Trouble in Claws Of Over Zealous Council Bosses

The ban placed on political gathering by Council Chairmen in their council areas in the wake of preparation for party’s by- and re-elections and full scaled election in some council areas is described as calculated move to frustrate healthy political activities among political parties as they prepare to participate in the forth-coming election organized by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission.

Rivers State Chairman of the All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP Mr. John Geoffrey said he considered the ban pronouncement as instigating and confusion in the polity. He said supporters and electorates in those council areas will fear to associate with any mobilization train of political parties that visit the council areas.

Mr. John Geoffrey appealed to the Governor Amaechi to call the chairmen to order and allow for a healthy political atmosphere in those council areas where the election will hold.

Mr. John Geoffrey also wondered the constitutional powers that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission has to screen to disqualify or disqualify candidates who were successful at the party primaries and forwarded to them.

The Commissioner in charge of media and public Affairs of the Rivers state Independent Electoral Commission, Ms Ibiso Dakoru had said early in the week that the commission was screening candidates presented to it by their parties for the forth-coming election.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF DESTITUTES ON STREETS

It is a common sight, should one take a drive round the wide and breadth of the country, especially in major cities, to see disused cars, caravans and other form of scraps on streets and roads.Combined with this picture are stalls and kiosks that traders along the roads use to display their wares. 

The presence of this illegal ‘operators’ and scraps are not only a blight on the beauty of the cities but a real threat to society.Not too long ago, in fact, as he assumed office,the governor of Rivers State,Mr Chibuike Amaechi, inaugurated the committee on the evacuation of scrapes and road decongestion. 

The mandate was to make the roads free of any obstruction and ensure free flow of traffic in Port Harcourt and the entire  Rivers State.The chairman of the committee, Mr Chukwuemeka Woke, with the ugency of the job kick started and had continued to supervise evacuation exercises, urging all traders along the roads to vacate the areas.

 Mr Woke had aways warned that the evacuation team would not entertain any plea while at location to remove any obstruction that impede traffic flow.Giving the assurance that government is determined to ensure that people do the right thing as well as obey traffic laws in the state. It is hoped and prayed that the steam for this exercise do not fizzle out.

But an imposing visible threat is the ever growing number and presence of beggers and other categories of destitudes on streets and major roads across the country; Rivers State is not exclusive.In fact, in the state capital,Port Harcourt, and its environs, the sight has continued to be an issues of concern to right thinking members of the public.

 Not only is it a way of life for adult men and women but children also.Orphans are also found among them.They disguise as sickly,blind, deaf, lame and with visible body burnt to elicit public sympathy.They sometimes take to robbery,become ‘pick pockets’ at bus stops, and pose other social problems.They become very antagonistic to society,as it were, vetting their depravity and anger on the people.

Also worrisome is the sight of healthy looking individuals who do not disguise into any sickly looks but would do nothing else but begging.They take great pleasure to do this.These crop of people,of course, are part of the productive class of the nation’s population who should meaningfully contribute their productive quota to national growth. 

But no.They rather carry on with their begging.Doing so on the roads and streets, especially where human and vehecular traffic is high.Sometimes, they run through moving and slow going vehecular traffic.What a risk they take.

The River State government had undertaken several raid to keep them away from public places.Aside adults,in september,2007, the riversstatenigeria removed about forty children from the streets and took them to the Port Harcourt children home at Borikiri. In addition to this, government also identified the non-indigenes among the adult destitutes when they picked them away from the streets.

The non-indegenes of the adults were transported back to requisite agencies in their respective state of origin. But like every other raid, the effort did not solve the problem.A drive round some major streets reveals, however, that not only has the number of adult destitudes doubled but the number of children and orpnans has also continued to be on the increase. 

Studying the situation and commenting on the trend, some members of the public said a serious re-orientation programme should be planned for destitutes.The programme should be packaged in a manner so that it will encourage them to take up meaningful ventures. 

They argued that most of the destitutes would have lived all their lives on the streets without the show of love from friends and relations.This could result from the hard economic situation that they had experienced.The only way to survive may just be living like destitutes. 

While condemning their dogged interest in taking of arms from members of the public, they said government should also consider instituting a lesgislature against able bodied people parading as destitutes. 

The General Secretary,Assemblies of God Rivers State Dr. Dabipi Daddy Sun Ibulubo said the church has  planned evangelism activities aimed at destitutes within the immediate environment of their operations.From their findings, some people are forced into destitutes as a last resort to survive.

