‘Unemployment Problem’ Wrong

Ebere Wabara

“PLATINUM Mortgage Bank Ltd 2024 Calender”…From hope to home: calendar!

“Peace in South East Project (PISE-P) and the people of Bende Federal Constituency humbly invites (invite) all to the….”

Wrong: A well deserved honour

Right: A well-deserved (note the vital hyphenation) honour

“The best we have got from our leaders is (are) lamentations and empty promises.”

“One NSCDC personnel (official) killed” (THISDAY NEWS, December 30) ‘Personnel’ is a collective—the totality—of a workforce which cannot be used just for an individual.

“Killings: IGP orders deployment of tactical team, AIG to (in) Plateau State” (Source: as above)

The next two blunders are still from THISDAY NEWS of December 30: “The intrigues that followed the historic appointment was (were) revealed Wednesday….”

“Cross River, Oando Clean Energy to build 100MW wind power generating plant, others” Get it right: power-generating plant

“Flytime Fest 2023 wraps-up (wraps up) with electrifying performances”

From Igbo Elites Port Harcourt comes the next goof: “This is indeed a testimony to the large heart and unbiased heart you always extend to people of different extraction (extractions).”

“Industrial Champion in Africa Award: Another feather to (in) Lagos Free Zone’s cap 

When you use ‘demand’ or ‘advocate’ as a verb, do not add ‘for’, please!

“The reason is because (that) our parties lack political ideologies.” (The PUNCH, January 2) This was contributed by Dr. Stanley Nduagu, Aba, Abia State, 08062925996. Additionally from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, New Edition: Do not say ‘the reason because’ something happens…but say the reason why that something happens. ‘By reason of something’ means because of something. An analysis, like the foregoing, brings out the technicality of language which puts off most readers! And from me: you can say ‘the reason why I came’ or ‘the reason I came’. Some books frown at the former, why most dictionaries approve it. That is grammaticality for you!

From Mr. G.O. Komolafe, Ilesa (08037277985) comes the next excerpt: “Twice THE NATION ON SUNDAY COMMENT of December 31 used ‘severally’ and it got the meaning wrong. Note that the word is not the adverb of ‘several’, but the opposite of ‘jointly’ or ‘collectively’.

SATURDAY INDEPENDENT Online of January 30 goofed on five occasions: “230 perish in road crashes in Nasarawa” THE NATION ON SUNDAY of January 19 also committed this same atrocity apparently from the same news source: “230 killed in Nasarawa road crashes in 12 months” The victims were not killed, but died/perished…! Except in unusual circumstances, roads cannot crash when accidents happen. What crashes are vehicles—not roads! We can have road/rail/air/sea mishaps and respective contraptions could crash—not the means.

“Back to school (Back-to-school) resolution”

“Lagos official charged for (with) violating Tenancy Law”

“Only agriculture can solve Nigeria’s unemployment problem” ‘Unemployment’ is a present and clear problem globally. Therefore, there is no need for redundancies!

“Matches between the two teams (between the teams, preferably) in the past have (had) always live (lived) to expectations….”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY of December 31 disseminated copious blunders: “Harmattan hampers voters turn out in Jigawa Local Govt (LG) election” No news: voter turnout 

“INEC reads riot act to staff” Fixed expression: the riot act—headline considerations should not vitiate stock entries.

“It must have been distraction (distractions) galore”

“This seems an insult, both on the spirit and letters of representative government.” Get it right: the spirit of the law (in this case, representative government) There is nothing like ‘the spirit and letters of…’! The correct expression means intention: the meaning or qualities that someone intended something to have, especially the meaning that a law or rule was intended to have. ‘The letter of the law’, conversely, means the exact words of a law or agreement rather than the intended or general meaning. (Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, New Edition)

Still from Longman: Do not say ‘invitation letter’ or ‘complaint letter’. Say letter of invitation/complaint.

 “It is a common sight in most police units and stations to behold all manners of faulty equipment….” Not my opinion: all manner of faulty equipment.

“They will only end up frustrating the good intentions of the  president, thereby continually subjecting Nigerians into (to) servitude.”

“As popular as the two investigative panels he has put in place may appear, the power to investigate all issues are (is) vested in the respective legislative houses….”

“Charges of corruption against those in authority is (are) not new to Nigerians.”  

“Although, personally, his integrity was never questioned, that of the members of his administration were (was) loudly condemned.”

“So (a comma) with dwindling earnings, the Buhari administration cannot (could not) be expected to maintain the same healthy foreign reserve as he inherited.” 

Police Etymology

NIGERIAN policemen are supposed to be friends of the society. Alas, their adversarial comportment reminds one of colonialism. Cops in other countries are very friendly and professional. On December 27, during my trip to Umuode en route to Aba, Abia State, a cop flagged me down just before Ore and asked for the tinted glass police permit for my Sport-Utility Vehicle (SUV). All explanations that I forgot it in my wife’s car when I took the SUV to my local mechanic for check-up preparatory to my South East trip fell on deaf ears! The presence of my wife and children did not make any emotional difference as the insolent and corrupt cop, (name and number withheld), standing and dangling a hunter’s gun as if we were in a war situation proximal to their rickety operational vehicle numbered NPF 5…B, insisted that I bribe him with N10,000 for contravening the law! There was no hint of taking us to the station for a statement and subsequent ticketing or making pretensions about dragging me to a kangaroo traffic court! It took the intervention of a senior officer and a gentleman before the extortionist and unruly constable could accept N2,000, which I reluctantly paid to foreclose further time wastage because of the tender children aboard and the long, bumpy trajectory ahead. Otherwise, I do not succumb to such circumstantially exploitative demands. Such extortive brazenness is the identity of Nigerian police nationwide! This kind of official (police) banditry should be limited to Lagos roads where it is a way of life for some disgruntled officers and men of the Lagos Police Command! The IGP, DIGs, AIGs and CPs should check the corrupt and beggarly language of their ‘boys’ while on illegal/outlawed (virtual roadblock) duty. Such foul communication hallmarks irredeemable institutional degeneracy.