The sorrow in the land is becoming too palpable; the tears are flowing endlessly; hardship has become the hallmark of the nation and tyranny has become the signature of government. Nigerians, rather than pray for a good day pray for the prevention of a bad one, everyday, as there is hardly any day that passes without the news of needless bloodshed in one part of the country or another perpetuated by criminal groups and Fulani herdsmen.

If it was just the ineptitude and outright failure of government, Nigerians would probably have endured. But when the situation graduates from government exhibiting weakness to it condoning the wickedness of a murderous lot by explaining away their genocidal acts and endlessly making excuses for them without any conscientious attempt to disarm, arrest and prosecute them, thereby leaving the people open to further attacks that are also beginning to spread to otherwise peaceful states like Sokoto there is cause for alarm.

The people must look unto men and women of goodwill and exceptional courage who are above the filthy reward for sycophancy and who cannot be swayed by blind loyalty to such primordial considerations as ethnic affinity, political affiliation, religious consideration to confront the powers that be at the risk of endangerment to their personal liberty, safety, comfort and convenience. It is this earnest expectation from ordinary Nigerians who are has helpless and irredeemably hopeless in the dire situation that compelled many Nigerians to shed every atom of differences between them and come together to join forces to rescue the nation from its continued unchecked descent into anarchy.

With the enormous wealth and all our nation’s security architecture under the direct and unfettered control of the federal government, and the determination of the cabal in Aso Rock to hold on to power beyond 2019, thereby elongating the hardship of Nigerians and probably lead the country into avoidable implosion, it would be foolhardy for Nigerians of good conscience from all walks of life not to bury their differences and come together to form a force that is capable of saving Nigeria and Nigerians from the stranglehold of those holding her down and further tearing her into smithereens. That is why Monday, July 9, 2018, will remain a memorable day in Nigeria’s history as the day a coalition of rescue and redemption was formed by 39 leading political parties under the auspices of Coalition of United Political Parties, (CUPP), with the main of aim stemming the tide of the rising orgy of killings across the land.

READ ALSO: 2019: R-APC perfects MoU with PDP

The use of the word, ‘change’ as a political slogan or mantra has been extensive and, in the 2015 general election in Nigeria, we had a fair share of it. The concern however is that mantras and slogans are not easily converted into concrete actions. As Tim Blixseth noted, “many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless.”

In Lagos State, we have been mindful of avoiding that pitfall. Thus, since the assumption of office in 2015, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has led and supported the Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions to design and deploy a series of trainings and workshops designed to concretise and convert our change mantra into meaningful, measurable, consequential and sustainable change in the Lagos State Civil Service.

READ ALSO: Ensuring impactful leadership in Lagos civil service

In the pursuit of this end, we have found that the key to making such concretization and conversion is the pursuit of quality in the processes and service offerings of the Lagos State Civil Service. Thus, this training titled, Re-Charting the Path to Quality: The Sustainable Road to the Change Mantra, has been designed by the Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions and approved by the Governor of Lagos State to knit together all the factors and knowledge nuggets that will ensure that this administration’s change mantra indeed births the desired concrete change for the Lagos State Civil Service.

I proceed on the basis that the delivery of value to citizens is the fundamental objective of any democratically-elected government and that, in contemporary times, the delivered value must be delivered to the highest possible standard because citizens have become sophisticated and exposed to the standards of governance in other climes such that their expectations have been conditioned to demand and insist on compliance with global trends in governance and public administration at all levels of governance. Meeting these expectations is the central challenge for governments in contemporary times. In fact, meeting these expectations is the change that customers of the Lagos State Civil Service (i.e., the citizens) are looking forward to. In this Opening Address, I propose to briefly highlight three of the strategies for effectively converting the mantra of change into real and measurable quality outputs from the Lagos State Civil Service.

In an article titled, Government by Design, Diana Farrell and Andrew Goodman of McKinsey & Co. argued that one of the strategies for improving government perceived performance is by becoming better at collecting and analyzing relevant data. According to them, “Governments must decide what to measure and how, always with an eye on the overall goal of the program or initiative.”

Indeed, a critical examination will reveal how civil servants can creatively utilize data to generate ideas and communicate government actions and performances in order to ensure positive perception (or, in the least, accurate perception) of government by the citizens. I therefore challenge the Lagos State Civil Service to come up with data-backed and data-inspired ideas that will rival the examples of France and Moscow cited in the article referenced above.

Another advocated strategy for ensuring the delivery of quality services by the civil service is to innovate to make government services more customer-centric. This is one of the subjects that have been previously explored in the trainings organised by the Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions. In the article by McKinsey & Co. earlier referenced, the point was made that, “the private sector’s responsiveness to customer demands has led to heightened public expectations of government. Because people can do their banking and shopping online, for example, they expect to be able to” conclude transactions with government agencies with similar ease and speed as well.

I am glad to note that this is one area that has captured the interest of the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration from Day One. In fact, in his Inaugural Address on May 29, 2015, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode said, “moving forward, the Civil Service will be strengthened and made to respond to the needs of all citizens in the same manner quality services are rendered in the private sector.” And, true to that promise, stakeholders are beginning to notice and appreciate the investments made to build and deepen capacity in the Lagos State Civil Service. From citizens to donor agencies, and from civil societies to the media, objective evaluations testify to a Lagos State Public Service that is better motivated, better focused, and better equipped to confront the challenges of modern governance and administration in an emerging, dynamic and rapidly-growing global city.

In a recent publication PwC, United States, asked and answered a germane question as follows: “What does a customer-centered organization look like? It’s an organization that considers the customer in everything it does, from procurement to deployment to the entire customer experience. It also speaks to its customers in their own language and makes it easy for them to align their goals with the mission at hand.”

Going further, the publication noted that, “Many government agency executives have important messages to deliver, and the success of their communications is crucial to the agency’s success. Senior executives need to deliver effective mass communications to the agency employees, concerned citizens, and other stakeholders while maintaining impeccable standards that live up to the ever-increasing scrutiny of today’s communications environment. There are empirical methods that drive successful communications which agencies can seek out now.”