 He said those who responded to their programme had been provided accommodation and employment but confessed that it is a cost intensive venture. Dr. Daddy Ibulubo said the growing number of destitutes requires a collaborative effort between government and corporate organisations to provide these groups of people some lease of life.

 Mr Mustafa Audi is a cripple in his thirties.He plays on the handicap football team and appears very hopefully about life.He has a family of a wife and two children.But he is also a begger on the streets of Port Harcourt.

He said taking of arms is about the only regular means to raise money for the upkeep of his family. This is in spite of the fact that he had received some fund in 2004 from the state government to start a meaningfull livelihood for himself when a raid was made then.

Having eaten up the money, he had returned to the roads may be to await another ‘free money’. Sharing his experience at the rehabitation center, he said it is wrong for government to put both the mentally disturbed people with the sane.These two groups of people can not stay together without problems. 

The Director, planning, research and statistics in the Rivers State Ministry of Social Welfare, Mrs Deinma Okoroma said the ministry undertakes what she callled a raid on destitutes to move them to the state rehabitation centre and Port Harcourt children feed to feed them free of charge. 

Mrs Okoroma decried the situation where destitutes taken to their states of origin are allowed to return to the state.She said it is rather unfair for state not doing enough to gave their citizens appropriate attention.Mrs Okoroma said the issues has taken a national dimension with a policy soon to be made public.this will unify all efforts under a central supervision. 

The articipated Federal government involvement gives a more convincing perspective to the effort to curb this social ill. A rewarding, holistic and national approach towards addressing the menace in major cities across the country could just be what was been awaited for the challenge. 

REPAIRS:FRAGILE RURAL COMMUNITIES

Rural Africa communities<voices>are predominately poor and educationally backward.Most indigenous and young people said their parents told them so,they have grown up to see it so and have lived with it for years. This picture is a typical third world countries’ features.

It seems to persist despite the prevailing potentials, in terms of the natural resources, that could be harnessed in the area to economically empower the people. Conventions, bilateral talks by world leaders and affected countries have been adopted and projected to give meaning to life.

This is to improve the  living standards of the people within a partnerships ventures.But the impact is still far from achieving requsite result.These poor rural commnunities with such issues have continued to dot and attracted global voices. 

These communities which are predominantly, small in sizes also have the largest collection of the nation’s population.Political delimitation places them within the jurisdiction of the local government councils;the third tier of government. 

The creation of this polical structure was for easy administration and bring government nearer to the people.This is to facilitate the development of infrastructure in the rural communities and ensure a good living for the people. 

Increasingly, it is now widely accepted that national development; economically,politically, socially and educationally,should be driven from the grassroot.This makes more sense.The reverse would be a lopsided effort that could be in futility. 

This was what the councils were expected to do at the time they were set up.Society then was neighbourly with an eviable community spirit.While this was the essence, what has transpired over the years has appeared to have scuttleed the intentions. 

Supervision over local government activities and how fund should be  used has long being a tossed issues between the federal and state government.The debate and the seemingly uncertainity of effective control line,openned a lophole for local government personnel. They now run the councils as  personal affairs.

Their biggest attention and visible duty seems to be the payment of  workers salaries only.What happens to the remaing amount of  the allocated fund after then, is usually not questioned or investigated. 

One only wonder what will become of the call to question of caretaker committee chairmen  by the Rivers State House of Assembly, to give account of stewardship.The revelation on the floor of the house was outragious.

Where, for example, a chairman who had not more than thirty thousand naira in his acount before assumption of office, now has about a whooping sum of eighteen million naira in two months in office.  

This culture is carried on with impunity;a national challenge and concern, that is. The prolonged non-performance of the local government councils to ensure a healthy living environment has resulted in an endermic rot.It has heightened fears on the minds of both indigenous people and visitors alike.

The youths  have become restive and manefestly angry with the situation. A situation of marked neglect and irrational use of the allocated fund for personal aggradizement by elected or appointed political leaders.

 The anger that has been incurbated over the years is now visible in the speech pattern,activities and levels of relationships among society individuals.A fragmented and fragile communities is what has sufficed. 

 Volitility becomes a ‘sensed’ and a felt fear by a cross section of the society.There is a combined force of anger and hunger.There is low capacity of  the people;youths.The sight of a comtemporary suddenly becoming aflunt is offensive. 

