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Building Unity, Character and strength in the Borno council after the election, series…….1

Published

2 years ago

October 16, 2022

News Net Global

My Binoculars: Of partisan politicians, defection, lack of consultations and the pending rebellion of young people against the present unproductive political order

Building Unity, Character and strength in the Borno council after the election, series…….1

Now that the team has been assembled, what next?

By: Sam Kayode

In my closing campaign discuss, I congratulated everyone in advance for choosing wisely. It was a kind of spiritual pronouncement in line with my conviction of positive thinking which I share with Chairman Dauda Ilya. I am an ardent believer in the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ) and what it stands for. I have never known any union that protects his own since I started practicing three decades ago. That is why I used to wonder why some seemingly renegade proprietors will establish their media outfits and forbid their staff from their rights of application to be members. You should never allow any media owner stop you from learning the ropes of being a thorough bred practitioner through the NUJ. It’s the NUJ that will transform you from an ordinary writer to a journalist.

Hear this, in some states in Nigeria, the NUJ is like a professional pool where organizations send their students on industrial attachment to go learn how to become reporters. They don’t just go to media houses but the nuj has also been recognized as a training ground. In a place like “iwe irohin” house in Abeokuta, students learn so much by being attached to officials like the chair or secretary of the council for instance. They teach them the job and they are present in every news conferences watching and learning how to ask and generate news from news makers. They learn how to walk or talk differently from an ordinary writer and how to be real gentlemen forbidden from physical fights you find in some other unions in Nigeria. They study the ethics and other trainings taught in journalism schools. There is a professional bliss in the air not just the air of cheap wedding parties which ours has been known for after a paltry sum of N15,000. Or a situation in which street urchins take over the compound and litter the place like ours.

In sane climes, devoid of insurgency, the only people that come to unwind have their section and they comport themselves decently or be thrown out. Outsiders or shop owners have no right to tell us how to run the place by hiding behind our generators to smoke weed even in broad daylight. They are given instructions and they obey naturally, choosing their favorite food vendor because of the way colleagues in the Exco comport themselves. The nuj is not the place for open drug taking or free meetings. People pay for the usage of every space for meetings. Meetings under the tree has its price. The one in the hall has its price. Even for parking cars inside the first half, non members should pay as much as N50 and we issue tickets. And that is why you need a security guard who will collect our revenue and remit to the union account on a daily basis. That is the only way we can begin to pick up in this post insurgency era. You will be shocked about how many 50 naira you can make in a day because people will be sure their cars cannot be stolen especially when we have paved the place with interlocking tiles.

Also Read: https://dailypost.ng/2022/10/08/iswap-kills-8-boko-haram-members-seizes-large-quantities-of-ammunition/

We must be able to eliminate a certain category of people from using our space for weddings by moving the price upwards by 100 percent if we are serious about revenue. Members too whose nuclear family must marry can be given rebates that would be decided by congress. If using the space becomes 30k, then we will not be patronized by battalions but well controlled crowds of decent people we can control. We can ask members to pay only 10 percent of that which is 3,000 for a specific number of years. And we build more toilets for nawojians that would be our eyes in the first half. Others too will have their toilets to avoid the excuse of getting into our half.

Congratulations Comrades Abdulsalam and Timothy and other challenges

Gentlemen, sometimes it takes quiet prayers and then “wisdom” which is an ingredient we all need to live in this short life we have before us to succeed. Without wisdom you will never be able to hold on to the philosophy of “truth” which the NUJ and even the guild of editors stands upon. I am happy that chairman Dauda Ilya has been able to exercise his powers by the appointment of two more members to help them build this council with the help of congress to take us to where we should be. Of course one of them Abdulsalam is equally a lawyer, so our first law advise will be coming from within even before going after our recognized legal firm Ayuba Damo and partners who is presently handling the case of the known diabolic woman who’s boka has told her she will still get her way like she did with other excos. God forbid!! That restaurant rightly belongs to our gentlemen nawojians. They are our colleagues and have equal rights like all of us so nobody should second rate them as just women who must only be seen by lying to them about office meant for them. One of the reasons why the last Exco made so many mistakes was because they ignored the advices of these ladies. I was present when the promise of office was made yet they failed to deliver. Who does that to fellow colleagues? Any one who treats them as toys will surely go back to square one by loosing his next election. This is why I want to advise that the nawojians are given a temporary office space with a toilet they can repair and use until that woman is thrown out of their rightful place where they will equally be given competition so that they do not relapse in the type of food they serve to us in their office/restaurant. We need nothing less than ten assorted food outlets in our centre. Not the monopolistic restrictions which that woman is enjoying as a result of dangerous manipulations from her. She can easily poison our members in one swoop if we do not bring in new vendors quickly before the year runs out. I don’t think we need to consult a nutritionist on how to go about it. Set up the press centre committee immediately comrades and let us reel out modalities to them. The Exco can then be able to see the mistakes of the committee if any. Their fundamental business would be generate more funds and report to congress on how much progress they have been making in bringing money.