Furthermore, in making a case for a customer-centered public service, Christopher Brown, an organisational coach, noted that “countless studies have documented the link between organizational culture and organizational performance. Specifically, many studies show that a customer-centric culture drives superior service and value for customers resulting in an experience that creates customer satisfaction and advocacy. This in turn drives exceptional organizational performance in terms of productivity, new product/service success, innovation and financial performance.”

The third strategy I want to highlight is that of actively soliciting citizens’ input to improve public services. As noted, “Innovative governments are creating new ways for citizens to make their voices heard, giving them the ability to provide input into regulations, budgets, and the provision of services.” The example has been cited of the website, www.regulations.gov, one of the United States government’s earliest e-government programs, that allows citizens to search, view, and comment on federal regulations. Users post more than 27,000 comments on the site every month.

Dr. Benson-Oke is Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions

It is with a joyful heart and profound gratitude to Almighty Allah that I write this piece, on Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, from the deepest recesses of my being as he approaches the end of his momentous, eventful and unprecedented two-term tenure as Executive Governor of the State of Osun (2010- 2018). I thank the Almighty for granting him the life, good health, wisdom, sagacity, prudence, vibrancy, energy and dynamism with which he has maximally utilized this office to turn around the fortunes of what used to be regarded as one of the most underdeveloped rural states in the country with little or no potentials for radical transformation. His tenure in office as governor of the State of Osun has helped to uplift millions of the poor and deprived from the humiliating depths of poverty while laying a firm foundation for and laying new vistas of previously unimagined opportunities for the future development of the state. I make bold to say with all sincerity that His Excellency, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s political career brilliantly exemplifies the great sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s assertion that “the glory of a king lies in the welfare and wellbeing of his people”. For the last seven and a half years, his driving passion has been the upliftment of the State of Osun to a higher pedestal of progress and modernity, enhancing the material and existential circumstances of the ordinary people and imbuing the people of the state with a new sense of self-esteem, confidence and self-respect.

READ ALSO: Our achievements justify loans we obtained –Aregbesola

In closely observing and contemplating his conduct, underlying philosophy, selflessness, courage, commitment and sense of purpose in public life over the last two decades, he reminds me of the immortal saying of Martin Luther King (jnr) 0n June 23, 1963, that “There are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true, that they are worth dying for. And I submit that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live”. As a student union leader in his youth, he was at the forefront of the black power movement that uncompromisingly advocated and struggled for the liberation of South Africa and the entire Southern African region from the stranglehold of apartheid.

By providing an efficient and effective waste disposal, landfills ultimately protect human health and the environment. A healthy environment supports a healthy community.

Acho Orabuchi

The increasing presence of piles of garbage (trash) along streets, roads, and market squares in Imo State present a great threat to human health and the environment. The irony is that there are available technologies to manage waste in order to reduce the potential impact. Municipal solid waste can be treated sustainably by maximizing the value from it as resource materials and energy while minimizing the visual and environmental impact. Protect this environment; it is the only one available. Most aspects of our lives are linked with the environment. The quality of the air we breathe, the safety of our food and drinking water, the land we live and work on, and the manner on which we spend our recreational time outdoors hinge on the condition of the environment. For our families, we want the healthiest environment possible.

READ ALSO: LAWMA, environmentalists, others combat waste in Nigeria

The development and implementation of a sound environmental policy to protect Imo State’s human and natural resources consistent with sustainable economic development is very important to all Imo State citizens. That is even more reason why the environmental protection agency in Imo State must have the goal of clean air, clean water, and safe management of wastes generated in the State as part of their environmental responsibilities. It must be emphasized that any financial resources dedicated to environmental issues should not be looked at as an expense but rather as an investment in the health, safety, and welfare of all Imo State citizens. To this end, I am proposing a comprehensive management of municipal solid waste generated in Imo State. Adequate and effective management of municipal solid waste is very necessary for a sustainable economic development and healthy living in this state. While there are serious concerns about municipal solid waste management in the state, I must commend the state leadership for the efforts made so far towards environmental protection. My suggestion or proposal is offered only as a supplement to the state leadership on-going effort towards this problem.

The question then is what is municipal solid waste and why is it important to manage it effectively? Municipal solid waste is a subset of solid waste and is defined as a solid waste resulting from or incidental to municipal, community, commercial, institutional, and recreational activities, including garbage, rubbish, ashes, and street cleaning debris, dead animals, abandoned automobiles, and any other solid waste other than industrial solid waste (US EPA, 1996). Let us look at why municipal solid waste management is very important and necessary at this time than in the past.

The fact that Imo State is home to abundant human and natural resources has proved to be a blessing and responsibility. These abundant resources make Imo State a desirable place to live and work especially in its major urban centers such as Owerri, Orlu, Okigwe etc, to name just a few. This has prompted tremendous growth in the state. In addition, with such growth comes a host of waste generation, disposal and management issues especially municipal solid wastes that must be addressed to protect the public health and the environment due to increased urban growth. For instance, more people mean more residential and commercial development, which inevitably results in more municipal solid waste generation. If the increased municipal solid waste is not properly managed, the citizens of Imo State would be in danger of being exposed to infectious diseases resulting from decomposed municipal waste scattered all over shopping centers, market squares and roadways.

Remember that wastes that are mismanaged can enter the ecosystem, potentially damaging the quality of land, water and air. When the environment is contaminated, the harmful effects could affect human health as well as the health of plants and wild life, which in most cases are sources of our food and nutrition. The state therefore needs to address the increasing volume of municipal solid waste that is generated on a daily basis in the state by constructing landfills. Landfill may not be the only solution to municipal solid waste problem but it is the permanent solution. It must be emphasized however, that effective municipal solid waste solutions is the combination of landfill, recycling, reuses, and reduce. Each of these solid waste management alternatives is important but for now, I am concentrating on landfills. Would it not be a source of pride to actualize the dream of Imo State being the first state to construct landfill in the nation?

This write-up may have focused on waste management in Imo State but the ubiquity of garbage/trash is a national problem that deserves national attention and solution. In fact, the national government should be at the forefront of this issue that represents health, economic and aesthetic challenge to the nation. To this end, I urge federal lawmakers to establish the framework for national action that will involve strong legislative mandate with its associated regulatory guidelines and meaningful enforcement mechanism. The Deputy President of Nigeria Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu an accomplished senator in his own right should take up this challenge at the national level. Senator Ekweremadu has demonstrated in the past his desire and willingness to tackle common national problems and challenges and I believe he will rise to the occasion again to confront this challenge if given the opportunity to do so.