The growing tension from this situation has become the reason often given by corporate companies’ why their operations’ headquarters can not be located in the communities where they scoop large profit.But there is  the complain by indigenous people that they are also largely denied placement with the companies.

Making the society to have a large number of its youths’ population unemployed.This poses threat. When rural community development fund is not used for the provision of good roads,water, education, economically empower the people and provide employment to the youths,it leaves hallow strings of hardship. 

This neglect pricks the fabric of the communities wellbeing<issues>.Often times, the deeper ideological character is not known.At such times, dialogue may fail because trust has been murdered. 

 A television journalist, who was to engage a youth on a media chat, to share his opinion africanews.com  on a plagueing youth and social issues,warned that if all that he said was not reflected in the broadcast, he would smoke out the reporter  from  his hiding place. 

This was an enormous threat but the youth was to risk his position, show his identity on air to damn the consequesis.In a volitile society,as it is prevailing in the Niger Delta,the threat was what taking to heart. 

The village square meeting that would have been used maximally to generate indigenous ideas on local development imperatives is also turned into a theatre where ‘privileged’ persons make speeches for applauds and snack sharing.This forum ,rather should be cultivated to be a ground for repairs of the manifest fragmentation. 

Sustainable development in the spirit of village family neighbourliness is a great essence researchandmedia.ning.com . This will provide the needs of today and solve the problems of tomorrow. Communities’ affairs should be centre of government programmes.

Democratic dividend and community good can also blend to move society forward. The individual members of the community should be trained to develop their capacity, restore confidence and trust for the traditional stool as well.This is the pride of traditional Africa society. 

Government remains a stabilizer,mediator and convener of talk sessions that would seek to repair and rebuild mutual trust where dissatisfaction has  cut deep.Leaders do not know it all.They,therefore should confer with communities<issues> stakeholders on ways of serving the communities effectively. But global voices would continue to make sense.                       

BANKS:MARKETING PRODUCTS OR FEMALE STAFF

 Banks’ overt culture of  marketing pattern of their products and services has become absurd and condemnable by some members of the public, particularly, those who are  morally rational to demand  a quick repair and  respect for the cultural and moral values of the society. Banks as corporate citizens are expected to be at the forefront of joining effort with government and traditional authority to uphold the moral dignity of the society.

The resultant outcry emanating from these debasement of humanity, overtime, was not heeded by banks. May be, because the power of the regulatory agency was not as commanding as expected. But as banks strive to sharpen their competitive edge against each other, their marketing operations deepens so that it became easy to play down on moral conscience.

There was also the need to raise a solid finance base to remain in business. Using female staff to maintain this status as well as grow the fortune of the banks  therefore become a common place.In some quarters of the society, this use of ‘girl staff’ to drive for the needed fund that keeps the some bank in business is believed to be the reward or the business success of the marketing effort of these girls who do untoward things.It is therefore seen as banks indulging in morally debasement of their employees by setting unrealistic conditions of service for them. 

When professor Chukwuma Soludo took over the leadership of the apex banks,CBN, some changes were noticed in the consolidation of banks and the raising of public confidence in their operations.It is therefore uncommon to think that this position has made them to pose  unrealistic targets to recruited  female staff which they have groomed for cash mobilization.

It is good, however, to market for clients,drive at a target and contribute to company’s growth and continual stay in business but it should be on a realistic premise of goal getting.

 Innocently, while young graduates are happy to have gained employment with banks, the monthly,quarterly and yearly financial target given to them is now seen to be outrageous.Sometimes the female staff had also complained but some of them have not had the courage to resign especially because they fear or do not have an alternative income source.

But the  stake to keep their jobs keep mounting pressure on them to go all the length to get big account,real clients and are seen as productive and hard working.It is said that some banks urged these marketing female staff to wear indecent dressing  to discharge their responsibility.

This dress code has showed them off as enslaved workers.The one focus of this dress code is to persuade prospective client, seductively, to patronage their banks.Most of them possibly would have sealed up the business deal with their clients at some overnight hotel lodgings.

The Nation’s senate,senator David Mark who had observed the trend  said banks are encouraging prostitution. He noted that all the girls going out on a daily basis to bring funds into the banks end up doing  things they ideally should not do.Mark worried why there is an absence of a system to regulate the deposit-hunt activities of banks especially as they put lives of employees in danger.

He said the banks know that such activities are not beneficial to the female  employees and urged them to check the practice.He expressed worry about the huge sums of money published regularly by banks as profits,noting that such was only possible because the banks do not invest in the real sector as they should.

