A NIGERIAN LEGISLATOR EARNS N160 MILLION

A lot of people have often seen the Nigerian houses of assemblies as more of financial institutions than democratic. There are more dealings regarding cash than those regarding legislations. The latest insult to Nigerians is the one oozing out of the Nigerian Legislature. It is the issue of the wages of legislatures. It is an open secret that the wages stand at between N160 and N90 Million ($ 1.07 and $600, 000 respectively) per annum for ordinary floor members in the senate and house of reps respectively. Where a legislator is a principal officer, such as a chairperson of any of the various house committees or a mere member of any of such a committee, his earnings go far beyond that by an outrageous amount.

Why is the issue of the wages of the legislators an ‘open secret’? All wages of public officials, either appointed or employed, are set by the National Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commissions. Any legal remuneration in Nigeria is a result of the recommendation of this commission and subsequent approval by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Portion of the wages of MPs in Nigeria that is an outcome of due process is nothing more than N10 Million per annum. It is this amount that a legislator in Nigeria quotes as his annual income, knowing that quoting everything will raise eyebrows.

The harmful consequences of this to the nation are the series of embarrassing events in the two legislative chambers. It is the reason why there have often been series of scandals about money or power leading to seven Senate Presidents in the last ten years. This means that there has been an average of one and half President of the Senate in every one year since 1999. Where money rules, there is little sanity. As a result there is no way we can have the best of legislation in the Senate and House of Reps. Money is also the reason why there have been cases of illegal arm importation to Nigeria prior to elections in 2011. Anybody that earns such an amount of money will want to do anything to defend it by hook or by crook to ensure that it keeps coming. Further more, the outrageous wages gives them the financial muscle to afford these weapons. Why do we need the houses of assembly? We need them for a democracy that is wholesome. The way things are going however, there is a chance we may end up losing the democracy if nothing is done.

What do we do? Since the issue of financial doping in the Senate and House of Reps have become a cause of sleepless nights for Nigerians who feel cheated, then there is the need for Nigerians to inform aspiring legislators of what they want them to do when they get there: ‘work towards the downward review of these mocking wages when you get there’, should be the condition. There are chances that politicians will promise anything just to get there. When this becomes clear, then the voters can consider choosing one of them and support him to get there with the sole aim of correcting this financial aberration.

By democracy, power devolves down to the ordinary man. For this to happen however, the democracy must be real where every vote counts and the people’s decision is taken into account. It is hoped that the huge promises of President Goodluck Jonathan and financial commitments by the nation towards a credible election should not end up as one of the series of failures of the nation.

Garri Proverbs in Nigerian Parlance

The word ‘garri’ has found its way into a few Nigerian proverbs such as:-

1. Throw “sand -sand into one’s garri.” This means to throw sand into one’s garri. When one throws sand into your garri, it means that he has spoilt that meal or denied you the chance of eating it. Thus throwing sand into one’s garri means ending one’s means of livelihood.

2. “Water don pass garri.” This means that the water is in excess of the garri. A meal of garri is made by adding the right quantity of garri into the right amount of boiled water. At times there could be a miscalculation leading to a little quantity of garri added into a disproportionately large amount of water. The outcome is a mess that isn’t pleasant to eat. It is a problem. This is a problem. Thus water don pass garri means that there is a problem.

Examples of usage of garri proverbs

1. “That oga wan throw sand sand for my garri.” This means that that boss wants to end my means of livelihood.

2. “When rubber challenge iron, you know say water don pass garri.” When rubber challenge iron you know that there is a problem.

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How to Process Garri

Garri is a common meal eaten in Nigeria and parts of West Africa. A meal of garri, commonly known as eba, is made by adding the right quantity of garri into boiled water. The garri absorbs the water to become a solid material. It is then eaten with soup that could be okro, egusi, vegetable, banga or any soup of choice.

Garri is actually granulated cassava. The process of making it starts from peeling the cassava. The peeled cassava is then shredded into tiny particles using a suitable machine that could be the rough edges of holes made on a metal sheet using a nail. This is done by running the peeled tubers of cassava against the rough edges of the holes which chops the cassava gradually.

The next phase of the process is to empty the wet cassava granules into porous bags whose ends are tied firmly. The bags are then held firmly in compressors for about a day. The tight grips of the compressors force the water out through the pores of the bags.

The next step is to further dehydrate the material by frying it in large pans. After frying, the garri is then spread on large mats to enable the evaporation of last traces of water.

There are two types of garri found in the market. These are the white and yellow garri. The yellow garri is a derivative of the white one made by simply adding red oil during the frying phase in the garri processing.