Inarguably, electricity customers have never gotten a fair deal from the distribution companies (DisCos) in Nigeria, instead outrageous bills have remained their lot. The service providers every now and then freely bombard the electricity consumers with outrageous bills even without services rendered. It doesn’t matter to them if the customer didn’t use any electricity for months probably the customer toured abroad or kept apartment under lock and key. It therefore implies that presently, all that is required for the service providers to be hitting jackpots from their vulnerable customers is only to be connected to its grid; supply or not is immaterial. And failure to pay their arbitrarily and outrageous bills subjects the customers to embarrassing disconnections. Still, even when on the disconnection, bills continue to accumulate for the customers.

READ ALSO: Power show: NERC, Discos at war over N37bn FG grant to private meter contractors

In most cases, the bills are strategically, mischievously overestimated aimed at putting customers in perpetual debt bondage such that they would always have outstanding. Then, each time some of the workforce are broke particularly during festive seasons; Easter, Sallah and Christmas or personal engagements like parties, naming ceremonies, burial etc, harassing the vulnerable customers over outstanding with ladders for informal settlement becomes a viable option. Sometimes, a room apartment or mini-shop gets as much as N25,000 as monthly consumption bill whether power was supplied or not. Some apartments get as much as N120, 000 as monthly consumption bills. Some even get over N1, 500,000 unjustifiably as bill. And where the customer struggled and paid all, he gets increment in the following bills such that the outstanding must exist for selfish interests someday.

The ugly implication of the anomalies is that the arbitrary bills embolden the service providers to relax and remain unproductive since services rendered do not determine earnings but indiscriminate billing system. The glitch encourages laxity as come rain – come shine, customers must pay bills outrageously. It implies that where as little as feeder pillar in the transformer or other accessories required replacement, the service provider may not bother as its earnings are not determined by services rendered as would be the case under a prepaid metering system. On account of this, a whole community over time had been abandoned in blackout as long as the DisCo wished despite the fact that they ought to generate their incomes from services rendered to the communities. Unfortunately, only prepaid metered customers pay accurately for services rendered while DisCos overbearingly exploit helpless customers on estimation, sadly in majority.

Thomas Jefferson, the profound thinker behind the US Constitution which the Nigerian Constitution strains to ape, wrote from Paris to Edward Carrington, whom Jefferson sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1786 to 1788, on the importance of a free press to keep government in check. He concludes that if he had to choose between “a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” He explained:

“The people are the only censors of their governors: and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs through the channel of the public papers, & to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers & be capable of reading them.”

A lot of Nigerians have expressed their anger (and rightly so) over the planned disbursement of the $322 million recovered from the loot of the late Gen. Sani Abacha to 302,000 poor households in Nigeria.

READ ALSO: How not to spend Abacha loot

As the argument of those opposed to the planned disbursement goes, it appears unreasonable to just take out money and share out to people that did not work for it. For them it makes no economic sense when that money, amounting to about N115 billion, could be invested in tangible projects that will generate revenue for government, employment for the youths and goods for the household.

Some of the opponents of the policy have even gone ahead to recommend psychiatric tests for the government officials that proposed the disbursement on the grounds that it looked rather insane to share out money in that fashion.

Politicians and their followers have also taken the bait from there and are making political meat of it. But I must say at this point that in the absence of clear cut and realistic projects on which the fund can be spent, sharing it out to the very poor stands out as the best option of utilising that fund.

READ ALSO: Abacha loot: Reps probe use of recoveries

It is the most potent economic action that the Federal Government may yet take to empower people and revive the economy that is still suffering from the battering by the recession of 2016 and 2017.

Elementary economics teaches that government expenditure raises aggregate demand. By making expendable funds available to households, government will be empowering the families to make purchases and pay bills which will directly impact the economy.

This way, businessmen, traders, investors and people that have services to sell can actually find people to patronise them. There is no better way of approaching economic revival than by putting money into the economy. Money in the hands of the poor remains within the economy. The people spend the money on essential consumer goods, which have a direct bearing on the domestic productive sector. There is no better way of boosting the domestic economic other than by empowering people that are not likely to take the money abroad and cause capital flight.

READ ALSO: FG, Switzerland sign pact on asset repatriation

The mass defection of lawmakers from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others on Tuesday in the National Assembly did not come as a surprise. It was long expected. The defection of 14 APC senators and 33 House of Representatives members to the PDP shows that the foundation of the APC edifice is seriously shaking. On Wednesday, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State dramatically defected from the APC to the PDP. More defections from the ruling behemoth to the PDP are likely to occur in the days ahead. Nigerians are keenly watching the defection drama in APC.

READ ALSO: Ortom joins PDP, 3 govs, ministers, lawmakers to follow

Defection or carpet-crossing is a common feature of Nigeria’s multi-party democracy. The scattering of the brooms is indeed a good riddance to bad rubbish. It is good for our democracy. It appears the broom has lost its cleansing aura. Participants in a democracy should be allowed to have choices and which party to belong. The framers of the 1999 Nigerian constitution (as amended) foresaw the make-up of the average Nigerian politicians and inserted in the constitution the carpet-crossing clause.

They knew that impunity will always rear its ugly head in our political parties. They knew from the onset that our parties would be characterized by lack of internal democracy and the rule of the thumb. They also knew that one man will always control our political parties and because of these factors, some party members would always be aggrieved and feel like moving to another party, hence the constitution allowed carpet-crossing or defection if the party in question is afflicted with crisis.

No matter how far developed the ‘baby’ in a test tube or laboratory tube is, it cannot attract a human spirit that can then animate it and give it life…

Victoria Ngozi Ikeano

Scientists and our world in general are celebrating the 40th anniversary of birth of the first test tube baby – louise brown – who was conceived in a laboratory bottle (test tube) via in vitro fertilization (IVF). At the time this feat was dubbed a miracle and it is estimated that there are now some three million persons born via this method a.K.A. Test tube babies.

