16112017 - FG revokes Intels' expatriate permits

18 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017
FOR the first time since 2000, the
annual budget was presented to
the National Assembly in fairly good
time. It was promised for October and
delivered on November 7, 2017 by
President Muhammadu Buhari. The
few days delay was insignificant
compared to the time gained in The 2016 budgeting process extended
ensuring the possibility that for the into the middle of the year, and its
first time in recent history the nation’s effects spilled into the 2017 budget
budget can be approved and become year.
operational from January 2018. The ball is now partly in the courts
This is a welcome departure from the of the National Assembly, NASS and
past, and it represents the sort of the Federal Executive. The Joint
change Nigerians expected from the Appropriation Committees of the
Buhari administration. We are pleased Senate and the House of
to note the efforts by the Federal Representatives should now move
Ministry of Budget and National expeditiously to apportion
Planning to improve on the budget responsibilities to various committees
presented by the Buhari and give their chairmen and members
administration in its first year which the timelines by which their reports
was thoroughly bungled. It was must be submitted.
characterised by scandalous Meanwhile, the Federal
duplications and “budget padding”. Government should also help matters
Kudos for early 2018 budget presentation
further by desisting from sending
unnecessary amendments to the
NASS after the budget had been
submitted. Ministers and Heads of
Departments and Agencies who are
called by the NASS to shed light on
their budgets should also be under
strict instruction to appear as and when
needed.
The 2018 Budget is coming on the
heels of the 2017 Budget which most
lawmakers and stakeholders in the
economy assess as being poorly
implemented. Most of the capital
projects listed for the year have not
been funded and may never see the
light of day again. The lawmakers
whose constituencies were adversely
affected by the shortfall in funding are
obviously spoiling for a fight and the
Executive must be proactively
prepared to accommodate such needs
in the 2018 Budget to avoid
unnecessary bickering and delays.
To avoid losing the time gained by
this early presentation, the FG must
be prepared to compromise by
prioritising in 2018 projects in those
states which missed out in 2017. We
call on the National Assembly to
respond patriotically to the
commendable early presentation on
the 2018 budget by aiming to approve
the budget before embarking on their
Yuletide recess.
With a full year in hand to
implement the 2018 budget, we are
confident that the Buhari
administration has a brighter chance
of delivering vital projects just before
we get deep into the distractions of
electioneering for 2019.
By Isa Gusau
WORKING with the Daily Trust for
about ten years, I had the learning
experience of reporting and managing
reporters across the northeast, the Niger
Delta, and some states in the southeast geopolitical
zones. At work, I met different
categories of people and seen scenarios.
Of particular note, I have monitored
relationships between governors and
appointees in the north and south. I have
seen humiliated appointees get running
stomach on the mere sight of some
governors.
Just when I wished I never had to share
the experiences of these appointees, I was
appointed by a governor in February,
2012. Leaving Port Harcourt for the
political office, my worse concern was
never to face the kind of humiliation I had
seen appointees faced under two particular
Governors, one in the Niger Delta and
another in the Northeast.
Incidentally, I came face to face with my
fears a month after my appointment.
Governor Kashim Shettima had given me
some specific assignments. They were
complex. The man’s standard, especially
on writings, is very high. Shettima reads
line by line, takes copious note of accuracy
in names and dates, corrects punctuation
marks, restructure paragraphs and he
screens every sentence in a plagiarism
checker he has on his laptop. Being a
University lecturer, Shettima is very tough
on plagiarism and insists on citing sources
even if he paraphrases what someone
unknown once said. Meeting these
standards, the assignment kept me indoors
for a whole day. I had done substantial
OPINION
Shettima’s ‘first and last words’
part of it but there was something I couldn’t
achieve.
Governor Shettima was reading some
document when I walked into his office
one night in March, 2012. He collected
the papers I brought, looked at them and
didn’t say anything. It was my vest first
major task under him. I stood by the side,
There is the common
evidence that Shettima’s
‘first’ and ‘last’, are part
of his unconscious
normal. But, unknown to
him, these words define
the willingness with
which aides sincerely key
into his vision for Borno
watched him dropped the documents I
gave him and shifted his attention back to
what he was reading before I came in. His
mind wasn’t with me anymore. I was totally
disappointed in myself, thought I should
leave but I didn’t want him to see me
leaving. I thought of vanishing but didn’t
have witchcraft or some Nollywood
powers to disappear. Humanly, I decided
to leave noiselessly; taking steps as soft as
a cat and as quiet as an unarmed thief
whose safety would only rely on how quiet
he is able to sneak. I retired home. Just
when I had perfected plans to avoid the
governor for a number of days, I got phone
calls from two persons, one a security aide
and a commissioner, calling my two lines.
I picked that of the security aide and he
said, ‘Oga dey call you’. It was a troubling
invitation. I returned the Commissioner’s
call and he said the same thing in Hausa,
‘Oga na kira, kazo yanzu yanzu’ (the
governor wants you now now). As drove to
Government House, I recalled how aides
get humiliated. Back in 2008, I had seen a
governor in Borno State publicly call his
commissioners stupid. I had seen a
commissioner rush to the mosque near a
governor’s office to seek divine
intervention after he was told a governor
in Borno was calling him. That Governor
was feared like Mr. Fir’auna (a.k.a
Pharoah). He was feared because he could
say just about anything to humiliate his
aides and he never humiliates privately
but publicly. His commonest insult in
public was, ‘You are very stupid. Idiot’. I
just couldn’t imagine reacting to that kind
of humiliation.
Finally, I arrived Governor Shettima’s
office, met three persons in his office. A
soon as Governor Shettima saw me
approached his seat, he said, ‘Honourable,
sorry, I didn’t know when you left my office.
Actually when you came in, I was reading
a security intelligence report, my mind was
completely on the report. I called you back
because I forgot to say thank you when
you delivered that work. I have gone
through it, I noticed the one you didn’t
address but I will do it tonight when I get
home. I will be closing as early as 8pm
tonight so I can work on it at home. I am
very grateful and I deeply appreciate your
good efforts’. I was confused. So, I said,
‘Your Excellency, but I don’t know why you
asked me to come back’. He said there was
nothing else, he just realised he didn’t
appreciate me and it was for that he sent
for me. The governor said he didn’t want
to speak to me on phone. ‘Ikon Allah!’ I
sighed. When he closed a little after 8pm, I
got home wondering. However, my instinct
as a journalist said to me, the governor
was probably putting on an act. I found it
unbelievable that a governor would invite
his own appointee to ‘merely’ thank him.
Of course I knew that most people,
particularly politicians, have two
(oftentimes, distinct) sides. There is ‘who
they are’ and there is ‘who they want you
to think they are’. So, I secretly decided to
monitor Governor Shettima’s relationship
not just with me but all of his aides. In over
five years of working with him, Shettima’s
‘last’ words to aides who impress him, is
‘thank you so much’. My monitoring led
me to identifying he not only uses ‘last’
words but also a ‘first’ word. This first word
is ‘PLEASE’. Governor Shettima will never
ask anyone, (including his messengers and
drivers) to do any task without using the
word, ‘Please’. This is known to all. If he is
not speaking in English, he will say ‘dan
Allah’ (because of God) which is the
commonest alternative for ‘please’ in
Hausa.
There is the common evidence that
Shettima’s ‘first’ and ‘last’, are part of his
unconscious normal. But, unknown to him,
these words define the willingness with
which aides sincerely key into his vision
for Borno.
*Mr. Gusau , is SA on Communications
& Strategy to Governor Shetimma of
Borno State.