No Longer Business As Usual At The Brick House

Up until recently the Government of the Mariners have been operated as 'government by proposals'. This interprets to mean that whatever interests party loyalists , sycophants and other 'chop-chop politicians' have; either in the way of 'finding something for the boys' or 'settlement' for 'hard work' - all they needed to do is write proposals to under take some kind of projects - seen or unseen; useful or not. These are passed to the Brick House and funds are released to execute them, by passing the relevant Ministries and Agencies that are supposed to carry them out based on priorities and needs of the people.

We hear that the current occupant of the Brick House has put an end to all these. He has decided to revert to the appropriate approach of Public Expenditure Management (PEM), with funds released to execute the budget proposal for the year. This method gives authority and responsibility to the commissioners who can truly be assessed based on their performance.

While we welcome this development, we are aware of how things have gone wrong till this moment. Therefore we encourage all those concerned to embrace this new way of working and warn that the resident at the Brick House should constantly look out for revisionists and send them packing from the house.

We wish him good luck in his reforms because if he succeeds he would be a trail blazer. I think we mariners can do with such a pride among residents of Naija.

A New Begining

We can all recount the events of 2007: Lots of anxiety about April 2007 - induction of members into the 'Brick House', the Mud House and the 'Thatch Houses'. Followed by the acrobatic display of the various 'cultural troupes' and their dangerous dancers - spectators only look at their risk. There was also several forceful invitations to new tourism locations with entrance fees charged at economic rates - willingness and ability to pay. Lights out at 9.00 pm, broken promises and others not withstanding - no one can kill the human spirit.

Finally, we were allowed to pray at midnight as 2008 was about to commence. Because 'faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life' (apologies Jaycees)- our hopes and faith are strengthened as we start all over again rebuilding our lives and renewing our spirits.

Boma sime Tamuno be piri