READ ALSO: The making of test tube babies

Spurred by this our scientists are going several notches further as they are now contemplating formulating a mechanism by which we human beings could live forever here in our planet. It started with their toying with the idea like some kind of wishful thinking to they now really believing it is a possibility, thanks to advances in science and technology. So much so that a branch of study known as futurology has emerged and a prominent member of this elite class, dr. Ian pearson predicts that the mechanism for immortality would be within reach of the rich in our society by 2050, accessible to middle-class income earners by the 2060s and to the others in later years, that is, future generations.

According to uk newspaper mailonline, dr. Pearson predicts that by year 2050 humans could outlive the constraints of the physical body. He claims the following: “people born after 1970 should be able to live forever. Genetic engineering could be used to reduce or reverse the ageing of cells. Advances in artificial intelligence could lead to android bodies for humans to live in after their own flesh and blood frames have ceased to function. Virtual reality worlds could be created for people to upload their consciousness into once their bodies have failed”. And scientists are corroborating aforementioned possibilities.

One must commend our scientists for the discoveries they have made over the years that have helped human beings to overcome diverse ailments and impediments. In all of these however, we should note that our scientists and others in similar fields are dealing with the physical body only. The physical body is not the human being per se. That which animates the physical body is the human spirit embedded in the body, it is of a finer consistency, let us say ethereal. Now when we dream while asleep, our physical eyes are closed and all the things we see during our dream are with our ethereal eye, the eye of the spirit shall we say.

With the increasing devastating effects of the seasonal, flushing floods beginning in earnest in both Ogun and Katsina states, “the time to start taking concrete, proactive measures is now. Not tomorrow. Not when the dams have overflowed their capacity and the rivers have swelled their banks, swallowing up the pot hole-riddled roads, homes, offices and shops. Not when casualty figures have risen to thousands before half-hearted, panicky measures are embarked upon by top government officials”.

READ ALSO: 20% Nigerians may experience flooding – FG

READ ALSO: NEMA issues flood alert on Anambra

READ ALSO: Bishop Kukah donates relief materials to Katsina flood victims

That was the candid warning given by yours truly in an opinion essay as published in some dailies on 21st May, 2013. Apparently, few, if anyone of substance in government has heeded the piece of advice freely offered over the past five years! Now, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has confirmed the initial assistance by NEMA, during his recent visit to the state, to meet with the governor, Alhaji Aminu Masari.

Meanwhile, the death toll has risen to 52, with 90 houses destroyed, over 260 livestock confirmed dead and several people declared missing. Property worth millions of naira were destroyed, as flood wreaked havoc in 10 communities of Jibia Local Government area of the state.

Before then was the sweeping tide of the devastating flood that claimed 12 lives and literally ‘swallowed’ 3,800 houses in Ogun state. Osinbajo has said that the Federal Government, along with the two states will look into the cause of the flash flood with a view to providing lasting solution so that such incident does not happen again! We must have heard this swan song years before, haven’t we? That is Nigeria for you.

A usual, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) has warned that many parts of the country are likely to experience flooding. According to the Director-General, Prof. Sani Mashi, this is due to a shift in rainfall pattern caused by climate change. We do fervently hope that other state governors have for the moment put their 2019 ambitions at the back burner and are prepared for the onslaught.

Since he resumed office on June 26 after his emergence as national chairman of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) on June 23, 2018, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has put his nose to the grindstone in practical demonstration of his avowed commitment to reposition the party, strengthen internal cohesion and promote democratic ideals that will make it exempli gratia in political party administration.

READ ALSO: APC won’t negotiate with political machinery – Oshiomhole

That exemplification will be reinforced through a deliberate policy of bolstering party supremacy. Oshiomhole had said while receiving a handover note from his predecessor, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, that all party stalwarts, including the president, would be bound by party decisions. And to underscore the seriousness of his declaration, he said meetings of the various organs of the party, at which decisions would be taken for the purpose of administration, would now be regular.

READ ALSO: Why I withdrew from APC chairmanship race – Oyegun

For a man who has clear ideas of how the governing party should be run and who enjoys the support of President Muhammadu Buhari to tend to the wellbeing and success of the party in its political and electoral voyages, his recent directive that all ministers should inaugurate the boards of agencies under their ministries had a magisterial tinge to it and could not have been misguided. He spoke with journalists in the Presidential Villa after a closed-door meeting with the president.

The import of Oshiomhole’s position is that the purpose of appointments into the boards of agencies would be defeated and could, in fact, be counterproductive if appointees are left at the mercy of supervising ministers who decide when to inaugurate them. They can even decide not to inaugurate so that superintending and approving authority of the boards is put in abeyance in furtherance of some pecuniary interests. Oshiomhole’s righteous anger is thus justified in the context of the possible scenario painted supra and against the backdrop of looming effluxion of time.

With the general elections some seven months away, it would amount to political imprudence to shut out leaders of the governing party who had been appointed simply because their boards had not been inaugurated by ministers. The appointees can resort to self help to secure their political future amid the atmosphere of uncertainty created by defections by elective office holders from the APC to the opposition parties. This is the mischief that the Oshiomhole’s leadership impatiently wants to cure.

Having just taken over the position of national chair, he must have realised that stakeholders want result and not excuses. He must have decided to go for result, no matter whose ox is gored. It is significant that his actions in the first thirty days in office are quite evident. They show that he does not want the party to liquidate under his leadership. He keeps ventilating the space with the positions of the party on issues of reconciliation of crises that arose from the congresses and national convention and the unfortunate storm of defections buffeting the party.

In just a month in the saddle, Oshiomhole’s equanimity and resilience have been stretched to their limits. Except for the culture of resistance, as typified by the unconscionable riposte by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, to Oshiomhole’s directive that all the boards of the four agencies under the ministry should be inaugurated within a week, there was no sense in which it could be rationalised that the national chairman was condescending in the manner in which he issued the directive.

READ ALSO: Oshiomhole to Ngige: Inaugurate boards or be suspended from the party

I understand the direction Oshiomhole is coming from. He believes in the building of a strong party that is supreme and whose supremacy can moderate tendencies and address disparateness within its fold. For the supremacy of the party to ring true, everybody, including the president and the national chairman, will be guided by party dictates and decisions. So, it is not about Oshiomhole’s individuality, perceived arrogance of power, diktat and independent-mindedness. I do not think these are the essential motivations.

