As I wrote in this column last week, so much is happening in this country that some matters or incidents, which deserve sustained public attention and debate, simply get a flick through and the citizens just move on.
I found it quite disturbing that 1,100 pieces of rifles were imported into the country and it’s as if nothing happened.
The Nigeria Customs announced the seizure of the weapons at the Tin Can port, Apapa, Lagos last Monday. It was the third seizure this year alone and the fourth within 12 months.
Let’s do a recall. On November 29, 2016 two containers were impounded at the same Tin Can Island Port. Instead of personal effects, which the owners claimed were in the containers Customs officials found military rifles.
A bigger catch was made on January 22, this year. This time, the consignment had been cleared from the port and the container was almost near its destination when operatives of the Customs Federal Operations Unit (FOU) in Ikeja, intercepted the consignment of 49 boxes containing a total of 661 pump action rifles concealed with steel doors and other goods in a truck on the Oshodi-Apapa Highway.
The arms smugglers are not done yet. In May, 440 pieces of assorted pump action rifles, were found concealed inside a 40-foot container also at the Apapa seaport.
Interestingly, the three arms caches comprising 2,201 assorted rifles seized in Lagos this year originated from Turkey.
Earlier this year after the seizure the Customs made on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, I wrote a piece in this column, entitled “I don’t believe we need more guns.” I still maintain that we have enough firearms and ammunition in the country to do the worst harm and it is not necessary at all to bring in more. And are we not contending with the havoc already in the number of innocent souls lost to armed robbers, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and herders throughout the country?
Why must Turkey be exporting firearms to Nigeria? Is that country interested in destabilizing Nigeria; in encouraging Nigerians to kill one another or in spreading anarchy and terror in our land? The Nigerian government must utilize intelligence and diplomatic means to unravel the motive and syndicate behind these Made-in-Turkey weapons of death.
And why are the arms merchants still encouraged to do this evil business? Is it that there is not enough deterrence? Yes, we have laws against illegal importation of firearms and ammunition. The Firearms Act of 1990. Section 18 of the Act prohibits importation of firearms and ammunition and prescribes a 10-year jail term for offenders. Is the 10-year jail term not severe enough? Perhaps, lawmakers should consider tougher penalties, considering the dangers possession of illegal guns pose to lives and property.
The increasing influx of arms, imported by Nigerian businessmen also reflects the level to which morality has sunk in our country. If the importers’ motive is to make money, must this quest be at the expense of the lives and property of fellow citizens? Why import guns that will be bought and used by armed robbers, kidnappers and armed cattle herders? Why import guns that will be bought by politicians for use by their thugs to perpetuate themselves in power against the wishes of the citizens? I shudder at the thought that this arms influx may be in preparation for the 2019 general elections.
I have noted before that unfortunately, selflessness and patriotism have taken flight in our country and the change promised by the reigning administration had not begun to touch the hearts of citizens who in their bid to make money for themselves do not care if the weapons they are importing would eventually end up in the hands of those who would use them to kill their own family members. Again I ask who will save Nigeria from Nigerians?
Re: Recession on my mind
Big grammar! Experts will never stop confusing the rest of us that one wonders whether they live in another Nigeria. To the average Nigerian, the real picture and reality is on our dining tables those who are lucky to still have the legs of the table. Nothing has changed to improve the lives of the common man. We are worse off now than three years ago, simple. Let Government spin doctors keep talking to themselves, not us! Nigerians are suffering, QED!
–Tony Enyinta, Isuikwuato, Abia State.
Abdulfatah, although Lai Mohammed, on television, announced recession being over in Nigeria, but in the process he stated that “BETTER TIMES” would come later. That, if well analysed, proves that whatever has been put in place as dossier to recession is yet to manifest in the lives of Nigerians who are brunt-bearers. So, where would one place such a corrupt claim than political game’s podium? Your fact-finding efforts on which the platforms recession’s death was based, which are increase in crude oil sale and agriculture, are vulnerable.
Crude oil sale could drop anytime if buyers, who process it to final products, decide to play “smarty” business to increase their profit margin. It would have been more profitable if Nigeria were engaged in processing of crude. And your indisputable analysis of the state of agriculture, in your piece, renders placing seizure of recession on it a laughable economic index. To an ordinary Nigerian, all the gamut of professional analyses of GDP are, as a friend put it, “GROSS DOMESTIC POVERTY”. What the people appreciate is experiencing the effects of receding recession in their lives and not making fools of them with unusure “BETTER TIMES” later. A situation, where a fifty naira fold of fufu is the size of folded palm of a slim adolescent and a medium sized yam tuber going for a thousand naira from three hundred, would not convince ordinary Nigerians that recession is waning, let alone dying, in the system. ABS is a good project, if, as you advised, it covers more prospective farmers. Output of consumable agricultural products would increase and by extension make consumable products available at affordable prices to Nigerians. Government should act fast along this line to assuage patient Nigerians’ economic traumas. The earlier, the better. May God save Nigeria, Amen.
–Lai Ashadele.
Despite that Nigerians are yet to feel the exit of recession we must give this government kudos for their hard work to ensure we get out recession.
–Mrs. Ijeoma NN
In your piece, ‘Recession on my Mind’, Abdulfatah, you comprehensively enumerated the challenges the Nigerian farmer, whether big or small is faced with today. And your argument is convincing and reflects the reality on ground.
The major challenge now is if those whose duty it is to assist these farmers to improve their fortune are ready to give heed.
No matter the claims anybody makes regarding our economy exiting recession, it remains hollow if we cannot produce the food we eat. The bane of governance in Nigeria has been in the areas of lack of continuity in policies, corruption and pettiness. Every succeeding government will first of all spend time to rubbish the policies of the previous government no matter the appropriateness of the policies in addressing the issues it is targeted at.
Without fully understanding the reasoning behind the policies or programs, the succeeding administration will either jettison it altogether, or begin to adjust its workings and in the process those that had keyed into it with all their resources will get frustrated and disengage or just tag along without interest or zeal. At the end of the day, scarce resources are wasted and everybody is dissatisfied. I am very sure that if the programmes of Dr. Adesina, the agriculture minister in the last administration were sustained, some of the issues you raised would have been behind us. All this is born out of the bitter politics we play. This attitude affects the entire spectrum of our national life. As it is in education, so it is in infrastructural development, the power sector and health to mention a few areas. Any effort being made by the government say in agriculture must be comprehensive enough to cover investment, harvest, storage and marketing. Profitability for the farmer must also be addressed because if after toiling to produce he ends up losing part of his investment due to excessive supply in the market in a particular season, many farmers will be deterred from further investment in the sector; this therefore takes us back to square one.
For many Nigerians, we can only celebrate exiting recession, when we produce enough food to feed ourselves on consistent basis; when we earn foreign exchange from the export of goods and services and not from crude oil. What we are seeing is temporary and could get worse depending on how calm the Niger Delta remains and the price of crude oil in the market; and we have no control over these situations. Thanks.
––-Emma Okoukwu