector through the development of sufficient and adequate power supply.
As regards security, ethno-religious and intra-religious crises, particularly in the Northern part of the country, and violent attacks and kidnaps in the Niger Delta area have over the years presented the government with major challenges. The killing and maiming of innocent people in the guise of religion need to be stopped, and one of the major ways to do this is to reform the security structure to be more effective in crisis prevention and management. In the Niger Delta, where youth restiveness is costing the country billions of dollars in oil revenue and scaring away investors, the amnesty deal and all it entails must be pursued to a logical conclusion.
To really live up to his name, the Acting President needs to do these and more, as the effort will not only boost the country?s ailing economy but, on a personal level, go a long way in debunking the belief already held in certain quarters that he is just a weight-throwing acting president, full of hot air that would eventually come to nought.
He could indeed use the exalted position to make a number of statements. Coming from the Southern ethnic minority, he could, through brilliant performances, deflate the bigheaded belief among some political elite that only those from the so-called three major ethnic groups can rule this country. What he lacks in sound political footing could be made up with his legendary administrative dexterity. He could also attest to the fact that politics is all about result-oriented service to the people and not about the illusive Nigerian concept of power to the people.
Above all, the Acting President could prove to the entire world that he is really the good luck we need, the kind of luck that the suffering masses of this country have been waiting for, and not another reign of bad luck. He has all the powers, all he requires is the will to rise to the occasion and thus confirm that he is in reality the Goodluck we need.
(c) Written by SUMAILA UMAISHA and published in the 15/2/10 edition of the New Nigerian newspaper.
- The Price Of Words
The choice of words is important to everyone as much as it is to the writer. Written or spoken, words are like eggs, delicate and vulnerable. It is not just about saying what one means or meaning what one says. It is more about being careful about...
- Umaisha Unleashes His Hoodlums On The Public
Hoodlums, a collection of short stories by Sumaila Isah Umaisha, an Associate Editor with the New Nigerian Newspapers, and Chairman of the Kaduna State Chapter of Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, was presented to the public in Abuja,...
- Bumpy Ride To True Democratic Governance
Today marks another milestone in Nigeria?s bumpy democratic journey as Goodluck Jonathan is being inaugurated at the Eagle Square, Abuja, as the country?s president for the next four years. The occasion is one of the grandest celebrations in recent times...
- Maku As A Sign Of Hope
Mr. Labaran Maku?s appointment as the Minister of State for Information and Communication could be seen as a result of his eloquent past achievements and a sign of better days ahead for him and the Nigerian youth in general. For, he is an embodiment...
- Honouring Jp Clark Is Celebrating Delta?s Achievements
Mr. Godini Gabriel Darah, campaign director of Governor Emmanuel Uduguaghan?s re-election project, represented the governor at the recent colloquium organised by the Association of Nigerian Authors to celebrate the 50 years of JP Clark?s writings, in...