Oshiomhiole’s evangelical exertion about party supremacy is about laying the administrative infrastructural substructure of the reinforcing authority of the party so that, once the institution of the party is built and strengthened, authority will continue to flow from it as a matter of political mores and norms. The Oshiomhole paradigm draws requisite historical validation from the Second Republic where the supremacy of the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was a matter of fact.

The National Chairman, Chief Meredith Adisa Akinloye, superintended over a powerful party, which in the exercise of his functions as chairman, conferred supreme authority on him. President Shehu Shagari was answerable to the party. It was not about Akinloye. Any other person, as party chairman, would have enjoyed the same panache and authority. South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) is supreme in determining the fates of the president that its platform produces and not the other way round.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was primed to re-enact the NPN exemplar, but President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose dictatorial temperament was known to some founding leaders, ensured that it did not happen. The expected emergence of Chief Sunday Awoniyi as national chairman would have brought about a strong party that was supreme but Obasanjo had worked against his candidature and had, instead, supported a pliant Barnabas Gemade as national chairman. Obasanjo pocketed the party, moved to subjugate the legislature, tried to dominate the entire governmental sphere and, unfortunately, ensconced a culture of weak party under the PDP presidency.

Oshiomhole’s proclivity towards enthroning party supremacy in the APC is a change process that should be supported by President Buhari. Once the president buys into it, the shenanigans of other party leaders and members will be undercut. Never again will elected and appointed officials be able to hold the party to ransom or openly, and in a gangsterish manner, challenge the party’s positions, articulated by Oshiomhole, as Ngige did. The party will be able to ensure party discipline, superintend the process of internal democracy and the entrenchment of other values that strengthen internal cohesion.

That Oshiomhole has been able to take on so many issues simultaneously in the last one month that he has been in the saddle without caving under the dialectics of political goals is a measure of his strength of character and commitment to the task of taking the party to the next level. He had given Obasanjo some sideswipes in respect of the humongous $16 billion that his administration allegedly spent on power project as president without commensurate result and had called for his prosecution in accordance. He had also, even though arguably, attacked the PDP as a rigging machine and reminded it that the era of writing election results was over.

Significantly, he called for removal of PDP members who are still enjoying appointments into positions that should be given to APC members. He said he believed that the party must now consciously work to ensure that sinners were replaced with card-carrying believers of the APC change philosophy. He argued that where it becomes necessary to appoint people outside the APC, it must be that the particular expertise is lacking in the party; and, that the experts must take the party card to demonstrate loyalty.

Besides, he had engaged with members of the Reformed APC who, according to him, were sincere in their complaints and demands, and having been pacified, decided to stay back in the party, Conversely, he said those who had other agendas which they did not bring to the table had left the party. Significantly, his reaction, which is moot, was that he would not lose sleep over their defections. Oshiomhole, in his momentous thirty days in office, had been rambunctious; and, for good reasons.

Ojeifo, a journalist, writes via ojwonderngr@yahoo.com

“Corruption is horrible… but something is worse than

that and that is incompetence”

– Prof Chinedu Nebo

We are yet to see any airplane for the proposed National Carrier but millions of dollars have already been expended for just setting ‘side kicks’ including the mere design of logo that does not fit. So as Nebo said both corruption and incompetence are being fostered on Nigerians in order to boost a weak ego of owning a National Carrier that could end up creating more pariah status for Nigeria.

READ ALSO: Nigeria to spend $300m on national carrier

Until you travel wide, you would not know the degree of pariah that Nigeria is subjected to. So, why should Nigeria bother itself with what will expose it more to pariah state. For now more image laundering is required to pull Nigeria out of the pit of pariah outlook and it is by countering the image by allowing those who can be trusted by other nationals to be travelling wide with other airlines till great deal of confidence is restored on the people of Nigeria. I have heard Archbishop Kukah lament once how he was treated in east Africa not minding his cassock; and somehow such constant visits have allowed Rwanda to build some trust in Nigerians after discovering that they are not all as painted. National Carrier with an infrastructure base that call for drastic upgrading is also part of the distrusting process of a nation. What is more as just recounted by the Minister of Finance money is smart and can only go where the rate of return is assured hence, even the expected foreign investors, without assurance of returns or good infrastructure cannot come with clean hands; they will come to exploit Nigeria more by any means. Nigeria exited Paris club debt on irreconcilable bills; either they were bills not known by the government or bill illegally incurred in the name of Nigeria; that is also the aspect that make money smart. Nigerian elite just want to contract any one to come and exploit the Nations as long as their pocket could be filled with the proceeds. Most of the elite parade double nationality and could find safe haven in their second country if Nigeria sinks. Those who cannot keep two passports are strictly checked at any entry point as if they are the condemned of the earth. So, if a carrier is identified as a Nigerian Carrier then the checks could be enormous.

READ ALSO: Buhari succumbs to pressure: Orders refund of 50% balance Paris Club fund

I embark on this two-part testamentary serial unperturbed by oppositional tantrums and scurrility of mischief-makers whose DNA is buffoonery. In each of the superlative series, I will mention four core areas where our subject has performed creditably and also four detractions.

Recently, participants in town hall meetings in Lagos endorsed the governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, for a second term. When I read the reports that followed the profound sessions, I said to myself that there was no need for the evolving campaigns.

READ ALSO: N20b spent to secure Lagos in 3 years – Ambode

Just last week, I began to see buses painted in electioneering colours with embossed 2019 messages and the governor’s chubby face. Going by his robust antecedents before and after three years-plus in the saddle, Ambode’s encore is a divine mandate.

In this serialized testimony, I will list 16 factors that guarantee Ambode victory and 16 things that vitiate his candidacy, Each edition of this column will contain four of each side, starting from today. One of the most enduring decisions Ambode has taken is the disengagement of officers and men of the Vehicle Inspection Office and the Federal Road Safety Commission Their highway extortionist tendency was giving the state a very bad name.

Next is the Land Use Charge which was significantly brought down after public outcry following excessive increase in the rate by the state government. It is confirmatory of the unassailable fact that Ambode is a listening/ responsive/humane governor. By that review, my five-flat property in Surulere attracted approximately N30,000 instead of about N120,000, if the governor had stuck to his guns!