Plateau State and Federal Projects

By Yiro Abari

On the June 12, 2009 the Nigerian Minister of information and communication, Dora Akunyili commissioned the sound stage, auditorium and an administrative block of the Nigerian Film Institute which is an arm of the Nigerian film corporation, NFC in Jos. The visit of the minister came two days after a report of the Nation daily newspaper quoted the Plateau State Commissioner of Information, Greg Yenlong decrying a suspected plan by the Federal Government to relocate the NFC to from Plateau State to Abuja. While the minister delivered her speech at the venue of the Institute people listened keenly to hear what she was going to say regarding the relocation rumour. At last she spoke to the relief of many when she noted that the decision has been suspended.

The presence of the NFC in Jos is of remarkable significance to the government and people of Plateau State due to reasons that are known to even elementary school children. Thus the State Government has tried all it can to make the city cozy enough to the corporation. According to the Deputy Governor of the state, Pauline Tallen, it has supported the corporation with N 500 000 and provided land for the development of the permanent site. There is also all the certainty that the administration will continue in that direction. Tallen expressed the hope that the Federal Government will live up to its promise.

A lot of people have had qualms as to the true intention of the federal government to undertake such an action. This is because a lot of progress has been made regarding the development of the permanent site somewhere around Shere Hills. Just last year, a library complete with internet service and a photo laboratory were commissioned at the institute. Then the additional projects the Minister came to commission. These are enough reasons to discourage the Federal Government from relocating the corporation out of the state.

Anything can however, happen and many things of this nature indeed happened to the state in the past. During the second republic (1979-1984), Plateau State suffered an inability to pay salaries for months due to shortage of funds. The Nigerian oil wells weren’t dry, just that the state was been administered by the NPP, an opposition to the ruling party at the national level. Thus the leaders of the second republic were the architects of their own fall. JAMB and CBN zonal offices used to be in Jos but were moved to Bauchi State. Towards the last years of the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo as the President, good news came to Plateau State concerning the location of an inland container depot. Then some people started making frantic efforts to divert the project to Bauchi. At last we were told that it will remain in the state. The project is however yet to commence and a lot of people in Plateau State fear that it may end up as another disappointment. Also towards the dusk of the administration of Obasanjo, the zonal headquarters of the Ministry of information was moved from the state to Niger State.

These to many Nigerians, underscore the inability of our leaders to overcome minor temptations for prejudice and sentiments since no satisfactory explanations are usually given to justify such actions. It is an indication that most of our leaders fail to even understand the dire situation of our country and the fact that if we must move on, there is the need for us to build a culture of fairness as failure to do sends to wrong message to upcoming generations thereby nurturing a culture of chaos. In view of the challenges we now face as a country, we should be the last people to take such issues for granted.

Problems of Public Education in Nigeria

My first position in school after a terminal exam was eleventh out of a class of about thirty pupils. My dad was so pleased that he went to the slaughter and bought meat which was used to prepare pepper soup, specifically for me. Despite my dad's satisfaction, it was not the best I could do. I had the potential to be among the best three in the class. Had I known how to read at the time, I will have been there at the top.

Our class was a class of mixed age brackets. There were pupils of the right age for that class at the time but there were also others who tried life without education and decided against it after seeing how unpleasant life without education could be. Those were the members of the class who could do some form of reading. They were the ones at the top of the examination charts. It was after three years that life outside of school thought me how to read. By then half of the six years of primary school duration was already spent. I was ten and have started following my mum to the choir where I learnt the sound of letters from the music octave of d: r: m: f: s: l: t: d.

The school curriculum was not designed to teach the sounds of letters and how to combine these sounds to form words. Immediately, I started reading and used that advantage to rise to the top of the examination charts where I rightly belong by virtue of my inborn ability.

With time, I have also come to realize that there is no place for poetry in the curriculum. My experience with poetry after coming to know about it, also by accident, is that it stirs your creative spirit thereby making you very resourceful.

That was the legacy of British colonial powers. I have often heard that the colonial powers gave us just enough education to enable us work as clerks in the colonial administrative offices. In view of what I have seen however, I conclude that the situation was worst than that. I don't think that a clerk could be of any use if he cannot read.

The nascence and proliferation of private schools in the last twenty years turned out to be the blessing that provided an option to many parents. The private schools have the nursery where a child is taught the alphabets and their sounds and how to combine them to form words. By the time a child leaves the nursery after three years, he has already known how to read. Reading makes sense to him and is thus able to take full advantage of the six years of primary education and the levels after that.