Advise to the new executive

Comrades now that you have been sworn in, always remember that in this life, we cannot talk about wisdom without “knowledge” . You actually need knowledge of the profession to acquire wisdom. This is because wisdom is the principal ingredient you need to acquire knowledge. It was because Solomon had robust knowledge about the God he was dealing with as a king that he quickly requested for wisdom when asked what he prefers as a gift from his creator. He actually choose wisdom instead of material things because he knew that wisdom should generate material things. Today there is no creed in the world that doesn’t know the story of Solomon the great King who walked the face of this Earth as enshrined in the Bible. Suleiman ended having both before leaving this world back to his Creator as alluded to by the Koran. That is my prayers for Comrade Dauda Ilya and his entire team. You will overflow with wisdom. And God will surely guide you on how to fix immediate needs of the council so that we can enjoy your first congress meeting before Christmas.

Exhausting the grace of the first 100days

There is no law that says the new executive must deliver something within the first 100 days. And this is about three months plus but with what happened to the last executive, nobody will tell them to hurry up. Some of us who have been special advisers of the NUJ at large just believe that you cannot as an Exco be able to make impact without taking care of the first things first within the first remarkable 100 days in the history of this centre. Some of the things you must fix within the first 100 days should be security and welfare.

Comrades the security arrangements of our press centre has been in a real mess. In spite of the raging insurgency, any Toyin, Dikko and Modu just comes into the place without checks. This is the height of wrongs we have tolerated for the last decade of Boko Haram. If we are not careful some renegade gunmen not related to Shekau or Mohammed Yusuf can walk into the administrative section and shoot our officials with a silencer pistol and walk back without no one knowing. This is worse than keeping a bed within the administrative place to service the concubines of previous Exco members.

We are Primus inter Paris when it comes to the usage of even the toilets. None members no matter how beautiful should not be allowed to use our facilities without scrutiny. Even parties must be restricted only to a select group of people. When a non member pays 50,000 to use the lawn then he will be careful about the crowd that would be invited.

Last week Friday, I walked into the centre to eat the only health snap I am permitted to eat at the “akara” joint of Comrade Sunday only to be encountered by a large crowd at the entrance. After eating my akara dinner, I tried to talk to the hangers on to leave the entrance which could not happen at any other centre but they looked at me like an irritant. That could only happen because there was no security to send them away. We need a security architecture in our centre badly. It’s not a public place for all. It’s for us journalists. Can something be going on in the bar centre and urchins will just gather like that? How many journalists can even enter the resting place of the MDCAN or residency launge in UMTH and relax without them asking if they can help you? It doesn’t happen in any place I have visited except Maiduguri and someone will say it’s because of insurgency. Why did insurgency not stop some officials from selling our land worth N14 million and squandering same while one of them held up the keys to the only temporary office space for other Exco members including nawojians and used it for his guest house. This will surely be a topic for the future because a bed has no business in that administrative place when the secretary, treasurer or vice chair do not have offices which they really deserve to have quiet time to work for us.

I don’t think we need an urgent congress for an instant arrangement to be made for at least 2 security guards to take care of the press centre to start working immediately. One should be assigned the duty of manning the front gate during the day while others should take charge at night. This is one action that must take place before chairman Dauda ilya clicks 100 days in office. While I wait for secretary Chiroma to get my identity card from Abuja, i would gladly show him that of my newspaper or that of the govt house if he demands. And I will be allowed in. There is no Crime in him asking members to show some identification when in doubt. But as time goes on,both the night and day guards will be needing our support in making the place a safe one.