READ ALSO: The Lagos Land Use Charge controversy

The cancellation of the unproductive monthly environmental sanitation by Ambode remains indelible in the minds of Lagos residents who hitherto were imprisoned for three hours every last Saturday of the month. Cleanliness cannot be achieved by force — it is a habit that is voluntarily internalized over time. The four distractions this week are: mismanagement of refuse, impassable roads — particularly in Aguda and Ijeshatedo — local government touts (which I will expatiate on next week) and police harassment with the state not doing anything to check the exponential brutality and daylight robbery.

As I declared in 2015 that Candidate Ambode will win the governorship election, there is even more justificatory aplomb to assert that the 2019 poll would be a terrestrial victory for ‘Double A’ for reasons adduced below in this quadruple intervention. I have the conviction that the unfolding campaigns are mere “formalities”!

With the multitudinous sea of human heads I saw at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos Island, Lagos, on October 24, 2014, the day Akinwunmi Ambode, an administrator par excellence and public finance management icon, declared his epochal candidacy for the office of the Governor of Lagos State, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), something just intimated me to the fact that certainly this is the man that would most likely take over the reins of government.

If indeed figures have anything to with democracy and elections, the innumerable crowd I saw on that occasion was summative of what to expect next February when the polls take place. I know of rented crowds for mega rallies to give the deceptive impression that such a gathering is a confirmation of the candidate’s popularity and associated prospects of victory at the concomitant electoral contest. The October 24 assembly was real as the air, flora and fauna in that vicinity could testify. What I witnessed that day — the outpouring of emotion, belief and commitment to the party’s strong vision and leadership— is demonstrative of convictional superfluity of the emergence of this man as the APC candidate and consequently Fashola’s successor. It was obvious that whosoever the APC endorsed for the race was the next governor of this centre of excellence.

READ ALSO: Lagos APC Reps endorse Ambode for second term

At the risk of overconfidence and summit optimism, with the predominance of the APC in the South West, there would be no contest in Lagos next year. And if for procedural electoral formalities there is a competition after the primaries, the margin of victory for the APC will be astoundingly significant. It is incontrovertible that Lagos is the stronghold of the APC and unthinkable that there could be any polling upset.

The reportage that ensued after Ambode’s carnival-like October declaration was unprecedented. The impression I got the next day, Saturday morning, at the Lagos Airport on a trip to Kano en route to Katsina State at the invitation of my friend and former governor, Dr. (Barrister) Ibrahim Shehu Shema, one of the few referential ex-governors in the country, was almost hallucinatory! Virtually all the seven national newspapers I bought that morning celebrated the event as if Ambode had just been sworn in — when in reality it was just mere declaration. Another thing that captured my interest was the spread of the publications. If it had just been one particular medium, there wouldn’t have been any surprises. It foretells what is about to unstoppably happen. The imagery, the concept, the picture, the goal and the actualization were well laid out for Ambode’s Oval Office occupation on May 29, 2015 — and now, by extrapolation, May 29, 2019.

On December 2, 2014, when the APC held its state governorship primaries, Ambode emerged as the consensual candidate to stand the party’s revolutionary torch. Everything today points at the unanimity of his choice on grounds of his local governments’ service robust antecedents, profound civil service career of unparalleled distinction and unprecedented achievements since coming to office in 2015. Ambode, a former Accountant-General, incontrovertibly has played critical and catalytic roles in the administrative successes of the state so much that cannot be captured here because of space constraint. The outpouring of celebratory emotions and unsolicited testimonial avowals and overheard reaffirmations by Lagosians on that declarative day at the Onikan Stadium were justificatory of what to expect in 2019 when the elections hold. It will take only unexpected divine intervention to alter this conclusively overwhelming proposition.

There is no doubt the PDP is waiting on the wings to reap any whirlwind that may engulf the APC should its elders and leader not get their act together. May that never occur because Lagosians need someone who will consolidate on his quintessence by completing the megacity plan envisaged for the state. A PDP option, going by most of their members’ scandalous pedigree, will take Lagos back to 1967! It is unimaginable that in no circumstance can the PDP have a foothold here, particularly with its track record of incompetence and incapacity exemplified by its rapacious membership.

The only challenge that will confront the APC leadership with regard to Lagos is that all the aspirants are eminently qualified to be the party’s choice for the one-horse race. With this kind of scenario, the best way out will be for a pooling and subjection of individual interests of aspirants for the greater glory of the party and by extension Lagosians. Personal ambitions must be collapsed to ensure that the PDP is resoundingly trounced and routed next February.

It is also good to underscore the zoning policy of the APC which will go a long way in reducing misgivings about the ultimate governorship choice made. Zoning, if credibly applied and respected by one and all, minimizes representational squabbles to a large extent such that each aspirant will see clearly the futility of any selfish pursuit against the collectivity of preferences and internal party mechanisms. The APC should not emulate the PDP which does not respect zoning principles agreed to by its members because of anticipatory pecuniary objectives.

What I do not understand about zoning is why aspirants from other senatorial zones other than the accepted one still go ahead to pursue their vaulting dreams!

Drugs are medicines with physiological effects when taken are used to treat illness, relieve a symptom or modify a chemical process in the body for specific purpose. On the other hand, fake drugs are drugs with low or wrong concentration of active ingredients, and in some cases with no active ingredient, packaged and marketed in deceptive manner. In clear terms, fake drugs are drugs which do not meet regulatory standards and approvals. Drug counterfeiters release these drugs for sale at ridiculously cheap prices. This illicit act of drug counterfeiting by some unscrupulous elements in the society is not only worrisome and disturbing to the original manufacturers of the authentic products but also of great concern to the food and drug administrator and regulator in the country.

READ ALSO: 70% of pharmaceutical products circulating in Nigeria fake — Global leader

In order to arrest the awkward trend of these counterfeiters, a federal government agency made a renewed commitment to eliminate substandard foods and drugs in the country. The responsibility for eliminating falsified, adulterated and unsafe drugs, medical devices, food and water in Nigeria lies on the shoulder of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). The Director-General of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, when she officially resumed office as the agency’s boss in December last year, said “The concerns of our people are mainly about safety of our drugs, food, medical devices and water”. She added, “Most people, including those who manufacture fake drugs and sell bad foods or water, do not plan to kill people, but may not fully understand that chemicals (be they in drug or food or through bio-contamination) can kill hundreds of people easily”.