The central bank of Nigeria, Director, Banking Supervision,Mr  Otufa Imala said the Apex bank is having difficulty in controlling indecent dressing as the practice is. He said CBN has resolved that since it is a case of all banks involved in the practice, all banks’ chiefs have been mandated to look closely at  the issues of culture in their operation. This must be emphasizes at the point of recruiting and continuously..There is the need for banks to re-engineer their products to attract customers.

Marketing is about selling produtcts not exploiting the female nature of the worker. This de-emphasis is petinent to revoke the seemingly culture that is associated with the banking sector. This is unconnenected to the fear most people have expressed over seeking for employment in the sector.

Already, Oceanic bank Managing Director,Mrs Cecelia Ibru has said that her bank enforces proper dress code among the staff; a corporate suit for week days and natve attires for Fridays to ease work for the staff. She said any staff  especially the female staff who dresses indecently is asked to go home.

 But Senator David Mark at the plenary session of the sixth National Seminar on 13th,November,2007,on Economic Crimes,organized by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, in Abuja said the  senate would intensify the screening of the financial system in the country.He decried the lack of interest by the banks to develop the real sector. He urged the banks to work with the government towards the economic development of the country.He affirmed of their role in checking acts of financial corruption which hampers the economy.  

THE FAITHFUL MENTOR

A mentor has an independent knowledge base and expertise to offer a “Lessons for Life” to the protégé. This is a one-on-one relational experience in which one person empowers another person by investing their God-given wisdom and resources.

 The transference of this knowledge will strengthen the protégé’s ability to manage his or herself and relate to other people.To every christian and below, God is an ultimate mentor.
 

Men have many things to gain when they choose to connect to God and with a  man who has been through the trenches of life. The most essential virtue of interest is the reservoir of knowledge to draw from. One form of being mentored is discipleship. A disciple is simply a learner.

 If we take what we learn from another guy who has traveled the long and dusty road before us, and apply it to our life we gain wisdom. Wisdom is applied knowledge and understanding.

We all want gain but at what price? If gain was free and easy we would all sign up. However, it is not. In order to gain something we need to lose something. Trying to plow our way through life and accepting the rewards of  hard work often times seems like a good enough gain. What seems like great gain and steady progress to you, might be far less than what God has planned for you.

In the second chapter of the first book of the  Bible, God tells us a fundamental truth about ourselves. He says without wavering, ‘It is not good for man to be alone.‘ Why? Because when God created us, he created us as social creatures, to have companionship with one another. Part of companionship is Christian mentoring. There is real value for a Christian man to be mentored along his life journey.

Please pray about who God might have you approach to seek out a relationship specifically for the purpose of being mentored. Pray for boldness and courage to take the risk, pushing the pride aside, and ask another man to invest in you. It’s God’s plan!

As we begin yet another academic session as members of  the Student Christian Movement, there is a charge for us to be determined to grow to heights of success. To learn and continually develop the following  “lessons for life”.We will grow  emotional  intelligence competencies which matter twice as much as IQ or technical skills in academic or job successes.

 Acquaint yourselves with this lesson to create behaviour change and have ideas useful for life with the following as guide.

 1:Accurate self-assessment: be aware of your  strengths and weaknesses. Reflect and learn from other’s experience continuously for self-development. Expect feedback, new perspectives and  show a sense of humor.

2 Trustworthiness: Maintain standards of honesty and integrity. Act ethically and be above reproach.

3 Build trust through reliability and authenticity. Admit mistakes and confront unethical actions in others.Be organized and careful in your work.

4:Adaptability: Be flexible in handling change to smoothly handle multiple demands, shifting priorities, and rapid change. Adapt  responses and tactics to fit fluid circumstances.

5:Achievement drive: Strive to improve or meet a standard of excellence for results-oriented living which combines with a high drive to meet their objectives and standards Set challenging goals and take calculated risks. Pursue information to reduce uncertainty and find ways to do better Learn how to improve their performance.

6 Optimism:Be persistence in seeking and pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks. Operate from hope of success rather than fear of failure. See setbacks as manageable circumstance rather than a personal flaw.

7:Empathy: Take action to be Sensitive to others’ feelings and perspective.Be attentive to emotional cues and listen  to others.

8: Leveraging diversity: Cultivating opportunities through diverse people. See diversity as opportunity to excel.

When these become the daily thrust of the mentor, in consonance with the mentee’s interest, success will suffice.