Correction on Prof. Odekunle
GREETINGS. The personable and gifted Prof. Femi Odekunle is a colleague and friend. I believe he got his Ph.D. in Criminology before 1983 from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1983, I had earned my Ph.D. also in the same field from The Florida State University. I make this clarification because your write-up of January 8, 2016 on back page of the Daily Sun seemed to create the impression that the erudite Odekunle obtained his doctorate in 1983. I think the clarification is necessary to give credit where credit is due and for histo-intellectual accuracy. I enjoyed the piece. Cheers. Prof. P.E. Igbinovia, University of Benin
Subsidy removal not new policy
THIS line of arguments has always been advanced by those opposed to subsidy regime, but what was always omitted is the strategy to pin and pen down those cartels, which short changed Nigerians to benefit from the subsidy fraud.
The most important thing here is that the last administration has been justified by their bold attempts to remove the subsidy, which the current administration in conjunction with the Labour and Civil Organisations resisted vehemently. – Bile Samaila
My concern on Forex
YOUR back page article in the January 8 Daily Sun with the title ‘The worker, the Naira, subsidy and Prof. Femi Odekunle’ was very interesting.
My concerns about how the scarce foreign exchange is managed are that (1) the CBN and indirectly the Government shall decide the productive purposes, which would get the rationed foreign exchange; (2) that there is no end destination for this policy and benchmarks with time schedules for getting there.
You and I (ie the people generally) take better economic decisions than the government, the CBN inclusive. However, the inefficient and wasteful, who got us to where we are now, are blaming us for the situation and have appropriated the power to make things worse. The absence of end destinations, benchmarks and time lines for verification of their success or failure means that as they progressively make things worse, they would blame us again for their failure and increase exchange controls until the economy comes to a standstill. Maybe then we would rediscover another painful structural adjustment programme to rebuild the economy and stabilise the Naira. Didn’t Nigeria pass that route to darkness in the 1980s? Why must we repeat our stupid misadventures?
My point, therfore, is that we should skip the attempts by the CBN or Government to control the economy or ration foreign exchange. We should fast forward immediately to a structural adjustment programme and use it to rebuild the economy and stabilise the Naira now that the damage is less rather than wait for the economy to be comatose, as a result of the CBN & Government controls, before doing so. Gilbert Obiajulu Uzodike 1 Igwe Orizu Road, Otolo, Nnewi
Thanks for making case for students
DEAR Garba, it’s really interesting to read how you remembered with nostalgia your first encounter with Prof Odekunle. That was when we were still battling with the almighty JAMB. I wish to really thank you for pleading the case of Nigerian students in foreign land. Honestly, they must be going through hell, making a living in the face of current forex quagmire. I know the President, who is student-friendly must have a solution to their plight. On the issue of oil subsidy debacle, I really don’t know why the NLC shouldn’t let go the subsidy if the gains from its removal, as the government would make us understand, will go a long way in fixing the battered economy. If we have been enjoying the subsidy for all these years without anything positive to show for it, why can’t we try its removal and then compare the two regimes. As the Igbo say, if a hooligan marries two husbands, she would know the one that is better. Happy New Year. Dr. Maurice Umeakuka, Federal Polytechnic, Oko
Let us brace ourselves and support Kachikwu, Emefiele.
I enjoyed your last article on the economy. The long and short of it is that we must all brace ourselves for the removal of subsidy because we can no longer sustain it. That Dr. Kachikwu has managed to come this far shows how far he can go if he is supported by the people and Mr. President. On the Naira, I want to reluctantly agree with you that the CBN Governor is showing courage under fire. It is difficult to imagine what anybody could do differently under the circumstances. What Nigerians must do is to show patience and appreciation. Good luck to Kachikwu and Emefiele, both of whom are ironically from the South East, which is facing marginalisation. Jimmy N. Eze, Asaba-Delta State.
Re: Goodbye to impunity.
I disaggree
Garba, no matter how long it takes a man to hide his real essence, he would without prompting reveal it inadvertently some day.
Without prejudice, you reserve the right of opinion on any issue because such is subjective.
If we decide not to deceive ourselves, impunity is engrained in despotic acts, which are blatantly displayed by President Buhari in his governance; thus far.
He swore to uphold the tenets of the constitution, which created three arms of government each of which is autonomous. Their creation was geared towards check- mating the excesses of one by another. A situation where the judiciary, as one of autonomous arms, granted an accused bail and the Presidency, another equally autonomous arm, not only annulled but also publicly confirmed complicity in such denigration of judicial order is nothing more than brazen impunity, which is condemnable.
Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade is a noble and necessary tool to reduce corrupt practices, since corruption cannot be wiped out completely from the system, which is, impunity of blatant stealing of the nation’s wealth. But in so doing, it must be seen to be fair and non-selective.
Buhari’s public pronouncement that the people around him in governance are not corrupt, which is a brazen impunity as well, was premised on the dictum of an accused being presumed innocent until proven, by the court, as guilty of the allegation made against him. Buhari would have been magnanimous if he applied that in his handling of Dasukigate issue.
This is not to say that Dasuki and his cohorts under trial should not be punished, as required in law, if they are found guilty but, before then, the rule of law should be maintained by all concerned.
Even the media, including you, which should have corrected the infractions, by the Presidency, in the handling of the issue has adjudged Dasuki and his team guilty ahead of court verdict. What an impunity!
God save Nigeria.
LAI ASHADELE (layiashadele@yahoo.com)