A stitch in time saves nine. In as much as we don’t want our friends in the police or civil defense to send people there which they will gladly do for free, we should be able to organize ourselves and get “organized security” for ourselves. We must hit the ground running comrades.

Building Unity, Character and strength in the Borno council after the election, series…….1

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Columns

Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)

Published

3 weeks ago

March 9, 2025

Ochuwa Ibrahim

Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)

By: Balami Lazarus

As young schoolboys in Zaria, we were privileged to spend our time interacting with our peers within and around the academic environment of Ahmadu Bello University (A.B.U.) main campus at Samaru. This period gave my peers and me a wide range of exposure to various facilities, faculties, departments, schools, colleges, and units of the university. Being boys full of life, adventures, and events, we were not bored with their academic programs but more interested in their social and practical activities.

Institute of Agricultural Research (I.A.R.), Division of Agricultural Colleges (D.A.C.), and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and other related units are where we were more attracted to because of their implements/tools and equipment. The tractors and their components, like harrows, ploughshares, and harvesters, have awakened the aspirations of some of us to be agricultural experts, farmers, and university dons in agricultural sciences, and others as researchers.

Agricultural tractors have been one of the most important machines in the cultivation of commercial and mechanized farmland, providing food/cash crops and agro-allied raw materials for industries and factories, hence the economic development of Nigeria.

Therefore, tractors like Massey Ferguson, John Deere, Ford, Fiat, and Styre were common sights for us.

When I decided to do some investigations on the whereabouts, or to say disappearances, of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors belonging to the state government and the people of Plateau State. It was really not easy for me because individuals who were in the stream of affairs, past and present, are not willing to speak on this matter. And I began to suspect there was connivance/conspiracy in the disappearances of these tractors by some collective individuals.

Questions are being asked over and over by the citizens of Plateau State about the 400 Duetz Fahr model tractors made in Germany, which were procured by the state government during the administration of former Governor Simon Bako Lalong (2015-2023), whose tenure was nothing to write home about except for his poor performance in governance. Unlike the beginning of the good governance of the present administration of Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang.

In the course of my investigations and findings, I was told that the one and only person who had asked questions severally and was still speaking on the matter was one Ehis Akugnonu of JFM 101.9 FM. Jos (aka Osama), whom I met on this matter, our discussions lacked adjectives to qualify the disappearance of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors on the Plateau, a state blessed with fertile land for farming and production of food and cash crops in all seasons.

Agricultural programs have always been the priority of the government, both state and federal. Institutions of learning—universities, institutes, and other research centers—are not left out of the scheme of agricultural activities. Individual and organized private sectors are also playing significant roles in the development of the nation’s agricultural economy, adding value to the agricultural food chain.

Former Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State procured the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors to boost agriculture to enable farmers to cultivate more farmland through the utilization of these tractors. Surprisingly, they were never distributed to farmers in the 17 local government areas. Sources within Government House Little Rayfield Jos told this writer that “there was a clandestine arrangement that played out in the disappearance of the 400 Duetz Fahr’. In simple arithmetic, if and only if these tractors were distributed to the 17 local government areas, each would have gotten 23, leaving 9 tractors for other purposes, but the disappearance has dampened the spirit of the state farmers. “No single individual is happy about this matter.”. We will continue to ask questions until these tractors are brought back to us’. Said a concerned citizen.

Recently, the Executive Governor of the State, Barr. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, in his good governance programs, procured 200 new tractors of the Massey Ferguson model that were immediately, without delay, distributed to organized farmers’ groups across the 17 local government areas. This gave hope, wiping away tears on the faces of small and medium-scale farmers on the Plateau.

In tidying up this write-up, I was informed that the disappearance of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors paved

way that saw the carting away in a thievery manner and the gleaning of government house items at Little Rayfield Jos. While fingers are pointing to Senator Simon Bako Lalong on the whereabouts of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors worth hundreds of millions of naira, which could have changed the agricultural landscape of Plateau State.

Balami, a Publisher/Columnist

08036779290

Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)

Columns

Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)

Published

4 weeks ago

March 3, 2025

Ochuwa Ibrahim

Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)

By: Balami Lazarus

Therefore, tractors like Massey Ferguson, John Deere, Ford, Fiat, and Styre were common sights for us.