Victor Hugo, a novelist and philosopher posited that, “he who opens a school door, closes a prison”. A school is where formal learning/education is inculcated for the overall personality development.

Education is synonymous with development. Some the world’s most ravaging problems were solved through research findings. Research and scientific discoveries orchestrated the Industrial Revolution in England in the 18th Century. The East-Asian Economic Miracle of the 1960s and the Meiji Restoration in Japan were fuelled and reinforced by sound educational policies.

In Japan, for instance, the Meiji regime initiated a free, compulsory and qualitative education for Japanese. They were offered scholarship by the state to study science and technology courses in universities in the West. The Meiji regime made it an offense to deny a Japanese child education.

Interestingly, by the mid-20th Century, Japanese graduates were competing favourably with their western counterparts and contemporaries in the area of science and technology. Interestingly, it has one of the highest literacy rates in the world.

In Akwa Ibom, Governor Udom Emmanuel’s educational policy aligns with the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’, which underpins that education should respond to the changing needs of society. He believes that ‘schools should become environments that develop individual capabilities and further the idea of democracy and sensitivity to social and ecological responsibilities’.

READ ALSO: Pathways to Nigeria’s growth, development

The governor’s intervention in education is premised on his unruffled commitment to lay a solid foundation for the future. He also envisages a sophisticated workforce and optimum population for the state. In this regard, the Free and Compulsory Education has been strengthened through effective monitoring, training and retraining of teachers. To ensure that the Free & Compulsory Education Policy performs optimally, government provides a subvention of N100 and N300 to the schools for each pupils and student in public primary and secondary schools respectively.

READ ALSO: Udom Emmanuel: A deacon and gentleman

For some months now, and counting, events in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are looking pretty much like a tragicomedy that people go to watch at a movie theatre. It’s partly because Nigerian politics tolerates drama well. Each episode has a flavour for fun, the bad and the downright ugly. What about the politicians? They are ‘sincere deceivers’. They live in denial, always. When things go wrong, they play fast and loose with the facts. They are more like comedians. Comedians make people laugh; they don’t make people happy. For them, personal interests supersede national interests.

That’s why it troubles the mind watching the dizzing gale of defections in the APC. It is not as if we have not had this kind of season of defections before. Exactly five years ago, the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was rocked by the same crisis. It was at the party’s national convention in September 2013 that no fewer than seven governors elected on the platform of the party, including former vice president, Atiku Abubukar, staged a walkout and formed a “New PDP”. Many other party chieftains and legislators of the party in the National Assembly followed suit. With this in mind, and despite the briefcase of lessons that the PDP left behind, one may ask: why is history on the rebound? Why didn’t APC learn useful lessons from what caused PDP’s defeat in many states, and the most painful of all, the 2015 presidential election.

The answer is not farfetched: In politics, when you learn nothing and forget nothing, the likely outcome is crisis/division. Note this: history may repeat itself because APC is treading the ugly past that swept away PDP from power. Any careful observer of the goings on in the ruling APC will have noticed the prescient ‘red flags’ that often lead to a downfall. Let’s capture few of the foreboding signs from some leaders of the party. A week ago, the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole said he would never lose his sleep over those who had defected. He said some of the “big masquerades” had no electoral value and cannot even win their polling units. One of the big masquerades was former governor of Kano state, and current senator representing Kano Central, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso. Kwankwaso, it must be recalled, was elected senator in 2015 on APC platform with the most votes cast in any senatorial race in the country. Before last week, Oshiomhole had extolled the virtues of the senator, saying he (Kwankwaso) “made APC, APC didn’t make him”. In the same week, after describing the governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom as one of the best performers of the party, he made a sudden volte face when Ortom defected last week to the PDP, saying “APC would have lost the state in 2019” if Ortom didn’t leave the party.

READ ALSO: I’m being persecuted, says Benue gov, Ortom

And you may ask: Is this the same Oshiomhole who used to impress by his quick mind and ability to articulate? This man now strikes me as arrogant. He has touched many nerves and now plays fast and loose with facts since he became the party national chairman just last month. A few days ago, the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi came with his own braggadacio, saying that President Buhari will win Bauchi, Kano and Sokoto states in 2019 even on a “sickbed”. He said these three states are the president’s “comfort zones”. Also, the Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, you can bet won’t want to be beaten in his own turf of propaganda. He described the APC defectors as the “removal of stones from rice and the sieving of sand from cassava (garri)”. He cursed the defectors, saying God has “exposed the faces of traitors”. Interesting times, indeed for Lai Mohammed.

READ ALSO: Lai Mohammed thanks Kwara APC for loyalty to Buhari

When a politician talks like this, it’s a false sense of self-confidence that comes before a fall. It’s a sign of fret that blinds many a politician. Such bragging is out of balance with reality. It’s the equivalent of when you are behind in a football match and time is fast running out and there seems to be only one thing you can do: “Throw the bomb”. That was how a former US President, Gerald Ford, described such desperation when a crucial election is fast approaching and a party in power finds its back behind the wall. It often backfires.

The best approach is not to unleash verbal swipes as Oshiomhole and Lai Mohammed are doing now. The President is at liberty to assume, as he was reported to have said in Lome, Togo, two days ago while responding to questions during an interactive session with the Nigerian community there. He was reported to have said that he was not bothered by the defections from the party. The truth is that, and the President knows it, that, right now, his party is split down the middle. His aides and cabinet members must stop oversimplifying complex issues, reducing them to online quips as some of them are doing now. It may look effective temporarily, politically, but it will not win votes in a free and transparent election.

Again, this arrogance and false sense of overconfidence was what Bamanga Tukur, as national Chairman of PDP exhibited in the face of crisis. Tukur, had boasted during the PDP implosion in 2013 that there was no need for panic, neither was there “room nor reason whatsoever for such a claim” that the party could lose the 2015 presidential election. Anyone who has followed how APC has come to this sorry state, knows it didn’t happen overnight. It wasn’t a normal happenstance. The trajectory was clear that the outcome will lead to splinter groups within the party, which from the beginning, was a fusion of strange bedfellows, a marriage of political convenience, with a common objective: chase Jonathan out of power.

