Pro-Biafra Protests: Mr. President, Rein In The Military!

by Eze Eluchie

The President and Commander in Chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces and the new Minister of Defense should caution the military personnel from making comments on matters far above their mandate and scope.

The recent Press Releases signed by and comments made by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar and the Acting Director, Army Public Relations (DAPR), Col. Sani Usman, threatening to unleash the military on persons engaged in peaceful demonstrations over agitations for self-actualization in the South-East and South-South is uncouth, unprofessional, quasi-criminal and most unbecoming of trained soldiers whose pay and upkeep depends on public funds.

Are the comments by the top brass of our military indicative of an already planned operation to commit heinous crimes against an identified people in their legitimate quest for self-determination and self-actualization? Are these comments a furtherance of General Muhammadu Buhari’s avowed position to treat unequally those areas that gave him ‘5% votes’ during the last presidential elections? 

The issue gets more worrisome when it is realized that those making these threats against peaceful protesters hail from regions far removed from the protesters. These comments coming at a time when our military has been bogged down by intractable terror attacks by Boko Haram in our Northeastern region leaves much room to be desired.

Dialogue and peaceful arbitration remains the answer. Such threats to ‘crush’ peaceful demonstrations have no place in our current efforts at democratic governance.

General Muhammadu Buhari, the world is watching with keen interests....

Pictures: Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar and Col. Sani Usman, Army Public Relations Director.

MTN Fine: Appropriate Punishment for Recalcitrant Corporate Bodies

by Eze Eluchie

I congratulate the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) for its landmark decision to slam the recalcitrant mobile telecommunication service provider, MTN, with an appropriate fine for its blatant transgression and disrespect for our domestic laws and regulations. This is the way to go!

Considering it is not possible to incarcerate a corporate body, imposing fines for violations or infractions of laws and regulations remains the most viable means to ensure compliance with regulations. 

A key factor which underscores the sovereignty of any State is its ability to make and enforce domestic legislation's geared towards the betterment of its population. When foreign organizations operating within the territory of a state are allowed to flout domestic laws at will and believe that they can get away with such violations by bribing some regulatory agency officials or other unethical practices, the integrity of a state and its institutions and its very sovereignty are brought into question.

The practice of penalizing corporate bodies which violate national laws or act inappropriately is universal. The United States, European Union and other States routinely adopt this practice to achieve corporate compliance with State objectives. Far heftier fines have been imposed in other climes, such as the U.S.$258 million fine imposed on Deutsche Bank AG by New York and US Banking regulators for infringing on Banking Laws (US$200 million of the sum was actually imposed by New York State); The U.S.$9 Billion fine paid to US authorities by French Bank, BNP Paribas SA for infringing US banking regulations; a total of over U.S.$259 Billion has been paid by Banks for infractions of national laws to governments in the United States and Western European since 2009.

Clearly, levying fines on corporate organizations for infractions of national laws is one veritable source of income and punishment for bad behavior which governments in sub-Sahara Africa seem to have neglected. Considering the level of impunity with which multinational conglomerates operating across sub-Sahara Africa go about their businesses, the harm occasioned to the governments and peoples of the various States will certainly be ameliorated to a great extent if appropriate and commensurate fines are levied on and collected from these wayward corporate bodies.

The fine imposed by the Nigerian Government against telecommunication giant, MTN, is very much in order. Other serial violators of our domestic laws which the Government should actively commence penalty procedures against include the Construction companies (who continue to transport their staff and materials in very compromising manners despite several warnings), the Banks (which continue to brazenly launder funds and inordinately impose spurious charges on their customers) and of course the crude oil producing companies (whose practices continue to decimate our populations and environment in our oil producing areas.

For once, I am glad to support an initiative of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency.

Comparative fines levied in the United States and EU countries.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/litigation-costs_swiss-bank-fines-dwarfed-by-us-british-peers/41621318

Picture: Logo of MTN Group

Our Natural Disasters

by Eze Eluchie

Hurricanes, we don’t have;

Tsunamis we likewise don’t see;

Monsoons are alien to our clime;

Earthquakes never come our way;

Heat waves occur in other continent;

Mudslides we only hear of in distant shores;

Snow storms, to us, are the stuff fables are made of;

Yet our lands suffer more devastation than other continents from our unique natural disasters – a kleptocratic rulership and an imbecilic followership!

A rulership whose kleptocratic disposition serves to strip their populations of their humanity, enslave minds, retard thought processes, destroy the environment and natural endowments whilst at the same time managing to make themselves laughing stock in the international arena; and a followership whose will to resist oppression has seemingly been whittled down by years of malnutrition and deft manipulations by external elements intent on retaining a strangle hold over the riches of the continent.  

This has been, and remains, the bane of Sub-Sahara Africa – overcoming this dual calamity is our hope for meaningful existence and positive contribution to humanity.

It is possible to overcome. We simply have to desire and work for the change. 

The cost will be dire, but the gains of such resolve and actions far surpasses the death we are living. 

Picture: Some African Natural Disasters and the real Natural Disasters