The next big predicament of public education is the conservatism of our administrators. Despite the big difference that is demonstrated by private schools, they have failed to understand that there is the need to modify the curriculum to enable it give result. They complicate matters by strangling the system and refusing to allow people with an agenda of change to find their way into system. When such people manage to find their way in, their suggestions are viewed as something that can bring about total brake down. The schools they administer are deprived of anything form of motivation that can improve learning, be they books, quality teachers, or decent classes. These are the people for whom billions are appropriated yearly in terms of salaries without anything to show for it.

Additional problems are political. Most governments often see the leadership of ministries as positions that should be given to political friends as a reward for their contribution to the victory of the government at the polls. No regard is given to the training of the appointee, whether he is an educationist or not.

Since a large number of Nigerian children particularly in the rural areas attend public schools, it could be said that the future of the Nigerian nation depends to a large extent, on the state of public schools. This is the reason why the government must take seriously the state of public education in the country. There is the need to improve the curriculum to include the crucial areas mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, train staff to teach them and provide the resources needed to support the sector for optimal results.

The Cherubim and Seraphim and Modern Day Relevance

In Nigeria today there is a proliferation of liberal churches preoccupied with issues of prosperity rather than eternal salvation. Such churches have become relevant because of the old fashioned way of traditional churches that scold their congregation every weekend for not living righteous lives.

The orthodox churches over the past decade and half have had to grabble with the problem of mass exodus of their members to the new churches. In Northern Nigerian the most dominant churches have been the Evangelical Churches of West Africa (ECWA) and the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN). They have conducted their activities in Hausa, the most spoken language in the northern region of the country for more than one hundred years. The threat of the new generation churches have now spurred them into starting English branches in an effort to hold on to the younger generation of their flocks.

The Cherubim and Seraphim

him Church of Christ was founded by Prophet Moses Orimolade Tunolase at Ikare in the present Ondo State in South Western Nigeria. In recent time, the church too has become preoccupied with the strong desire for relevance to potential members. While the repulsion of younger members of the ECWA and COCIN churches have come as a result of the desire for sermons in English a symbol of modernity and to move away from conservative preachers with modest education, the Cherubim and Seraphim in addition to similar problems is generally misconstrued as a church that practices a hybrid religion of Christianity and a traditional African religion. The exotic elements of the church that have kept away potential members are the exclusive use of Yoruba and the manner of worship that bears the semblance of a traditional practice. Members most wear white garments and a red girdle. They must also leave their footwears at the entrance of the church. The church has also been associated with children wearing matted tubes of hair commonly referred to as dreadlocks.

Though the church later spread to other parts of the world after it was founded in the Southwest, its Nigerian congregation has largely remained Yoruba. In 1925 when it was founded the only religions were the diverse forms of African voodoos. In South Western Nigeria, there were practices like the worship of sango (god of thunder), ogun (god of iron), esilouku (god of water), etc. Members of the early churches in black Africa as a whole were either animists or former members of traditional religious groups. Changing from a traditional African worship to a church was a mere change of the Supreme Being that was been worshiped. The posture for asking for favour, forgiveness or exultation of the Supreme Being may not have changed much. It was difficult to draw a distinct dividing line between the traditionalist and Christians. Thus the only way the semblance of traditional Yoruba practice could have been expunged from the church would have been through converts from other tribes or through later generation of educated members.

The right to wear whatever one chooses to a place of worship has led to flamboyance in church and the distraction from the primary reason of going to church. Thus a homogenous costume takes care of that problem and explains why the cherubim and Seraphim insist on white garments for all members during worship. When Moses was to receive the Ten Commandments, the voice of God instructed him to remove his sandals, as the place where he stood was holy. In this regard members of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church most leave behind their shoes at the entrance of the church. The issue of Children with dada, as the hairstyle is known in Nigeria, are however not exclusive to the C and S Church. When such children are born the church seeks for guidance through prayers. The decision to cut the hair or not follows a revelation that come as a respond to the prayer.

In view of the threat of modern churches the Cherubim and Seraphim have resorted to efforts to keep their congregation. They have not only embarked on the education of the general public to understand the actual nature of the church but have also resorted to the establishment of English branches to hold on to their children as members and attract people from elsewhere. If the church must succeed in its campaign, it must also renounce the use of white garments and allow members to come into the temple with their sandals. Majority of today’s Christians don’t go to church for the word and are thus not prepared for any regimentation.

Challenges of the Automobile Industry in the 21st Century

By Anthony E Emuan

Business in the automobile engineering will continue to thrive and given the peculiar state of underdevelopment in the rail, water and air transportation subsector of our economy, the market opportunities in the motor trade business are enormous. This fact can easily be confirmed by the many vehicle dealers one sees everywhere in our major cities.