With that mission accomplished, APC lost the vision, the commitment and the agenda to better the accomplishments of the party it replaced. The crises that led to the present gale of defections have roots in the recent state Congresses that handed the governors the power of small gods. Nothing concrete was done to assuage the anger of aggrieved party members. That’s one of the problems of party administration in our current democratic system.

READ ALSO: PDP accuses Buhari of running despotic democracy

Beyond that, a ruling party in a democracy cannot escape its responsibility to the nation and to her citizens. This is the primary reason why a government exists .If we must be forthright, APC has lost a hefty good fortune that brought it to power. I would not like PDP to come back to power at the federal level so soon, but I have only one vote to cast in the presidential election next year. By its own errors and deliberate political insensitivity, APC is widening the chances of PDP to come back, four years on, after 16 unbroken years in power at the centre.

But, if that happens next year, that will be one of the outcomes when the leadership and some chieftains of a ruling party behaved as if the normal rules of politics did not apply to them. It’s time for the president to look into his own soul, (though time is running out) to get rid of lap dogs and lackeys in his government. These are people who will do or say anything to defend and praise him, even when the reality on ground tells otherwise.

We are not in Donald Trump’s America where only loyalty to the man in power is more important, to paraphrase James Comey (former FBI Director) than a ‘higher loyalty’. Altogether, APC should not underestimate or see the defectors as storms in a tea cup.

They are, to use the words of Batcha, the great warrior portrayed in Robert Greene’s “48 Laws of Power”. These are ‘rebels’ with a cause. They have stormed out like mouse, but they have jaws like lions.

“True safety and security is more than just a camera on a building.

It is about securing your networks, preventing disasters, responding to threats, and communicating across channels, sectors and boundaries. And it’s about planning and collaborating. Network security and physical security are converging. Are you ready?”

• Kenneth Trump ( Security expert)

The newspaper headlines were catchy and captivating enough: ‘Abducted school girls rescued’. ‘Pastor held for school girls’ abduction’. ‘Jubilation over school girls’ release’. Excitement ran high. Adrenaline pumped through the blood vessels. Heartbeats heightened. Eyes dilated. For the avid readers – and there were millions all over Nigeria and beyond – the palpable sense of wonder was how this feat was achieved, within so short a time. And where else but Lagos, the Centre of Excellence!

That excerpt is taken from a piece written by yours truly on 8th March, 2016 and aptly titled: ‘Ambode and the prompt release of abducted school girls’. Yet, it is but one of the several commendable efforts on the part of the resourceful governor of Lagos State to ensure the safety of lives and property. It falls squarely in tandem with Section 14, Sub-section 2(b) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which is one of the primary purposes of government.

The other is the process of facilitating and fostering the welfare of its citizenry. Any government, anywhere in the world that fails to be the protective and providing father-figure and guarantee both does not qualify as one. No amount of propaganda or nauseating excuses can change that. None. Period!

“The successful practice of the Chinese people is a proof that there is more than one path leading to modernization. With the right direction and with unremitting efforts, all roads will take us to Rome.”

– President Xi Jinping

At the turn of the 21st century, American political scientist, Francis Fukuyama published a well-regarded book, the “End of history,” which attracted considerable attention. He argued then, that “remarkable consensus concerning the legitimacy of liberal democracy as a system of governance had emerged throughout the world,” and as such “liberal democracy may constitute the end point of mankind ideological evolution and the final form of human government,” and therefore “constitute the end of history.” But China’s then, little internationally known reform and opening up which was in full throttle was making steady progress. But, far from the then, euphoria of Mr. Fukuyama “remarkable consensus concerning the legitimacy of liberal democracy,” China’s modernization effort consisting in reform and opening up was decidedly and staunchly, “Socialist”, with Chinese characteristics.”

READ ALSO: As XI Jinping drives China’s phenomenal growth

China’s then preeminent leader, Deng Xiaoping who was convinced that “economic reform is the only way to develop the productive forces,” has however categorically made clear that “in the course of reform, it is very important for us to maintain our socialist orientation.”

In the huge task of “carrying out our modernization,” Deng exhorted that “ the programme must proceed from Chinese realities, adding that “both in revolution and in construction, we should also learn from foreign countries and draw on their experiences but warned that “ mechanical copying and application of foreign experience and models will get us nowhere.” He, therefore, charged that “we must integrate the universal truth of Marxism with the concrete realities of China, blaze the path of our own and build a Socialism with Chinese characteristics,” and summarized that “this is the basic conclusion we have reached after reviewing our long historical experience.”

The U.S. should be advised to remain calm and handle the relevant issue with a rational attitude. Trade bullying will only backfire.

Zhou Pingjian

On July 20, the United States threatened to impose tariffs on all US$500 billion worth of Chinese imports. Earlier on July 6, the U.S. announced to impose 25 percent tariffs on US$34 billion worth of Chinese goods. On July 11, the U.S. further escalated by announcing a tariff list of Chinese products worth US$200 billion. Where the trade war waged by the U.S. against China is heading to? The world is wondering.

READ ALSO: China threatens US with retaliation

China’s position regarding the trade war willfully ignited by the U.S. remains firm and clear. China doesn’t want a trade war, but is not afraid of and will fight one when necessary. Threats and intimidation will never work on China. China is capable of and confident in safeguarding the interests of the Chinese people. The U.S. should be advised to remain calm and handle the relevant issue with a rational attitude. Trade bullying will only backfire.

The main criticism that the U.S. makes against China centers around the trade deficit America runs with China. However, when it comes to trade, imbalance does not mean unfairness as the flow of trade is determined by the market. China has never deliberately sought a trade surplus. Having a trade deficit does not mean the U.S. is “losing”. It is an erroneous accusation that China has been long engaging in unfair trade practices which have benefited itself and shortchanged the United States.

Let me take the daily Apple here. When an iPhone assembled in China arrives in the U.S., it is recorded as an import at its factory cost of about US$240, which is added to the U.S.- China trade deficit by the U.S. side. China, however, earns just about US$8.46, or 3.6 percent of the total factory cost or less than 1 percent of the value in terms of retail price in the transaction, while most of the profits go straight to the coffers of Apple Inc. and high-tech enterprises of other countries on relevant industrial supply chains.