In tidying up this write-up, I was informed that the disappearance of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors paved

Balami, a Publisher/Columnist

08036779290

Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)

Columns

My Binoculars: A tribute to a former Controller of customs Borno state Joshua Angbalaga

Published

1 month ago

February 28, 2025

Ochuwa Ibrahim

My Binoculars: A tribute to a former Controller of customs Borno state Joshua Angbalaga

By: Sam Kayode

Indeed Angbalaga was a reporter’s delight. Firm yet welcoming. His demise is a sudden blow to some of us who have basked in his warmth and detribalized nature. He was of a different make from the generality of uniformed personnel some of us are used to, sharp witty with a strong ability to interface from one generation to another. He was a trained sociologist from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria where he graduated in 1984. Taught for sometime at the FCT which gave him the unique ability to understand his generation and all the ones after his.

His training as a customs official since 1988 had taken him to many States including the commercial capital of Nigeria Lagos and many other cities. Controller Joshua Angbalaga was easy going and kept an open door for most of us journalists who came into contact with him through exclusive interviews. He was open minded and was ready to tolerate most of our young colleagues who sometimes displayed slight intolerance for uniforms at news conferences because of the insurgents lurking around.

In Controller Joshua Angbalaga buried today in lafia nasarawa state, I have a personal loss of a man who was an exemplary news maker. He was a public figure who had immense knowledge about the weaknesses and strengths of the gentlemen of the pen. He was a good representative of his controller General. He understood the body languages of most of our intolerant younger colleagues and gave his subordinates in the office then a standing directive that any time any of us comes to see him, we must not be kept waiting unnecessarily if he is free. He was far different from previous controllers who had come and treated reporters like condemned criminals who should never be allowed to come close to the controllers office upstairs.

Some of them in sister agencies especially the ones in the immigration service gave standing orders that journalists should be turned away from the gate as if we were insurgents. This was because some of them were never financially transparent as we learnt from their boys so we understood why they were so vehement at stopping journalists from conducting their constitutional activities. A lot of Angbalaga’s paramilitary colleagues marveled at his dexterity with the gentlemen of the fourth estate.

Our paths met in April 2017 when he reported to Maiduguri as controller and Borno/Yobe area Commander of the Nigerian customs. That was three years after I reported in Maiduguri as correspondent of the nation newspaper.
From then on we continued to work together with him and his entire management team in making expected progresses within the war theatre.
We had several news conferences with him especially on how he had been able to make tremendous progress in turning things around in spite of the insurgency which was at its peak by then. Angbalaga was a rare news maker in uniform because of his belief that none of his officers were too rotten to resist reforms. They were all in sync with his policies to make the state better than he met it. When it was time to go, he left maiduguri on transfer to Abuja where he later retired in 2020. He was involved in stopping a lot of contrabands including hard drugs which is the main fuel keeping insurgents at alert.

On retirement, we kept our communication intact and friendly. Oga Angbalaga was a very studious officer who had already prepared himself for leadership roles by completing his master in public administration in 2000. Feeling a bit bored and not tired in retirement, he went back to school for his PhD program in University of Abuja. He told me recently that he was close to finishing his course work and was kicking to go to the next challenge as God directs. We bantered on the phone while I wondered if he was going back to teaching but he laughed and asked for Gods will to be done. We had a one hour call last year with an invitation to me to visit him during the last yuletide 2024. So with a promise that I would be in lafia to see him for the yuletide, we rounded the call. But due to certain conditions not under my control, that was the last time we would talk as friends. I missed the trip due to I’ll health. Controller Angbalaga is no more as the Lord wills. He has answered the solemn call of nature which sends all mortals back to their creator regardless of age, status, character, race or creed. Death has shown that it’s a leveler of all mankind and my friend oga Angbalaga as I used to call him lived a forthright life before bowing to immortality. May the Lord console his friends at Mount St Gabriel Makurdi, St John Bosco Doma, the entire family of the Nigerian customs service, immediate family and the entire eggon nation where the Lord used him to touch several souls before his passage.
Have a nice sleep oga Angbalaga. From Biodun as you used to call me.

My Binoculars: A tribute to a former Controller of customs Borno state Joshua Angbalaga