The motor trade business generally is divided into two components, namely, sales and after sales. Whereas sales involves that activity of canvassing and getting prospective clients to exchange their hard earned money for the seller’s brand, after sales have to do with providing maintenance services, spare parts and warranty to ensure that the customer enjoys the maximum benefits of service and comfort derivable from the use of the vehicle bought and it is in this later component of business that real challenges lie. It has become pretty difficult for the Nigerian motorist to find the ‘one stop’ automobile services vendor that can provide the satisfaction of the total marketing approach of modern business. This poor state of affairs has been further aggravated at the turn of the century due mainly to high-tech in design, service technology in terms of tools and equipment and quality human capital required to deliver necessary technical services.

Challenges In The Motor Trade After Sales Business In The 21st Century

From 1860 when Lenoir, the Frenchman built the first internal combustion engine that was capable of driving itself with coal gas as fuel with an efficiency of about 3%, the new generation car of the 21st century has undergone tremendous transformation. The quest for higher efficiency, improved safety, comforts and issues of the environment have moved the new-generation car far away from the simple machine that it was. More recently, the term MECHANOTRONICS has emerged. This is because it is increasingly becoming difficult to find a mechanical system in the modern car that is not controlled or managed by electronic means or computer as it is more commonly called by laymen. (fuel, ignition, transmission, door locks, steering, brakes, suspension, air conditioning, lighting etc). These changes or improvement in technology though desirable have brought with it challenges for the 21st Century entrepreneur of automobile engineering practice. What are the challenges?

Challenge no. 1: Death of Skilled Human Capital

Today’s roadside mechanics are endangered specie. Automobile craftsmen and technicians with the requisite skills to handle these high-tech vehicles are very few and difficult to find. Unfortunately, as a nation, we are doing very little for the education and training of low and middle level technical manpower. This ugly trend is evident from the preponderance of public and private educational institutions that only offer non-technical education and training. How many technical and vocational training centres are available for the acquisition of technical skills in this country?

High tech training is key and imperative for success in the 21st Century automobile engineering practice in view of the sophistication in design and service equipment technology. These new generation cars are expensive and their maintenance requirements should not be left in the hands of unqualified and inexperienced personnel (PAN Story Rationalized Dealership Network in the Year 2000)

Challenge No. 2: Specialized Tools, Equipment And Technical Information.

Special tools are needed for the effective diagnosis and repair of the new generation car. The challenge here is that the financial capital required for adequate tooling is high and matters are not helped by the low-volume of work environment vis-à-vis return on investment which makes it imperative to operate multiple-brand repair workshop. This situation is even further compounded by the brand exclusivity phenomenon.

Challenge No. 3: The Number of Parts Have Increased in the New Generation Car

The numbers of parts have increased and is possible to have variants of the same part. The large importation of used cars with all kinds of technical specifications (eg American specifications, European specifications ete) has increased the complexity and down time of sourcing genuine parts. Lean Inventory Management and Central Warehousing has brought enormous efficiencies into vehicle manufacturing processes but the same can not be said of parts sourcing and supplies for after sales purposes.

Challenge No. 4. Poor Remuneration: Even though a man will work into a showroom with pride and easily part with millions of naira to own a car, the same man may contest or haggle a maintenance bill of a few thousands of naira. Discounts are demanded and sometimes payments are differed or even repudiated on grounds of any dissatisfaction over a service or repair. The irony is that there is so many headaches where there is so little economic reward. This is the main reason most car dealers prefer to stop at the sales function and this is one country where many people are not discerning at all when it comes to purchasing a vehicle or any piece of equipment for that matter. I see all kinds of vehicle brand on our roads and I cannot stop to wonder how they are maintained and a vehicle that is not adequately maintained constitutes a hazard on our roads.

Challenge No. 5: The Dynamics of Technological Change:

The constant and regular change or modifications in the technology puts the entrepreneur in automobile engineering practice in a position where he is perpetually contending with the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the future.

For example:

A) What will be the new trend tomorrow?

B) How will services be delivered then?

C) What new delivery competencies will be required?

D) How will the competencies be acquired?

E) What proactive steps must be taken today to help remain in business tomorrow?

Some ten years ago, it was inconceivable that a motor mechanic would need to be computer literate. Today, to be able to partake in training course in the Toyota training school you have to be able to use the computer.

In conclusion the automobile engineering business is lucrative one and will remain even more so in the 21st Century. The entry barrier into the business has been raised higher due to challenges already enunciated above and the automobile maintenance service and repair trade will cease to b an all-comers business.